My chubby hands guided my pen as best they could, but I was frustrated that the lines on paper didn’t look like the lines in my imagination. I could picture the room I was drawing so vividly — sophisticated colors, plush furniture, regal lamps . . . and a huge maze of floor-to-ceiling carpeted cat trees built into the wall itself. I unconsciously chewed my tongue firmly between my teeth, absorbed in concentration. These were the plans for the (aptly-named) cat room of my future home.
I was only about 9, but I already had very particular taste. My future home was going to be a sprawling, named estate — Avalon, I called it — with dozens of themed rooms; secret passageways; and a romantic, rolling wood surrounding it. I knew detailed plans would be required for the contractors set to build such a home, so I often sat in my room drawing and redrawing the details on notebook paper — everything from the floor layout to the accessories.
Apart from the cat room, I planned a huge library à la Beast’s and, because I was running out of themes and enjoyed watching football, a sports room. I hadn’t gotten excited about baking yet, and what a shame. I’m sure I would’ve designed a lovely kitchen. As it was, though, I barely gave it a thought.
I had my estate all planned out, but whenever I tried to imagine who I would live there with (other than a plethora of cats of course), I drew a blank. Of course I would get married. Right? It was hard to imagine, since even at 9, I was fiercely independent and mostly lived inside of my own imagination. Of course my husband would be handsome, right? That was just the way it was supposed to be. But what did handsome mean?
I drew upon my limited knowledge of “husbands,” stocked mostly with images from Disney films (it didn’t occur to me that my own dad was a husband in addition to being a dad), and decided that handsome meant “very tall with a lot of dark brown hair.” My future husband, therefore, became a personality-less paper doll in my mind — tall and brown-haired and otherwise quite foggy.
As I got older, I wasn’t too protective of my plans. Toyota stole my estate’s name for a line of cars (I maintain this is what happened), and my carefully drawn diagrams got thrown out at some point. I’m a touch sad now that I’m a grown-up who realizes giant mansions with giant libraries and secret passages come with a price tag that teacher salaries cannot pay.
There are other plans, though, that I didn’t mind leaving behind. Far from my vague, brown-haired Disney-husband, Mike is blonde, with short-cropped hair. He also, thankfully, has much more of a personality than the nebulous husband I’d dreamed up.
Today would be quite a surprise to my 9-year-old self. It’s my wedding day. I know folks always say that little girls dream of their wedding day forever, but I was so busy dreaming of my career (a lawyer — I had my parents buy my a briefcase to prepare) and my house that I never really got to that part. If I would’ve thought much about it, I’m sure I would’ve inserted another canned Disney image: white veil, poofy sleeves, church on a mountainside.
Today we’re getting married at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, instead. My dress is cocktail length. We ordered a sheet cake from Sam’s for dessert. I couldn’t be happier. What’s the lesson I’m learning here? Maybe I’m realizing (again) something about letting go of my preconceived life, and especially the stock images pop culture has fed me of what Husband or House or Wedding (or Kids or Car or Career, even?) look like.
Mostly, I think I’m just feeling very grateful for a change of plans.
* * *
My wedding day gift to you is some ice cream! This strawberry ice cream — complete with a very whimsical, fruity mix-in of my favorite kids’ cereal — is one of the first I made in my new ice cream maker (I use this one, except mine is bright red). The ice cream is surprisingly delicious and super fun to eat! I hope you enjoy it.
Recipe by: Adapted from Cuisinart
Yield: 5 cups, or 10 servings
Strawberry ice cream is already an amazing summertime treat, but this ice cream mixes in fruity, fun kid cereals. It makes a surprisingly delicious ice cream sundae!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, hulled
3/4 cups whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Fruity Pebbles (or similar cereal)
1 cup Cap’n Crunch Oops! All Berries (or similar cereal)
Directions:
Make sure your ice cream maker’s bowl is frozen per manufacturer’s instructions. Process the strawberries in a food processor until they’re finely chopped. In a separate medium bowl, blend together the milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the heavy cream and vanilla. Stir in the strawberries (with juice). Cover this mixture and chill it overnight.
Turn on your ice cream maker and pour the mixture into its frozen bowl. Let the ice cream churn until thickened (mine takes about 20 minutes but it depends on your ice cream maker’s instructions). Pour in the Fruity Pebbles and Oops! All Berries cereal and let the mixture continue churning until mixed. Spoon the ice cream out into an airtight resealable container and freeze until firm according to your preference. Serve with extra cereal sprinkled over top, whipped cream, and strawberries.
The teacher across the hall from me is named Julie as well. My last name is Ruble. Hers is Reulbach. We’re both have long, blonde hair and blue eyes. We’re the same height. We both blog and tweet. We’re both energetic (read: spastic) in the classroom. It’s easy to get confused.
When I saw Julie’s post on her amazing math education blog, I Speak Math, yesterday, I knew I had to write a copycat post. Her post was “A Day in the Life” post, written as part of Drawing on Math‘s initiative to show what teaching really entails. I’m not a math teacher, but I loved the idea. So here it goes.
A Day in the Life of a Language Arts Teacher
6:00 am – I wake up, stick some oatmeal in the microwave, and jump in the shower.
6:20 am – I dry my hair, doctor up my oatmeal and finally take the dog out to potty. I rush her and feel bad, but it’s hard to tell if she’s dawdling or really has to go.
6:45 am – I respond to a few emails and check the schedule while eating my oatmeal, taking my medicine, and throwing my dog’s bone a few times, hoping she’ll feel like I’ve spent some quality time with her.
7:05 am – I shuffle through the dryer for some clothes to wear. Byrd is whining because she knows I’m about to leave her — apparently the quality time trick didn’t work. I assure her that I’ll be back after school, stuff my computer and cord in its case, and grab a pack of popcorn for lunch.
7:30 am – I’m sharing “early teacher” responsibilities with Julie, so on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’m supposed to get to school by 7:45. At this point I’m usually rushing out the door, trying not to forget a stack of papers or my keys.
7:45 am – I arrive at school and pull up my lesson plan. I write the Do Now and homework up on the board while chatting with a few students who like to come in early and spend time with me. I’d love to just have some quiet work time here, but there are always a series of small fires to put out: “The pen on the reading chart broke,” and, “I can’t find the book I’m looking for,” and of course, the dreaded, “I lost my notebook.”
8:00 am – I rush out to make copies and cut apart questions for our discussion groups today.
8:15 am – I find a nice relaxing station on iTunes radio for my first 7th grade class to listen to as they complete their 10 minute Do Now. They’re chatty today and late getting started. They also forget to stand their independent reading books up to display what they’re reading for the class. I warn them that if they can’t handle the freedom of a 7th grade Do Now, they’ll be relegated to the structured 6th grade version (which is silent and strictly enforced). Today the Do Now is a discussion reflection where they’ll think about what went well and what went poorly in their group discussions last week. They have to set 1-2 goals for themselves in today’s discussion, which is the first one they’ll receive a grade for.
8:25 am – We discuss the last few chapters of our novel, Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution, together. I realize as we’re describing two girls’ changes throughout China’s Cultural Revolution that it would be best represented as a double line graph, so I jump up and have the students help me create one on the board. They copy it down in their novels as a succinct portrayal of character transformation. I’m pleased with myself and have Julie Reulbach run in from her class across the hall and check out our math skillz.
8:55 am – The students share the discussion goals they created during the Do Now and start on their graded small group discussion. I observe and record grades in my grade book based on the dynamics and content of their discussions. The question is a hard one: to develop empathy, I’m having them find evidence from the text to support Communism — something they’ve been trained all their lives not to do. It’s hard to see others’ points-of-view, but even though they’ve discovered so many negatives about the system, they jump right in to figure out why some people in China thought it was a beneficial change.
9:10 am – I’m late dismissing my students because I’m quickly explaining their homework to them. They’re to scan through the chapters so far and draw symbols representing characterization and character transformation in the text. We’ll use these next week. Finally, I tell the students to do their Exit Procedure (where they clean tables, push in chairs, and usually get their agendas checked). Today I skip checking agendas and dismiss them all, wary of keeping them much longer.
9:11 am – My next 7th grade class filters in as my first one leaves, and I turn on the Do Now music. I repeat the lesson, though each class feels remarkably different due to the varying discussions.
10:05 am – I rush to dismiss my second 7th grade. Even though the 6th graders have a 10-minute break before the next class starts, they are already filtering in my room with tons of questions: Can they start their Do Now? (No, it’s not even written up on the board yet!) Is snack in my room today? (Check the schedule!) Have I ever read this awesome book? (No, but it sounds neat!)
I play-gripe at them to go outside and enjoy their break, which is my only break too. Some of them leave, but some of them dawdle, thinking that “having a question for me” is a good excuse to stay. Sigh. Especially when their questions are about books or one of their hobbies — baking, gaming, etc. — I feel bad shutting them down. After all, isn’t one of my primary goals as a teacher to build them up as people? So I listen and try to respond while scanning over my lesson plan, writing the 6th grade Do Now and homework on the board, and running through the hallway to make a few more copies (yes, they follow.)
10:15 am – My first 6th grade class of the day is already seated when I rush back in with copies. They complain that their Do Now isn’t written up (what a change from 7th grade today!) and I explain that their Do Now will be verbal today because it’s complex. I have them line up around the room and grab a Writing Log and a manila folder to staple it into. I’m the staple person, since I’ve long since learned that they will jam the stapler 8 times over before we get through the line. I staple each student’s Writing Log into the folder and they go back to their seats to sort through their portfolios. We’re preparing for Portfolio Review tomorrow, where their parents will come in and see the amazing work they’ve done in all their classes so far this year. They log their first essay — a descriptive essay of their perfect world — into their new Writing Log, place all of their graded work into the portfolios, and put their portfolios back in the crate.
10:45 am – The rest of class is workshop time for them to work on their current project: turning a Greek myth of their choosing into a comic strip. The project refines smaller skills like making a presentation neat and attractive, using appropriate layout and spacing on a poster, and attention to detail. But the main goal is to reinforce their ability to pick out the main points of a plot, something we’ll work on all year long. They’re also careful to use the drawing skills they’ve learned so far in their art class.
Today most students are working on character sketches, 4 panels that will introduce main characters to the viewer. The panels include the character’s name, a drawing of the character, a description of their physicality and personality, and the role they play in the myth. During workshop, I confer with students incessantly for questions ranging from, “Is this good?” to, “I can only find 3 characters in my myth.” We troubleshoot and brainstorm together. At both the beginning and end of workshop, I do a Status of the Class check, where I call out their names and they give me a quick summary of where they are in their process (for instance, “I’m on character sketch 2 of 4.”) This allows me to assess their progress.
11:10 am – Time for 6th grade Service Learning, which I inevitably forgot we had today. No worries; it’s my fifth year teaching Service Learning and I know the fantastic curriculum by heart. 6th grade focuses on Animal Advocacy. Today we’re demonstrating a dog treat recipe for the students. They’ll bake batches of them at home (alone with their parents or in groups) and bring them in to package, price, and sell at our town’s Christmas festival. The money we raise will be donated to the Charlotte Humane Society and Cornelius Animal Shelter, two local animal shelters.
I grab the ingredients for the treats and explain our goals to the students. We head down to the campus kitchen together and crowd around the island. I thank God when I see Julie Reulbach, who’s also my fellow Service Learning teacher, has already laid out bowls and handed out recipes to the arriving students. I prepare the dog treats, tossing in a few cooking pointers here and there while my co-teacher throws herself into the role of fabulous cooking assistant: opening ingredients, shushing students, and washing dishes. We high-five afterwards for pulling everything together.
12:05 pm – My planning period! Another teacher asks for some advice dealing with a behavior issue, so we take care of that together. The student involved is tearful, having made an uncharacteristically poor decision, so I feel my role vacillate between disciplinarian and comforter. Teaching is an emotional experience.
I head back to my room to draft a few emails (a thank you to a parent volunteer, a question to another parent) and find a new message in my inbox about Grandfriend’s Day, when our students will bring their grandparents and friends to school to share their daily experience. It’s coming up quickly and I know I need to look at the guest list and prepare. Like so many emails throughout the week, this message gets filed under “to be dealt with” in my brain, since it requires actions I don’t have time to take at the moment. So often, as my colleague describes, my inbox becomes an “email graveyard.” I periodically clean it out, but currently it has 219 emails in it — some of which I’m sure I was supposed to have already responded to! I try my best.
12:35 pm – This is my only prep period, so I have to eat my lunch quick before it’s over! I pop my popcorn and eat it while vegging out to the tune of Facebook, CNN, and People.com.
12:55 pm – I’m usually still stuffing the last few pieces of popcorn into my mouth (or let’s be realistic, dropping them all over my lap) as my next 6th grade class walks in the door. I welcome this new class and grab my stapler to repeat my lesson plan for them.
1:50 pm – This is project work time. My 7th grade students are working on finishing up the last bits of their Japanese anime project — an interdisciplinary application project that combines social studies, language arts, science, visual arts, and music. I rush down to the art room to help the art teacher facilitate their stop-motion animation, which we’ll show at their “Japanese Film Fest” style Portfolio Review. I feel a little useless since I’m not particularly artistic, but I at least offer a few helpful pointers about the animation process to a couple of groups and retrieve some colored whiteboard markers for another.
2:45 pm – Now it’s time for advisory, where I meet with a small group of 7th grade girls and check up on their academic and social well-being each day. Today we’re continuing a discussion on body image. They’ve brought in magazines and they each choose an advertisement and brainstorm about how it might make “everyday girls” feel inadequate. We have a good time poking fun at the ideals being touted by each magazine.
3:15 pm – I dismiss my students and head to Cookie Capers, a weekly baking camp I hold with several lower school students. This week we’re baking Pumpkin Cake Cookies. It’s a chaotic hour and a half, but somehow everyone emerges unscathed and well-fed.
4:45 pm – I jump in the car and head home to Byrd, who — as one of my fellow teachers like to say — is probably dancing around with her legs crossed.
5:05 pm – Byrd gets some relief when I take her out to potty. I’m exhausted, but I eat a quick snack and check up on emails I missed during camp. I fill my turtle’s feeding tank and feed him.
6:00 pm – Honestly, at the beginning of the year I’d usually lie down for a nap at this point, but then I ended up pushing all of my work later into the evening. Lately I’ve been trying to get it all finished earlier. Now, for instance, I might quickly piece together tomorrow’s lesson plan by adapting plans from previous years to students’ current needs and level of progress. Then I might grade some 6th grade projects. Thankfully, these are quick to grade since they’re not papers, but résumés the students wrote to apply for a job as the next Greek god or goddess.
When I have papers to grade, it feels like my whole schedule grinds to a halt. There’s never enough time in prep periods to get many of them finished — I can finish 5 a schoolday if I’m absolutely in the zone — and my schedule at home is usually jam-packed unless I’m staying up too late (which I always am). I’m so lucky to have a small number of students (60), but still, paper grading is a heavy burden.
7:00 pm – I throw on my workout clothes and drive to the gym for a 7:30 exercise class. Tonight it’s Zumba. I’m not very energetic, but I get through the class and the few individual exercises I do afterward — back raises, stair climbs. My night would be so much easier if I didn’t work out, but after developing health problems this summer, I’m not willing to sacrifice it.
9:00 pm – I head to my local deli to eat dinner and continue working. I usually read the news while I eat (or, let’s be honest, watch this live feed of the kitten room of a no-kill shelter), but then as soon as my food is gone, I’ll work on photo editing, recipe development, blog post writing, Willow Bird Baking social media upkeep, and email responses. I’ll also work on any lesson planning I still have left to do.
10:00 pm – The deli closes and kicks me out, so I head home to continue work. I take mini-breaks to poke around on Facebook, CNN, or my RSS feed. I always plan to get to bed by 11 but usually end up realizing around that time that I still have to take Byrd out, do something about the dishes all over the counter, rewash my laundry which has soured after being forgotten, brush my teeth, take my medicine, and other miscellaneous tasks before being able to go to bed.
12:00 am – I get into bed, kicking myself for not going to sleep earlier. I constantly lambaste myself for not using my time wisely; I feel like I could have peeked at Facebook less, not taken a nap (if I did), been a little more firm when 5 students came up to ask me a question at once during my prep period, or graded a few more papers instead of taking an actual break for lunch. In fact, my defensiveness about my exercise above probably stems from feeling guilty about taking that 1.5 – 2 hours for my health, even though I know it’s something I need and that ultimately will reduce (theoretically) my days out of work due to illness.
Unfortunately, since I have two jobs (you’re looking at the second one!), my weekends are slammed as well. Friday night is spent putting the finishing touches on a recipe, grocery shopping, and baking. Saturday is spent exercising, baking, styling food, and photographing food. Church is a highlight, but it consumes Sunday morning. Sunday evening is when I lesson plan and update my class pages. This means the only time I can spend with Mike is Saturday night and Sunday lunch (which is spent with Mike’s family). That’s on the weekends when he drives to see me in Charlotte. When I pack up, stuff Byrd in the car, and make the three-hour trip to see him in Raleigh, you can imagine the schedule havoc that creates.
So what’s the point? Just a big whine? Actually, no. I know that having a crazy schedule is a minor complaint. I love teaching and I love my students. I feel like I have the most amazing job in the universe. And frankly, I love that I have any job and a roof over my head.
But I would like to have time to prepare meals, exercise without guilt, and get enough sleep. This isn’t unique to me — this is the story of teachers everywhere. It’s just important that we know what we’re asking of teachers when making policies (and heck, pondering the state of their salaries across the country) so we’re treating teachers like the professional management that they are.
. . .
If you have time in your day to squeeze in some baking, these cookies are a comforting choice. They combine the salty, savory pimiento cheese with bright, fresh strawberry jam. I know it sounds like a weird combination, but just imagine the tart jam on, say, a cheese straw, and you’ll have a good idea of the awesome flavor of these babies. They’re easy to whip up and so unique — perfect for a holiday cookie swap or cocktail party (do people actually throw cocktail parties? And a better question: why are they not inviting me? Oh, right, because I don’t have time…)
Recipe by: slightly adapted from Southern Living, originally from Pawley’s Island Specialty Foods
Yield: 2 dozen cookies
These cookies are so easy, creative, and delicious! They taste like a spicy, nutty cheese straw with tart, sweet jam slathered on top. They’re addictive and perfect for Christmas cookie swaps.
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Southern pimiento cheese, processed fine (don’t skimp on the hot peppers)
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
2 tablespoons apple jelly
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the flour and pimiento cheese to form a paste. Beat in the finely chopped pecans and butter. Wrap the resulting dough in plastic wrap, forming it into a disc, and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8-inch thickness, checking often to be sure it’s not sticking. Use a 2-inch circle cookie cutter, cut out cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Place 1 teaspoon full of jam (apple or strawberry) in the center of each cookie before placing another cookie cutout on top and pressing the edges to seal them. You can reroll the scraps once to get more cookie rounds.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. No, really, let them cool, or you will burn your mouth off on flaming jelly. Do not ask how I know this.
Want to see more Days in the Lives of Educators? Here’s how:
One month ago, I posted a challenging but incredibly worthwhile Tres Leches Coconut Cake Trifle on Willow Bird Baking. It frustrated me to think of all the folks who would love the flavors and textures but might never attempt the recipe — not because they couldn’t, or even because they wouldn’t enjoy the process if they did, but because they were intimidated by Cooking Hard Stuff.
No one wants to Cook Hard Stuff just for the sake of difficulty, but I know there’s so much to be gained in the process (and result). For this reason, I issued the Cooking Hard Stuff Challenge. During the month of March, I asked you to pick one “hard” recipe to try. Maybe it had a list of ingredients that would normally send you running for the ramen noodles. Maybe it had a technique you’d never tried before. Maybe it required days of work to complete. Whatever the reason, the recipe had to present some sort of challenge to you.
The brave souls below stepped out of their comfort zone to take on the challenge. There were some hiccups in their respective journeys, some altered plans, lots of lessons learned, and even a fire alarm for good measure. But just look at their marvelous results and the fun they had!
Kelly the Courageous
Kelly Made: Sweet Potato Braided Challah and Whiskey Chocolate Mousse Pie (with a homemade crust!)
Comments:“I make a loaf of bread almost every weekend and I pretty much do the same thing. It was time to venture outside my comfort zone. I settled on a braided loaf – a challah. I did some research and decided it would be a Sweet Potato Sourdough Challah – I LOVE potato bread. It was surprising that I hadn’t made one yet. So here’s my Sweet Potato Sourdough Challah. The braid wasn’t perfect but I loved this so much that I can’t wait to make it again. […] And apparently, that wasn’t enough. I decided to tackle something else which I usually avoid – pie crust.”
Crystal the Conqueror
Crystal Made: Mole Skillet Pie with Greens (see more at her blog, TriFoodieMD
Comments: “I came across this recipe for a mole sauce that sounded intriguing. The ingredient list, however, was quite lengthy and included many spices that I didn’t have in my cabinet. I kept flipping the pages and soon found myself tempted by a Mole Skillet Pie with Greens that featured this sauce. […] I just finished enjoying a plate of this ‘Cooking Hard Stuff Challenge’ recipe, and I declare it a success!”
Rhyann the Radiant
Rhyann Made: Braided Challah
Comments: “Turns out, baking challah is wayyyy easier than I thought. I even did the ‘hard’ 6 stranded braid! I think I was most intimidated about the whole yeasty aspect of the recipe, but really it was no different than any other quick bread recipe that I’ve tried, I just had to wait a few hours in between steps. I would have to say the most challenging part was the braid, but I did find some super helpful tutorials on youtube which made it so much easier. Thanks for this idea, it really encouraged me to move outside of my comfort zone.”
Abby the Able
Abby Made: Chinese BBQ Pork Steamed Buns (Char Siu Bao) (see more at her blog, Seaweed & Sassafras)
Comments: “I just loved this post! It’s one of the top reasons I got into food blogging, to try new things, which is usually borderline terrifying. I find the more I do – the more I challenge myself in the kitchen and other areas of my life as well.
“I took on Chinese BBQ Pork Steamed Buns {Char Siu Bao} which my husband and I fell in love with while stationed on Guam (although it’s originally a Chinese dish). I wanted to learn how to recreate these so that we could have them no matter where we lived. They are that good 🙂 It was hard for me well because I’ve never steamed dough before. And anything involving yeast results in me holding my breath until the very end. I could go on about how it was new flavors, etc. But I really, really enjoyed cooking these. I found myself lost in the moment making these, just love that feeling. The dough was a little dry but they still came out fluffy and the filling was spicy and rich. Now I’m coming up with all kinds of filling ideas for these!! So excited!”
Jeremy the Jumpstarter
Jeremy Made: An entire feast! Cocktail potato samosas with spicy mango chutney, tandoori chicken with sweet peppers and onions, raita, and onion relish, Basmati rice pilaf, garlic naan, and for the grand finale, brown butter pumpkin cake with white chocolate chai mousse!
Comments: “Every year for Christmas my gift to my parents is a menu of six meals that I’ll cook for them over the course of the year. […] I had planned on the full croquemcake, but that was before I discovered how involved making the samosa skins would be. The recipe came from a guest post at Indian Food Rocks written by Jen Yu, author of my other favorite food blog, Use Real Butter.
“I’ve made many kinds of dumplings and pastries, but rolling out circles of dough, stacking them, then rolling out the stack, par-cooking, and peeling it apart was a process that took me a long time to grasp. The finished product was worth the effort, though!
“I was unsure about creating a tunnel in the cake for the mousse, so I made use of two Pampered Chef torte pans that bake up with wells in the center for a layer of filling. I piled the first cake layer high with mousse and then carefully flipped the second layer upside down on top. It worked like a charm.
“Other than setting off the smoke alarm baking the naan in a hot cast-iron pan, it came off without a hitch. My father raved about the white chocolate chai mousse!”
Nina the Nimble
Nina Made: A towering fondant birthday cake!
Comments: “My son turned 6 this month and I went all out for this birthday cake! This was my first fondant covered cake and my first stacked cake. I will admit, the top cake is from a mix, the birthday boy asked for Strawberry and it was just easier to use a box mix. The bottom cake is Smitten Kitchen’s Best Birthday Cake Recipe. In the week before making this cake I made lists, thought out a schedule for assembly and went shopping.
“I broke down making the cake over two days. On Thursday I baked the cakes, made the frosting and crumb coated the cakes leaving them to sit in the fridge overnight. I also cut out most of the fondant details and wrapped them well in plastic on cake boards to keep them soft so I could shape them to the cake. On Friday I gave both cakes a final coat of frosting and covered them in fondant. Friday night I stacked the cakes and put on the finishing details and added the figurines which I found on Amazon.
“Being able to do the work over two days really made it manageable, as did making a list and knowing exactly what colors of fondant I would need and going through my cake decorating supplies beforehand to decide what to use and put aside what I would need. I hit a small snag when the fondant on the the top cake started to tear, but I took a deep breath and decided I could find a way to cover it instead of starting over! The top cake had a large group of clouds over the back! I didn’t feel as overwhelmed by this process as I thought I would, it was really fun to do and the cake was a huge hit at the party!”
LeAndra the Lovely
LeAndra Made: Lemon Gratins (see more at her blog, Love & Flour)
Comments: “Not only did I make a gratin, but I also gained grace. Since the gratins did not turn out looking exactly as I had imagined, I might have ordinarily gotten frustrated. Fortunately, the cooking hard stuff post helped put in the mindset to give the gratins my best go and to be open to the experience and the outcome, no matter what each might be. I’m definitely glad I tried this recipe sooner rather than later!”
Amanda the Artful
Amanda Made: Rick Bayless’s Red Mole
Comments: “I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but seeing your posts […] motivated me to try it this weekend. It was an ordeal, but it made a lot, which makes cooking something this effort-intensive worth it.
“Tips: The recipe calls for a medium mesh strainer. Don’t use a fine mesh strainer for straining or you will be straining for hours and possibly crying in frustration. Medium mesh is perfectly capable for this task. Also, if your mole is still looking a little thin after two hours of simmering, throw in 1-2 very darkly toasted slices of bread (half a slice at a time) and take a stick blender to it. It doesn’t seem to effect the taste much and will go a long way towards thickening up the sauce. Thanks for the challenge and thanks for all the innovative recipes you post.”
Comments: “Again, this is an incredible recipe. The clementine mousse was out-of-this-world! […] I started making this around 5:30 pm and finally finished up at 1:30 am. The great part is, I went to the gym while the cheesecake was cooling and stayed on the treadmill long enough to watch an entire movie (great way to make up for some of the calories I was about to eat)! I suggest whoever makes it starts early in the day or has better planning skills than I do! For people who aren’t up for the whole recipe, I suggest just trying the clementine mousse. That eliminates the crust, cheesecake and candied clementines. Plus, it’s the most incredible citrus dessert I’ve ever had!”
Congratulations to all of the participants on their fantastic work! What hard stuff will you cook up?
Each week I bookmark tons of fascinating recipes, trek to interesting food-related places, find neat kitchen tricks, and make unique little dishes. Willow Bird Weekly is a miscellany of stuff I’ve collected throughout the week that I hope you’ll find entertaining.
I used this recipe for the cake, and about 10 minutes into baking, I put a whole dark chocolate bar on top to bake into the cake. That turned out to be a good move, because it created a layer of chocolate goo — yum!
I used this recipe for icing, which ended up way more soupy than I expected. I added more confectioners’ sugar and some shortening in an attempt to improve the texture, but it still flowed down the cake like flippin’ lava. I used the Post Punk Kitchen directions, which called for melting the Earth Balance, and I wouldn’t recommend that. Next time, I’ll just soften it and use it at room temperature. At least it tasted good — especially with tons of toasted coconut on top.
Places I Went and Stuff I Ate:
This week was full of fun. I went to Katie’s cupcakes and cocktails birthday party, where I ate her fantastic vegan, gluten-free cupcakes and drank lots of sparkly pink lemonade. Katie writes Sweet Tater Blog, which is comprised of lots of cat hilarity, awesome healthy food, and great writing — you should definitely go see.
Highlights: Cat-in-a bag and Cupcakes
This is a little sneak peek of another fun thing I did this week, but I’m going to keep you waiting another couple of days to hear about it:
Why do I think it’s cute to make that face? HAHA.
Other fun food times this week:
clockwise from top left: personal trifle with leftover vegan frosting + berries + frozen cake, strawberry and pistachio cakes from Cakes ‘N Flakes, takeout from my favorite Tex-Mex chain, On the Border, and a baby breakfast burrito from visiting the Roots Farm Food truck with Vanessa.
Stuff That Rocks:
I got two awesome emails this week from readers who made gorgeous WBB treats! Becky won 3rd place in a BBQ Dessert competition with her cheesecake, and Susan made a patriotic Strawberry Cream Pie for the 4th of July.
Becky’s cheesecake (top) and Susan’s Strawberry Cream Pie
Another thing that rocks is all of the organizing I’m doing around my apartment. Turns out that if you want to clean your house, watching Hoarders is excellent inspiration. Within hours of watching a few shows, I had a huge box ready to donate and several trash bags full of things to be thrown away.
One of my favorite organizing tricks is my new “spice rack.” I saw this idea somewhere and finally got around to trying it — and it cleared up so much space in my kitchen:
That’s a shoe organizer that I bought for $8 (this is an affiliate link — if you use it to buy one, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you)!
I love that I can see all of the spices available instead of digging through jars in a dark cabinet (hopefully this means no more buying duplicates!), and they’re all readily accessible. In addition to organizing my spices, I bought a $13 bookshelf to organize my extra books and threw away a lot of stale and out-of-date food lurking in the back of my pantry.
Be sure to share your organization tips with me in the comments this week; I’m on a roll! I’m even contemplating cleaning out my vacuum cleaner. We’ll see . . .
What fantastic recipes have you discovered online this week? What fun food experiences have you had? And what organizing tricks do you use around your house?
– Willow Bird Baking was featured with 5 other top food bloggers and Ina Garten in Ladies’ Home Journal. (Article, Recipes) (photo, right, by Quentin Bacon)
– Willow Bird Baking was a finalist in the Best Baking & Desserts Blog category of SAVEUR Magazine‘s 2012 Best Food Blog Awards.
-Willow Bird Baking was 1 of 12 finalists in Project Food Blog 2010, a contest to find the next food blog star. The competition originally included 2,000 bloggers.
-Willow Bird Baking was featured on the front page of The Charlotte Observer. (photo, right, by Todd Sumlin)
that I bought for $8 (this is an affiliate link — if you use it to buy one, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you)!
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