Saturday, August 13, 2011

Finally!

Well, there is an upside to being a little bipolar; when I have a manic upswing, things get done. It's far from all good (and thank God they're rare), but I've learned to channel at least a good bit of it. So, I've worked in my garden, have gotten a good start to a painting done, FINALLY made 5 new pieces for etsy, and did a lot of baking!

Mmmmm, made blueberry bagels and 2 blueberry pound cakes! The bagels end

ed up quite a bit bigger than I wanted; but this is only my second time ever making bagels, and I forgot how they swell during the boiling phase. The pound cakes, however, are beyond reproach! Mom gave me one of her big tips; says a lot of people skimp on the creaming of the butter and sugar together, and that since there's no chemical levening in pound cake you really have to whip the stuff for at least a good 5 minutes to get it super fluffy. And yeah, by the time I'd whipped the butter, and added the eggs (one by one), it was fluffy enough to almost overflow my Kitchenaid stand mixer! But gahh. . it's so moist and tender cake! *NOM*


And here's my new favorite piece for Izile's Oddities! I love the colors in this one! It's hard to get a really good red from natural rubies, but these turned out more red than just pink, like a lot of rubies turn once I've broken them down small enough to fit in the vial; and it's been paired here with deep orange fire opals. Beautiful colors and it just seemed to glow in the sunlight of the garden! (I hung it off one of my tomato plants, because it reminded me a bit of my cherry tomatoes.


There won't be any pictures of the painting until it's done and been given (it's a birthday present for a friend). Oh, I also got taken out yesterday to a martial supply shop and bought my very first training bo staff! I miss my swords, but it's hard to get them up to NYC, let alone move them around the city; but no one seems bothered by the staves, and it's something to help me from getting even worse rusty than I already am.

OH, and, (yes, chatty girl) I do have one small dose of a new mineral for those of you who sometimes ask about commission pieces. I have enough yellow sulfur crystals for about one pendant. They look a bit like this, and no, they don't smell.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, never had sulfur crystals before, so I'm curious what else pops up on etsy when you type in "sulfur." - Wow, and not much on point popped up. OK, well, I've been baking with blueberries, so let's try that instead. I know I'll get more than enough hits with "blueberry."


OK, maybe it's because I'm hungry (haven't eaten yet today), or maybe because searching "blueberry" is turning up some amazingly drool-worthy stuff. Some of it's not even food, just candles that look like food! But these, you could eat! Salt City Patisserie has some of the most beautifully shot blueberry lemon macarons! (Yes, macarons again) Her macarons are organic and come in a great variety of inventive flavors (like Neapolitan, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate, all in one!)

And if you're one of those people who hasn't gotten bitten by the macaron bug - yet - don't worry, she has other mouth-watering shots of other baked goods to tempt you!



4 comments:

Storm, The Psychotic Housewife said...

OK, I am coming over to try some of that deliciousness! :)

Salt City Bakery said...

Thank you so much for posting about my macarons :)

OLLIE MCKAY'S ~ A Chic Boutique said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
OLLIE MCKAY'S ~ A Chic Boutique said...

Good for you ~ channeling all the energy to good things! The baking looks wonderful ~ Yummy!! And I LOVE the new necklace and the pinkish colors ~ those are the cutest things ever! Have a great week and Happy Monday to all! :-)