Local Food and Good Music

It's been a week full of good friends for us.  We were down in Salt Lake City, balancing skiing and friendship.  It was the perfect way also to spend some together time for our Anniversary, which is today.

I thought I would share a couple highlights with you.

I got to do some shopping in Salt Lake City during the week and check out some of the local stores, in one of the stores I came across a free publication called edibleWasatch.  It is a great magazine that comes out 4 times a year in many communities across the country and focuses on the people and businesses in those communities that are playing a large part in their local food movement.  You learn about the restaurants that are purchasing and using local food and the people growing it.  I encourage you to check it out and see if there is one for your location!  http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/   Oh yeah, there were seasonal recipes also!

On Saturday night we went to a concert with our friends.  The band playing was Elephant Revival, http://elephantrevival.com/.  I encourage you to check them out.  Each and every member is extremely talented and can sing and play multiple instruments, they merge a lot of different musical labels such as, bluegrass, folk, celtic, and more but all with an amazing form of energy.  We all enjoyed it!

Happy Anniversary to my dear husband, I cannot imagine life without him. 

Travel and Garlic

It was another week of travel, this week to Oklahoma City.  Somehow the travel and work piled on for me this week and I was really overwhelmed by Friday.  Maybe you know that feeling ... all the things we feel like we need to do swirling around in our head from work to the exercise I know will make me feel better to the house cleaning that needs to be done, but no energy to do them; tired of eating, but no energy to think about cooking something.  So, yesterday I wallowed, but today I had to pull out of it - at least somewhat! 

So after sleeping for 9 1/2 hours, I started the day with spinning class.  It's hard to ignore those amazing endorphins that come from spinning class!  Then I ignored the computer, which I should have worked at all day, and went to my kitchen to attack a project I've been meaning to accomplish.  I still had lots of garlic from the garden last year but it was starting to sprout.  So I went about chopping it up and putting it in a glass jar layered with olive oil.  A good way to keep it and make it easier to use in the coming months.

I spent hours today, only interrupted by a wonderful lunch with a good friend, peeling and chopping garlic.  The smell is wafting up to me as I type and while, I may smell like garlic for a few days, I accomplished and completed one thing on my list today!  I will try to revel in that accomplishment, versus everything I did not accomplish.

One good thing about my trip this week was I got to go for a warm walk on Wednesday, after working all day, and I walked to the OK City Bombing Memorial.  I got there right before sunset and here you can see a group of the chairs, that represent the people that died on each floor of the building, right after the lights came on, with the reflection pond in front of them.

Final Cake Decorating Class

Phew, I made it, tonight was the last cake decorating class. It was a hard day in general, but this added to it.  We had to come to class with a frosted cake ready to decorate.  In class we practiced writing and roses, neither of which I used on my final cake as I will need a bit more practice and stiffer icing for my roses.  But, they are doable!

There were definitely many cakes better than mine, but the class voted and determined mine was friend worthy, so I it didn't even make it home, I dropped it off at a friend's house!

This is a chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache filling between the layers.  The bottom layer is 9" and the top is 8".  If nothing else, I am proud that I made a chocolate cake with white icing and didn't have any problem with crumbs in my icing!

Cake Decorating Class #3

Well this past Monday was the third cake decorating class and we did cupcakes.  I had coconut cupcakes, made ahead when I made the coconut cake for last week - gotta love thinking ahead, and with a surprise chocolate filling.  I felt a little more positive about being able to make some presentable things after this class. 

So here we are, I didn't have trouble giving them away at this mornings Kiwanis meeting!

First, we practiced my dots and had lovely pink and white frosting because I was running out of the white and had added pink.  It worked well!

 Next we practiced the twisted flower.

 Rosettes or swirls,  hopefully rosettes, but I admit I can't really tell the difference!

Ah, the straight flower....

Now, can you tell this is a Shaggy Mum?



Can I tell you how many bags I had filled with different colored and textured frosting and how much clean-up there is!  Crazy!  Next week, our final exam, which includes Roses and a whole cake!

Super Bowl Spread

Well, I've got a new home computer and apparently that means learning a new photo editing system before I can get these pictures up, sorry that took me a couple days! 

In case you haven't heard - the Green Bay Packers won the super bowl! I can tell you for those of us from Wisconsin - this is REALLY EXCITING!  So I invited a few people over.  Usually I don't watch much football around others, but I thought it might keep me from getting too stressed.  :)  And inviting others over meant having food.  I wanted munchies and food that was really good, but healthier than the standard fair. 

I really wanted a munchie to set in bowl and I had it in my head I wanted a Popcorn and Nut mix.  I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I used a Spiced Nut Mix I already have and added the popcorn.  After popping the popcorn, I melted some butter and olive oil, mixed in the spices and then tossed that with the popcorn, the nuts were toasted in the oven in their spice mix.  It went over well and everyone liked it.

 For dips I made the Edamame Hummus you see below and a hot Spinach Artichoke Dip.  The Spinach Artichoke dip was from Cooking Light and the Hummus I made up.  I used 1 cup of Edamame and 1 can of chickpeas in a regular hummus recipe and added a good handful of chopped parsley to it.  The Edamame Hummus was very good.

Well, a gathering wouldn't be complete without Smoked Fish in the Graff family and we are so thankful my Dad has shared his secrets with Joe.  Joe smoked some trout he caught and it was really good.  It went perfect with the last of my Dad's Venison Summer Sausage and some good sharp white cheddar.  Dad.....just so you know we are out of summer sausage.......

 The above went perfectly with some bread I crisped up in the oven, crackers, and a big plate of colorful veggies, of which I did not get a picture.

 For halftime, I had a Shredded Buffalo BBQ sandwiches, topped with a slaw full of cabbage, carrots, radish, and Jicama. I cooked a Buffalo roast in the crockpot all day, shredded it and mixed it with a BBQ sauce I made.  Tasty!  On the side I had a Red Quinoa salad with feta, celery, grated green apple and Parsley. 

Well, I had to try to put my new decorating skills to use, even though they are questionable skills.  So I bought a football and football helmet cookie cutter and set about determining how to decorate the cookies.  I think the footballs came out pretty well.  The helmets need some work.  :)  But, I did find an amazing website (Karen's Cookies).  She gives tutorials and recipes for decorating cookies - very cool.  And I bought a new tool I can't believe I lived without.  If you don't have an adjustable rolling pin, get one!  I just put the quarter inch ends on and my cookies were all miraculously the same thickness!  It makes me want to make more cut out cookies.

As my cousin Jane would say - "We are the Champions!!!!"

Cake Decorating Class #2

Ok, well I'm going to share this whole, possibly embarrassing, adventure with you and we'll see if I improve.  As I was walking around class last night toward the end I was thinking, "Boy, I'd better step it up" and "I'm not sure I have the right kind of creativity to be a good cake decorator"....

The second thing I'm thinking is, I'm not sure if this cake decorating dream goes along with my lifestyle choice of healthy eating!  I've eaten more sugar in the past 4 days than in the whole past year and my body is telling me to stop.  The sugar is definitely not welcome.  I do miss an office I could take the goodies to so they would disappear!  But, if anything, I'm no quitter, so I'll complete this cake decorating dream and hopefully be able to make decent cakes for friends.  In the meantime, does anyone need a piece of cake?  Please stop by!

Here's what we have learned so far:

1. How to make icing in different thicknesses - I find it to be very similar to judging the slump of concrete!
2. Icing the cake, without getting crumbs all over, and so it is nice and even.
3. Stars
4. Lines
5. Elongated blobs
6. Squiggly lines

Behold my first cake, a Coconut cake with Chocolate Coconut Frosting.  It is good.  But I humbly put this picture up here thinking - the view is not good - I hope I get better!

Next week - cupcakes!