Cake HW & Cake Class

Charlie playing in his pack n play while I bake the cake. Luckily I was able to escape on Sunday to Erin's house to work on frosting with "the team" :-)  Yes, there's a big in his pack...he likes to dig things out of my bag so I thought why not let him dig his own toys out of the hospital bag?

The noise of the mixer doesn't seem to bother him! (Unlike the vacuum and the leaf blower outside)

Let me out!

My Mother's Day present...very exciting. Chocolate cake...it's been a long time. (I'm excited to try to make bread from scratch this week too)

Here's my cake after a lot of frosting :-) I know the little boards underneath aren't cute...but you've got to use something to transfer it around.  Here it's sitting on the turn table....quite handy when you're decorating.

In Class tonight we worked on lettering, stars and dots....which all sounds simple enough but it makes your hand hurt like no other. I choose to do the stars on the edge of the cake which looks more like a flower border when you stick them close together. I chose to work with the same color frosting so that I might minize the look of any errors!

Okay - so my lettering is not that great....but practice makes perfect.  It's a lot more difficult off the practice card when you can't trace the letters and are free-handing!

Sooooooo I've only had 1 major blunder so far and I thought you'd appreciate this:

For the frosting instead of buying regular cubed vegetable flavor I bought cubed butter flavor...doesn't that sound more reasonable? (At least it does in this non-cook's head) Granted I didn't have the sheet right in front of me AND there are all those mystery ingredients including flavoring options, vanilla, butter, etc. Needless to say my pale yellow cake stood out in class. I did end up cutting the butter flavor with vanilla flavoring and I think it's pretty good! A happy accident at least this time around.

A Perfect Mother's Day Weekend

*See more landscape photos on my photography blog - linked in the upper right corner

Back from the Bookdocks

No, this isn't my photo, but I had a similar idea and I wish it was. Yesterday Charlie and I traveled through the altamont pass to visit my mom in the boondocks and I packed my camera with the idea that I would take some photos of these beautiful green energy masterpieces on my way but I ran into a few issues:

a) lack of places to pull over to get a great shot - less willing to go to the side of the freeway and take risks with your baby in the car

b) traveling alone 

c) Charlie was asleep through the pass on the way there AND back - don't disturb baby sleep on road trips stupid. I did pull over ever so briefly on the way there (on a real exit) but as soon as Charlie started to murmur I hit the freeway again (and he was out)

We had a great time visiting my mom and Bill and wish the drive wasn't so long so we could see each other more frequently. Gotta love staying in the guest house with your own coffee maker and a quiet place for babenakins to sleep.

I really missed my hubbie - gross I know! Can't help but be in love with this man...definitely over a decade now and don't want to spend one night apart :-)  

Cinco de Mayo

An excuse for a short dinner and margarita out on the town :-)

Stopping briefly on the drive home to appreciate the twilight hour....

Snuck in a moment together while Charlie dozed in the car...

Perhaps I'm meant to bake out of a box...

So I went to my first cake decorating class last night and it was, well, a bit overwhelming.  I don't think it helped that it was the longest I'd ever left Charlie (3 hours) which wouldn't be bad if he a) took a bottle or b) didn't nurse before bed time.  The instructor, who has been teaching for 3+ years seems friendly enough but also was putting out the "stressed vibe" and that was hard to not pick up on.  I also didn't know what to expect as far as homework:

Next Week:

Bake your cake, fill and frost it (all from scratch she says or what will you be learning? RIGHT)

3 different batches of frosting (stiff, med, thin)

20 parchment frosting cones

and organize, bring in all products.

Ummmm what? I think I might need a class where I just show up and make pretty frosting flowers.  She did say that she had one student go to safeway before classes and buy a cake and scrape off the frosting.... Hmmmm :-)

When she was making the frosting she was very meticulous and talked about working without distractions because otherwise your designs will melt. She has 3 kids and tells them they aren't allowed in the kitchen while she preps...I think I'll try that. No Charlie, you're not allowed in here! Mom is busy....concentrating. Plus I had no idea the mysterious products it takes to make this stuff from scratch...see below... + meringe powder which they were out of. I'm trying just to buy the basics and hopefully if I continue this quest I'll buy more in the future if I need it. I just have to get that meringe stuff and some cake cardboard base thingys for next class.  Trying to keep it budget friendly, no fun fancy tool caddys or cake caddys or fabulous mixers (that I've wanted forever but still) for me. Hopefully my girlfriend Erin will buy her mixer and her mom and I will be able to use it too.  

Yes, Erin and her mom Millie (who I lived with for 6 months in college) are both taking the class thank god...otherwise I think I might have left crying.

Did I mention that they only had course books in Spanish? It might as well be in German for as much as my conversational Spanish helps me in this bad boy....
Shouldn't be a problem you said? Maybe you could translate these instructions for me!

I thought a good goal would be a cake for Charlie's baptism in a couple of weeks...but now I'm thinking his Sept. birthday is a better goal....we're only having immediate family anyway :-)

Our Weekend

Well... I'm glad that the weather hasn't been as bad as the forecast (at least so far, hold up weather, I still have to go to costco!)

Yesterday we celebrated 8 months with Charlie and went out to breakfast. Why is it that any breakfast that I didn't cook tastes 4x better? Mmmm....I think I want breakfast for lunch again.  We then took a couple of laps downtown to explore the art festival where local artists bring their wares to sell on the sidewalk.  I love these little "festivals" especially when I can explore what other photographers are doing. I picked up a couple of cards and when I get some time to myself I'm planning to check out their websites.

The little man is doing well though it's getting tougher to go out as he wants to crawl/explore all over.  I finally got smart and bought some BPA free tupperware so I can pre-pack rice cereal and a puree, bib, etc (spoon stays in the little sassy tupperware, love it!) so that I don't have to scramble when we are ready to leave.  Ahhh the baby scramble... it's impossible to remember everything EVERY time unless it's pre packed.  (That's also why I leave the cheater bag in the care, extra diapers, wipes, blanket and extra onesie and sweatpants) :-)

Better sign off before the little man wakes up and I've got nothing done! (besides blogging!)

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I know we need the rain and no, I have not forgotten my farm town roots, but I can't help it, I loathe the rain.  I loathe the rain even more with a baby in tow as I either stay inside all day or take tremendous care to bundle him accordingly so that no tiny drops reach his tiny limbs.  I am longing for the promise of late spring - the warmth - the freedom.  Lately, what has constituted a good day has been getting out for a hike or extended walk, especially on the weekend.  Fresh Air/Free/Exercise/Entertainment/Discover new places... can't beat that.  Looks like this weekend might be super crap....arrrg.

Overall Charlie is doing well - he's more mobile every day and is now consistently pulling himself up on his knees and a few times lately to his feet. He's eating  lots of solid purees with little fuss and is learning to express himself in new grunts/octaves all the time :-) Still no teeth, but that's okay with me.

We're celebrating 8 months tomorrow.