spring pretties

A recent Sunday found the family and I at the in-laws celebrating 3 occasions at once—the co-birthday party of nephew Andrew and niece Grace (that Sunday being about the midpoint between their birthdays) and the 45^th wedding anniversary of Jeff’s Ps, Bobbi and Wayne.  Andrew picked blue, Grace picked teal, and I made airbrushed lizards and butterflies for the kids.  For the happy couple, I made blossoms in their wedding colors, peach and white.  I added a few in coral for fun, and some yellow sugar “pollen” for sparkle.  Happy birthday/birthday/anniversary to you, may there be many more years!

The lizard to the right has a smooshy tail, because it was humid.  Commercial kitchens, which I intend to utilize more, are more climate controlled than my home, where I bake for my family.  I will be more into the business of selling cookies for real—licensed, insured, business-carded, advertised, vending to your local businesses, teaching(?), and stocking your parties with awesome treats—in the coming weeks.  So tell your friends! (striking a superhero stance)

These hearts were to welcome a baby girl.  I have no other details, but “welcome!” to the little one.  The little-kid-like scribble flowers were a similar technique to the purple flowers on…

…these cakes, for a bridal shower in Milwaukee.  Cousin-in-law Kati ordered them, and took delivery of them after I elected to take care of 2 tasks at once: to get the cookies delivered to her, and to give myself 2 hours off.  I accomplished this by driving to Milwaukee.  I love and miss driving—all I do in the suburbs is short trips to the same places.  Driving on 94 through that rolling, half-green (it was march), nowhere of space between Chicagoland and when you start seeing outlet malls after the WI border, is like driving across the steppes of Russia, dotted with business parks and RV dealerships and the like.  I imagined that I wasn’t headed for a Starbucks at a busy intersection, but a hut in Ulaanbaatar.  But Starbucks it was, and we all had somewhere to be, so we agreed to get a real family gathering going at some point.  And then I was on my way east across Russia again.

Finally, here are some bits o’beach I did for my kiddo’s school’s Daddy-Daughter dance, the theme of which was “under the sea.”  Fondant shells and pearl dragees, and 3 kinds of sand colored sugar made little seaside circles sparkle.   

Thanks for stopping by; coming soon, Shakespeare…

dancing the cookie shuffle

And I’ve returned.  Where have I been?  Baking chocolate chip cookies and banana bread at the library.  Good feedback, more on the job later.  Also picking up my kid from the bus stop, and laundry, and I still have no internet at home, so getting more than 140 characters out of me can be tricky.  I’d save myself a trip if I could text on a smart phone while driving, but my phone is not smart, and I am, so in short (not really) it’s much ado getting my pics posted.   

These were from a weekend in [March?] when many dancers convened at The Hemmens in Elgin.  It just so happens that yours truly performed there—ballet, tap, and tumbling—in my very young days.  Recitals were at The Hemmens, but class was in Bartlett, a ride across town on the back on mom’s bike, at the park district’s odd little log cabin in a park off Oak St.  It was one of those little clubhouses where you’d have ballet class on Friday, and someone could rent it for a baby shower on Saturday, then next Tuesday the township trustees would have a budget meeting, or something.  Anyway, I twirled and tapped and tumbled, and our teacher would send each of us off after class with one of those daisy-shaped shortbread cookies with the hole in the middle, just the right size for a 5-year-old’s pinky, and I’d ride home in my yellow bike seat pretending my finger was wearing a tutu.  So imagine my happy little sense of purpose to be making pretty ballerina butterfly cookies for young aspiring dancers.  I had a 'gone-full-circle' kind of contentment. 

About the rest of the job.  Firstly, people keep calling me a pastry chef.  You need credentials to be called “a chef” and I don’t have ’em, and “pastry” actually encompasses more than I know.  I’m kind of hit or miss on pie crusts for example.  I didn’t take the class, and I rarely make pie.  Never made a scone, croissant, madeleine, popover, éclair, or benier.  I prefer say I’m a baker, and I’d like to think that because I’ve been baking since forever, and because my mom always said if you can read you can cook, I’m sure I can make all the things I just listed once I studied the recipe, and gave it a try or two.   

But what I really bake from week to week are:  cookies, especially chocolate chip; banana bread, or I switch out the bananas for zucchini, pumpkin, apple, carrot; bar cookies like brownies and what Grandma called “hello dolly” bars; “truffles” like brownie- or peanut-butter-pretzel-balls dipped in chocolate; and the occasional cupcake.  Basically the stuff a mom bakes, only I bake it in volumes to fill the front case.   

And when I stated that I’m the sole baker, that was a bit of a misnomer as well.  If it’s advantageous for someone else at one of the other locations to bake a couple pans of brownies, then they bake them.  And if they cater a wedding the weekend I’m having my fantasy butt-lift, they’ll find a way to dip some truffles.  It’s just that of all the employees, I’m the one that was hired to bake first, and then do sandwich stuff.  And when something fancy is ordered, like lemon bars for that thing at the library, or some footprint cookies for a baby shower, it’s my project.  And, more often than I’d like because I like baking all fresh and natural, some of our baked goods are from a boxed mix, or premade from a vendor, so again, I don’t do all the baking.  But yeah, I’m the go-to gal for dessert.   

And it’s pretty awesome that I can bake cookies and sell them at the library.  I can’t get over how quaint that is.  I get all nerdly about it.  Meanwhile, pics at this end of the post are the ones I had on my phone.  I make something neat at work and realize I don’t have my camera, so i resort to the cell, then when I’m on my computer, I don’t have the memory card thingy to upload them.  Yeah, baking by the seat of my pants.  And knowing me I probably sat in brownie batter.  Ha!   

So next I have some wedding cookies that weren’t for a wedding, and some evidence of my prowess in marketing.  And I will still be making pretty cookies.  And I will still be taking pictures of them.  I just have to sit down and do my homework.  

 Till then, happy lead in to summer, and we got all new fancy coffee at the library, so come on in…

i do... want cookies...

a bride to be liked some cookies similar to these, and i did my best to recreate their features on a dozen for a shower, and i hope the original artist won't hold it against me, but they were pretty, and my pleasure to make, and i came up with a great new technique for making uniform hearts:  sponge food coloring onto the back of a metal mini heart shaped cutter, and stamp the cookie.  i did the same with the square outline and got nice even lines and duplicated the shape each time. awesome.  Congrats and thank you!
coming up, info on the opening of the ITN "Meet Market," a baby shower, a birthday, and some yummy bugs...

i heart stencils

Wendy's daughter Lexi turned 11.  Lexi, Wendy informed me, loves green, and zebra print, and all the garish stuff the kids are wearing these days.  not much has changed, i guess, when i was her age, all the cool kids were wearing Hypercolor shirts. (remember those? "dude, your armpits are blue!")
so i got out the bright colors, some funky stencils (even made a new one for the zebra stripes), and the trusty airbrush and made some snazzy rock-star hearts.  and every time i use my airbrush, i re-thank Jeff for getting it for me.  [dilated eyeballs] it's so much fun...
Happy Birthday to Lexi! and on the way is some baby stuff, a get well batch, prolly some ninja stuff, and i heard talk of a book club project.  stay tuned!

i can has purrty cookie?

in honor of Valentine’s day, i offered my friends-&-family rate to all “to spread the love.”  cousin-in-law Kati, who ordered owls for baby JJ, shared the link on her hubby Tony’s wall, and he had the great idea to order 2 dozen for the missus.  he said “some hearts” and whatever i think up.

so i consulted my bags of shapes and picked a still-unused Valentine cat from the 80s, courtesy of Aunt Dahlas passing down surplus school supplies.  i mixed the icing a little early so it was deflating a little bit and behaving little more “flowy” than usual, but casual lines worked—instead of fretting if the toes should be more pronounced, or the whiskers longer, it looks a little floppy and kind of like a long-haired cat, right?  [i considered making a few to look like LOL cat sensation “grumpy cat.”  maybe tearing the heart in 2?  another day.]  my twitchy penmanship was just the right font for cute little-kid messages, like “luv u,” “xxoo,” “be mine,” and “T+K.” the flowered hearts were iced white and airbrushed rose pink through a flower paint stencil.  i enjoy thinking of different color combinations for this pattern. a lot.

then, continuing the pink flowers theme, i made cookies for the kiddo and his cousins; mini blossoms in Valentine colors.  i wasn’t attempting any precision with these either—i wanted them to look casual/biomorphic/breezy, rather than symmetrical.  

i bagged ‘em.  they looked pretty.  and i make my tags from old greeting cards.  shazam.

thanks again cousin Tony, and happy Valentine’s Day to all!  coming soon… well, i have an order, but i’m still working on what it will be.  so it’ll have to be a surprise…  and then i have some Indy cars.  stay tuned!

birthday girls!

the same week i worked on Brenda’s ice cream, i also did a big platter for Shannon, another friend from back-in-the-day.  Shannon was a fellow She-Ra fan, the take-no-crap middle kid between 2 sisters, and the daughter of a mom who called BS and won against a grinch of a vice principal’s no-snow rule that earned 2nd graders Shannon and me an hour of solitary. in jr high i remember her more in the hairsprayed crowd (those bangs!! remember??) and i drifted to the weird girls who went on to shave parts of their heads. i didn’t, but i did have every hair color. 

anyway, before we all went to different high schools and moved away, Shannon lived next door to Paul, who i remember as an energetic, affectionate boy who wrote me love letters when i was 7. i spurned him, only because that’s what girls did on tv.  he gave me a polished rock.  i think i still have it, but it seems smaller every time i find it.  {hey Paul!}  Shannon’s mom and Paul’s mom Jennifer go way back, and Shannon thought Simeren’s hula girls were too cute, and she was delightfully specific about what she wanted for Jennifer's surprise 60th birthday party: little ladies, with shoulder length black hair, wearing her signature shirt, and bell bottoms, and why not bare feet for a flower child look, and daisies like on the invitations, and hearts somewhere for her odds-beating longevity after a long ago heart operation, and her age. [i actually encourage bridezillism, the condition of wanting something as though one’s emotional stability depends on its presense and perfection. no one really goes that nuts, or even close, but it really wrings the details out of someone’s requirements.]

i used the gingerbread girl shape like with the hula girls, but tried to angle the little ladies to look as though they were walking, then turned to their right to strike a little arm pose mid-stride. And those gerber daisy petals were kind of a pain, but they turned out nice and …petally.  and then i dropped them off—after all these years, Shannon and i live about 8 minutes apart. J  thanks lady, and i’ll see you around town!

some unrelated quickies...

often when i do a project i have some leftover dough, so i roll out a few, try a technique, and pass them along to a worthy someone.  recently, when it was snowing like crazy, hubby Jeff got a ride home from a coworker with an appreciation for pot-related humor.  so i made some pot-leaf cookies (got the cutter at Spencer's, btw) and some pot plants, made from Wilton's ice cream cone.  the first question with this  is always "are these special cookies?"  no.  just plain ol' cookies, i'm a good girl. but i got some green-marker practice in, and he got a nifty treat for being helpful. but i'm also thinking of making a Christmas ornament shape into a hooka...

then i tried a little plaid with the markers and airbrush.  i cut strips out of a big yogurt lid and sprayed once, then again after a 90 degree turn, then drew in some skinny lines.  these were just a test cookie; Jeff also brought these to work.  circles with patterns are nice filler cookies, like when you only need a few that are meticulously decorated, and a few dozen of something easy to make and share.  like pink on pink plaid would go so sweetly with a picture shape for a baby shower. or as you'll see coming up, cows and cow print circles.

and i did a Valentine's Day project for the niece and nephew, but we didn't head in that direction till the following Sunday when the cookies had gotten dry, so i sent them to work with Jeff.  they liked them anyway.  flood dots were outlined with edible marker on tiny hearts, with a few forget-me-nots.  maybe i'll do a Valentine's Day part 2, St Patrick edition, and make green hearts. :) green plaid hearts? 
and i'm still pondering a shape for an April Fool's Day birthday party...
and some lizards will be crawling this way...
and i know i'll make something for the office this month...  busy busy...

hearts and more hearts

ever notice that our calendar plops Valentine's Day right between the meanest-cold and ickiest-slush weather; between the holidays and tax day; right after January's depressing ankle measurements and resolutions, and right before the spring sales? it sounds like some sick-minded planning, right? or maybe it's a perfect time to send some hugs'n'kisses?

my other biggest fan, Mom, ordered 3 dozen hearts for her and Dad's siblings and their Valentines--some to say hi there, some to say get well soon, but all of them up-to-me and love-themed.

my airbrush is still new and mysterious so i had to use it again. but i couldn't find my good heart stencil. note, if you want excellent hearts, don't try cutting heart-shaped holes out of paper, it will frustrate you. (grin) but they turned out ok. the spotty look is from thinning the food coloring with water to spray it. water mixes with the sugar on the surface of the icing and makes a hand-dyed look. (i hear vodka won't alter the surface, just evaporate, which i'll try soon.) then i outlined the painted hearts in black food coloring, and the edge of the cookie in pink sugar and thought "doesn't that look just like those little t-shirts from the '90s?" you know, the ringer tees, with the little baby-onesie graphic on the chest? don't they?

and these were pink on pink, then brushed with white pearl dust, the same way the lemons in January were gold on yellow. Mom agreed, even in person, up close, they look like fabric. (don't they?) now i should go rummage through my sewing supplies for color and texture ideas, huh? ok, i'm on it.

coming soon, girlie tractors, maybe another order, and my other sister-in-law turns 29 again.


happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Bob (heart) Nancy x 50!

Judy from church called and asked if 4 days was enough time to make 4 dozen cookies for her parents' 50th anniversary party. (i did 18 dozen for my own wedding in 3 days--woo!) and did i have any shapes that would work for such an occasion? (hundreds, i tell ya!) i accepted the mission and suggested a 5 and 0 baked together, gold pearl dust, gold dragees, hearts, wedding stuff... she left it up to me. so i revived my heart/rose combo and added the 50 by stamping the heart with number cookie cutters before baking. the lines remained, so all i had to do was follow them with the piping bag. some sugar and gold and a favor bag for each, and these little lovelies were off to the ball.
(if you were here in february, you may remember the same shape with animal prints for valentines day.)
Judy said they were just the perfect touch. i hope so, 50 years is a long time to wait for such a great cookie.
:-D
coming soon, how is a sunflower like superman?

Corby (heart) Melisa, part 2

i couldn't resist making a cookie that played on the happy couple's now-shared name, West. i did these in the same colors as the bridal shower cookies, also with pre-piped letters.














i got this fabulous red color by pre-piping the heart in the same lavender icing, but when dry i brushed on red pearl dust.

the heart and gift box cookies for the shower totaled 4 dozen, but i made just 2 of these to tie onto the shower gift--the bride said they were her favorite. congrats again!



coming soon, more love, more gold, and my favorite flower gets a comic-book moment...

Corby (heart) Melisa

Then my sister-in-law Kristi's best friend Melisa's mom Barb called and asked if i could make cookies for Melisa's bridal shower. sketches were sketched, and the final pick was purple hearts with pre-piped ivory initials, and gift boxes with toothpick-dragged hearts and purple bows.














pearl dust was brushed on both for that sparkly romantic look. and what did i get the bride? ...cookie cutters. :)