This is what we call the...

Muppet show!

This weekend I got to exercise my decorating skill. Our godson turned five last week and he requested Muppet cupcakes for his birthday party. The Muppet Show was a big part of my childhood so I was happy to help. His mom and I did some research to see how this could be done. We ended up dividing the labor, she made the cupcakes and I decorated. It worked out well since she also needed to prepare lunch for the other guests and also entertain people.

I have never really attempted anything like this. I used fondant to make some of the faces or embellishments like  glasses or Fozzie's hat. My friend bought candy eyes so that part was all done for me. I did change Kermit's,,
Miss Piggy and Gonzo's eyes a little to try to make them look a little more accurate. Some were dipped in white chocolate ganache that was colored and some that we wanted more texture for I used buttercream. I used a Jim Henson book for reference and I did a google image search for muppet cupcakes which came up with some amazing results! I made Kermit, Miss Piggy, Bunson, Beaker, Rolf, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter and Animal with varying levels of success. Beaker and Fozzie were my favorites. Overall, I was happy and so was the birthday boy. He ate Beaker.

I couldn't handle eating any of them so I had a plain cupcake.

I'm excited to try something like this again. Fondant is very fun to work with. Trying to mix the correct colors was my favorite part.

Mise En Place

For the first week (at least) of class the instructor kept referring to mise en place and I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm not sure if he explained it and I wasn't paying attention, or more likely he didn't explain it ever and hoped we would just figure it out. He does that. He is a very brief man.

Mise en place for cupcake fail

Mise en place means everything in its place. I have never been great at having everything ready before I start a recipe. I'm not even good at reading all the way through a recipe before I start. I was making cupcakes yesterday morning and I thought I might as well give it a try. Turns out, it is super nice and handy to have everything ready to go. I like it!

Actually I made cupcakes twice this week. The first time I used a new recipe. I'm not sure why. It all went fine and the cupcakes looked great but then they sank when I took them out of the oven. They tasted great but looked terrible. The recipe seemed suspect to begin with, it had tons of sugar and very little flour. And a lot of milk too.

After that fail I went with my go-to cupcake cookbook. It is a vegan cupcake book I got when I made 500 vegan cupcakes for a wedding last summer. I'm not vegan so when I use these recipes for me I use real butter and milk and they turn out fantastic. The hair salon we go to changed ownership, one of the awesome stylists bought it and gave it a make over so to celebrate I wanted to bring cupcakes. Hair-O-Smith is an 80's themed salon and dance studio (and everyone there is totally rad, you should go to there). They made the floor pink and black so I thought I would reflect that in the cupcakes. I made pink and chocolate marble cakes. I didn't taste them but they looked super cute!

 For the frosting I made a simple vanilla bean buttercream. I tried to make pink and black swirls but it was really hard to get a true black. They ended up looking more purple. Oh well. They were well received so I am happy about that.

In other news I cut myself yesterday but on a transformer toy at work. AND, I have my first practical exam next week. I will have a time limit and several knife cuts to perform. I should probably practice this weekend. Anyone have any veggies they need cut up rather small?

So this is happening

To be honest I haven't been a huge fan of blogs in the past. I've had two but I don't think I was ever really committed or figured out why I was blogging. I've followed blogs off and on and I have enjoyed reading them but then I just fell out of the habit when I stopped blogging. Now, recently, I've had some major life changes with more coming down the road. I feel like I might actually have interesting things happen to me! Also my friends have all started blogs and I want to copy them. Just kidding. Not really. Sort of.

So back to the life changes. I have been teaching preschool for the past 7 years and most days I love it. The families are amazing and their children are hilarious and inspiring. And I think I am good at teaching. The problem is that a big part of me feels unchallenged in that profession and a little unfulfilled. It seems weird because teaching is challenging and fulfilling for most people. It was for me in the beginning and in many ways still is to this day. Just not in the right ways. I have no idea how to explain it. I just know that for the past few years I have struggled with the question of "what else"? What else can I do? What am I missing? Why do I feel unsatisfied?

Cupcakes made for a play my brother was in

I decided it was time to answer these questions. I did a little soul searching and discover that what I do for fun and for stress relief is bake. I read cookbooks for fun. I buy fancy extracts just for the challenge of figuring out something delicious to create with them. I make elaborate cupcake murals. It fills a creative need in me that I don't get anywhere else. So why not try to delve in a little deeper? I took a leap (a very careful, well thought out leap) and quit my job. I enrolled in culinary school for baking and patisserie. I start next month. I still love teaching though so I got a part time job teaching preschool that fits in well with my culinary schedule.

Pastry sampling in Hanoi, Vietnam

So I figured that documenting this new journey will help me see areas that I have grown and where I need to grow. And I'm hoping you will come with me. I promise to reward you with questionable recipes of my own creation and pictures of food you can't eat, at least until we figure out how to do this whole emailing food thing. What do you say? Deal?

Deep breath, here we go.