Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Franken-cake!!!

This is my latest cake. It is not a beauty. I had some problems with it; however, it tasted WONDERFUL! It is a White almond sour cream cake with raspberry fruit filling and buttercream icing.

Here's the story. I was bored. I had a big ball of brown fondant in my fridge leftover from my polka dot cake. I also had all the ingredients sitting around to make this cake and filling. Jim is away. So, I decided to make the cake. I had never tried this recipe before, and was anxious to. Well, the cakes turned out beautifully. They were so moist and had such a fine crumb. Oh my! The raspberry filling came out great too! So, I put a small slather of buttercream on the bottom cake so that my filling wouldn't seep into the cake. I did the same for the top layer that would be touching the filling. Then it was time for the filling. I thought I had all of my bases covered, so I put a generous layer of filling in, being careful not to get it so close to the edges. Of course I didn't want it to leak! LOL!!! Well, when I put my top cake on, my yummy raspberry filling came OOZING out of the sides! OMG! What to do? Well, I smooshed my cakes together (trying to get some of the filling out) and wiped the cake down. I then proceeded to ice my cake with the buttercream.... Well, the cake continued to ooze! My beautiful white BC was turning RASPBERRY RED!!!! And it was VERY hard to get my BC to stick to that cake after the filling smeared everywhere. Needless to say, this cake was ugly! It looked like a Frankencake!! LOL! But let me tell you, this cake tasted gourmet!

I have since learned what I did wrong. Obviously, I should have made a 'dam' around my filling to prevent oozing. Well.. practice makes perfect, right? I'm a work in progress.

I friend of mine just let me know that she wants me to make her baby shower cake. I have an idea of what I want to do.... But I'm not gonna share it yet! You will just have to wait!!!

Jim has been gone for a week. I'm missing him SUPER BAD! He's trying to be home by Friday. That would be awesome. Oh, and my mom is coming to visit tomorrow. I don't know how it's gonna go, but we will see. For the past year and a half, I have been having mommy issues and haven't really been talking to her much. But I hate drama and I want my son to grow up knowing her. I don't want him to ask me one day why I kept him away from her, so I'm gonna try to deal with it all just for him!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Proud Owner of a John Deere Boat!

Day 2 of Jim being gone. It's gonna be a long two weeks. For some reason Ty is so grumpy while Jim is gone. I don't blame him, I guess I am too. Jim called us at lunch, and Ty got to 'talk' to him. As soon as he heard his daddy's voice, he started smiling ear to ear. It was so sweet and very sad at the same time. Maybe he won't have to work out there very long. If I find a decent job soon, maybe he can switch it around so that he doesn't have to go offshore. It just breaks my heart that Jim is missing so much of Ty's 'babyhood'.

I found a site online today that has cookie cutters for $.59. That's awesome. I was going to buy them out of my Country Kitchen Sweetart catalouge for WAY more than that. I am going to buy about $20 worth tomorrow. I plan on picking up little things along the way so that maybe one day (if I am ever good enough) I might have everything I need to open a shop. I am so determined. I want to do this so bad. I just need a little instruction. I plan on ordering some instructional DVDs soon also. I have heard RAVE reviews about them. I may never have a 'formal' education, but I believe that I can teach myself. I WILL make something of myself!! I really wish I could get a job at a local bakery. That would be so wonderful. It would be that little bit of instruction I needed. Plus, it would be a paying job.

I did a little research and here in Louisiana it is illegal to have a home bakery. I don't fall into that category though because I have yet to sell my cakes! But, that means that is I ever DID want to start my own business, I would have to buy/rent a building. That would be a lot of overhead. There are a lot of states who allow home bakeries. All you have to do is have your kitchen inspected. But, of course Louisiana can't ever make anything easy.

OH! Jim's boat registration came in today! YAY!!! We are now the proud owners of a John Deere boat! WOOP! He has actually owned this boat for over 4 years, but had yet to have the registration changed. I guess it didn't really matter because it wasn't finished and he didn't have a desire to put it in the water until it was done. Actually, I think he's a little scared to put it in the water now because of all the hard work he has done to it. He made a comment that every time he put it in the water, he would be touching it up. LOL!





Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cake Crazy...

Jim just left us this morning. He will probably be gone for about 2 weeks. It's gonna be tough.... Ty really seems to act up while he's gone. I guess he just misses his daddy. Or gets tired of me. ; )

Anyhow, I got my braces off yesterday!! YAY! And let me tell you it HURT!!! My ortho 'shaved' the bottoms of my teeth down so that they would all be even. That hurt!! And about 4 hours after I got them off, my bottom teeth felt like they were going to fall out. I guess they were settling. But, I am very pleased with how they turned out. They look great! I bought some Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal. I started them yesterday because my teeth do leave a lot to be desired in the white category. Let's hope they work!

We had Allyson's birthday Monday. It was a success. Everyone loved the cake I made her. And they all thought that it tasted great too! Hopefully, they will have me make some of their cakes. I am so determined to be good at this! I want to do it so bad! Maybe when I start applying for jobs, I can find one at a bakery.

I am already starting to plan Ty's birthday party. He is already 9 months old. I can't decide what I want to do for him. It's not like he is into any of the cartoons or anything. Plus, I don't really like a lot of those 'themed' parties... I'm going to figure something out. And it's gonna be adorable!!


Allyson's Birthday Cake. 6/22/09


Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Someday

Jim is coming home today. He will be here in a few hours, but the sad part is he will be leaving to go back to the rig Monday. I can't wait to have him here! I'm so excited! I have been missing him so bad.

I went to pick up Jim's Father's Day gift earlier and while I was out, I stopped by the local bakery just to look. I told the girl that I was interested in a birthday cake for Ty, but in all honesty I just wanted to be nosey. Not really nosey, I did it more for research. As soon as I walked in the door, the heavenly smell of buttery cake batter almost knocked me over. I got the girl to give me a sample price sheet and list of cake and filling flavors in case I might actually get good enough to start making cakes for money. I swear, I am going to keep practicing until I do.... It might take me years, but I WILL do it.

And actually I wasn't all that impressed with their cakes. Don't get me wrong, they were pretty. They are way above my present skill level. But some of the buttercream cakes weren't smooth and some of the fondant ones had tears (more like wrinkles). I'm just saying, if I had a shop... and had paying customers... I would take my time and make sure EVERY cake was as perfect as I could make it. And I will. Someday.

Monday, June 8, 2009

My heart is in the Gulf of Mexico


Doesn't my baby look like a little marshmallow in his cute lil outfit? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!




I am really missing Jim. it has been a week, but it feels like a month! He may be able to come home thurs for a few days between motors. I really hope so! Nothing interesting has been happening. But, i did go to Daina's Sat and take pics of Ty. Daina and I had a fun girls day out. Charity kept Ty for me. We went and ate in River Ranch (the really nice part of town). We also did some shopping. She did all of the shopping though.. LoL. I did buy a few cake baking things. That was fun.
I get my braces off i n 2 weeks. Im super excited. It's been a year and a half since I have seen my teeth with no braces! As soon as I get them off, i plan on going job hunting!! I'm excited to get out of the house; however, im not looking forward to leaving my baby! I'm gonna be so sad. Because in all likelyhood, he is the only baby I will ever have. And I want to spend as much time as i can with him....

Friday, June 5, 2009

A Day in the Life....

Jim has been gone for what seems like forever (actually it's been 4 days). I can hardly sleep while he's gone. I have terrible dreams. I don't nessicarily dream that something happens to him, but it's always something bad nonetheless. Last time he was gone, I dreamt that some woman came to our house and told us that her 3 kids were his.... I have no idea why... Jim is not promiscuos (sp?) and never has been. Then, last night i dreamt that we were living in a house that was inhabited with an evil spirit. It was kinda like that movie "The Grudge". I guess that's why I'm up writing this at 11:00 p.m.

Today, Ty and I made a trip to Walmart. He WAS SOOO GOOD!! I'm so proud of my little man. He's getting to be such a good boy! Anyway, we picked up a few essentials like baby food and what not... But also we bought Jim's Father's Day gift.

This may sound dumb to anyone who doesn't have a husband who works in the oil field, but just try to see where I'm coming from.... From what I hear, those rigs can be pretty nasty... Jim always brings his pillow from home when he goes out there. So, at least he knows that is clean and that he has a good one. So, we bought him a big fluffy Simmons pillow and a really nice pillowcase (450 thread count I think??) I also took it to the embroidery place in town and am having them put his name on the end of it. In case he looses it or something... Like I said, that may sound stupid, but we dont have the money for me to buy him an extravagant gift. And he likes thoughtful things too. I think he will like this...

I also made my second fondant cake today. It is for Charity's (my neice) birthday which was about 2 weeks ago... LOL. I think I'm getting better at it. Maybe one day I will be good enough to open up my own little cake business! That would be so awesome! I'm just gonna keep practicing. I'll be baking cakes for any little occasion I can find, birthdays, Easter, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Presidents Day. LOL!!!






Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Great Start to My Week

My baby boy has some heartbreaker eyes! He loves his bath time!



I had to be in Monroe yesterday to see my orthodontist. I am getting my braces off in three weeks!! YAY!!! I got back last night. Jim left this morning about 3 AM. (That was the only not-so-good part) He will probably be gone for 14 days. : ( But I got my camera today!!! It is FABULOUS! It has so many settings and can do so many things! Poor Ty is probably seeing spots in his sleep because of all the pictures I took of him! I got some really good ones, though. There is a HUGE difference in my old kodak point-and-shoots and my new DSLR. It's amazing! I will be posting new pictures as I get them! We are going to Daina's house soon to take pics in her back yard. I wanted to take pics of Ty in the grass outide today, but it needs to be mowed. ; )