She came back

I believe the moose came back yesterday while we were at work. How do I know? No, there were no moose hoof prints or scat around BUT my kohlrabi leaves have been eaten. They look like they were munched on by something BIG and I haven't seen a horse or a cow around. Luckily for us, the kohlrabi is a root vegetable so if she's going to eat something from our garden, it's the thing to eat. Plus, I thought I was buying broccoli not kohlrabi...as they have the same looking leaves. If you are wondering about kohlrabi, look it up. It's the sputnik-look vegetable. As long as she leaves the tomatoes and herbs alone I'm okay with "feeding her." She did leave our lettuce and flowers alone. BUT I really would prefer for her to eat while I'm at the house with my camera pointed at her. You gotta love Alaska! So if you're wandering our way, come on by.

There's a MOOSE in my Backyard

We were talking with Elizabeth and Abby last Sunday evening on Skype when all of a sudden Kent cries out there's a Moose in our backyard. The grasses are about 5 feet tall so you can see how large it really is. I think it's a cow because no antlers... and nothing else "abounds". Look at that hump! It almost looks like a camel. No, it doesn't but did you know moose had such big humps? And yes, those grasses and trees haven't been mowed down yet for a subdivision that is supposed to go up behind our house so we still have a view of the great outdoors. We turned the Skype camera around so Elizabeth and Abby could see. Elizabeth said, "Wow! It looks like Alaska. You really do live in Alaska." You think? Abby saw the moose also but it wasn't so thrilling for her. When you are two, everything is new...


So I'm wondering, where did you think I really lived? And how did the moose get so many scars? Just wondering...

Cakes

I have been decorating cakes since high school? I decorated the kids' birthday cakes for years. When we moved to Beijing there weren't so many decorated cakes, American style (sweet) so I started making and decorating more. In Norway I made decorated cakes for my Young Women's birthdays. This is a bridal shower cake I made in Norway for one of my Visiting Teaching sisters.

I wanted to learn how to work with fondant but to take THAT course you have to start with Course I. So I did. I had free time after we first moved to Alaska and decided to do something worthwhile and perhaps meet new people. I did meet people but most were taking classes with friends. I still learned something from each class. And how to make so many flowers!

These are from my Wilton Course classes. I took them at Michaels' Crafts Store in Anchorage.

Course I, lesson 1 was teaching us how tos: how to bake a cake (using Wilton even strips...that really do help to keep the cake baking more level, rather than have a bump in the center), how to level a cake, how to frost and stack it, how to make "Wilton Buttercream frosting". Lots of how tos.

Then in lesson 2 we worked on using decorator bags and various tips, how to transfer patterns to a cake and doing the drop star filling-in techniques. Obviously I had done that before and wasn't interested in rainbows or filling a cake with lots of stars...


In Course I, lesson 3 we learned the first steps to making the "Wilton Rose" and clowns. I already knew how to make roses. I thought the cakes were just to practice on, not to decorate as "masterpieces" so I just put things on my cake, practicing... Didn't know there would be pictures and I should have balanced and positioned my clowns and rose better...

I missed Course I, lesson 4 with my original class due to going to AZ and ID to receive our Norsk shipment. I took lesson 4 when I got back to Alaska and joined another class. This class was on decorating a cake using roses.


In Course II we learned how to use Color flow Icing, Royal Icing and make various flowers. We also learned how to do other borders and basket weaving. I just didn't like the birds so I didn't put my Red Cardinals on my cake...plus the red would have clashed. You can see that I like more muted colors than the rest of the class. I really did enjoy learning how to make so many different flowers. I also appreciated even more all the Royal Icing daisies my sister Eileen made for my wedding cake all those years ago! Oh how her back must have ached! Thank you Eileen.

The Fondant and Gum Paste Course actually comes in between Course II and Course III. This was the class I originally wanted to take. I enjoyed stepping out of the box and doing something completely different and yet used all the skills we learned in the class. It was fun. I did learn that it is better to use Royal Icing when writing/decorating on fondant. Buttercream just falls off. It lasted on the eggs just long enough for pictures.

I also learned that homemade marshmallow fondant is cheaper to make (although it is hard on your mixer) and tastes tons better than ready prepared fondant. Because you can heat it up in the microwave for a very short time, it becomes softer and more pliable to use. I found that it needed to be rolled out on cornstarch whereas the Wilton fondant does well on a greased rolling sheet. And you must use enough cornstarch or shortening so that it doesn't stick to the rolling sheet because that will really make a wreck of your frosting job!!! (Yes, I do have experience in this...)

I started taking my own pictures of my cakes. You can see where some of the buttercream frosting decorating the eggs has fallen off. Yes, those are individually crafted fondant leaves, daisies and eggs. (Fondant daisies aren't easier than Royal Icing daisies but do go a bit faster.)

Even with all the fancy cake learning, I still had to do the traditional Easter bunny cake for Easter dinner.














After the Fondant and Gum Paste class comes Course III where we learn how to use fondant... again. But it really was better to have the introduction to it before because in this course you're expected to know how to work with it already. Here we learned how to top a square/rectangle cake with fondant. It is NOT as easy as the instructor made it look. We all had wrinkles. We also learned how to ripple the fondant bows for a more realistic look. I had figured out the curly ribbons for my Easter Egg cake and did not like them on this cake.















Grand Finale Cake

The last cake you make is a wedding cake. It can be stacked or pillared. This is mine. Each of those flowers are hand done (by ME) fondant/gum paste roses and leaves. They are completely edible other than the fact that they are held together and arranged with wires... I was going to do a different border instead of the green ribbon but ran out of time and found the ribbon while looking for floral tape. The color matched and helped to hide the fondant wrinkles in the top layer (don't roll the fondant so thinly, but then I was using up all the white that I had made and had to make sure it would go around... Learn as you go.) I must say I am proud of how it turns out when I don't think of me as having a real artistic touch arranging flowers. It was a sad day when I dumped all those flowers in the trash. All that work and out it goes... We ate the bottom layer at work. The middle and top are in our freezer.


I was hired to replace a lady who went on maternity leave. Angela became a friend and I wish she were still at work. She was very kind. We had an office shower for her and I made the cake. It looked good but...
*the blue didn't turn into baby blue like I wanted it too
*the frosting that I used under the fondant (yes you still have to frost the cake with frosting and then you put the fondant over it) never hardened up and the fondant sagged.
*The blocks are not heavy and are not what makes cake look like it's sagging from their weight...
But Angela was pleased. And that is what matters. You get what you pay for...

And after this cake, the fondant is gone and I am done... It takes a lot of hours to make fondant decorations: blocks, flowers, buttons, etc. and then put the cakes together. It is fun. It does stretch my artistic abilities. And now my girls are married and don't need me to make them a cake...and all the kids are grown up and I'm not around them to make them or the grandkids birthday cakes...and I finally have the skills!

So, I'm wondering, why did I take the classes?

It's already JUNE

You know, I've worked for 6 weeks now and I'm still loving it. I like the computer work, the meeting the people work, the challenges and laughs. We have a fun-loving office. I have a back office that is usually a quieter area and people forget I'm there until I surface for a break.

Our ward started dinner groups this spring. It was our turn to host it. The menu consisted of Herbed Chicken Francois, Oat bran rolls, brown rice (that I put in 3x the right amount of salt, so rinsed it off, put it back in the pan and it was okay), green salad w/ mandarin oranges, corn, broccoli and peas w/ carrots. Dessert was a yummy éclair style cake with chocolate curls on top. Everything went together well. The salad was just perfect with the chicken.

Kent had the day off and it was fun having him drop ME off to work and leave him a Honey-Do list. Which he DID NOT do but DID clean the house which was even better! The Honey-Do list can wait another week as it's waited for 6 months already... One of the best surprises was a vase full of flowers on the dining room table when I got home. He picked me up from work and on the way to the grocery store we stopped at a roadside van for some fresh frozen (caught 3 days ago, frozen, bagged and sealed on the boat--how do they do all that and catch their catch???) Since the shrimp and scallops were frozen and needed to go into the freezer, Dad dropped me off at home and then went on to the grocery store. I suggested it would be nice to get some cheap flowers if he saw some. With a sheepish grin he replied that he already had gotten some while at Wal-mart and they were on the table...but they needed some help. What a wonderful surprise! (And all the help they needed was just to be cut down as they were to tall for dining and then they filled in the vase nicely.)

My "garden" is doing nicely. The pots are high enough off the ground (on a porch deck) that the rabbit is leaving them alone. You see, I've got lettuce so I know he'd find it if it were on his level. The only plant that seems to be eaten is the catnip... And Scratch isn't acting mellow so I'm not sure who (or what) is stealing my catnip. But some animal is getting mellow.

Kent went to Idaho a couple of weeks back to work on the farm's fence with Vern, Brian and David. He came back tired out and leaving a list of things that needed to be done around the house.
Katie and Brian went to work and man did they work! They sanded and sealed the trailer, scraped pillars, cleaned and cleaned, weeded, mowed, trimmed, weed wacked, sorted storage and Noway boxes, found the trampoline and set it up (and it seems to be in good working, usable shape, YES!), and cleaned the garage. I think Dan helped with the garage cleaning too as he's in the picture. (He just missed getting to Idaho in time to work on the fences...)

Brian built some wonderful shelves in the garage and stocked them with all our "stuff". Most of the 'free' wall space now has built in shelving. He
sent some pictures and it looks great! (I thought I figured out how to do it... but do you see them? Okay, found them and cut and pasted them about where I wanted them but how do I get them to line up in a row? Hey, somehow they just did...)

There are a couple of more corners that he could still put some shelves up on but he "didn't want to encourage me to save more" what was the word he used? Knickknacks? Memories?
Keepsakes? Antiques? Stuff? Junk? (Getting closer to the word...) Garbage... Garbage? Yah, I think garbage might have been the word he used... Does this look like garbage to you?

Remember in The Field of Dreams "if you build it, they will come" line? Well, the corollary for me and Brian is "If I build more shelves for Mom, she will fill them...and then I will have to move them umpteen times just to have to sort through the garbage and take to the dump...so let's not build them and say we did!" Someday, someone will appreciate my "garbage". At least one or two or my grandkids are enjoying a few of my books... And one day you guys will enjoy some of my other 'good' stuff (furniture, jewelery, china, silver)...when I'm dead!

On the drama side of life this week:

• the basement window was not put in properly and the rains came...and the library room flooded... And Brian and Katie (and David and Tyler???) had to move boxes again, dry things out, and mop up water.
• David has a cyst that needs to be checked out. He had an ultrasound done but no word yet on whether it is something to really worry about. (It is fine.)
  
• And our Aaron (Dan and Christina's 2 year old son) was diagnosed as autistic. It wasn't a surprise but is still overwhelming. He did seem to be in his own little world but is pleasant and seems happy. I worry about the detour in life this is going to give his family.

It seems that 'bad' things usually come in THREES so hopefully these three will be it for the rest of the year!

Well, enough for this month of wandering thoughts. Love you guys!
Mom