Moving

This will likely be my last post on this blog, as I am transitioning over to Word Press, where commenting is far easier and doesn't require an account. It also seems much easier to interact with other people and blogs. The URL for the new blog is http://firefly1824.wordpress.com/

Hope to see you there!

Truffles

Yes, truffles. Chocolate ones. Home made. I've never made them before, but holy crap were they messy! The ganache tastes delicious, but the moment you touch it it just melts. It took a little bit to figure out how to work with it (definitely needed the melon baller) but now I feel like a pro.

Recipe: from the Joy of Baking website. The recipe is simple and repetitive, if messy. I didn't use the optional alcohol

Chocolate: 60% ghirardelli chocolate chips. This make a very nice ganache, and it dark but not so dark that DH didn't like it (he's not a fan of dark chocolate).

Half of it has lavender in it, but it wasn't enough to turn into powder in the food processor, so if you get a whole one it's obvious, but otherwise it's there but won't hit you over the head.

Toppings: confectioner's sugar, almonds, and a hard toffee ice cream topping.

These were made for a church luncheon, and were quite popular. There is no doubt they are worth the mess.

Teacups

Like many people, I enjoy tea, and occasionally enjoy going to tea rooms or using nicer things to take tea. There's something about the tradition that, while very old, is still enjoyable. Once enjoys the company of others and dining with them, among other things. While I enjoy Victoriana, even most people will enjoy a nice cup of tea, no matter what it's in.

Teacups, however, are useful for many other things as well--as pencil or paper clip holders, storage for teabags, containers for gifts or small plants, and my favorite, to design cut flowers in. They're a perfect little spot of something pretty, and I've done a few so far. It's also great not having to throw out those flowers that were cut just a little too short, or fell off in transport.

Cup 1

Japanese teacup with both large and small carnations, alestromeria, and statis.

This teacup is from the floral design class I took last year. The instructor asked us to bring in a mug, teacup, or demitasse cup to design in, and I have a Japanese teapot and cup set--both of which I have used for flower design. The set is a neutral tan/brown color, an all manner of flowers look lovely in them. These cups, however, are quite small, and only so much fits in them. However, the wide top of a teacup allows one to fit many flowers inside, creating the luxurious look of flowers just bursting out.

Cup 2

 

 



Western style teacup with carnations, alestromeria, wax flower, delphinium, green button mum, and lily buds.

This is a teacup I've had for a long time, and is not a very tiny cup. However, it's neutral color and lack of large design work lends it to floral design without distraction. I did this up from some extra flowers with last week's altar arrangement. There was just something about doing it that reminded me how great it is designing in such small containers--especially if you love the having flowers just bursting out.

 

 

 

 

This silver sugar and creamer set (which belonged to a family member) are also great little containers, and they have the same feeling of bursting flowers, but with a little more elegance. The rose on the right has been photo shopped for epic beauty.

 

 



The Cake is Not Lie

But it is an experiment.

Since making the Paula Deen strawberry cake, which I posted about previously, I've been wondering if you can make a super moist, gelish cake by substituting the jello in the strawberry cake recipe with pudding. I have finally tried it, by adding chocolate pudding to a chocolate cake mix. While the cake is very spongy and moist, the pudding didn't have the same effect as the jello, which created a very gel-like, cool texture in the cake (perfect for summer, by the way).

I may use it as a secret ingredient for mix cakes, but it's not a must have.

We had our cake with cream cheese icing. Yum. Sorry, no picture, as the cake is already gone. However, I did see an awesome rainbow cheesecake on facebook that I'd love to try sometime.

Learning Curve

This week, I had to send my dear husband (DH) to get flowers for me, as I was in a long church meeting this morning. So he got them last night and I made the altar arrangement right after the meeting. Today's flowers were 2 dozen red roses, some very spiky white mums (I'm not sure the exact type), a blush colored statis, and some very lovely and dark colored cala lilies. 

I've also been watching a lot of floral design videos on youtube lately, and came across this video last night, in which Mandy Majerik from Mayesh Wholesale does somethings simple and interesting with them, which gave me the idea for today's arrangement. Also finally used the glitter tape I got on sale ages ago. You can't see it in this photo, but the container is just a long plastic container, which I covered in the tape and a black and silver ribbon.

Since tomorrow is Father's Day, I've also done some more cooking; homemade hamburgers are in the fridge, another apple pie (see the post from last weekend) is in the oven, and I just have a fresh summer corn salad yet to make. Possibly some pictures of that later.

Method of Delivery

While today is turning out not the greatest so far, I realized something this morning about a part of the Lupa timeline I've been working on recently, which I generally (and possibly misleadingly--I don't know the end!) The End of the Lupa. I'm at a part where their species undergoes a sudden decline due to an illness that can actually kill them--only, I have to do it while they're living on a planet with pretty awesome medical technology. The problem is not why it makes them sick, despite their natural super-amazing immune system, but how the diseace comes into their city despite all kinds of medical scans and tech to make sure it doesn't get there.

The planet they're currently living on is populated by many speices--all who are the last of their kind. So you can imagine they take anything of this nature very, very seriously. How is this disease going to get into their city? I do know that the outbreak there is delayed from the main emergency on the planet, so it's going to incubate for a little bit, or possibly mutate, but that doesn't explain why it wouldn't show up on a comprehensive medical scan.

Please comment with solutions, etc., if you think of any. Sorry I don't have any pictures today.

Apple Pie

As one might guess from the pie pictured above, our apartment smells good today. A week or so ago, I was touched to receive a pie plate, unicorn magnet, and some handkerchiefs which had belonged to a family friend. The pie plate even has a recipe for cherry pie right in the bottom of the plate. It's for chat room tomorrow morning, so hopefully I get a bite, but I did use a family recipe, which as far as I know came from one of my uncles. It's rather simple, and smells very good. I don't make my own crust, as I'm not that good with dough, but the rest of it is made from scratch.

There's also a cheese, chive and mustard savory quick bread, but that kind of got overshadowed by the pie. Didn't have to do flowers today, so maybe some on that next week.