A Rose by Any Other Name - Final Cake!

Ta Da! This is the final cake from my decorating class.

As you can see it involved buttercream roses - I had never made these before. They were harder than I thought, but I was also using a slightly "wrong" petal tip and my icing might have been off. Oh, well. I like them, but they took a long time. I'm sure if I did nothing but practice I would become a pro....and could get a job in the Jewel bakery - hey, it might not be long off...

There's a lot going on with the cake - by a lot, I mean a lot of icing. I would have left it simple, see below, but I was supposed to show the other techniques from previous lessons.

Brad has enjoyed eating cake for the past three weeks - but, I don't think I'm going to take the next class. I'll keep practicing and making cakes - don't worry, but right now all I have on my mind is oatmeal cookies....so stay tuned!

PS, purple was the color used in our book...but, we could choose any color we wanted. I stuck with purple because I happen to like it and might own a pair of lavender shoes. One of my cousins once had an all-purple birthday party (sometime in the 80s). I was totes jealous. She got purple luggage - which me and all my other cousins thought was SO COOL! Hey, it was the 80s - but, I'd probably still take purple luggage now...

Dear White Jeans...

Are you really "in" again for this spring/summer? I just saw a fashion news segment that said white jeans were the thing to have. I admit that I kinda have a love hate relationship with white jeans - and pants for that matter. It's like I want them to look good on everyone, myself included, but sometimes (most of the time?) that's not the case. The fashion "expert" on the segment said that everyone can wear them, but I'm sorry, I have to disagree...have you ever been to the Taste of Chicago? shudder...

But, this got me thinking about the white jeans I once bought at a J Crew outlet on a family vacation, in oh about 1995? I loved them and they looked good - I even wore them on a trip to NYC with a black fanny pack - yes, I know.....and there are pictures (no, I don't have them). WTF? Please don't think any less of me...

Over the years, I've since bought other pairs of white pants - not jeans - and I always end up usually only wearing them once. Maybe I'm intimidated by them? Maybe my thass shouldn't be covered in any kind of white clothing? Maybe my dad used to tell me I had a hole in my chin b/c I inevitably always spilled stuff on myself?

Like in Never Been Kissed, when Drew Barrymore spills chocolate milk on herself "Josie Geller: That'll teach me to wear white jeans after labor day. Gibby Zerefski: I don't think you're supposed to wear white jeans after 1983."

HAH! Awesome.

Anyway...so, white jeans - I guess I'll be buying you this weekend?

Love,

Me

Clowns Aren't Always Scary - Sometimes They're Fat and on a Cake

I didn't really want to post a picture of this clown cake - because, well...it's disproportionate and it's not my fave.

Fat clown, tiny head. I'm singing "fat clown with a tiny head" like "fat man in a tiny coat" from Tommy Boy.

It looks like that shrunken head character in Beetlejuice. When Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are in the waiting room of the afterworld?

It's my own fault that my clown is so fat. "You're using the wrong tip," my instructor said. I said, "I know, I don't care, I like this better!" But, that was before I took the little plastic clown head out of the package. I didn't realize how small it really was. I felt bad that I fated him to a fat life, so fat that I couldn't even fit a little friend for him on the other side of the cake. There were supposed to be two on there for the assignment.

Well, don't order a clown cake from me just yet I guess. I think the dots are cute and I'm decently happy with the shell border. It's harder than you think...

Oh, it's chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry filling - at least it tastes good.

To me, the best part was that Brad thought the clown body looked more like a brain (why have I talked about brain in my last two posts?) and now wants a zombie cake with a brain for his birthday. Not totally weird, he likes zombies. Hopefully I can get some good inspiration at the zombie pub crawl we're going to on Saturday.

Musings on a Gastropub

We finally ate at this restaurant that we've been wanting to try out. It's had a lot of hype and the first time we tried to go there was a two-hour wait--and they don't take reservations (what's up with that?). Last night there was only a one-hour wait so we had some drinks and fancy cocktails (categorized on the menu by the minutes it took to make them...) and actually had a table in the bar. Wine didn't have a "time" but my glass still took 10 minutes.

I think I was more excited about this place before we ate there. But, I don't really want to do a restaurant review - I just want to talk about the fact that I tried bone marrow and goat brain.

Yes, those of you that know me know that I don't really eat meat - but, I felt compelled to try these delicacies that so many foodies rave about. Oh, and the hubs was adamant about ordering these dishes.

I only tried a little marrow - and to be honest I think I liked the onion jam better than the actual marrow. It looked pretty funky to me, but Brad was ALL about it. I mean, the guy did used to eat the gristle off of his steak as a child. I guess some things never change...

As for the "goat brain" this was supposed to be the filling in a ravioli - and I can't believe I'm saying this - but, there probably could have been more brain in there. It tasted like cheese ravioli to me, which is fine, but I wish I could have tasted something more distinguished so I could share my reaction. Unless goat brain is supposed to taste like cheese?

Over the Rainbow

I had my second cake decorating class last night - we got to pull out the piping bags and tips to actually use them - finally! With me, I also had a light blue frosted cake (that I made, but admit it was a box mix) and about 10 tubs of frosting in assorted colors and consistencies. The goal of the class was to work on stars, zigzags and letters - and decorate said cake with a cheesy, er cheery, rainbow using those techniques.

I only got the red row of the rainbow done in class - however, I partially blame the waiting I did to be "instructed," and, well, the interesting people in the class. Hilar...everyone wanted to know how I knew to bring the different frostings. Did they read the book where it listed out 50 things to bring to the second class (which included a bath-sized towel...still figuring that one out, I didn't use mine)? One person came with their cake already decorated - in their own "special" way...there wasn't a rainbow anywhere on that cake.

So, I finished the cake today - while listening to some classic Cd's from college (*NSYNC, Center Stage soundtrack and Squirrel Nut Zippers) - iTunes was definitely missing them and so was I! You know you loved *NSYNC...:) And, was anyone else inspired to take a dance class after seeing Center Stage, or was that just me and my sister? HAH

Anyway, here's the completed cake. There are a few things I would have done differently, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. And, while the decorating style might not really go along with my personal ideas, I have learned some good basics in the class so far.

BTW, looking forward to next week's Real Housewives - LuAnn goes to the Halloween party in an American Indian costume?! Awesome

I'll Have the "Melange of Blog" Please

Yeah, so I'm breaking down and starting a blog. I think I've missed the "everybody's doing it" phase of the blogosphere, but that's not why I'm starting this. Mostly, I see my blog as a more enhanced version of Facebooking or Twittering (which I've only recently given into - Facebook on the other hand has been a longer obsession).

I'll use it to keep in touch with family and friends; as a place to post pictures and stories of my baking/cooking adventures (especially as I start photographing my trials and tribulations with the cake decorating class I'm taking); and an overall outlet to write about very important subjects, including but not limited to, celebrity gossip, bad television (hello, Real Housewives and Rock of Love?), fashion, pop culture, food, etc. Basically, a melange of of a blog, if you will - and what's with the name haute broccoli? Well, it's kind of hard to explain, but I do LOVE vegetables!

I'm not sure who (if anyone) will read this - but, I'm looking forward to becoming obsessed with posting to this blog!