Dee-lightful Lunch and Dee-licious Dessert with my sister Dee!

Every year, my sister Dee and I take a short drive out to the quaint old town of Owego where we browse in the shops along Front Street and have lunch at the River Rose Cafe.  I love sitting on the patio beside the Susquehanna River.  Seems like every year the weather is perfect and this September day was no different. 

The food is wonderful, of course: soups, salads, a selection of panini sandwiches, as well as specialty sandwiches and wraps.  I got the Ferry Boat Veggie Wrap which was made with their homemade sun-dried tomato hummus and dill dressing.  I ate the whole thing.  Dee loved her Oakley Corners turkey panini that included a surprisingly delicious combination of fresh strawberries and jam, spinach, red onions and swiss cheese on ciabatta bread.

                                  

Fortunately, it was on our way out that we noticed the pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing!  Dangerously yummy-looking, but we just walked on by because waiting for us at home was a fabulous Peanut Butter Pie that Dee made for me.  (I'll definitely try making the cookies myself once I get home in a few days--that and the pie too!)

Later that afternoon settled in at Dee's, we made coffee and finally cut into her pie. It was even better than I expected.  Dee-licious and easy to make.

It didn't take long for it to disappear!

Dee's Peanut Butter Pie

Courtesy of Food  Network:

Sandra Lee/ Kim Howard recipe

with Dee's special Heath Toffee Bits touch

Ingredients

Filling:

1.  1/2 cup peanut butter

2.  1 cup powdered sugar

3.  1/4 cup milk (low fat okay)

4.  1 tsp vanilla

5.  1 (8 ounce)  cream cheese (low fat okay)

---1 (8 ounce) tub whipped topping (lite)

---1 cookie pie crust (ie. Oreo)

---Chocolate ice cream topping (ie. Magic Shell)

---Heath English Toffee Bits

Directions

In large bowl, combine all filling ingredients. Blend with stand or hand mixer.  Gently fold in whipped topping.  Pour into prepared crust and freeze for 2 hours.  Once frozen, drizzle with chocolate ice cream topping and sprinkle Heath bits; then refreeze for 20 minutes.

Thaw slightly (10 minutes) before serving and cut into thin slices because this is a rich pie.

Apple Pie, Cider and Doughnuts: It Must Be Fall!

What better way to welcome in Fall than a trip to the Cider Mill in Endicott, New York.

While visiting my dad and sister in my hometown of  Binghamton, New York, I took a trip to the Cider Mill.  It certainly must be that time of year because there were two parking attendants guiding cars in and out of their busy lot. Outside were bins of several varieties of apples plus other seasonal fruits and vegetables, including a selection of pumpkins for Halloween--already! 

Inside was an educational experience on the process of making cider, doughnuts, and apple pie. While sampling freshly made cider, we watched as the apples were pressed, filtered, and bottled.  The cider was surprisingly light and subtly sweet--delicious.

Depending on the time of day, you can also watch them make candied apples, pies and doughnuts. We missed this part but made up for it by purchasing as many of the products as we could afford.

We bought apple jelly and raspberry preserves, a couple of gallons of cider, an apple pie and a dozen doughnuts. 

                              

We had considered going apple picking and then making an apple pie, but hey, I'm on vacation!

Check it out:   http://www.cidermillendicott.com/     

Happy Birthday Chuck: This One was Fun!

Another family birthday!  This one was for my brother-in-law Chuck Tade and  I knew immediately how I wanted to decorate his cake.  So I flipped through my Country Kitchen SweetArt catalog and found the perfect little themed-set.

Yep, Chuck is a hunter...and I'm a vegetarian!  So this time I made sure that the deer would outsmart the  hunter and get away.  All in good fun, and Chuck was a good sport about it, as I knew he would be. 

Again no fondant lovers at this party, so another white cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream icing.  No fancy decorating techniques either, just mail order decorations and cute candles.  But the cake was good as Cake Crumbs recipe cakes always are--moist and light.  I am and always will be indebted to John amd Susan Rota for all they taught me about baking and cake decorating.  I hope one day to continue on to more advanced-level classes. 

For now I'm having fun baking for family and friends and they seem to be enjoying it as well:

Chuck enjoyed his and Jessica (his daughter) had a second piece and took some home as well! 

Let's see...who's next?  Oh my, can it be true? My son Dean is going to be 30 in October!!!!!  Hmmm, if not another Dodger cake, then what should be the theme?  Hockey...the Ducks?  Stay tuned....

Happy Birthday Yolande!

                                   
Lovely Yolande with a glass of almond champagne and her birthday cake: White Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream icing. 

Buttercream layers

Crumb coat










Second icing.  I am still struggling to get that professional sleek, smooth finish.  I tried again and again and realized I'd just mess it up if I kept trying.










As for the buttercream decorations, I had some problems as it was quite warm and the buttercream softened quickly.  I refrigerated it before creating roses and shells, but my roses kept flattening. They didn't hold their shape as well as my practice ones the night before using store-bought shortening-based icing (yuck).  So I settled for one rose in the center with leaves and then piped shells around the rim and bottom.  I'm learning--and it still looked pretty.










Tasted good the next morning too!

Not Back to School for Me, But Back to Baking and Blogging, Yes!

It's been one full year since I retired from teaching.  The official retirement date may be June 30, but it's the opening of a new school year that really marks it for any teacher, and thus the real retirement date.  We're used to those weeks off in summer: sleeping in, taking trips, reading books we want to read.  It's that first week back that is a killer: getting up with the birds, rushing to school, standing on our feet most of the day, preparing lesson plans and grading papers night after night. For some, that week doesn't begin until after Labor Day; for many it begins the third or fourth week of August.  But this year my colleagues at LAUSD, bless their souls, had to start back this past Monday, August 16th!  So though it's still summer to many people out there, to me and my fellow teachers, it's back to school time already.  And yet, I don't have to go back to school....

But I do have to get back to baking!  My trips are behind me: my niece's wedding in NY and my trip with my husband to Lake Louise, Canada which was glorious. And since my friends and colleagues are talking about the new school year, I feel like it's time for me to get back to my two serious ventures: writing and baking. So this week I worked on some short fiction, I'm returning to my blog right now, and I'm in the midst of baking a cake for my mother-in-law, Yolande.

So first things first. Lake Louise, Canada: Two Stunning Sights

Taken from in front of our hotel--Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada

Taken at Moraine Lake Lodge--Chocolate Banana Spring Roll--delicious.  Just right: not too much chocolate or banana, a touch of custard, and a nice crisp crunch of the spring roll pastry.

Second things second:  Great Birthday Gifts: Two New Cake Plates

This cute little cupcake plate is just the right size for serving a few cookies or cupcakes.  I found it at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena.  They have the nicest selection of uniques gifts in addition to being a fabulous bookstore.  I bought it, along with a couple of books, using my gift money from my dad--Thanks Dad!

And from my good friend Margaret, a lovely hand-painted Italian cake plate to add to my now growing collection of three plates: small, medium, and large. Perfect.  I love it.  Thanks, Margaret!  And it is appropriately displayed beside a bottle of Sopranos Chianti given to me by the charming and always entertaining sisters: Rosine and Yolande. The wine was thoroughly enjoyed and the plate is now a centerpiece on my table and will be used for years to come.

And last but certainly not least.  Yolande's Birthday Cake: A Buttercream Work in Progress and Practice!

For my mother-in-law Yolande's birthday, I wanted to make a special cake--fancy-schmancy fondant and gumpaste flowers and all that jazz--but she preferred a white cake with white buttercream icing because, like many people, she doesn't like fondant.  Fairly simple, though I plan on making Italian Meringue Buttercream which is bit complicated, cooking the sugar and all; however, I am not that experienced with piping buttercream decorations. Aha!  A challenge!

So today I baked the cake, wrapped the layers, and put them in the fridge.  (Tomorrow I will make the buttercream, then assemble, ice, and decorate the cake.)  But--today--using store bought Wilton's shortening-based Decorator's Icing which tasted terrible--I practiced on parchment paper which I then threw away--along with the Wilton's Decorator's Icing!  I practiced piping shells, ruffles, stars, rosettes, leaves, and finally a rose on a nail. 

Now I have to give credit where credit is due.  I learned how to do the buttercream rose a month or so ago at an afternoon class in West Hollywood's Cake and Art cake shop. They do all their cakes--often for big-name celebrities--using buttercream--no fondant.  My instructor was the cutest and sweetest young man named Kody.  We had so much fun listening to Etta James and decorating our cakes. 

 

Kody was quite a character.  He showed me a video where he dressed up as Brittany Spears and delivered a cake to Mario Lopez on Extra!  We had fun that afternoon--and I learned how to make a buttercream rose using a nail tool--which I practiced over and over today.  So we'll see how it comes out tomorrow! Stay tuned!!

I plan now to continue my baking daze journey. Further classes will have to wait, however, as my finances have dwindled a bit, but I plan to use what I've learned and move forward--hopefully improving as I go!

Another Birthday--Already?

Amazing how quickly a year goes by and another birthday rolls around.  I celebrated with my kids yesterday and my daughter brought the cake--all chocolate of course and delicious--from Sweet Lady Jane's.

The only baking I did this week was my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies that I put in doggie bags for the kids to take home with them. You can see a few left on the plate on the counter and the the bags to the far left.  For recipe see http://bakingdazeinla.blogspot.com/2010/03/most-requested-cookies.html  

A busy week ahead, but when all settles down I plan to begin baking and blogging about everything that I learned in my Pro Baking class and to move forward with classes in more advanced cake decorating. So stay tuned!

...I may be a year older, but I'm also a year smarter--when it comes to baking, that is!

Kristina and Jay's Wedding. The Groom's Cake: A Taste of Roger

                                                            

Last week I flew back east to New York for my niece's wedding.  It was a magnificent event held at the Glen Island Harbor Club in New Rochelle.  While I could go on and on about every detail from the flowers, to the food, to the fabulous band Full House, I have to admit the highlight for me was Roger.  You see the groom Jay hopes one day to get an English bulldog and name him Roger, and while his bride Kristina is not quite ready for that yet, she does love her man enough to give him, shall we say, a taste of Roger.  And so for his groom's cake presented at the rehearsal dinner, she had cake artist Susan Gambelli, create an English bulldog cake.

I didn't get to see the entire cake as pictured above with Roger atop a cake.  I met him the next day sitting in a torn box, but still retaining all the charm and dignity of a bulldog in a top hat.  Beside him was a bowl of dog food that he hadn't yet eaten; perhaps he was watching his weight for the occasion.

 

Isn't he amazing?  Or should I say isn't Susan Gambelli amazing?  The attention to detail is the mark of a true artist.  Look at the folds, the coloring, the shades and shadows, his tongue--I think everyone touched it at some point to see if it was wet!--his ears, eyes, paws, nub of a tail, and even the dog food.  Incredible!  Of course, I had to email her to send my praise and admiration and ask a few questions.  Here's her response:

"Thank you so much for your kind words Debbie. I had a blast making the bulldog for Kristina and Jay. To answer your questions, yes he was made from rice crispy treats and then iced and then covered in sculpted fondant, airbrushed etc. The dog food was raisins that were mixed into dog food colored butter cream and then airbrushed to make it look realistic. I am planning on putting him on my website soon. So when I do I will let you know so you can put a link on yours. I would really love that!!! Cake decorating is my passion and anything involving sculptures is my kind of work. Anyways enjoy your baking journey and decorating and thanks again!!!"

Sweet Regards,

-Susan
Susan Gambelli Custom Cakes
914-831-2001
www.susangambellicakes.com

(For those of you not familiar with cake talk, when she says "iced" before the fondant is applied, she means iced with buttercream--not ice cubes--so the fondant will adhere.)


The wedding cake itself was provided by the venue, I believe.  Lovely, but didn't hold a candle to Roger!

Yes, I will always treasure my memory of Roger, that and watching my dad dance...with the bride of course,

and with me!