Happy Birthday Baby: The Tale of the Cake Explosion

For my niece’s third birthday I volunteered to bake her cake. My cousin requested that I make two cakes, a large one for everyone to eat and a small one for K-Lynn (name shortened to protect the cute and adorable). Easy task? I sure thought so. My kitchen looked like a pastel bomb exploded, and I was covered in mad amounts of frosting when all was said and done. My cousin and her fiancé were thrilled and impress, but the perfectionist in me died a little working in it.

The cake itself was simple. My cousin asked for white cake, and I decided to jazz it up with some color. The original plan was pink and purple cake with a light blue frosting and pink trim, but when the cake didn’t turn out very purple, I let it stay more blue and went with purple frosting. Using two boxes of Duncan Hines White Cake mix, prepared as directed, I dyed one half pink and one half a light purple/blue. I marbled the cake batter and made two 9 in layers, and one 6 in cake (to be the birthday girl’s special cake).

Next came what I am calling the Great Cake Explosion, although really it should probably be known has the Great Frosting Explosion. Armed with disposable pastry bags, my decorating tips, and two couplers, I embarked on my first ever attempt at cake decorating. I really need more tools because honestly this was huge mess that took hours to clean up later. Ok, so hours is an exaggeration but it really was a huge mess. Using three cans of Duncan Hines Creamy Vanilla Frosting, I dyed some of purple, thinned it with a little milk, and used it to ice both cakes. I really need an actual angled spatula, but it didn’t turn out too bad for a first try, Next I dyed some of the frosting pink and attempt to pipe shells around the bottoms of both cakes and stars around the top edges of both cakes. I discovered later that I should have used twist ties to hold the tops of the bags shut and that my icing was beginning to thin. I ran short of pink half way through K-Lynn’s cake and had to add purple to the bag. The problem was that while I got a really cool tie-dye effect my icing was too thin and some of it ran.

Lessons learned:

• Angled Spatulas are a must for icing cakes.
• Always make sure to tie the pastry bags closed properly so that you can hold them.
• Mixing thinned icing with stiffer icing will cause your trim to run.
• I really need more tools—decorating tips, pastry bags, silicone spatulas, twist ties
• Making your own buttercream icing is the wise move.

I’m a Cheater who Doesn’t Update Enough (Chicken and Dumplings Made Easy)

I keep promising myself I will blog more, and somehow I always wind up failing to do so. I have been a very busy woman in the kitchen. I’ve probably baked ten dozen cookies, and I’ve baked several pies; obviously I’ve cooked a variety of meals, though mostly it’s been simple stuff like hamburgers or fried chicken. I even made the crust for some of my pies. However, I haven’t done much worth blogging about. I’m going to make it my goal to cook more and blog more, so if you are reading this, welcome to the show.

ON TO THE FOOD

(without pictures because my batteries were dead)

Simmering in a large stock pot in my kitchen are what I like to call Chicken and Dumplings Made Easy. The trick is not making the dumpling from scratch, even though if you can make biscuits you can make dumplings easy enough. However I do have a new tag called Easy Peasy which will have meal ideas that are simple to do and require minimal ingredients, like the meal at hand.

Basically you boil chicken breasts, on the bone and with skin, with a little butter, salt, pepper, and any other seasoning you like, and then you drain them, saving some of the broth. Remove the bones and skin and put the meat back in the pot, covering them with chicken stock, some of the broth from boiling the chicken, and extra water.

To make the dumplings, all you do is take store bought homestyle biscuits, the kind that come in a can from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and roll them out thin. With sharp knife, slice them into strips and drop them into the pot. Sometimes I add a bit of flour to the pot to thicken it, but otherwise just simmer until the dumplings are tender and not doughy. Simple as can be!

Recipe (not really) for Chicken and Dumplings Made Easy

4 Large Chicken Breasts still on the bone with skin
2 T Butter
Salt & Pepper to Taste
4 Cans of Homestyle Biscuits
32 oz. Chicken Stock (more if you’d like a stronger flavor)
Water

• Boil the chicken with butter and seasonings until tender and falling off the bone
• Drain chicken, remove bones and skin
• Pour stock and water over chicken
• Roll biscuits until they reach desired thickness, slice into strips, and drop into pot
• Simmer until dumplings are tender and not doughy

Passing it On

In Southern families, recipes and cooking tips are often passed down from mother to daughter; there is something very powerful and important about the way that works. It’s way of passing not only family traditions, but also preserving the memory of someone you love. I’m writing this entry because I am losing the person who inspired me to get into baking and cooking in general. My mom can cook, but she doesn’t have the same ridiculous obsession I seem to have with food and cooking and baking; I think it skipped a generation, and my Nanny (maternal grandmother for those of you who don’t know) passed her love of cooking to me.

When I was younger and my Pa (my Nanny’s third husband and the man I counted as my true maternal grandfather) was alive, Christmas Brunch was done at their big house on the farm, and it was huge. My Nanny would cook so much that you would think she was feeding an army. Massive piles of homemade biscuits and bowls of homemade gravy, plates full of sausage, ham, and bacon, plenty of scrambled eggs, a huge turkey, real mashed potatoes, corn, pinto beans, rolls, macaroni and cheese, and so much more. There were probably twenty of us back then, maybe a few more, and the spread was always more than we could eat; on top of that she made desserts, pecan pie, chess pie, chocolate cake, plus a variety of candies she’d made. Thanksgivings and Easters were similar, though breakfast food was not prepared. Her habit of cooking large meals was not deterred when the number of people was smaller or when it was just a Sunday dinner; my Nanny always cooked for an army. I honestly think her enthusiasm inspired my own interest in culinary attempts, and I will always be grateful for that. There is a picture of me, when I was no more than a year old or so I think, sitting on the counter, covered in flour, while my Nanny made biscuits; I know for a fact that I was the only grandchild who was ever permitted to do such a thing, and I remember her excitement when I first expressed interest in learning to cook.

Mama is often full of advice when I need it, but often, when it comes to cooking, Nanny is the person I need. I always ask my mom things like “How did Nanny do this?” or “Do you remember if Nanny had a recipe for this?”, and her typical response was to tell me to call her; now I won’t be able to do that. My Nanny is very ill, and she is not going to get better; she was such a big part of my life, and now she is going to be gone. It’s breaking my heart, and I am barely handling it. I was so proud of myself for making her “No Fail Chocolate Pie” on the first attempt, and when my biscuits turned out perfectly for the first time, but I only got to share the pie moment with her because by the time I attempted biscuits from scratch (for some reason I never got around to it until just recently) she was already far too ill; it killed me that while I could tell her all about it, she couldn’t laugh and joke about how easy it was and suggest something new for me to try. Soon I will only have her recipes and the memory of her voice, and I’m not sure how to handle it. I love my Nanny, and I will miss her so much; I already miss her. That is why I’ve made up my mind that the bakery and sweets shop I plan to eventually have will be called “A Taste of Joy” in honor of Barbara Joy Smith, my Nanny, the woman who opened my eyes and introduced me to the joy of cooking. This blog has officially been retitled permanently as “A Taste of Joy”, and hopefully I will get the money to purchase a decent domain name as well.

This is Halloween (Just a Picture Post About Pumpkins)

So as per usual, we carved pumpkins tonight, though instead of my father doing them, it was my brother and I. Here is a picture post detailing the carving. I feel slightly guilty, since this post is not food related, but I wanted to show off my pumpkins.

 

 

  

 

The pumpkin that looks like it wants to eat you is my brother’s work, the slightly tipsy wobbly creation is mine. I decided to give him a bad eye.

Beef Pot Roast (Or, temperamental crock pots need therapy)

Tonight’s dinner was a beef pot roast with petite red potatoes, sautéed onions, and baby portabella mushrooms; it was cooked with Campbell’s French Onion soup and an au jus gravy made from a McCormick package.  I am sad to say that my first real cooking post is also the first post to receive a “failure” tag.  I cannot decide whether it was the cut of meat, which did not take flavor even though it marinated for 48 hours, or the crock pot, which is temperamental and unreliable even though it cost $40 and is supposed to be awesome, or the red potatoes, which were particularly potent. I was terribly excited about this adventure, but it seems that it was a let down. However, I will write about this anyway.

We marinated a five pound beef roast in Hot & Spicy Marinade from Allegro, which I happen to like a great deal even though it has a fairly high salt level, and it was seared in an iron skillet for maybe three minutes per side. I’m not sure of the actual time because my father did the meat and the au jus (which came from a bagged mix). Prior to the searing and au jus, I sliced petite red potatoes and boiled them with two beef bouillon cubes to begin their cooking process and eliminate some of the very strong potato flavor and smell.
                      
While those were boiling and my father was searing meat, I sliced baby portabella mushrooms and half a white onion. White onions are a hotter than yellow, which are really sweet, and I personally think they have a nicer flavor. I sliced the mushrooms first and then onion, so what you see on the cutting board is mushroom in the onion pictures. 
        
        
The onions were sautéed in butter with some garlic and other spices, while the mushrooms and potatoes went straight into the crock pot on top of the beef. This was followed by the French onion soup, sautéed onions, and au jus. I stirred all that together and let it simmer until the meat was cooked and the potatoes were tender.
        
In the end, however, the potatoes were still far too strong and the meat had no flavor. It was like eating paper, but at least it wasn’t tough. Such a disappointment. And I really was hoping to report on a successful cooking adventure for my first cooking post. Next time will be better.

Testing Out Live Writer

I am sitting here eating Cheetos and drinking sweet tea, contemplating the dinner plan for tonight. There may not be pictures, but I can at least promise that we will have our first actual cooking related post tonight. While I'm sitting here thinking about things, I figured I would give the Windows Live Writer a try and talk about pros and cons of the actual program. Then I will talk about some goals and plans for the blog, since I hate to start a pattern of blogging off topic. On the topic of the actual blog, I am still working on customizing it, adding gadgets, putting the CC License up, creating a grab button that you will find in the right side bar. So you may notice it changing frequently until I get settled. I do apologize to the Firefox users who visit, because for some reason, probably due to the theme I have to use, some of my headers like the date and the gadget titles have blurs around them like ink that has gotten wet. I haven’t figured out how to fix that yet. According to the site where I got the background, I should be using minima or photowindow, but with the old minima theme I lose customization, and it appears that when you use the other themes (include photowindow) you are putting the theme on top of the background and it looks horrible. I will say that I am not a fan of the limited themes and what not in the design tab.

Moving on, let’s talk about Live Writer, which basically allows you to type up blog entries and publish them to your blog without going to blogger. I’ve been told that it has tons of features and plugins, but I have not tried them yet. You can get here for free. Hopefully I will be able to use these features as I continue on my mission. So lets talk pros and cons so far:

Pros

Spell check is automatic so there is no need to click the button each time.

Familiar work space if you are used to using Microsoft Word 2007

Your posts will look exactly as they will when published

If you have multiple blogs, like I do, you can write posts for both in the same program, simply switching between them with a click.

Useful plugins that allow you to edit photos

Word counter, for those of us curious as to just how much we write.

Edit, preview, and source tabs allow for easy editing.

Cons

It picks up the theme, but not the background images you may have added, meaning that you may have to work in the source tab instead of edit to see your posts

Too many functions and plugins may be a distraction.

Sometimes the program is slow to change tabs.

Now that I have rambled on about my publishing software and the like I guess I should talk about some of my plans for the blog, specifically how I hope to go about all this insanity. The grandiose explanation, which I may put in a side bar, is that I intend to prove that there are still people out there who enjoy the experience of food both making it and eating it. The simpler explanation is that I want to talk about cooking, baking, and eating.  I figure that this will be best explained in bullet points really, since there is a lot to lay out.

Detailed posts about cooking and baking, complete with recipes and pictures whenever possible

• Clever remarks, helpful hints, and useful, interesting information are also a part of this plan

Clever, insightful posts about food in general, cooking, baking, and eating.

• In general I’d like to be able to talk about the experience that is food.

Tag posts so that they can easily be used to find a meal or specific ingredient.

• There will be a page that explains all tags

Have this blog be both entertaining and useful, complete with my own snarky incites and “the more you know” posts that help out

Ok, I think I have rambled quite enough. Tonight there will be a food post with some pictures of the beef roast that is now simmering in the crockpot in the kitchen. There will be few pictures than I’d like because my father took over the searing of the beef and in general was in the way.

Reflections on the Significance of Food

First official post with legitimate content! Exciting!

OK, tonight was a "store-bought" night, meaning that I didn't really make anything from scratch, unless you count frying the chicken. I did fried chicken (breaded with seasoned cornmeal), Kraft home style macaroni (the kind in the bag with bread crumbs), and fried okra out of a bag. I didn't take pictures of the meal or the messy kitchen because it was really nothing special. OK, moving on!

This will be a Food For Thought post, meaning that I will post some kind of reflection on cooking or food. Tonight's thought: The Significance of Food.

Most of us take food for granted, unless we are craving something or worrying about our weight. But food is a lot more than something we put in our mouths to satisfy our cravings and our hunger. Something as small as a bowl of rice can be the difference between life and death for someone; now, this is slightly exaggerated, but the point remains. I find it sad that in the United States, we have people dying to be thin and starving themselves, while in some countries mothers feed their children dirt in hopes that some nutrients will help them survive. Our parents used to say "there are starving kids in Africa who would love to have your dinner, so clean your plate." And as kids, we'd roll our eyes and wonder who would want whatever vegetable we didn't like, be it peas or carrots or something other food. But its true. There are starving people all over the world who would love to have your food, including this country. We take for granted the fact that we are a wealthy nation; we assume that because we are a wealthy nation all our citizens are able to feed themselves. But that isn't the case. We have people who can barely afford a loaf of bread. There are families going hungry, and a lot of the time that doesn't even register. I rarely waste food, mainly because I was raised not to, and knowing that there are people who are starving to death makes me think about what I am eating, how much I am eating, and how much I throw away. It also gives me pause when I go to a restaurant and my meal is expensive or I get lousy fast food on the way to a meeting or class. I think that it should make everyone think. Food is a basic necessity that many of us take for granted.

What's the Idea Here?

J. R. R Tolkien said "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." He meant that if we were like hobbits of Middle Earth, the world would be happier; he was right. Food is an experience, and if you have a healthy relationship with that experience, you will much happier. I know a lot of people who have unhealthy relationships with food, and I am one of them. I'm working on that though. My name is Nic, and this is The Sassy Southerner's Kitchen , a blog about cooking, baking, tasting, and experiencing food. So what will you find here?

I plan to write about my baking and cooking projects, with pictures and recipes when possible; I also plan to write about great food I find at restaurants and the like, and if I can get pictures I will. The other thing I want to write about is food in general. I'd like to write about insights I have into the idea of eating and taste and relationships with food. I will not write about my personal life, but if you want to know more about Nic the Law Student, you can visit my personal blog.

Right now my projects in the kitchen may be limited due to the fact that I am living at the 'rents' house at the moment, and they are about to start the remodel that will make a mess of the house. However, I wanted to get this party started since Halloween is this weekend, it's fall (which is, of course, baking season), and Thanksgiving is right around the corner.