New happenings at the Bakery

This is something I am very excited about!! My boss has finally taken my advice and is going to start making our cakes from scratch!
My boss is used to having pre made, shipped in frozen cakes. To be honest, they do taste pretty good. But there is nothing you can really do with them as far as flavors. There is no room for experimenting and being more creative. We have both been doing research on popular flavors and taking into consideration seasonal foods. Although we have not finalized some of the more "special" flavors, we do have a pretty good list of flavors. Once we have decided on all flavs I will post about them.
This week begins a very busy few weeks for the bakery. The next 3 weekend have wedding cakes and non are easy or small. This both excites me and frustrates me. I'm excited because it means more time at the bakery but its also frustrating because I have to be at the bakery more when I should be spending more time with my husband before he leaves for basic.
 Over the course of the next few months, I do hope to have more time with the Bakery. I truely love my job there and wish I could be there more. Time will only tell on that one though.

Oh and another exciting thing... we are going to start offering fondant cakes. This is unbelievably exciting for me. The designs are limitless with fondant and there are things that can be created that could never be done with buttercream!! I seriously wish I would have done my daughters birthday cake with fondant but I still have no experience with it.
Anyway, enough of the mumbles. New things are happening and I cant wait to dive in headfirst!!
Til anon my friends.

when did 8 weeks become 21 days??

I honestly can't believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like yesterday I awoke with the thought of  "8 weeks and my husband is off to basic". Today I looked at the calender and its 21 days. 21 days!!!!! 21 days til everything changes. I'm not looking forward to being alone but I realize that it doesn't scare me nearly as much as it would have a few years ago.

If I am able to really dive into my work with the bakery I know that I can keep my mind busy enough to not dwell on having my husband gone. The only thing with that is that because of the hours I do have at the bakery (being there at 5 am) I need someone to take my daughter to daycare the days I work. To be honest, I don't know how much help my dad is willing to give. So that is a big uncertainty in the future.

One thing IS for sure, time is not my friend. My wonderful husband will soon be leaving to enter the air force. The other thing is that because there are only 21 days until he leaves, that means there are only 21 days left to get the adoption into court! Yes it could wait until he returns but no one wants that! This adoption was supposed to have been finalized back in November!! My lawyer has known since then what day Adam was going to the service so needless to say I'm rather pissed at my lawyer for taking so f****** long.

Enough of the negative though... I am happy about this next chapter in our lives. I am excited about the new opportunities this will open.

How do I not care???

First post of the year and it's a rant. Not exactly how I wanted to start the year but oh well...

This is more or less about my sister.
Before I begin, I don't think I have really talked about my sister much. I still live at home with my dad and he is supposed to have the majority of custody over my little sister. However, dad usually only has her 1 day a week and 1 day every other weekend. 
Here is the situation... I spent a lot of money on her last year. I've bought toys, clothes (over $150 on christmas alone), coloring books, and other art things. Other than 1 shirt from christmas, every thing has ended up at her mothers.
This. Pisses. Me. Off!!!
So I ask.. how do I not care so much about this??
The thing about it is... I think I have a pretty good sense of clothes for kids. Am I a fasionista? HELL no!! But I know the difference between sending a kid to school looking nice compared to looking like a hobo. The clothes I buy for my sister (and my own kid for that matter) are always nice. I'm not saying I always buy new, there are wonderful clothes that can be found out a thrift store but at least they LOOK nice.
So all of the nice clothes I spend MY money on end up being in her closet at her mom's and we are sent her hobo clothes.
So it's either dress her nice and never see those clothes again, or dress her like a hobo to be sent back to her mom and keep the nice things for only when we know she stays here. It sucks being like that.
Again... How am I supposed to not care....
I ask dad about it and his take on the whole thing is "at least they are getting used". Well that's all fine but if that's the case, why does she look like a hobo when she comes home from her moms? Why does she get sent to us looking like her clothes are second hand rejects??
I hate that I get so worked up about this. I have tried to not care, but ever time I just get more and more pissed off. ugh... F***!!!!!

cake dump

There aren't as many photo's to show this time but still wanted to share.

This was so fun to make!! It was for a lil girl turning 1. The tracks continue on the back as well.

The bakery has been trying to do more with cupcakes. This one didn't go over so great with the boss but I still love them!!

Made this the other day as a start to the christmas season. The topper is a candle and the side thingy is a non-edible lay on.

This is a cupcake. Yes, a cupcake. This was purely an experiment to see if I could make a poinsettia. It went over so well that a customer ordered 2 dozen.

I am not overly proud of this cake. There are things about it that seriously get under my skin because of the imperfections.! However, the customer was overly ecstatic about it and that's really the most important thing.

This was the big project of the week. A winter wedding cake. I'm very pleased with how this turned out. The flowers and holly are made of gum paste.

As always, I am learning new things all the time and trying to grow in my medium.
Til anon!

shrimp dinner

I meant to post this the other day, but couldnt find my memory card adapter.  Let me start by saying, I do not enjoy seafood. Something about the texture and flavors just don't do much for me.
Having said that... I very  much enjoy cooking seafood. Well, cooking in general...
My husband loves seafood. As a surprise, I cooked one of his favorite shrimp dishes.
*I have a very crappy camera so I apologize*

 "Garlic Herb shrimp"

Basically it's leeks, garlic, and other assorted herbs and spices. Add the shrimp and white cooking wine.

veggie and noodles in alfredo sauce.

broccoli and cheese couscous. Of all the things that my 2 year old would become obsessed with, it's couscous! she had everything on her plate and 3 helpings of couscous!! I adore children's language so for her its not "couscous"  it "kookoos"

dessert was fruit salad. yes... that is an ice cream scooper.

Needless to say, it was a fantastic dinner!!
One of the best compliments I have ever received was my husband telling me he was afraid to go out to eat because he was afraid that nowhere would have good enough food. Must mean I am doing something right!!

til anon

3 countdowns!!

Yup. 3. They are all very fast approaching as well.
The quickest of the countdowns is Christmas. Just 10 days to go. I can honestly say that I am ready. Is everything fully finished? No, but everything is planned out. A couple things I have to wait until day of (or before) because it entails baking. Freshness is kind of a big deal with these things. I honestly can not wait to see my family open their presents.

The second countdown is 3 weeks. 3 weeks and my daughter will be 3 years old. Originally I was planning on a really big party. We wanted to invite all the family from all over the place to come and celebrate. Things change though. I don't know if it was just something about this month or what but we changed our minds on that. It could also be due to the fact my husband is leaving soon, but we wanted it to be a bit more of a private event. We are going to have cake and presents and all that on her birthday but we are planning on an alternate day in a few months (when its very nice weather) and bring everyone we can together for a pool party. Or something along those lines.

The final countdown is one I'm excited for but also dread at the same time. My husbands ship-out date. 8 and half weeks. I know that it is a good thing for so many different reasons but I'm selfish enough to hold on to the negativeness of him being away. I say that but I also know that I am strong enough to not let it show. I can't promise that there won't be days where I am down and lonely, but I won't be a burden of unhappiness. I have to strong for multiple reasons, but especially for my family. On a happier note, with him going in it will mean so many wonderful opportunities for the future.

I still plan on making my dreams a reality and become a chef (as well as pastry chef). I'm working on this more by cooking new foods. I will hopefully post again tonight with pictures of last nights adventure.

til anon

10 weeks but just an update.

So yes... 10 weeks to go but it is going to fly by!!
Thanksgiving came and went in a blink of an eye. It was wonderful but it just went by too fast. My mom came to visit which was very nice. I hate that I didn't get any pictures but to be honest, I had no time to think about pictures... My mother and I cooked for 2 straight days. My lil girl helped make all the cookies. Here is a run down of all the food:
Apps
cheese platter
fruit and veggie platter
deviled eggs
Main
25 pound turkey
BBQ pork loin
10 pounds of mashed potatoes (homemade)
5 pound sweet potato cassarole
corn salad
hot damn (basically a shrimp salad my mom invented)
green bean cassarole
7 lawyer bean dip (yes this a main not an app)
butter rolls
Dessert
Apple pie
chess pie (basically a sweet custard pie) (from scratch)
Pumpkin pie (from scratch)
Cherry crumble pie
3 dozen choco chip cookies (made with splenda) (made from scratch)
2 dozen cran-raisin oatmeal cookies (made from scratch)
3 dozen peanut butter cookies (from scratch)
2 dozen choco peanut butter surprise cupcakes (make from scratch with homemade icing)
Baked apple cheesecake (from scratch)
strawberry brownie trifle
cream puffs (from scratch)

I'm sure i forgot something but the point is... there was a crap ton of food!!!
I really hate that I didnt get any pictures... oh well....
One of the great things about this Thanksgiving was my daughter's aunt having her beautiful baby! So glad she  made it into the world happy as can be.
Christmas is just around the corner and followed closely by My daughter's birthday. All that needs to be done for that is decorations and games. Crap... I still need to send invites!! O__O  *sigh* too much to do...

My husband leaves for basic in 10 weeks. I'm kinda freakin out due to the fact that time is flying by but as someone told me, I need to stay calm and enjoy this time we have.

I guess that is all for now... I really need to update with some photos...