Monday, October 19, 2009

Oh how the time flies

It's been a little bit since my last post. I've baked some cookies in between then and now, but nothing spectacular...although, I find shortbread spectacular at any time!
About a month or so ago I was approached by San Pellegrino about using one of my Flickr photos. I said they could absolutely use my photo. I am happy to say that it's finally on their website. It was really an exciting moment when I went to a website and saw one of my dessert photos featured with others.

To see it:

* Then click the picture next to "Zabaione"
* Click the "READ MORE" that's in light blue
* On the left-hand side you'll see many pictures.

In addition to that, I was fortunate enough to have one of my recipes featured on the Inn the Kitchen blog.


She posts lots of great recipes, so be sure to check out some of her tasty creations!

Needless to say, I'm very happy and am really looking forward to moving forward with my dream of being a sweets creator.

I am so blessed to be an artist. It's not easy, by any stretch of the imagination. We always hear about the "starving artist." Well, I'm far from starving, but I'm certainly not successful...yet. My roommate and I were discussing one of his lesson plans (he's a professor at UCF) and one of the assignments in his class was for the students to define was Success meant - clearly there wouldn't be a wrong answer as this is subjective. We all have our definitions.

This got me thinking and daydreaming, not that much doesn't make me do this... I know that I want to be successful in art. I am going to school for graphic design, but I just don't know that I could be happy in that field. I'm not much of a graphic designer as much as I am an illustrator.
In addition, I've just really found that I love to bake. I've always loved cooking, but I just really love to bake. In my down time, I think about baking. What can I make next?! I keep thinking of reasons to bake cakes and cookies and cupcakes, just so I can "practice." The reality of it is, I just love to do it. It's so relaxing and the end result is just the "icing on the cake."
Success for me would be being a successful baker. I would love to make a comfortable living from baking. Baking for small events or just individuals would be fantastic whether working for myself or for a small company. I will hopefully be embarking upon a business venture that may open new opportunities so that I may achieve this. If this doesn't work out, it's okay, because I'll still be baking and doing my best to share what I can do with others who want my desserts. :-)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Birthdays Really are Happy!



My friend Amanda will be celebrating her birthday this Sunday. All she asked for was a Winnie the Pooh-themed caked. At first, I was like ... "NO! You're going to be 30! I can't support this." Then, I realized that this is her birthday and it's a cute theme so why the heck not????

I decided that I wasn't going to let her know about this and I told her on Wednesday that I couldn't do her cake and I apologized. Wednesday night I made Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie dough and tossed it in the refrigerator so that it would be ready to roll out and bake on Thursday.

Thursday I went straight home from work and baked the chocolate cupcakes and rolled out the sugar cookie dough. I cut out flowers and butterflies which I then decorated with orange-flavored royal icing.

While the cookies and cupcakes where cooling, I colored some of my marshmallow fondant and sculpted a bear that was supposed to be Winnie the Pooh... LoL. He looked similar to said Disney character and at the very least, he was a cute teddy bear. ^_^

Decorating these cupcakes and the cookies was just so much fun. Decorating just got me more excited! I just wanted to decorate all night long - and I almost did (I called it a night around 1 am).

During her lunch break I set up the cupcakes in our conference area and was grateful that she didn't see the treats until we all sang Happy Birthday (I may have been the only one singing, I didn't hear anyone over myself).

Needless to say, she was a very happy birthday girl and I even got her watery-eyed. I love it! I love baking and I love making people happy! Her reaction totally made my day! :-)