Cake Class #2

Well, tonight was my first class with a cake of my own! On Tuesday night I made & baked the cakes. I used the stand mixer my mom gave me...she's had it since before she had my sisters and me, I think. I absolutely love it - it's spunky and reminds me of my mom:

It was the 2nd time I've made a cake from scratch. I followed the directions and left the cakes in the oven for an hour, but clearly that was a little too long. Below are my two cakes and the buttercream icing I made (also from scratch with the stand mixer):

Turns out the consistency of "can" icing differs from that of buttercream. Buttercream should be much thicker. Good to know...:



So clearly, my icing ran because it wasn't thick enough. It looked fine during class (although working with it was a little tough at times), but on the way home it ran off the cake a little. Well, at least can say I definitely learned something! You can't even tell I used a different piping tip on the boarder. Oh well...good thing Brent's taking this one into work instead of me... :)

Before & After

Okay, promised pictures are here! :)

The "before" pictures:
Note the curved (stock) handlebars and dark neck (behind the headlight but in front of the gas tank).
Note the dirty back tire and chain drive.
Note the side view of the chain drive and again, the dirty back tire.
Note the back of the motorycle, the way the license plate hangs and where the taillights are.

And now, the "after":
New belt drive!!!! New tires!!!! And look at that clean, shiny bike tire! (And to think I used to believe my mom teaching me how to scrub things clean with a toothbrush was useless...)
Note the T-bar and iso grips Brent got me for my birthday last year:
Check out the chrome neck plate Brent also got me for my birthday last year. I really think it lightens up the front part of the bike:
Here's the updated pic of the back of the bike. The license plate has 6 LED lights that illuminate the plate and we removed the spacer between the taillight and license plate. And yes, you can actually see the tread on the tires! (Not so much on the last ones...)
And, just because:

Blame

I'm feeling a little philosophical today, so be warned.

It's a funny thing, blame. What keeps us from taking responsibility for our own actions and instead place it on other people, circumstances, or reaction?

I was in Michaels today and while walking down a main aisle, a man knocked over a bucket with fake flowers into my aisle not 5 feet in front of me. What did he do? What did I do?

Him: Looked at the flowers on the floor, looked at me, looked at the flowers again.
Me: Thought to myself, "I'll help him pick up the flowers."
Me: Bent down to put them back in the bucket.
Him: Went back to shopping.
Me: Looked up a man not helping me pick up the flowers that he knocked off. (I'm betting there was a look invovled, but since I didn't see it, I can't be positive.)
Him said to Me: "I don't work here."
Me back at Him: "Well sir, neither do I, but they still fell in the middle of the aisle and need to be picked up."
Him: Finally bends down to help pick up the flowers that he knocked off! Also mumbles something incoherent.
Me: Finishes up with the flowers, puts it back on the display.
Him: "Are you going to be able to finish shopping now in peace?"

Now, I don't know if attitude comes through via blog, but let me tell you, for his response I was as sweet as a...well...flower as I said, "Yes, thank you" and walked away to check out.

For those of you who knew me growing up, I constantly had what my mom called an "attitude problem." So okay, better make that sweet as a Michaels fake flower.

Ummm...but it's not my fault! He's the one who didn't care to clean up his own mess! And he degraded the Michaels employees!

Oh well, ummm, for the part of my attitude, can I chalk that conversation up to PMS? Oh okay, fine! I take full resposibility for my actions and tone of my voice. (sigh) I apologize, Random-Michaels-Customer-Who-Is-Too-Good-To-Pick-Up-Your-Own-Mess.

Oh well...I tried.

More Work, Less Play?

I'm seriously considering getting a second job and have been praying about it for the last few weeks. This would be strictly for fun/learning, with a plus of a little extra income. I'm thinking about applying at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (probably the one at Southpoint since it's closest to my house & work) or being a cake decorator at Mad Hatter Cafe (off 9th Street). I'm praying that God will put me in a 2nd job where I will help to further His kingdom.

If I apply to work at Mad Hatters, I'd have to wait until after I finished my cake decorating class to see: 1) if I like doing it, 2) if I'm good enough to use those skills vocationally, and 3) if I have enough experience to qualify. So that'd mean I wouldn't apply until the beginning of August. It'd be neat because I'd get to further my instruction in cake decorating.

On the other hand, if I apply at Rocky Mountain, the pros: I could apply immediately, I'd learn a lot about chocolate and caramel, and I'd get some more experience with sweet eats. The cons: I'd have a full time job, a part time job, and a class (that requires baking, cooling, and mixing time outside of class) all at once...so definitely not a lot of free time, and I'd have to take into consideration that Rocky Mtn is located at the mall, so parking would be problematic.

My first year of college was chaos - I wanted to do so many different things and be involved with so many different clubs/organizations. I definitely spread myself too thin. I'm hoping that doesn't happen to me now.

Okay, reader participation time (for all of my 3 loyal readers). Leave a comment (click on the comment link below) and let me know what you think. Rocky Mountain, Mad Hatters, or none of the above?

Cake Class #1

Last night was my first cake decorating class. As it was the first class, we didn't do much. The teacher introduced herself (Jill Leckey, with twin sister Courtney, has her own business in RDU - check out their website), went over the syllabus & supply list (what's used for what), watched a demo of Jill crumb coating a cake, and asked any questions we could think of. Yep, that took two hours.

I'm missing the 4th class...that's the week we're doing a "Happy Birthday" theme. I'm kinda bummed about missing it, but where I'll be makes it much easier! :) (I'll be at the beach with my fam!) Plus, I asked Jill about the material I'll miss that week, and she said in the past she usually just catches up the student in class the following week, so on week 5 the class will be learning about flowers, but I'll be learning how to make a birthday flowered cake. :)

Next week, the fun begins! Our homework for next week is to seperately bring in buttercream icing (Jill's recipe makes 4 cups!), food coloring, and 3 layers of 6" vanilla cake to practice the assembly and icing. Super excited!!!!!! :)

P.S. No motorcycle today. There's a tornado warning in effect as I type this. Rain forecasted for all of tomorrow, so I won't get to ride then, either. So, I'm more anxious for this weekend than usual...can't wait to ride and play in the kitchen!! :)

A "new" ride

I rode my motorcycle for the first time last night since we took it apart for the new tires and belt conversion. Brent was measuring the tension of the new belt...he checked it not once, not twice, not even three times (it was more like 10). The instructions (or "destructions" if you were around when Brent was little) warned against the belt being too tight, then warned about the belt being too loose. I was nervous after reading those warnings, because, of course, there was only 1/16 of an inch to hit it exactly. So, no pressure. But we got it on, tensioned, and Brent took it for it's first test drive. It went wonderfully! Then it was time for us to ride together...to see how the bike handles/accelerates with two people on it. Then it was time for me to ride by myself! Brent kinda freaked me out since he kept saying things like "The new tires are more rounded than the old ones, so it leans on it's own instead of wanting to pop up straight like the old tires did" and "It handles like a totally different bike!" and right before I took my first ride on it since the conversions he said "Just be really, really careful. Handle it like you've never ridden it before". So I started off very cautious, but the ride was so smooth, the curves so effortless, the night perfect, that I eventually stopped worrying about it and just had a great time! Man, I had forgotten how much I absolutely LOVE riding!! I know it's only been two & a half weeks, but still! I really, really, really wanted to ride it to work today, but alas, as I'm going straight from work this afternoon to my first class, it could not be done (due to the amount of materials I have to bring with me). But I'm super excited about class tonight! And, I'm totally riding my motorcycle everywhere else I'm going for the rest of the week! :)

Back together again!

My motorcycle's finally back together!! (Hey, 2 weeks is a long time!!) I'm SUPER excited!! Right in time for the hottest days of the year (yay heat stroke). Seriously though, I'm so excited to have it back in one piece! Yesterday afternoon I put on the blinkers, back fender, side guards, pipes, and seat all by myself! The integrated tail light still hasn't come in yet, so they'll be another bout of when it's not on the road, but that definitely won't take two weeks - hopefully more like two hours! I'll try to post some pictures of the updated license plate placement, belt drive, and tail light (when it comes in) soon.