Threadless Cake: The End

After running around, exchanging cake racks, looking for a cake box (the Whole Foods baker just gave me one), getting green icing and checking out some apartments, I finally finished the cake. But only after I had some dinner. All that running around made me tired. I got some take out -- a lobster roll and fries. It's such an outdoorsy meal that I grabbed a book and took my boxed dinner to the roof deck and ate outside. It was nice. Now onto the cake.

First off, I frosted the tree cookies. Then I made whipped cream and used that as the filling with some strawberries.




Then I made some vanilla buttercream frosting. I've never made a buttercream frosting that I like and tonight was no exception. It came out a little too sweet for my taste and that was using half of the powdered frosting that the recipe required. I'm going to have to play around with that still. But I put on my crumb coat and then stuck the cake in the frig to set.



Then I made my woodsman figure. I made him bigger than he should be but since this was my first time working with gum paste and, well, my first time making a figure. I'm happy with the way it turned out.





I frosted the rest of the cake. Then I made the face for the day of reckoning tree, laid out the tress and placed the man and his ax down. Here's the finished product!

Threadless Cake

I've started my entry for the Threadless Cake Contest. I thought it would be fun to do. I had a great idea for the "When I Was 5, My Career Choices Were More Interesting" but I lack the skill the execute it. Maybe in a couple of years. The T-shirt design that has inspired my cake is "The Day of Reckoning."



On Day 1 (yesterday), I made the cookie dough. I'm making the trees out of cookies and will decorate them with green store bought icing.



I wrapped it and let it sit overnight.



On Day 2 (today), I rolled out the dough and made the tree shapes free hand. I also made little cookie axes!




Then I made a 1-2-3-4 cake and flavored it orange with some zest and 2 Tablespoons of orange juice. It was actually really good.





The cakes have been wrapped and are in the frig awaiting Day 3: cake assembly and decoration!

I (Heart) New York Pt. 2

I was in NYC this weekend. I ran the Central Park Conservancy Run for Central Park with cousins, including their 2 year old son! The kids' race was really cute. The adult race was four miles. I did it in 39:18 and averaged a 9:49 mile, which for me was really good. I hate hilly courses and yet I still seem to do really well on them. Go figure. Anyway, after the race I walked around NYC with MP. We were headed to Koreatown because I was craving Korean food. Along the way, on 9th Avenue we passed by a small farmer's market. I had an apricot, one that had not been dried, for the first time. And it was good! The Farmer's Market maven used some of the ingredients that were fresh that day -- peaches, red onion, garlic, cilantro, tomatoes -- and made a peach salsa.



I also saw a tree sticking out of the terrace of a highrise. This is one of the things I love about Manhattan -- tress pop up in the most unusual places.



About 20 blocks later we made it to Chinatown. First, we went to Pocha 32. But it wasn't open for lunch -- it's apparently a 5pm-3am place. So we went a couple of doors down to BCD Tofu House. We split a pa jun (a seafood pancake -- which they had listed as a pizza, and frankly, that's soooooooo wrong. It was very good -- crisp on the outside and mushy (in a good way) on the inside! And the ban chan could have been a meal in and of itself!


But don't worry, I had room for a great kimchee chi-gae with tofu. MP and I then crossed the street so I could buy some kim-bap for my bus ride to DC. Kim-bap is Korea's version of a sushi roll except the meat is cooked. I got the veggie kim-bap though. Finally we started the almost 30 block trek back to Columbus Circle. We stopped at Bryant Park for a drink. They had this little eating area set up with Adirondack chairs and bench swings. It was really nice. All in all, a great NYC day! Thanks MP for the pictures.

Farmer's Market Meals

This weekend I managed to make it to the U Street Farmer's market. I picked up beets, squash, asparagus, blueberries, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, shallots and two types of cheese - a gouda-type cheese and a soft chevre type cheese. Since I'm still going through a sandwich phase, I took out my half loaf of farmer's market wheat bread and cut off two slices. I chopped out a shallot and sauteed it and asparagus in butter. I then spread some of the chevre cheese on the wheat slices, put on some tomato slices and put that in the skillet. Added the onions and asparagus and voila!



I tried the beet pasta again last night. The beets were boiled in some water. The beet greens were chopped and sauteed in some olive oil. I also added some shallots and mushrooms. I added the whole wheat pasta to the boiled beet water, which turned the pasta this magenta pink color -- it was definitely eye popping. (Of course, I don't have pictures of it). Drained the pasta and beets, added it to the greens mixture, topped it with some olive oil and then topped it with a lot of parmesan cheese. But tonight, after my work out which involved a short 30 minute bike and then a 4 mile run, I opted for a light dinner: cereal topped with blueberries!

Souper Comfort

When I feel a cold coming on, I like to hit it head on. I'll take off from work, drink lots of OJ, take some cold medication, run (sweat the bug out), rest, and eat lots of soup. Tonight it's Whole Food's Tomato Bisque. I know I could make a tomato bisque, but I actually like Whole Food soups and this tomato bisque is rich, not too sweet, and has some good basil flavor running through. When I was sick last winter (prior to the year of veggies resolution) I went through lots of WF Chicken Noodle, Minestrone, and Seafood Chowder. I did make my own squash soup though (I draw the line at some soups).

Speakeasies In The DC Area

In June I went to PX. It's a little speakeasy in Old Town, Alexandria. Last year, some co-workers and I went to eat at Eamonn's A Dublin Chipper for some fish and chips. Really great fish, cool assortment of dips AND they deep fry chocolate bars! Anyway, it's a small place and we could only find seating outside on the side street. While we eating and chatting we noticed people knocking on the door of the townhouse next door. What made it unusual was instead of opening the door, the guests spoke through a little peephole that opened at eye level. If you had a reservation, in you went. One gentleman didn't have a reservation and was quite perturbed about not getting in. Curious, I went and knocked to find out what was going on. Turns out the speakeasy is open when the blue light above the door is on and a flag (a pirate flag) is hanging above the door at Eamonn's. You make reservations (for parties no larger than 6). They're known for being creative with their drinks and making a lot of their own juices, bitters, etc. Anyway, after months of talking about going, the FTC (Finer Things Club) finally went. Before meeting up with FTC, I did stop into Eamonn's for a small fish. They're really good and I don't get to Old Town often and, let's face it, I was going to have some drinks, food would be good to have prior to that. The blue light was on. We knocked. The peephole opened and asked, "yes?" To which S answered, "We have a reservation." And we were promptly let in, ushered up some narrow steps into the bar. We sat across from it (and right next to the bathroom door). They brought homemade chips and the drink ordering began! All in all, I started with a drink that had strawberry and rhubarb. It had an ice ball in it the size of a small snowball. It was really quite unusual (and I admit I wondered how they got it that shape). Next I tried to see how creative they were. They had home made ginger-ale so I asked if they could make me something using that. They did. It had some pineapple and other assorted goodies. Then I had something, I recall not liking, so I ended on a drink involving beets. Everyone else got interesting drinks as well -- such as grog! Here's a sampling of the drinks we all had that night.





FTC had gone to The Gibson, a speakeasy in DC. It was also dark and by reservation. It specialized in prohibition era drinks. I wasn't really keen on their drinks menu to be honest. I'm not a drinks connoisseur by any means, but they were both fun nights and an excuse to dress up. But, I'd take Eamonn's or Marvin (the restaurant next door to The Gibson) any day. Marvin served my favorite cocktail of the summer -- the Lawnmower: lemonade with tea infused vodka and mint!