Pushing the limits

"Oh my gosh, really?", she asked, with a stunned look on her face.  About twenty potential replies run through my head, then I reply, "Well, I'm turning 50 this year and thought it would be a good way to fight the aging process, or at least prove to myself that I'm not 'old'."  And, I continue, "my best friend did onet last year and I can't have her doing 2 and my having only completed 1."    There are handful of other quips I've used over the course of the last several months to try to explain to the non-triathletes of the world why I would sign up for and train to complete one of the most grueling one day organized events.

The Ironman.  It consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by cycling for 112 miles and then you finish by running a marathon.  26.2 miles.  A distance of 140.6 miles in one day.  Crazy, huh?

That's what most people think, my mother included.

What makes some people do things that others would never even contemplate doing? Skydiving. Climbing Everest. Earning a Ph.D. Sailing around the world.  Hiking the Appalachian Trail. Completing a marathon in every state.  Getting a pilots license.  Those all sound incredibly daunting to me and yet people do them all the time.

For me, it's the challenge and the desire I have to become the very best version of me that I possibly can. It's also about living life to the fullest, not being afraid to push myself and the sense of accomplishment that comes with having set a goal and then following a plan to complete that goal.   As I try to explain to Mr. Man, when I die, I want people to say "She lived!"

When faced with a difficult situation, something in life that really tests me, I can stop, close my eyes and say to myself  "You can do it. You completed an Ironman for crying out loud, you can handle four days alone with a 3 year old!"

To me, that's the 'self-esteem' the self-help guru's talk about.  The ability to look deep inside and to know that when the rubber meets the road you have the stuff it takes to get through any difficult situation.

That's why I do it.  Well, for that and also knowing that if I have an extra cookie I'll still be able to fit into my skinny jeans.

IRONMAN TEXAS

MAY 21, 2011

http://www.ironmanlive.com/

Introducing Miss Kenedy Claire!

Ta Da!

Here she is...quite possibly the cutest little girl on the planet, at least in my eyes.  My very first Granddaughter. Miss Kennedy Claire arrived on March 29th and we are so blessed that she is healthy and happy and growing so fast. Already 4 weeks old. Where does the time go?

Big brother, Jacob, was so excited to meet and hold her for the first time.  By now I think some of the novelty is wearing off, but he's certain to be an excellent older brother as they grow up.

It all begins when two people open themselves up to love and to be loved.

. They make a commitment to stick together, to grow in their love, build a life and become a family.

It's a beautiful thing that I never tire of.

When people ask "What are you most proud of?", I think of my children. The people they have decided to be, the spouses each of them were fortunate enough to meet, and the choices they make.

It's nothing that I did, but I did have a small part.

The choices were theirs, and the fact that I'm their mom and they include me in their life, well, that makes me proud.

Of course, I had to bake a cookie to commemorate the birth of Kennedy...it's just what I do.

Welcome Baby Girl!  Proud, Proud, Proud to by your Gigi!

New Cookie Cutters

My obsession with iced sugar cookies has reached an all-time high and I came to this conclusion while frantically searching cabinets to locate one particular cookie cutter and was having a difficult time.

On to the counter went all of the cutters and the pile was significant. Time to categorize:

Baby stuff

Christmas (this took 3 gallon sized Ziplocs and one plastic tub)

Halloween / Fall

Hearts (yep, a full bag just for hearts!)

Animals

Stars / Spades / Diamonds

Easter / St. Patrick's Day

and my favorite....."Fun Stuff"

That one includes things like Crowns, a cupcake with a candle in it, a house, lollipop, dogbone, wedding cake, football helmet, a martini glass and one of my favorites, a John Dere tractor.

9 gallon sized Ziplocs total.

Crazy, huh?

So, you know what happened next, right?

Had to get out the sprinkles and dye,

And just went all kinds of crazy...

 Is he cute or what?  More on him later.

 Happy Birthday to You...

Poor Mr. Man....the kitchen was a complete disaster.

Next time?

Martini's and tractors.

Happy Baking!

Chicks and Ducks

If I had all time time in the world at my fingertips, with no responsibilities or deadlines, every single day you would find me in the kitchen baking to my hearts content. 

There are millions of recipes out there just waiting to be tested and so many ideas running around in my head that there aren't enough hours in the day to bring them all to life.

So I must be content doing what I can in the time I am given.

After completing my orders last week, I had extra cookie dough and decided to surprise a few of the children in my life with Easter sugar cookies.

I ordered the little candy eyes online and they came in a box of 1,000.  It's been fun to use them; they make such a difference compared to how the bunnies looked last year.

Hi Mr. Easter Bunny.

The best part was that I got to deliver this package myself.

Red Velvet Cake

When you come across a great recipe, it's a good practice to give credit where credit is due.

This Red Velvet cake recipe is out of the book, Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia: Cake Boss written by Buddy Valastro from the TLC TV series.  It's wonderful and very moist.

Makes two 9-inch cakes or 24 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
4 1/2 teaspoons (2 tubes) red food-coloring gel
3 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pans
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
3 extra-large eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Unsalted butter, for greasing 2 cake pans (about 2 tablespoons); non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil may be substituted

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the shortening, sugar, cocoa powder, food coloring, cake flour, salt, vanilla, baking soda, and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Paddle, starting at low speed, then raise the speed to low-medium and mix about 1 minute. Add the eggs, 1 at  time, mixing for 1 minute after each is absorbed into the mixture. Add the buttermilk in two stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl between additions.
3. Grease two-9-inch pans with the butter, and flour them.
4. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, using rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and get as much obattar as possible out.
5. Bake until the cake begins to pull from the side of the pan and is springy to the touch, 35 - 40 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. The cake should be at room temp. before you remove it from the pan. Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, top with sugar, dump onto parchment; the sugar will keep it from sticking. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to decorate.



Life

In my mind I've written about 10 blog posts over the course of the last 4 weeks, but haven't found the time to actually sit down and do anything about it.  Does that ever happen to you?  That running list in your mind goes on and on and when you have a few minutes to do what you feel you really need to do, you stop and whoosh...it's gone.  Just gone from your mind.

I feel as if it's happening to me more and more.

So, here's the highlights from the last few weeks:

• Honey Girl scheduled her C-Section. Granddaughter will arrive March 29th. (this one trumps everything else)
• Had classes on bread, pastry dough and custards.  No major failures
• Have participated in 2 Brunches at school; 1 more to go (for this semester)
• Baked and shipped decorated heart shaped sugar cookies all over the country to squeals of delight and surprise, which is really cool and fun
• Lost my mind in class and called the Chef Instructor "Dude"
• Learned not to the call the Chef Instructor "Dude," no matter what he is doing to my pastry
• Tested and found a Red Velvet cake recipe that rocks
• Successfully made Italian Meringue at home
• Rode over 200 miles in 3 days on my trainer and am ever so grateful to Mr. Man for Netflix
• Have come to the realization that my dreaming about baking means I need to really do something with this passion
• Have to figure out how to not freak out about following my passion

Some days it's overwhelming, some days is manageable.  No one pushes me harder than I push myself and no one ever will.

There's a lot going on but isn't that what life is about?  Learning, growing, risking, evolving and becoming the very best version of you that you can be?

My first wedding cake

The son of one of my best friends, someone I've known for nearly 20 years, was married on January 15th and I had the honor of making their wedding cake and the grooms cake.  The bride and I talked about the overall design of the cake and the theme of the wedding along with colors which would be purple and silver, nice colors for early January.  Along with those colors, the bride wanted to incorporate peacock feathers into the design and feathers would also be part of the flowers worn by the men.  She gave me all the flexibility I wanted/needed in the overall design on the cake and we all settled on white cake for the flavor. Naturally I right away went to my white cake recipe that is used for most of the birthday cakes I make.

There is a nice almond flavor in this cake and the texture is just perfect. I knew it would be a hit.

Two weeks before the wedding, on a Sunday afternoon, I baked the cakes that would be put together for this wedding cake that would need to feed 200 guests.

two 13 x 2 inch layers
two 11 x 2 inch layers
three 8 x 2 inch layers
two 6 x 2 inch layers

I made the white cake recipe 10 times to make all of the layers and then carefully, once they had cooled, wrapped them tight as can be in 6 layers of Saran Wrap and then popped them into the freezer where they would wait patiently  until being called upon to be decorated.

The day before the wedding I mixed up 6 lbs. of powered sugar and 3 lbs. of butter, along with vanilla and a pinch of salt to create the yummy buttercream frosting that would be used to frost the cake.  If you think no one can tell the difference between Crisco frosting and the real deal, think again. They can.

The first two layers of cake were frosted quickly and then I did the same for the next two layers.  After they were iced I carefully placed them on top of a cake board that had been covered in white fondant and the rim was covered with purple ribbon that has been purchased from a craft store.

For the 'grooms cake" his mom and I decided on individual lime tarts because Corey really likes key lime pie.  The week of the wedding I made 115 tart shells and four batches of fresh lime curd.  In honor of the Groom's Irish heritage, I found 1 inch shamrock decorations online and they were just perfect.

The wedding went off without a hitch, the cake was a hit and didn't fall over. I consider that a success.

CONGRATULATIONS TERELL AND COREY!
January 15, 2011