See? I told you that the regular obsessive baking posts would return soon.
Today I made a cake based on a beautiful one I saw here a while ago. Mine is quite a bit smaller, as I only made one layer, but I think that doing so made my first shot at the surrounding chocolate cage a bit easier. I would recommend doing the same to any other newcomers to chocolate decorations.
The cake was for my dad, as today is father's day here in Canada. My father is a big fan of all things chocolatey (a trait he passed on to me), so I thought this would be just right!
My dad's a pretty great guy, even though I don't tell him that enough. He and I have a lot in common. We both are foodies at heart, and often try out new restaurants before my weekly flute lesson. We both are huge fans of live music, and like to go to festivals in the summer time. We're both interested in history and morality, and he's one of the few people I feel comfortable sharing my philosophical musings with. He's also an extremely hard worker, and a person who's determined to do what's right.
So thanks dad - for trips to the gum store, teaching me how to ride a bike, for eating my early attempts at baking (and saying it was delicious), for the concerts, and for always being enthusiastic and encouraging.
(I think my photography skills are indeed improving)
Hi, it's me again. Sorry it's been a couple months (whoops). Life's been pretty crazy. I'll be back to posting pictures of baked goods with unholy amounts of butter in them soon I promise.
Crazy thing #1 - I recently went to Shanghai for music related reasons and it was really cool.
Shanghai is really a city of contrast. There are some of the tallest buildings in the world (pictured above), but smack in the middle of the city is 'old Shanghai', full of buildings built hundreds of years ago. Some buildings are in the traditional Chinese style, and some look like they belong in a major European city. There are Prada stores and Starbucks, but if you drive for five minutes you can find people living in shacks next to demolition sites.
My travelling friends and I were visiting on the generous invitation of the Chinese government. We played a bunch of concerts, and found that the local people really loved classical music, and were extremely enthusiastic audiences (much more so than I ever saw back home!). We also had lots of time to explore the city - here's some of the stuff I saw.
A really long street filled only with music stores
Good advice
A Buddhist temple built in 200 AD squashed next to skyscrapers
Crazy thing #2 - I am graduating soon (and related things)!!!
As soon as I got home from Shanghai, I had a lot of end of year/graduation things hitting me up the back of the head. I played in a bazillion concerts, wrote a harmony exam, went to provincials, and locked myself in a practice room for a while. School is almost done now, and I'm graduating very soon! I'm very excited for a summer of baking and fluting before university starts this fall!
Anywho, regularly scheduled programming should be returning soon as school is winding down.
Good luck on the final stretch to fellow highschoolers,
Sometimes I bake cakes and things for family friends to make a bit of money. These were for a lovely grandmother's birthday. I wasn't quite sure what she wanted, so I just made what I was in the mood for - spring!
As well as showing off my recent handiwork, I though I'd share some tips about cupcake decorating I've figured out over the years.
1. You can't really go wrong with American buttercream.
While Swiss-meringue might be the bomb on wedding cakes, there's really nothing like a big bite of pure sugar and butter on top of a cupcake. Along with the taste factor, it's also really tough to screw up this kind of icing.
I like to start with either 1/2 cup of softened butter, or 1/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening. From there, you can pretty much do anything you want. Alternately add cups of icing sugar with a tablespoon of milk until you reach the desired consistency. Then, add flavouring (vanilla? cocoa? marmite?), and/or food colouring. How thick you want it really depends on what you're doing with the icing. To get the icing to keep its shape on the cupcakes, I tested it by lifting up the beaters and seeing if it held in place for 30 seconds or so.
2. Good piping tips = pretty cupcakes
Some people have been able to magic beautiful icing shapes out of plastic bags, but for me (and probably for beginners) it's much easier to just invest in a nice icing tip and piping bag that you can reuse many times. For these ones I used the wilton "1M Swirl" tip. To make the rose shape, start icing from the middle and spiral your way out.
3. Fondant isn't the enemy
I used to believe that fondant was extremely difficult to handle, disgusting, and to be avoided at all costs. That was until I figured out how easy and affordable it was to make marshmallow fondant at home. It's a dream to work with, and costs a fraction of the stuff you buy at the store. Use it to cover the tops of cupcakes, or use cookie cutters to cut out little flowers like I did.
Happy cupcaking, and a very happy Easter to those celebrating!
Well, spring has come to Ontario. Kind of. It snowed this morning, but I'm getting good spring vibes. Plus I read that it's going to be 17 above on Friday. So, SPRING!
Life's been interesting lately. Also very busy, hence the non posting. I found out last week that I've been accepted into my two top universities, so HURRAY! I'll be studying music education this fall! Audition success!
Now that my school schedule has cleared up considerably, I've also had a lot more time to practice, which makes me very happy.
Lately I've been thinking back to last May when I was part of a really cool auditioned wind orchestra for a week. It was intense; we had about nine hours of rehearsal sometimes. There were also only four flutes, and I was the only person on my part, so there was a lot of pressure to get things right. But we also did things like visiting the Toronto Symphony's dress rehearsal, listening to the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and eating way too much pizza. I got to play some beautiful music (including 'Aurora Awakes') with a lot of incredibly talented people.
So I have a lot of hope for the next six years of my life, if it can be anything like last year. I'm so lucky to be able to study what I really love.
Regular obsessive baking posts will return shortly.
Well, I've made it to the other side! Two auditions down in the span of about a week. Whew.
I thought I might share some of the wisdom I've gained after completing this stressful stage of life so that future youngins may benefit.
1. It's good to ask other people about what their audition experiences were like, but take what they say with a grain of salt.
Before my major audition, I was told by one girl that the panel was really mean, that the acoustics were terrible, and that I should basically prepare myself for failure. Turns out that the acoustics weren't bad at all, and that my panel was very nice. Experiences vary widely - don't psyche yourself out.
2. If you can, play for an audience beforehand!
Three days before my audition, I was up being a teacher's assistant at a music retreat. The retreat had a small concert on the last day, so my teachers encouraged me to play for the kids. Doing so was a great experience as it helped me to overcome some nerves. If you can play for 100 people, you can play for two people sitting behind a table.
3. Realize what your body does when you're nervous
Playing a wind instrument requires you to be very in tune with your body, so it's a good idea to figure out what happens to you when you're nervous in order to overcome these idiosyncrasies. Do your hands get really sweaty? Bring a small towel to your warm up room. Does your mouth get dry? Bring a bottle of water.
4. Remember that stress is your body's way of preparing you to do something awesome
I listened to a really perspective changing TED talk a while ago which explained that when you see your stress in a positive light, you often are healthier and have more positive experiences.
5. Don't be too humble
Although humbleness is a virtuous trait the majority of the time, it's really not helpful during auditions. Stop comparing yourself to other people, smile, and play like you're the best.
Good luck for people who are still auditioning! There is light at the end of the tunnel!
Hello internet friends. I'm sorry for neglecting you these past few weeks.
Right now I'm in the jaws of audition season. My first audition is tomorrow, in fact, and then I have two more shortly after. Ew.
I used to think that I was pretty knowledgeable about auditions. However, I've found that university auditions are a whole other emotional beast entirely.
First of all I went though a blind panic phase. This included questions such as, "WILL I HAVE MY PIECES READY ON TIME?!", and generalized superlative statements such as, "I AM THE WORST AT EAR TRAINING!". Secondly I went though a major doubting my abilities phase with fun thoughts such as, "I WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED INTO ANY UNIVERSITIES!". Thirdly I went though an existential crisis phase where I said things such as: "WHAT IS MY PURPOSE ON THIS EARTH?! DO I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKE MUSIC THAT MUCH? I SHOULD MOVE TO CHINA."
Right now I feel like I've reached stage four, an odd mix of calm acceptance and perfectionism. After much thought, I've decided that yes I actually do like music that much, that I want to spend my life helping people through the medium of education, and that the stress I'm going through right now is probably worth it if I can improve the lives of others in the future. And that in a couple weeks, life is going to get a lot calmer, and I will be happier.
Sometimes life is hard. But it's sort of like a pendulum on a clock - there will be dips, but it always swings back up again.
I just have to remember to breathe now! And if it goes terribly, I could always open a bakery. Cookies are another way to improve people's lives, I think.
But wish me luck, internet. And best wishes to all the young musicians out there going through the same thing right now.
I've noticed that the songs I put on top of these posts no longer relate to the subject matter, and are just what I'm listening to. Oh well. Enjoy the Earth Wind and Fire.
(does this make up for last week)
Today my family went out for dinner without me. New Semester is fantastic, and I now have way too much time on my hands. So basically I made a three course meal.
I think bread is widely regarded as something extremely finicky and difficult to make. I don't really understand how it got such a bad rep, because really it's not like that at all. I made this loaf in about an hour and a half by just throwing together 2 c. of flour, 2 tsp. of quick rising yeast, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and about 1 c. of water. Let rise for about an hour until doubled, shape into a loaf, and bake in a hot oven (mine was 385 degrees F.) for about half an hour until it looks pretty and sounds hollow when you knock on it.
This method makes a good loaf of bread in a short amount of time, but it's quite dense. If that's not what you're going for, I'd suggest trying a recipe for 'No Knead' bread. There are a bazillion on the internet. It makes a super easy loaf with lots of air bubbles.
Gnocchi is one of my favourite things to make. I learned how to make it at a cooking seminar type thing a long time ago, and became slightly obsessed. It's so versatile! Nowadays when I make it for just myself, I use a large potato then freeze half of the pasta for later.
You sort of need to mess around with the ratios for gnocchi until you find a consistency you like. I prefer a firmer piece of pasta, so I use about a 1:3 ratio for flour to potato, and then one egg for every 900 g. of potato. So today, I had 300 g. of potato, 100 g of flour, and 1/3 of a beaten egg.
Roast the potato until really soft, take off the skin, then squish it though a potato ricer into a bowl. Mix gently with the flour and egg, roll into ropes, then chop into what my cooking teacher called 'little pillows'. Boil them until they float to the surface, drain, and enjoy with pretty much any sauce on the planet.
I had mine with brown butter and sage. Yum.
I have also recently fallen in love with 'rustic tarts', which are basically pies without all the fuss. I got the recipe for the dough here, but made up the rest myself. Roll out your dough quite thinly, then arrange apple slices on top in a spiral like pattern. Fold in the edges until it looks vaguely hexagonal:
Dot the top with butter, brush the dough with melted butter (Julia Child would be proud), and then dredge the whole thing with sugar. Transfer it onto a preheated baking tray, and bake for about 30-40 minutes at 385 degrees until it looks nicely browned on top.
Ah, the single life ain't so bad. Happy early Valentine's day to me.
