I've been working slowly at developing ideas for my 100 theme challenge. It has been interesting to see what the first thoughts of each given topic are, as well as how I am going to relate everything together. I think I have figured out the latter issue but I've needed to take a break from outlining because I was getting depressed. I was somehow able to make topics relate to death more easily that should probably be possible. But I thought I would give something somewhat happy before I post about my life.
I am unhealthy. I've come to accept this. I am not overweight, nor am I excessively thin. I however need to state this so that I can come to terms with it and do something about it. Lately my nails have been flaking and peeling, and breaking very easily so I've turned to painting them to hopefully give them some strength while I figure out what is wrong. On the other hand, or foot I should say, my toe nails are super strong, they are easy to tear off should I not feel like clipping them (except my big toe of course), but I have ridges in them, horizontal which is the bad kind I guess. I've been doing some reason on what could cause these things and it's upsetting. I've always thought of myself as someone who eats rather well when it comes to nutrition. I will have poptarts, or cereal for breakfast, pasta with some sort of dressing and cheese for my lunch, and dinners vary because I eat with my brother and his girlfriend, but we almost always have a vegetable and a meat and starch too. I'm not sure what I am missing but given what is going on with my nails several sites have said the ridges are possibly caused by a Vitamin A deficiency and the flaking, and peeling can be caused by a deficiency in Vitamin A and D. My boyfriend says that I should take Cod Liver Oil, which is gross and disgusting. However the oils are good for the nails and hair, so I might be able to get stronger hair out of the deal. The one thing I saw online though was the potential for a toxic level of Vitamin A if taken on a daily basis, so I am going to have to research that more and talk to him about that.
To add to this list of things I am apparently lacking I've been feeling tired even after sleeping for 8 hours, waking up for a while to make sure the dog is alright and then going back to sleep for several hours. This is a habit that needs to be broken soon because of school. Supposedly though Vitamin B-12 is the go to vitamin. So I am going to look into that as well. This one is something I am pretty sure I will take just due to the fact that I know b-12 does work for me, and maybe it will help me get better sleep.
At the very least, once I am able to afford lots of food for myself I am going to start a new diet. Yes I will keep my normal foods because that wouldn't be a fun diet if I couldn't have chips or snack foods, but I am going to work on eating more fruits and vegetables as well as less meat again. I know some meat is good, but high amounts of it is not. I have had an issue with low iron in my blood so I need to keep watch on that. The main cause of this is the fact that I am female, and have been donating blood on a fairly regular basis.
Well now that I've said this I might actually start doing it, just need to get access to my money again and things will be better.
~Luna Rae Anselm
Friday, August 26
Monday, August 22
Semi-Hiatus
So, Summer 2011 I did not get everything done that I was hoping to. I really wanted to order materials and notions for a corset I wanted to make. I don't think I'll be able to get that done before the end of October sadly. I shall push this to next summers goals, and that will give me some more time to design the costume and everything.
Sadly I have just over a week left of summer, because school starts back up. The days will be busy with work and studies but everything will be worth it in the end and I make it closer to my goal of becoming a teacher. That being said, my super creative side will have to be set back for a while because I do need to focus on my studies and with a job now I don't want to risk getting to overwhelmed. On top of school and work I do, not that most care but I need to state this so I understand it myself, have Muggle Quidditch which will be a bunch of fun for me, as well as Kappa Delta Pi, and Delta Phi Alpha things to do. I do not believe DPA will have a lot to do seeing as our adviser is no longer at the school, but KDP I must stay active in because it will be beneficial for my future with teaching.
I will still bake and cook and make pretty things I just won't be as super active about it. However, because writing is something that relaxes me I will be able to keep up on that. A few posts back I made mention of the 100 theme challenge that I was thinking about doing for NaNoWriMo, and I've started writing out ideas for that. Hopefully by splitting the 50,000 words into 100 sections it will be a bit more manageable task this year rather than the brain dump that I did last year. I've already got ideas up to number 11 I believe? I'd have to look at the book.
I think I also want to take some time every once in a while to mention a book that I've read or plan on reading because I want to support the written word, especially the written word on paper. Today I will be doing both. I read the book The Long Walk by Stephen King (though he wrote it under a pseudonym). The book was a bit rough to get into at first because of how vague it was, not knowing why the walk was started or really what got you into the walk but I pressed on. Something clicked about a quarter of the way through, and I could not put the book down. I spent any free moment that I could reading. Only to have a somewhat of a let-down ending. It was not what I expected at all but it was still a good book, and one that I would recommend to someone wanting a quick read. Yes the book is just a hair short of being 400 pages, but once you get going it really is hard to put down. I actually had to finish reading it before I could clean in my room.
Now to a book I'm looking forward to reading. The Night Circus. I am an avid Harry Potter fan, and even though the books have been done for a few years, and the final movie came out just last month I still visit the fan sites and reread the books on occasion. I'm actually working on getting them all in the British English versions, as well as the complete set in German (both of which I have the first book). I'm also a beta for the new Pottermore website, though I patiently wait for my chance to enter the site. All of that being said, a few days ago the website MuggleNet had a post about a Wall Street Journal article curious about who would conjure the next Harry Potter. They want to know what will be the next major hit. The Nigh Circus is that book, they predict. I read the information about the book on Amazon, and it sounds really interesting. Magicians from a past time are each training a new magician, and they pit the two against each other. Despite their mentors warnings they fall in love, in the middle of a battle to what sounds like the death. It was said that it is a mix between the Magic of Harry Potter, the star crossed lovers of the Hunger Games (another book I loved to read and will write about another time), and something from Twilight though I don't remember what. Twilight was an ok read for me, I used to be obsessed with it, but after the movies came out, and I moved away from my friends that enjoyed the series as well I realized I was using it to try and stay close with them knowing I would be moving 800 miles away. So Twilight is ok, but I'm not a crazed fan who will pledge my allegiance to one side or the other. More power to the fans who do, I love to see people excited about ink and paper even if it's not one that I'm excited about. That being said, the book comes out in just under a month. September 13th. Oddly a Tuesday, but I think I saw somewhere a while ago that Tuesday releases for books is very common. I'm debating pre-ordering the book or risking it and trying to get it at Barns-and-Nobel. I'll have to talk to the local store when I work next.
I do believe that's all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed!
~Luna Rae Anselm
Sadly I have just over a week left of summer, because school starts back up. The days will be busy with work and studies but everything will be worth it in the end and I make it closer to my goal of becoming a teacher. That being said, my super creative side will have to be set back for a while because I do need to focus on my studies and with a job now I don't want to risk getting to overwhelmed. On top of school and work I do, not that most care but I need to state this so I understand it myself, have Muggle Quidditch which will be a bunch of fun for me, as well as Kappa Delta Pi, and Delta Phi Alpha things to do. I do not believe DPA will have a lot to do seeing as our adviser is no longer at the school, but KDP I must stay active in because it will be beneficial for my future with teaching.
I will still bake and cook and make pretty things I just won't be as super active about it. However, because writing is something that relaxes me I will be able to keep up on that. A few posts back I made mention of the 100 theme challenge that I was thinking about doing for NaNoWriMo, and I've started writing out ideas for that. Hopefully by splitting the 50,000 words into 100 sections it will be a bit more manageable task this year rather than the brain dump that I did last year. I've already got ideas up to number 11 I believe? I'd have to look at the book.
I think I also want to take some time every once in a while to mention a book that I've read or plan on reading because I want to support the written word, especially the written word on paper. Today I will be doing both. I read the book The Long Walk by Stephen King (though he wrote it under a pseudonym). The book was a bit rough to get into at first because of how vague it was, not knowing why the walk was started or really what got you into the walk but I pressed on. Something clicked about a quarter of the way through, and I could not put the book down. I spent any free moment that I could reading. Only to have a somewhat of a let-down ending. It was not what I expected at all but it was still a good book, and one that I would recommend to someone wanting a quick read. Yes the book is just a hair short of being 400 pages, but once you get going it really is hard to put down. I actually had to finish reading it before I could clean in my room.
Now to a book I'm looking forward to reading. The Night Circus. I am an avid Harry Potter fan, and even though the books have been done for a few years, and the final movie came out just last month I still visit the fan sites and reread the books on occasion. I'm actually working on getting them all in the British English versions, as well as the complete set in German (both of which I have the first book). I'm also a beta for the new Pottermore website, though I patiently wait for my chance to enter the site. All of that being said, a few days ago the website MuggleNet had a post about a Wall Street Journal article curious about who would conjure the next Harry Potter. They want to know what will be the next major hit. The Nigh Circus is that book, they predict. I read the information about the book on Amazon, and it sounds really interesting. Magicians from a past time are each training a new magician, and they pit the two against each other. Despite their mentors warnings they fall in love, in the middle of a battle to what sounds like the death. It was said that it is a mix between the Magic of Harry Potter, the star crossed lovers of the Hunger Games (another book I loved to read and will write about another time), and something from Twilight though I don't remember what. Twilight was an ok read for me, I used to be obsessed with it, but after the movies came out, and I moved away from my friends that enjoyed the series as well I realized I was using it to try and stay close with them knowing I would be moving 800 miles away. So Twilight is ok, but I'm not a crazed fan who will pledge my allegiance to one side or the other. More power to the fans who do, I love to see people excited about ink and paper even if it's not one that I'm excited about. That being said, the book comes out in just under a month. September 13th. Oddly a Tuesday, but I think I saw somewhere a while ago that Tuesday releases for books is very common. I'm debating pre-ordering the book or risking it and trying to get it at Barns-and-Nobel. I'll have to talk to the local store when I work next.
I do believe that's all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed!
~Luna Rae Anselm
Friday, August 19
Backlog of Creativity!!!
I really do need to get my camera again so I can have pictures instead of just text updates, because that is just boring. As it were though I've been busy for the past week or so. Since my last post I've made four dozen more cupcakes (all strawberry fairy cakes), one bumpy cake (that took roughly 7 hours to make), another batch of ice cream AND egg free cookie dough! All of that is just the baked goods, I've also done several chainmaille projects some that were decent others that were not.
Wow it has taken me forever to get to writing this. I started writing this three days ago, today being August 19th, 2011. Down to business as I have some free time today.
Lets start with the fairy cakes. Those have been spectacular! I set the oven to the prescribed temperature on the box and then just before I put the cakes in the oven I turn it down approx. 10 degrees. I say approx. because I do not have a digital oven and can not be that precise without a thermometer, and working with a twist dial. I ran out of strawberry frosting sadly and used a pink buttercream frosting that I had made (will be discussed in the next bit of information). I've stuck with the standard decoration of pastel multi-colored stars on half and then red sugar crystals on the other half. They have been adorable, and delicious and I think will be a staple of cupcakes in my future. Since I have already talked about the cakes I will leave it with I was wrong in my previous calculations and it only made 6 dozen cakes not 8 dozen as I had thought.
Next up. Bumpy Cake. This was an intense cake to say the very least. I made it from this recipe at www.food.com. The cake turned out to be tasty, however the seven hours it took me to make was a bit frustrating. That is more due to my inexperience at making such a cake and the bad timing for a heat wave than the actual making of the cake. The recipe, should you not want to visit the website was divided into three parts, and thus I shall discuss each section of the cake making the same way.
Not sure why there is a back color, terribly sorry I will go back and edit to remove that. Everything with this cake was wonderfully easy at this point. Coffee and cocoa powder go together and blend for thirty seconds (keeping in mind that I had to blend by hand because in a previous cookie excursion I may have killed out hand mixer.) I used coffee because it was listed first and I was guessing that was the original ingredient but not everyone likes it. My boyfriend didn't know so I went with the coffee to start, next time - no coffee. Each ingredient there after is added one by one (well both eggs were added at the same time but you get what I mean right?) and blended for thirty seconds, except for the flour which got five minutes of blending. I was so amused when it was bubbly, and it turns out that was how the cake batter is supposed to be. Now I did not have access to a metal 9X13 pan for this cake so I used a pyrex glass dish and it turned out pretty ok. I baked using the instructions listed on the website and ran into a problem. The edges were starting to get a bit to crisp, I attribute this to the different properties in glass and metal. The center of the cake was done but the cake had split, I thought alright that should be cooked better because it's exposed. I did not want to cook it much longer because I was afraid of burning the cake and I already had a lot invested. So out it comes and I check the crack, it's gooey. Like super gooey. I panic and decided after a frantic call to my mother that it's been in the oven long enough that the eggs will have been cooked and everything should be ok. I let that set up and then once it was cool enough to touch I flipped it and set it back in the pan and down into the freezer it went. I waited a while so the glass could cool I was afraid of that cracking going from the oven to the freezer. While the cake froze I made up the buttercream frosting (See I told you I would get to it!)
This was probably the most fun I've had in a while making frosting. I had forgotten to remove the butter from the fridge to get it softening, partially because it just says butter and partially because I'm a ditz sometimes. So I cut it up as best I could and then added the sugar as it directs. This was the longest process EVER. I almost left the house and went to Meijer to get a blender to speed the process up. However just as I was convinced I couldn't do it by hand the butter finally hit the point of ease and I was able to blend properly. I continued on down the ingredients and found that it looked a bit to soft to make the icing bumps on the cake so I added more powdered sugar to try and stiffen it. The problem was the sugar content but the heat in the kitchen. Temperatures outside were near 90 degrees and it was rather humid. We don't have central air so the kitchen was still overheated from the oven as well. Needless to say I wasn't able to "roll out" logs of buttercream frosting. I piped them onto the cake after taking it from the freezer. Back to the freezer it went. The frosting is similar to that of my moms recipe just a few extra things. It's rather delicious but when you reheat it, the thing becomes a soupy mess due to the amount of butter.
The final stage!
This was the most stressful for me because I had put it off until the night before I went home, AND I've never made candy like this before. I've done rock candy but that doesn't require cooking or specifics like temp and everything. Needless to say when I do this again I need a better way to hold the candy thermometer. I can also make it with a friend because this was rather hard for me. Getting everything done wasn't bad but I was almost a complete dunderhead! I got it cooking and was holding the thermometer to watch the temp I've been told not let it touch the bottom of the pan because that will alter the temperature which was difficult because the heat coming out from the bottom of the pan was hurting my fingers and I accidentally dropped the thermometer. I went to grab it and realized, OH HEY this is nearly 200 or 300 (whatever the temp for soft ball candy is) and stopped myself from grabbing it. Found some tongs and pulled it out. Because of that time some of the candy burned on the bottom sadly. So I removed it from the heat and the actual burner spot too. Mixed in the powdered sugar and vanilla and let it set for a little while I pulled the cake out, did some cleaning, just to let it cool off a bit because I knew it was hot. Also wanted the liquid to penetrate the sugar. After it was all mixed I started to pour it on the cake, and it was melting the buttercream icing. I was so upset. I had tried to make it red but it ended up pink. So my boyfriends cake was brown with hints of pink coming through. He says it tasted fine, a bit strong with the coffee but otherwise it was good. His grandma took half of the cake home.
Let us see, what is next? Ah yes, the ice cream.
I had originally wanted to make him Cookie dough ice cream but sadly my timing was off. So I had made vanilla ice cream, with brown sugar instead of white. That really did make a flavor different! Then I found this recipe on yoyomax12's page on youtube for cookie dough truffles. It was butter, brown sugar, uhm.... wow this is bad I have a terrible memory, I'll find the link again and make a post dedicated to it because it's really good stuff. There's sweetened condensed milk, and flour as well as chocolate chips involved. I had some issues with the chocolate because we only had white and not semi sweet or milk chocolate in the house but it worked out alright. It comes together really easy but at this time I was back home and was able to use a stand mixer which helped loads! The best part is this isn't meant to be cooked it is meant to be consumed. No raw eggs here which made me feel better about serving it to someone else. I know small doses of raw eggs aren't terrible for you but I'd rather not risk getting friends and family sick because of my failure to serve properly cooked foods! This has kept in the fridge nicely and just let it come to temperature and it's super easy to eat. I think I might try it cold next time because it looked so good solid instead of a semi-liquid state.
My chainmaille. Oh my word is this a fun project. I wanted to make a bracelet for my boyfriends birthday. Yes I know most guys don't like jewelry like girls do but I'm not good at much else with chainmaille right now. The only reason I wanted to is to so that I could give him a hint at his other present which was tickets to the Ren Fest in Michigan! The first one that I did wasn't so good, I used insulated wire and the colors were off so I wasn't really happy with out it turned out. We went to Joanns after I gave him the bracelet and we found color coated copper wire and I've been using that. I am still remaking his bracelet but I've set that aside for the time being so that I can clean my room up before school starts. I've also made two earrings which I find adorable but I need to get better at closing the jump rings because it just breaks to easily. I bought some premade saw cut rings as well and made an anklet and that turned out pretty well but I need a better clasp for it because I'm going to wear out the ring that closes it if I don't. Hopefully my next project I will have a camera so that I can take pictures of everything and then I can make separate posts about everything and have it look BEAUTIFUL!
Stay creative!
~Luna Rae Anselm
Wow it has taken me forever to get to writing this. I started writing this three days ago, today being August 19th, 2011. Down to business as I have some free time today.
Lets start with the fairy cakes. Those have been spectacular! I set the oven to the prescribed temperature on the box and then just before I put the cakes in the oven I turn it down approx. 10 degrees. I say approx. because I do not have a digital oven and can not be that precise without a thermometer, and working with a twist dial. I ran out of strawberry frosting sadly and used a pink buttercream frosting that I had made (will be discussed in the next bit of information). I've stuck with the standard decoration of pastel multi-colored stars on half and then red sugar crystals on the other half. They have been adorable, and delicious and I think will be a staple of cupcakes in my future. Since I have already talked about the cakes I will leave it with I was wrong in my previous calculations and it only made 6 dozen cakes not 8 dozen as I had thought.
Next up. Bumpy Cake. This was an intense cake to say the very least. I made it from this recipe at www.food.com. The cake turned out to be tasty, however the seven hours it took me to make was a bit frustrating. That is more due to my inexperience at making such a cake and the bad timing for a heat wave than the actual making of the cake. The recipe, should you not want to visit the website was divided into three parts, and thus I shall discuss each section of the cake making the same way.
For Cake
- 1/2 cup hot black coffee or 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups flour
Not sure why there is a back color, terribly sorry I will go back and edit to remove that. Everything with this cake was wonderfully easy at this point. Coffee and cocoa powder go together and blend for thirty seconds (keeping in mind that I had to blend by hand because in a previous cookie excursion I may have killed out hand mixer.) I used coffee because it was listed first and I was guessing that was the original ingredient but not everyone likes it. My boyfriend didn't know so I went with the coffee to start, next time - no coffee. Each ingredient there after is added one by one (well both eggs were added at the same time but you get what I mean right?) and blended for thirty seconds, except for the flour which got five minutes of blending. I was so amused when it was bubbly, and it turns out that was how the cake batter is supposed to be. Now I did not have access to a metal 9X13 pan for this cake so I used a pyrex glass dish and it turned out pretty ok. I baked using the instructions listed on the website and ran into a problem. The edges were starting to get a bit to crisp, I attribute this to the different properties in glass and metal. The center of the cake was done but the cake had split, I thought alright that should be cooked better because it's exposed. I did not want to cook it much longer because I was afraid of burning the cake and I already had a lot invested. So out it comes and I check the crack, it's gooey. Like super gooey. I panic and decided after a frantic call to my mother that it's been in the oven long enough that the eggs will have been cooked and everything should be ok. I let that set up and then once it was cool enough to touch I flipped it and set it back in the pan and down into the freezer it went. I waited a while so the glass could cool I was afraid of that cracking going from the oven to the freezer. While the cake froze I made up the buttercream frosting (See I told you I would get to it!)
For BUTTERCREAM ICING
- 2 cups butter
- 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 2 large egg whites
- 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
This was probably the most fun I've had in a while making frosting. I had forgotten to remove the butter from the fridge to get it softening, partially because it just says butter and partially because I'm a ditz sometimes. So I cut it up as best I could and then added the sugar as it directs. This was the longest process EVER. I almost left the house and went to Meijer to get a blender to speed the process up. However just as I was convinced I couldn't do it by hand the butter finally hit the point of ease and I was able to blend properly. I continued on down the ingredients and found that it looked a bit to soft to make the icing bumps on the cake so I added more powdered sugar to try and stiffen it. The problem was the sugar content but the heat in the kitchen. Temperatures outside were near 90 degrees and it was rather humid. We don't have central air so the kitchen was still overheated from the oven as well. Needless to say I wasn't able to "roll out" logs of buttercream frosting. I piped them onto the cake after taking it from the freezer. Back to the freezer it went. The frosting is similar to that of my moms recipe just a few extra things. It's rather delicious but when you reheat it, the thing becomes a soupy mess due to the amount of butter.
For POURABLE FUDGE FROSTING
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup dark corn syrup
- 1/3 cup cocoa
- 1 dash salt
- 1/2 lb butter, divided
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The final stage!
This was the most stressful for me because I had put it off until the night before I went home, AND I've never made candy like this before. I've done rock candy but that doesn't require cooking or specifics like temp and everything. Needless to say when I do this again I need a better way to hold the candy thermometer. I can also make it with a friend because this was rather hard for me. Getting everything done wasn't bad but I was almost a complete dunderhead! I got it cooking and was holding the thermometer to watch the temp I've been told not let it touch the bottom of the pan because that will alter the temperature which was difficult because the heat coming out from the bottom of the pan was hurting my fingers and I accidentally dropped the thermometer. I went to grab it and realized, OH HEY this is nearly 200 or 300 (whatever the temp for soft ball candy is) and stopped myself from grabbing it. Found some tongs and pulled it out. Because of that time some of the candy burned on the bottom sadly. So I removed it from the heat and the actual burner spot too. Mixed in the powdered sugar and vanilla and let it set for a little while I pulled the cake out, did some cleaning, just to let it cool off a bit because I knew it was hot. Also wanted the liquid to penetrate the sugar. After it was all mixed I started to pour it on the cake, and it was melting the buttercream icing. I was so upset. I had tried to make it red but it ended up pink. So my boyfriends cake was brown with hints of pink coming through. He says it tasted fine, a bit strong with the coffee but otherwise it was good. His grandma took half of the cake home.
Let us see, what is next? Ah yes, the ice cream.
I had originally wanted to make him Cookie dough ice cream but sadly my timing was off. So I had made vanilla ice cream, with brown sugar instead of white. That really did make a flavor different! Then I found this recipe on yoyomax12's page on youtube for cookie dough truffles. It was butter, brown sugar, uhm.... wow this is bad I have a terrible memory, I'll find the link again and make a post dedicated to it because it's really good stuff. There's sweetened condensed milk, and flour as well as chocolate chips involved. I had some issues with the chocolate because we only had white and not semi sweet or milk chocolate in the house but it worked out alright. It comes together really easy but at this time I was back home and was able to use a stand mixer which helped loads! The best part is this isn't meant to be cooked it is meant to be consumed. No raw eggs here which made me feel better about serving it to someone else. I know small doses of raw eggs aren't terrible for you but I'd rather not risk getting friends and family sick because of my failure to serve properly cooked foods! This has kept in the fridge nicely and just let it come to temperature and it's super easy to eat. I think I might try it cold next time because it looked so good solid instead of a semi-liquid state.
My chainmaille. Oh my word is this a fun project. I wanted to make a bracelet for my boyfriends birthday. Yes I know most guys don't like jewelry like girls do but I'm not good at much else with chainmaille right now. The only reason I wanted to is to so that I could give him a hint at his other present which was tickets to the Ren Fest in Michigan! The first one that I did wasn't so good, I used insulated wire and the colors were off so I wasn't really happy with out it turned out. We went to Joanns after I gave him the bracelet and we found color coated copper wire and I've been using that. I am still remaking his bracelet but I've set that aside for the time being so that I can clean my room up before school starts. I've also made two earrings which I find adorable but I need to get better at closing the jump rings because it just breaks to easily. I bought some premade saw cut rings as well and made an anklet and that turned out pretty well but I need a better clasp for it because I'm going to wear out the ring that closes it if I don't. Hopefully my next project I will have a camera so that I can take pictures of everything and then I can make separate posts about everything and have it look BEAUTIFUL!
Stay creative!
~Luna Rae Anselm
Wednesday, August 3
Strawberry Overload
Went to the store this morning with my brother to get supplies to make the bumpy cake tomorrow. I also have had a major urge to make cupcakes since I've been watching YoYoMax12's Cupcakes on youtube. She's got some wonderful ideas for how to decorate full sized cupcakes. I have not looked at much else from her because I just needed a cupcake fix. While we were at the store I picked up three cake mixes, and some stuff to decorate the cakes.
I have come to love cakes from scratch but I have work today, and tomorrow will be dedicated to making the bumpy cake for next week. So cake mix it is. I got Pillsbury Confetti, Strawberry, and White. They were on sale, I couldn't help myself. I also picked up two cans of pre-made frosting. Also another thing I don't really like to do, but they were on sale and I just want to make the cakes. I may make my own frosting after because I do love my mother's recipe. My brother came over to help with the cakes, which I shall from here on out refer to a name I found on the internet as fairy cakes. Which are mini cupcakes. He has a nice system to use to make the fair cakes which places them in a gallon plastic back and cuts the corner out. This is much better than my spoon method and is something I will use in the future.
The batter makes 24 full fledged cupcakes, or 96 fair cakes. I don't understand the math that goes with it, but it works. We have a pan here that can do 24 fair cakes at once, which makes my life so much better. After they have cooled completely I will frost and decorate them. I am super excited to see how the fair cakes turn out.
~Luna Rae Anselm
I have come to love cakes from scratch but I have work today, and tomorrow will be dedicated to making the bumpy cake for next week. So cake mix it is. I got Pillsbury Confetti, Strawberry, and White. They were on sale, I couldn't help myself. I also picked up two cans of pre-made frosting. Also another thing I don't really like to do, but they were on sale and I just want to make the cakes. I may make my own frosting after because I do love my mother's recipe. My brother came over to help with the cakes, which I shall from here on out refer to a name I found on the internet as fairy cakes. Which are mini cupcakes. He has a nice system to use to make the fair cakes which places them in a gallon plastic back and cuts the corner out. This is much better than my spoon method and is something I will use in the future.
The batter makes 24 full fledged cupcakes, or 96 fair cakes. I don't understand the math that goes with it, but it works. We have a pan here that can do 24 fair cakes at once, which makes my life so much better. After they have cooled completely I will frost and decorate them. I am super excited to see how the fair cakes turn out.
~Luna Rae Anselm
Get down with your creative self!
For my boyfriends birthday I am kind of going crazy. I wanted to do something special but a lack of job made that difficult. Now however I have plans of what to make, as well as what I am giving him. Since I know he reads this from time to time, I cannot post some things just yet. His favorite cake is a Sanders Bumpy Cake, which he so kindly found me a recipe after I asked. I wanted him to find it because he knows the cake and would know if the recipe was correct or not.
The cake is daunting. There is a lot of Freeze Time for each portion of the cake, as well as some things I have never done before. The buttercream frosting isn't used to frost the cake, it is made into log rolls and used to make the trademark "bumps" on the cake. Then there is a pour-able fudge frosting to cover the cake and the frosting rolls. I have never in my life made fudge! So I am a bit nervous to say the very least, but the directions are laid out pretty well so it should not be to terribly difficult.
Next up on the plate. Pun intended. Is homemade ice cream. I have some tweaking to do from the last recipe. As I bought the flavor I want to make, and found some subtle differences that I want to recreate. However getting the dough, will not be a problem. I will make a larger batch so that there is more to enjoy as well. Hopefully this will turn out nicely, if not I'm not to upset.
The other parts of his birthday will be written about after he receives them. I will post about the cake as I make it though.
~Luna Rae Anselm
The cake is daunting. There is a lot of Freeze Time for each portion of the cake, as well as some things I have never done before. The buttercream frosting isn't used to frost the cake, it is made into log rolls and used to make the trademark "bumps" on the cake. Then there is a pour-able fudge frosting to cover the cake and the frosting rolls. I have never in my life made fudge! So I am a bit nervous to say the very least, but the directions are laid out pretty well so it should not be to terribly difficult.
Next up on the plate. Pun intended. Is homemade ice cream. I have some tweaking to do from the last recipe. As I bought the flavor I want to make, and found some subtle differences that I want to recreate. However getting the dough, will not be a problem. I will make a larger batch so that there is more to enjoy as well. Hopefully this will turn out nicely, if not I'm not to upset.
The other parts of his birthday will be written about after he receives them. I will post about the cake as I make it though.
~Luna Rae Anselm
Monday, August 1
Salt Water Taffy Yes, Salt Water Ice Cream?
I'm not a huge fan of taffy to begin with, but I've heard that Salt Water Taffy would be DELICIOUS! That being said, Salty Sweets do not always go well together. Ice Cream is one of those cases. I made some homemade ice cream today, using the following recipe:
Youtube - Homemade Ice Cream This was a single serve ice cream recipe, using milk, sugar, and vanilla extract all in one bag, and in a larger back put the ice and salt together. Put the small bag in the large bag and shake for ten or so minutes. I only needed to shake for about seven minutes before it was frozen. However after placing the ice cream into a bowl I realized I probably could have shaken for a while longer to get the very last bits frozen.
The entire process was simple and effective to make some delicious ice cream, I sampled some and decided I must make more. However as I continued to eat the ice cream, something was off. Turns out my double zip lock back had opened just a hair while I was mixing and some salt water made it's way into the mixture. This is also why there were unfrozen parts for the cream. That was an unpleasant experience to say the very least, but overall the ice cream was delicious and I do plan on making more.
Texture was similar to my favorite ice cream treat. An ice cream float, but instead of pop I put it in milk! The milk freezes on the edges of the ice cream creating a slight crunch, like soft ice. It is my favorite thing to eat, and the entirety of this homemade ice cream had this same texture. The flavor was still good too, when I ate around the potential salt watery parts.
~Luna Rae Anselm
Youtube - Homemade Ice Cream This was a single serve ice cream recipe, using milk, sugar, and vanilla extract all in one bag, and in a larger back put the ice and salt together. Put the small bag in the large bag and shake for ten or so minutes. I only needed to shake for about seven minutes before it was frozen. However after placing the ice cream into a bowl I realized I probably could have shaken for a while longer to get the very last bits frozen.
The entire process was simple and effective to make some delicious ice cream, I sampled some and decided I must make more. However as I continued to eat the ice cream, something was off. Turns out my double zip lock back had opened just a hair while I was mixing and some salt water made it's way into the mixture. This is also why there were unfrozen parts for the cream. That was an unpleasant experience to say the very least, but overall the ice cream was delicious and I do plan on making more.
Texture was similar to my favorite ice cream treat. An ice cream float, but instead of pop I put it in milk! The milk freezes on the edges of the ice cream creating a slight crunch, like soft ice. It is my favorite thing to eat, and the entirety of this homemade ice cream had this same texture. The flavor was still good too, when I ate around the potential salt watery parts.
~Luna Rae Anselm
Tuesday, July 26
Idea AHOY!
As I mentioned in my first post I like to write a lot and have been working to find an idea that I like for National Novel Writing Month. This year, I think I've got it!
I've thought of doing the 100 theme challenge before but something feels right about it this time. I know I'm not a novel or novella or novelette writer, I have a home with the short story writing style. It's something I've been fairly good at before and wish to give a shot at again. What is different is I am going to try and link the themes in some way. One idea is to set everything up as a Frame Tale and start off with the narrator telling about their life and everything they are about, getting caught up in the moment that someone is paying them any attention. Then they would realize that they are the story teller and will begin the tales of each theme. Some may be fairy tales, others cautionary, others just something that would come to mind.
Thoughts? Let me know. I'll post the themes in a little bit.
Here are the Themes
~Luna Rae Anselm
I've thought of doing the 100 theme challenge before but something feels right about it this time. I know I'm not a novel or novella or novelette writer, I have a home with the short story writing style. It's something I've been fairly good at before and wish to give a shot at again. What is different is I am going to try and link the themes in some way. One idea is to set everything up as a Frame Tale and start off with the narrator telling about their life and everything they are about, getting caught up in the moment that someone is paying them any attention. Then they would realize that they are the story teller and will begin the tales of each theme. Some may be fairy tales, others cautionary, others just something that would come to mind.
Thoughts? Let me know. I'll post the themes in a little bit.
Here are the Themes
1. Introduction 11. Memory 21. Vacation 31. Flowers
2. Love 12. Insanity 22. Mother Nature 32. Night
3. Light 13. Misfortune 23. Cat 33. Expectations
4. Dark 14. Smile 24. No Time 34. Stars
5. Seeking Solace 15. Silence 25. Trouble Lurking 35. Hold My Hand
6. Break Away 16. Questioning 26. Tears 36. Precious Treasure
7. Heaven 17. Blood 27. Foreign 37. Eyes
8. Innocence 18. Rainbow 28. Sorrow 38. Abandoned
9. Drive 19. Gray 29. Happiness 39. Dreams
10. Breathe Again 20. Fortitude 30. Under the Rain 40. Rated
2. Love 12. Insanity 22. Mother Nature 32. Night
3. Light 13. Misfortune 23. Cat 33. Expectations
4. Dark 14. Smile 24. No Time 34. Stars
5. Seeking Solace 15. Silence 25. Trouble Lurking 35. Hold My Hand
6. Break Away 16. Questioning 26. Tears 36. Precious Treasure
7. Heaven 17. Blood 27. Foreign 37. Eyes
8. Innocence 18. Rainbow 28. Sorrow 38. Abandoned
9. Drive 19. Gray 29. Happiness 39. Dreams
10. Breathe Again 20. Fortitude 30. Under the Rain 40. Rated
41. Teamwork 51. Sport 61. Fairy Tale 71. Obsession
42. Standing Still 52. Deep in Thought 62. Magic 72. Mischief Managed
43. Dying 53. Keeping a Secret 63. Do Not Disturb 73. I Can't
44. Two Roads 54. Tower 64. Multitasking 74. Are you Challenging Me?
45. Illusion 55. Waiting 65. Horror 75. Mirror
46. Family 56. Danger Ahead 66. Traps 76. Broken Pieces
47. Creation 57. Sacrifice 67. Playing the Melody 77. Test
48. Childhood 58. Kick in the Head 68. Hero 78. Drink
49. Stripes 59. No way Out 69. Annoyance 79. Starvation
50. Breaking the Rules 60. Rejection 70. 67% 80. Words
81. Pen and Paper 91. Drowning
82. Can You Hear Me? 92. All That I Have
83. Heal 93. Give Up
84. Out Cold 94. Last Hope
85. Spiral 95. Advertisement
86. Seeing Red 96. In the Storm
87. Food 97. Safety First
88. Pain 98. Puzzle
89. Through the Fire 99. Solitude
90. Triangle 100. Relaxation
82. Can You Hear Me? 92. All That I Have
83. Heal 93. Give Up
84. Out Cold 94. Last Hope
85. Spiral 95. Advertisement
86. Seeing Red 96. In the Storm
87. Food 97. Safety First
88. Pain 98. Puzzle
89. Through the Fire 99. Solitude
90. Triangle 100. Relaxation
~Luna Rae Anselm
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