Tag Archives: Martha Stewart

DIY Pastry School

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Practicing my handwriting

Even though I am a professional eater, I am an amateur baker, cake maker, and chocolatier.  Professional pastry school is just out of reach right now.  Time, financial responsibilities, and my own indecisiveness about what I want to do with my life stops me from signing up with the French Pastry School in Chicago.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t learn on my own and still pursue my enthusiasm of making yummy carby delights.   So, I’ve decided to home school for now and see where it goes.

As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite resource to learning about pastry and bread is through Groupon.  The last month or so have been filled with super fun, ½ off, and hands-on classes at various businesses through out the area.  I tackled the art of making French Bread in the post here, and then I took a basic cake decorating class at Give Me Some Sugar.  That was followed up with a chocolate class at Canady Chocolates, which included a lengthy lecture and presentation on the origins of the cocoa. Next up in June is a French pastry class at Cook Au Vin, where we’ll be learning how to make the prefect French macaron cookie (my favorite) and other pastries like éclairs (YUM!).

Icing a Cake

Practicing Rosettes

Shapes with Icing

My Practice Cake

I’ve also tapped into the Internet with websites like:

The Fresh Loaf:  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

David Lebovitz:  http://www.davidlebovitz.com/

Cake Central:  http://cakecentral.com/

Another good source of course is the Foodnetwork and the reliable Martha Stewart.  I enjoy shows like Alton Brown’s Good Eats because I love to know “why” and he explains it so well.  Martha Bakes is also another one of my favorite.  She can be a little dry and egotistical, but that’s what makes the show fun.

Granted this method of learning is rather unstructured and I’m probably not learning the best / traditional methods, but at least it’s fun and I’m not forced to go to class and do homework when I’m not feeling up to it.  The funny thing is, I do want to go to class and afterwards, I want to start practicing and experimenting right away, even into late night and the early hours of the morning.  Maybe this is what school is like for nerds (not that I’m not a nerd myself).

What are your passions and how are you tapping into non-traditional methods to learn more about them?

Chocolate Mess

Filled and Painted Chocolate Molds Drying

Gourmet Chocolates Made By Me!

Since traditional school is ending for most, my home school final was a tiered baby shower cake for a co-worker using fondant for the first time.

Baby Shower Cake Final

Rhino

Elephant Topper

Zebra

Monkey and Tiger

Fall Is Upon Us – Apple-Pie Cake

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My favorite season is here!  I love the Fall.  I love hoodies, blankets, snuggly pets, new season of TV shows (Gossip Girl is finally back!) and not having to spend money on A/C or heat!  Zach’s reasons to love Fall are football (all 8 games at the same time on NFL ticket) and candy pumpkins.  Priam (the dog) loves the fall because he can run and play at the park longer instead of dying of heat exhaustion after 5 minutes.  And the Honey and Odie (the cats) now have an excuse to never leave the bed (because it’s cold and the bed is snuggly).  Wait, the cats never leave the bed no matter what season it is.  Never mind.

However, we all love treats made with apples, pumpkins, and pears.  The variations are endless; pies, donuts, muffins, cupcakes, roasted, caramelized, candied, or just plain and fresh.  I went a bit nuts the other day at the store, when I was supposed to only pick up a few ingredients for a salad that I was bringing to a work function, and picked 2 bags of beautiful organic, locally grown Granny Smith apples too.  What to do with a bunch of apples?  Make a pie, or a pie-cake!  I used Martha Stewart’s recipe but had so many apples left over that I made muffins too, and still had a tupperware of sliced apples left in the fridge.  Maybe because my pan is not as high (my pan was a 3″ high spring-form pan), but I suggest to only use 1/2 of the apples required (6).

Expect to see many more goodies and recipes for the Fall in the next few weeks from me.  I will be trying to cram in a full month of Fall fun, before we head off on our 2 week vacation (finally!) to China and Taiwan in the middle of October.  We will be missing some traditional October events at the Manchester household (like going to Goebbert’s Pumpkin Farm to watch the Pumpkin Eating Dinosaur), but we will not be missing out on the eats and treats!

What do you love about Fall?  What are your family’s traditions during this cuddly season?

Next up, roasted pears with Guinness Syrup.  Tune in!

Red White and British II

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First of all, let me say sorry for the long hiatus.  I got caught up with summer, a bad stomach virus or food poisoning, and bumming around.  We will definitely make up for some lost time in the next few weeks!

So, here are the results from our July 4th celebration with the Dodd’s boys:  a long weekend of masculine meat eating, some video game playing including yelling down the hallway just like ol’ times at Dodd’s, deathly farting, and lots of bumming around.  And, by popular demand, an American flag trifle to finish off our backyard grill out.

I really do love this desert.  It’s festive, creamy and fresh all at the same time, perfect for the summer!  You can find the recipe here at Martha Stewart, but feel free to make it your own.  If you see other berries in season at your local farmer’s market, swap them in!  Layer chocolate cake instead!  Whatever tickles your fancy.  Thanks to Ang, my only female companion over the weekend (including the pets), for her excellent layering and whipping techniques.  Ang also likes bread, but her main passion is photography!  Check out her skills here!

Another popular food item during the weekend was the Bacon Wrapped Lil’ Smokies.  Granted you may not think this is a carb item, but it does have quite a bit of sugar on top off all that meat, so I consider it rather carby.  This is a staple at my in-law’s.  Every special occasion, be it winter or summer, these little puppies get devoured in minutes right out of the oven.  My father in-law’s favorite part is the caramelized sugar and bacon grease on the ones at the corners of the pan.  I’m sure you’ve seen these at your own parties and get-togethers, but just in case they’re new to you, here’s a simple recipe / instruction for you to try.  0 calories and fat free of course.  :)   I did say special occasions!

Bacon Wrapped Lil’ Smokies

  • 1 package little smoked sausages (we typically use Hillshire Farm, but you can use whichever brand you please, or even cut up hot dogs to about 1.5 – 2 inches)
  • 1 package bacon strips cut into thirds (or even quarters)
  • 1 packed cup of light brown sugar (or how ever much you please)

Wrap each sausage with cut bacon strip and place in baking pan (like Pyrex), seam-side down.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.  I know it’s hard, but make sure you let them cool a little before popping them straight into your mouth.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!  Get out there and play with your friends, no matter how old you are!

Red White and British?

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The holiday weekend is coming up and the annual Dodd’s House (Zach’s (hubby’s) buddies from college) get together will be at our house this 4th of July.  There will be tons of food, euchre, inside jokes that I will still not understand, and lots of man-love.  With that said, what should I make as a dessert for our Monday grill-out?  Berries are looking so vibrant and juicy right now that I feel like anything we eat that is sweet must have them incorporated somehow.  I would most likely have fresh berry smoothies every morning if it didn’t include me having to be awake and functional or a loud-ass blender.  So other than smoothies, what else are berries good in?  Pie, cake, tarts, ice-cream?  Or is there a better desert for the holiday?  Please take my poll!

All pictures and recipes are from Martha Stewart (my goddess).

Doesn’t the trifle look good and oh so festive with it’s red, white and blueberries?  I made this desert this past winter for my good friend Bushra’s Naturalization Party, sticking with the “America! FUCK YEAH!” theme (see picture in banner).  I was so proud of my beautiful and tasty faux American flag trifle until I realized that trifle is really a British dessert.  It kind of ruins the whole theme thing, but then I thought, “America was created with immigrants from all over, including and mainly the British!”  So, even though trifle did not originate from these lands, it came from the people that created this nation and can be used in any patriotic celebrations!