Bounty of a Local Farmer's Market

We haven't had the sunniest weather here in California but I can't complain. I can tell you one thing I don't miss about the Midwest...winter, snow and sleet. But I miss other things about my midwest hometown. I look forward to visiting my sisters there this summer! Yay!

Well, today I thought I'd cheer myself up by posting pics of things I've purchased at my local farmer's market in the Santa Monica area. It's great to be in a state where I can get a variety of almost all my favorite fruits and veggies year round and for a much cheaper price. So I hope this gets you excited for Spring and Summer and all the glories that your local farmer's market has to offer.

These figs were amazing and come to think of it, these were my first real figs I tried. I love fig Newtons but I prefer the real stuff now. 

 Found some multi-colored fingerling potatoes and ended up as a delicious potato salad. Have I mentioned how much I love potato salad? 

There was a man selling bread on the outskirts of the market and I decided to try something new...Squaw Bread. The taste reminded me of one of my favorite beers, a nice cold pint of Guinness. Wonderful bread, I should've saved some for my husband but I ate the entire loaf in two days. I'm still working it off me. 

Last but not least, one of my top 5 favorite fruits, the luscious strawberry. Pretttttty darn good. It was just as sweet as Driscoll brand strawberries. Mmm...mmm...mmm.

My First Wilton Decorated Cake

The next class of my Wilton cake decorating course consisted of being asked to prepare two bags of frosting, frost an 8 inch circle cake and decorate with any of the three designs given. There as a fish, hamburger and cupcake. Of course, I chose the cupcake.

My instructor used my cake as an example of how to frost. It was a toss up of how I felt about that. On one hand I preferred her to use her own cake and frosting so I could learn. But on the other hand, maybe she had confidence in me that I already know to frost a cake and so she didn't mind using my cake as an example. Did she recognize my ability to decorate from my mad Star piping skills on the cookie from last class? Haha. Jk. Jk.

Anyway, it was fun to get the opportunity to get my hand sweet and sticky with frosting as I decorated my cotton candy pink and blue cupcake. We used Wilton Tip #18 for the zigzags & stars on the edge of the cake, Tip #1 for the cupcake and Tip #3 from the little squiggly lines for the cake liner area. For the multi-colored looked in the zigzag, streak both sides of the bag with blue and fill the rest of the bag with pink. Burp the bag and frost away!

Happy Friday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you are surrounded with friends and family who love you. But if no one loves you, I'm sure Ryan Gosling does...at least his memes. Woke up this morning and found this in my inbox from my sis Juls:

She really knows how to crack us all up. I don't really get the Ryan memes but every time I see one of these memes, I laugh a little. Thanks Juls, Sam and Anz for wishing me a Happy Valentines. Love you, Ladies!

As for me, I like to bake cookies and treats pertaining to V-day but this year, I'm focusing on learning how to decorate better. We haven't learned how to create the signature Wilton rose just yet but this is my first fragile attempt to create one for Valentine's Day. This was the nicest one out of five. Have a great day!

Oscar Short Films I Love

I love watching the Oscars although I haven't been a faithful viewer for about three years, but it's different now. My husband is currently is studying animation at Animation Mentor and I'm writing from time to time on my other blog The Animator's Wife. It's so sweet of him to keep me close and involved in his life by encouraging me to write about his animation education. I'm so thankful that he's patient with me. You see, I feel like a fish out of water sometimes when I write on my other blog. I don't know a lot of the correct terminology for animation-speak, but I try my best to write from a perspective of a supportive wife. It's a process. Well, because of that, I've taken a liking and a better eye on some things in animation and I'm also gaining a little more knowledge of this world from what he's going through.

This year's Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short Film are diverse and strong...they are heart-touching, creative, thought-invoking and funny. But my two favorites have to be Paperman and Adam and Dog. Hope you enjoy it!

Paperman Trailer
 (Disneyanimation via YouTube)

Adam and Dog

(Minkyu Lee via YouTube)

Cake Decorating Class 1: Week 1

Hi there! I just wanted to share a little bit about my first class of cake decorating. First of all, it was a totally new experience for me and I didn't think I would like such a close-quarter class but it turned out pretty cool after introducing myself to my classmates. As you may or may not know, I'm a bit of an introvert in new situations, but it is amusing how I muster enough courage to get out there and introduce myself to people. From that point on, I'm golden. Maybe, I'm not an introvert.

Anyway, my teacher is Ms.Thelma and she is very, very confident that she can make professional cake decorators out of us. I appreciate her confidence that sometimes borders perfectionism. I kinda like that trait in teachers who want nothing but the best results from their students. I look forward to getting better with each attendance.

After plenty of discussion about our class kits and what each utensil is for, Thelma proceeded to tell us more about baking cakes and her little tips and tricks of the trade (Bonus!). Our first task in class was to learn how to prepare our frosting/icing bags and we worked with Tip #21 (Star shape). With some pre-made sugar cookies we were instructed to squeeze out star shaped frosting. I took it another level by covering my entire cookie with cute stars. It looked so cool and I wish I could show you what it looked like, but on the way back home, this is what happened...

It was so pretty.

I was so excited to show my husband my star covered cookie. Well, I made up for it and showed him my new skills. Check out his hand modeling of my cookie.

Sooooo...that's what I have learned so far. I'll be posting what I learned this past week, Class 1: Week 2. I can't wait until we get to learning about fondant and flowers. I'm really looking forward to making the Wilton rose. Have a great day!

A Great Birthday Present

It's official that I'm officially going to learn how to decorate cakes via Wilton! My awesome husband surprised me this morning with a birthday present consisting of a tub of icing, a small box of icing colors, a gift card to Michaels, Course 1-4 student kits and a receipt letting me know that he paid for my classes. What a thoughtful and special gift this is!

I've been looking at cake decorating courses all year long and have dedicated this year to doing new things and going on on adventures from the perspective of Fun. I love to decorate cupcakes and confections but I've never really had any training and in a sense, it's made me a bit timid to go out and decorate cakes for others. For me, this is one way to boost my confidence in learning something new and I get to meet other people who are interested in learning this craft. I certainly look forward to sharing my designs and assignments with you.

Well, I'm off to spending the rest of my day with my man. Hopefully, I can update you all on my progress as the weeks go by. Have a great Monday!

See your local Michaels Arts & Crafts for Wilton certified cake decorating classes. 

Baked Eggplant with Turmeric and Cumin

Photo courtesy of Samantha

Happy Friday Everyone! This recipe today comes from the kitchen of my sister Samantha. Seriously, she is one talented chick when it comes to all things crafty, sweet & savory. Now that she got an iPhone (about time, hehe) she has been texting me more and sending me video and pictures. Yesterday afternoon she sent me this picture of what looked like eggplant chips and I just had to post and bake some for myself. I'll probably try this on the weekend. Thank you, Sam for sharing this recipe!

Baked Eggplant with Turmeric and Cumin

3 Japanese or Chinese Eggplants
1/4 teaspoon of Cumin
1/8 teaspoon of Turmeric
3 tablespoons of Panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Olive Oil spray
2 Green Onions, chopped
Salt to taste

• Preheat oven 450 degrees.
• In a large bowl, mix eggplant with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until vegetable is well coated.
• Add cumin, turmeric and salt.
• Add bread crumbs and green onions. Mix well.
• Spray pan with olive oil spray, place eggplant in a single layer and bake for 30 minutes or until slightly crispy. Garnish with extra chopped green onions.

Photo courtesy of Samantha