Saturday, November 13, 2010

Baby Girl.

I'm loving the fall colors...


I was so busy last week having fun, that I forgot to tell you what I was doing! My friend Allison came to Chicago to visit me!  I seem to be a gypsy lately, always moving.  Well my friends always say, "oh my goodness, I'm totally going to come visit you".  Yeah... never happens.  Except for Allison.  She said and meant it.  One day she emailed me that she wanted to come visit, and then two hours later she was asking me which flight she should book.  She came on the coldest weekend I've experienced in Chicago, but that didn't stop us from touring 89% of the city.    She even came to my school for a tour, and joined me in class!  Life would be so bland if it wasn't for friends like Allison.


Now it's time for you to meet anther person.  For the past two weeks I've had a new instructor.  Chef Mark Seaman, who is an incredible cake decorator.  We have loved him as an instructor because he sets such a mellow tone in class.  He constantly would say "it's just cake".  Take 18 girls, a majority of which are perfectionist, and teach hard skills that they need to try for the first time.  It gets intense and frustrating, so it's nice to have the reality check.  I love this picture because I caught him mid-laugh.  We were making fun of how creepy he looked wearing a nylon on his hand.  You have to do that in order to strain the royal icing for stringwork.  He said it was nothing in comparison to having to go to the store and order 96 pairs of panty hoes.


So the cake we did this week was designed so that we could learn how to pipe stringwork.  It was a baby shower cake, but really we were just focusing on the piping.  It took us two days of piping strings in order to get a very small section.  Normally this would go all the way around the cake, but we didn't have time.  I would explain what stringwork is, but it is so much easier just to see it. 



If you notice the piping is not touching the cake.  Pretty cool huh?  Well I'm glad you like it because it was SO frustrating.  While I was in class I felt like I was in time out.  I had to sit on my stool and work until all my stringwork was done.  I would feel myself staring to get antsy, scooting around on my chair, glancing around the classroom, and staring at the clock.  I felt like a high schooler with ADHD, who just drank fifteen Red Bulls.  I had to keep reminding myself that I flushed my savings to learn these skills and I should probably focus, but it was torture for me.  Imagine getting right up in the cake's face, then squeeze your piping bag until the icing comes out of a hole the size of a hydrogen atom.  Next you have to be really careful as you pull the string of icing out because if you are too rough (as in you exhale or simply swallow) you might... oops too late you broke the string.  Now pick up your wet brush, wipe it off and start again.  Also when you bring the end of the string to the bridge, be careful, because if you break that fragile bridge of icing then you will loose all of your previous strings.  It takes a very patient and delicate person to be able to master stringwork.  Considering my toddler personality and my ogre hands... I don't think I have any natural ability for stringwork. 

So yesterday was my half-birthday!  I just absolutely love my half-birthday, probably even more than my actual birthday.  In my world, nothing bad ever happens on November 12th.  It is a day that happens to be awesome for no apparent reason.  I will let you in on why half-birthdays are so stupendous.  You don't have to feel bad if your Mom or significant other forgets to say "happy half-birthday".  Why? Cause no one says "happy half-birthday", that's not even a saying.  Your best friend doesn't feel pressured to take you out for dinner, and your lover doesn't have to drop all of their grocery money for the month on some gift.  Better yet, they don't have to stress out for a day because the most sentimental gift they can think of is a new toaster.  You aren't a year older, only six months.  See, you're barely half-way.  You now don't have to eat that box of donuts because you are still the same age.  Calm down.  On your half-birthday everything is just better.  The postman waves at you, cars slow down and say "after you", maybe even random strangers will hi-five you.  Best of all, you can do whatever you want.  All you have to do is include the words... "because it's my half-birthday".  Then make a face like "duh".  "I'm going to order the left side of the menu, maybe even eat the menu, cause it's my half-birthday".  "I think I'm going to stay up till 3 am watching Goonies, while wearing Star Wars pajamas, cause it's my half-birthday".  "I think I'm going to go to the gym, just to eat a donut in the front loby, then leave, cause it's my half-birthday".  Whatever it is, you go and do it.  For my half-birthday I slept in, used up most of Lake Michigan for my morning shower, went to class where they happened to serve us all chocolate cake (coincidence, I think not), then I caught a cab to meet some fellow cake girls to see the comedian, Dane Cook.  When I got home, I drank a huge glass of chocolate milk and thought about how much half-birthdays rock.  Here we are at the show... 



1 comment:

Ana Lee said...

Happy Half Birthday!!! :) haha. Love the picture of you and Ally, you Girls look beautiful!