Someone......

Give me a challenging baking idea. Please.

Off to the Andes

Yes it's off to the Andes. No not the mountain range, unfortunately. As you know we have been been at our base camp here in Bellingham Wa. No traveling for another twelve weeks or so.

Anyways I did mention the Andes, yes Andes mints, part of my new creation. Andes Mint cake. As I am learning and teaching myself baking and baking techniques. So I decided to do the Andes cake, black forest cake with a chocolate ganache center layer and a cream cheese mint butter cream frosting. I used a little heaver mint flavor for the ganache and a milder mint flavor for the butter cream. Overall the flavors came out great. Just need more work on the decorating part of it. Oh, I have also learned don't point out the mistakes, usually no one will notice. BTW it was delicious. Seriously, it came out shall we say.........MINT!

another easy fix

fruit Popsicle made with fresh fruit. I don't recommend using Kiwi fruit but it came out okay. The Mud Slide Popsicle .....awesome!

first 70 degree day

so I thought it would be a good idea to make some yogurt pops to celebrate. Next going to the store to get fruit to make fruit pops, in white grape juice and some mudslide pops. Kahlua and vanilla ice cream.

Bacon, Bacon and more........Bacon

Today is the "Everything Bacon" meal that I was asked to make a few things for. I always go overboard, cause I love baking. LOL.
1) pumpkin bacon pies                                                                                                                                    2) bacon sandies (like pecan sandies but with bacon)
3) bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos
4) apple bacon pie
5) apple bacon jalapeno pie

6) Brown sugar/cinnamon swirled cupcakes with strawberry cream cheese frosting sprinkled with bacon and a bacon topper.

Internet down, driveway alarm up!

Well our internet "hotspot" has been down for a few days , had to get another Fed-Ex to us. However the good news is we are back up .

Drive alarm and box completed and up.

DIY day

Yes today is a do it yourself day. Ha, and you thought I was talking about baking or cooking.

Nope today I'm creating a hopefully attractive case that will hold a driveway alert system. You know one of those system that beeps when someone or something comes into your driveway. My cousin needs one and from my researching I discovered its best to put them in some sort of enclosed box to keep them out of the elements. Anyways I should be able to get it all done and put together today and then I'll post a picture or two.

My apologies

for the US Travel Blog title. It applied while we were traveling in 2011 for 14 weeks. If you look back into the older blogs you'll find lots of photos etc about our travels. Check April-July 2011.

For now while we are at home my blog has turned to a "Food Blog". After spending the money to take a "French pastry" class and a "cake decorating class" at the local tech college I decided it is best to jump in and DIY. Don't get me wrong the classes had lots of good information but all that can be learned over the internet too. Like everything, unless it's experienced first hand (and done first hand, as I am a Kinastetic learner) then it's just to difficult to grasp the "how to" of doing what I love, baking.

A new challenge,

Challenge accepted, "All Bacon themed meal " for friends and family. Actually it was a request but hey it sounds like fun. I was asked to do a bacon/pumpkin pie and something else which I can't remember. So I started thinking of things that might be good to try and I think I'm going to do Black Forest/Bacon cupcakes. Now I have to think of how to come up with a bacon frosting flavor and some sort of bacon decoration.
If anyone has a suggestion for a recipe or cupcake decoration please leave me a comment.
                                                              Thanks for bacon. (baking)

Banana split cupcakes

Filled with strawberry, with a bit of pineapple over it. Whipped cream topped with Ganache sprinkles and a cherry.

two down one to go

Happy Easter! After a long day in the kitchen yesterday I just finished up two deserts for today's meal. Finished the chocolate marbled cheesecake topped with Cardamom Chocolate Ganache, chocolate dipped strawberries and a spun sugar birds-nest. Also finished the Mountain Dew Turtle cupcakes, finished them yesterday. Today putting the finishing touches on Banana Split cupcakes. Don't have a photo of the banana split cupcakes yet but should have one up within the hour. The most work was doing all the dishes and pans, utensils etc. the baking was the fun part. As I mentioned before I had never done ganache and spun sugar before but they came out nicely along with the other items. Hope everyone will enjoy them today as much as I enjoyed making them.

My New Found Belief..

It's been awhile since my last blog. I have come to a new belief, and that is.....that our pallets have become lazy, uncaring and quite vanilla. Bland is the normal. We don't care how it tastes as long as our bellies are filled.
Even my own taste buds have fallen victim to the mundane, sad to say.
I have recently discovered that it's okay to have a flavorful possibly even a fun filled food . My quest is going to be to teach myself, even if it may mean following others leads, to make baked goods that are not just good but ones that will bring smiles to many faces. Besides it's always nice to hear a compliment on the food item you have studies, investigated, and experimented on until it has reached its' perfection.
It may take countless times of preparation, experimentation and a seemingly endless amount of supplies/expenditures but when it finally comes together...... wonderful
In the next few weeks I promise to post pictures and possibly the recipes to go along with them. Being Easter Sunday I am planning on making 1) Mountain Dew Turtle Cupcakes (with a surprise) 2) Black Forest Lady Bug Cupcakes. No actual bugs will be harmed in the making of theses cupcakes. 3) Chocolate marbled cheesecake with Chocolate Cardamom Gunache Frosting and I'm hoping to add something special to the top in the form of spun sugar. Most of these items I have never done before, so I am planning on spending a long day in the kitchen and hopefully, success in the end.
                                                                 Stay tuned in..........