a dash and a pinch

So, I love me some fresh herbs. And if you cook with them as often as I do (which isn’t even that much) you realize how expensive they can be to purchase from the grocery store.

Last year I bought an Aerogarden. Fresh herbs all year long with minimum work on my part? It was a definite win. But then my plants outgrew their tiny little garden, and I hated being limited to just 7 varieties. Granted, I mostly use basil, and my cat, Pippin, ate my chives before they even had a chance to grow, but I knew I needed to expand.

Thanks to pinterest, I got the idea to make a backyard container garden. And to make it even easier, I would make it a hanging portable one. This way, I can easily take the plants inside for the winter, or bring them with me when (starting to feel like if) I move out.

I found an ancient screen door in my garage, and knew right away what I wanted.  Continue reading →

I have some awesome news! My book, Baking Bree, is coming out very soon. As in May 1st.

For anyone who is just tuning in, after the success of my first book, Passion’s Tide, I decided to write a second (and totally different!) book. It was a NanoWrimo book, meaning I diligently wrote 50,000 words in November, then finished it up in December. Three more months of editing and cover design, and it’s finally ready!!! I’m so proud of it, and as it takes place at a cooking school, I think you will like it!

And if you don’t…well…here’s something you might like:

 A free apron from Flirty Aprons.com!!!

As soon as I started writing this book, I had a vision for the cover image in my head. I wanted equal parts serious and silly, Stepford Wives meets Kitchen Nightmares. With a rigged home studio set-up, help from Beth, some photoshoppery, and two very burned pies…the cover is finished!

The awesome people at Flirty Aprons supplied me with the fabulous apron to use for my book! And they want to give one lucky reader an apron as well! Continue reading →

This is one of my favorite recipes. I’ve made it several times since acquiring the recipe from Kevin’s mom last summer, and each time I’ve promised myself I would photograph it and blog about it. And each time…I’ve stared at it in defeat.

Because in all honesty, it’s a difficult dish to capture in a photo.

See? It just looks…meh. But let me describe the flavors for you, so that you can get an idea of why this is so awesomesauce.

You take quite a bit of melted butter, add rosemary, salt, pepper, and garlic, throw in some tabasco, worcester, and lemon juice, toss it all into a baking dish with lemon slices and bake.

What you end up with is the most incredible spicy, buttery, messy dish ever. Continue reading →

 I had wanted to post these last weekend, but because of the cake, I found I had very little time to be on my computer. Besides, getting my electronics covered in a layer of sugar was not at the top of my to-do list.

And for the past few days, I haven’t wanted to look at fondant, let alone blog about it. But truth be told, these buggers are too cute not to share.

I made these for the season premier of Doctor Who, but they’re adorable for just about any occasion. Make them for your next Doc themed party, or pin this page for the 50th anniversary special this fall Continue reading →

***As it is now Tuesday and the competition is over, and I have caught up on sleep, I am going to recreate a live play by play of my cake weekend through pictures and texts I sent. The next post will be the results and finished pictures!***

So on Thursday I was sitting at the dining room table editing some game of thrones and doctor who blog pictures for a nerdy blog post, and my mom sent me an email. When I opened it I found a link to an “Edible Books Competetion” held by Friends of the Rochester Public Library. The goal was to create a book inspired sculpture made entirely out of food.

Perfect for me, right? Only one problem:

The competition was this sunday. As in two days. Two days to plan, bake, construct and decorate a HUGE cake. Luckily Beth has agreed to help me, and with the help of some Mountain Dew I am powering through the baking process. Kevin suggested I live blog my progress, so we can see if it’s even possible to make something this elaborate in such a short period of time. Updates probs will be short, I don’t have the luxury of spare time, but we’ll give it a shot!

Friday, 12:12 (49 hours until competetion) 

Home from work, got new tires today. $600 poorer, I begin cake construction. The planning stage is just about complete, texted a picture of my plan to Beth. She likes it.

Friday, 3:07 (46 hours until competition)

I have successfully baked a total of 8 cakes and 6 sheets of rice crispies. I have about 2 pounds of fondant all finished, and I’m starting on another two. Then it’s onto the buttercream, and hopefully I have enough ingredients to make it!

Also this happened.

Oops

 3:50

I am starting to crash, which isn’t a good sign because I’m going to be doing this all night. I’m worried my latest batch of fondant doesn’t have the right consistency, but we’ll have to wait and see. I’m starving, but there doesn’t seem to be a good time to stop and eat. besides, there’s nothing in my house besides empty marshmallow bags and powdered sugar. Somebody bring me a pizza!

4:00

Success! Mom is getting me a pizza for dinner. And I am going to take a break and play some Lego Indiana Jones on my Wii!

5:30

Beth is on her way with more ingredients, because of course I ran out. And the quadruple batch of rice crispies did not go very far.

I had just enough to cover the board and sculpt the house stairs.

Oh, the best part about this? The fact that I’m getting a cavity filled on Monday! So I’m trying to stay away from too much sugar…which is difficult when I’ve used 8 bags of marshmallows and 5 pounds of powdered sugar!

11:10 pm

Making a GIGANTIC batch of rice crispies. Again.

Beth and I have been crazy hard at work for hours now, she’s been working on the car for the top of the cake, doing an awesome job sculpting it out of rice crispies.

I have been working on the Daisy cake, as we call it. Light and feminine and pretty, just like Daisy. The lace impressions were made by literally rolling a piece of lace onto fondant and then cutting out the design. There are easier ways, but not when you don’t have time to order impression mats online! It’s rough, and I’m not thrilled with it. But it’s time for bed now, and I’ll fix it tomorrow (hopefully?)

Saturday, 10:00 am (28 hours until competition)

Kill me now. I was up until 12:30 this morning with Beth working on the cake, and I slept like crap. After trying to pour my cat a bowl of Fruity Pebbles for breakfast, I realized I should get some more sleep. So I’m getting a late start this morning. Just gotta keep forging ahead, and try not to collapse from exhaustion.

12:39

Beth is here now, and we are happily watching Tangled and working. She’s back at work on her car, and I quickly cover the backyard (made of rice crispies) with a green grass fondant, and cut out the pool. Then I marble some pink and white fondant, and hand lay the individual tiles to make his awesome pool.

2:16

Pool with rock patio and marbled fountain. We’re still uncertain what we would use to fill the pool at this point, but hoping something easy that I can use to sculpt falling water that leaps from the fountain into the pool…but we’ll see.

3:51

Beth is gone again, and I’m about to frost Gatsby’s house, and use a wood textured impression mat to make the walls of his house. Watching the Great Gatsby on Netflix for inspiration. Making me rethink the color scheme…

6:30 

Starting in on covering Beth’s awesome car in fondant!

6:58

9:30

Car is just about done! You can see Gatsby’s house in the background, along with the photos I was using for inspiration.

2:39 am

I feel like death. These windows were a pain in the ass, as well as the architectural detail on top of them. At least Gatsby came out successfully, and I’m digging the little potted plants.

Sleep will not come easily, as I had about 2 liters of mountain dew. ugh.

8:00 am

Slept restlessly from 3-6:30 am, but it was not enough. And yet my brain was too nervous to let me sleep anymore, because there’s still SO MUCH TO DO! Made three trays of jello, which are cooling in the fridge. Making my last batch of fondant.

Proceed to cover his yard in darker green grass, to better represent the night scene.

11:25

Beth is here, finished Gatsby’s car with an awesome license plate, and together we filled the pool with the clear jello. I’m loving it.

We did a happy dance, finished up all the rest of the details, I showered, and then we loaded the car…

See the next post for the “real” pics, and to see the results!!!