Time Warp: 3 Months Later....

My leave is almost over already! It's been great, but very very busy. I'm looking forward to getting back to cakes, even if it's only part time. And, it's the middle of winter (aka garden planning time). I started sifting through seed catalogs today and am so excited (especially about Renee's Garden, they always manage to find great varieties)! We're hoping to add at least one more raised bed this year to give us more soil to play with. I also had the notion to plant sunflowers along the south side of our house, which gets plenty of sun -- I love all the deep, vibrant colors that are available now. The deep reds are especially my favorites and would look beautiful with the colors of our house. I also came across seeds for tri-colored beans, and Alpine Strawberries (perennial strawberries! can you imagine?!) Last year I learned the harsh lesson of waiting until Mother Nature says it's ok to put seedlings outside, so hopefully by being just a little smarter this year we'll have a much bigger yield.... of everything.

Another Wedding Season Under My Belt

As wedding season draws to a close I'm actually on leave now for 3 months, wondering what new cake designs will be hits next year, wondering if I have any chance of creating something truly new. I went back and found what I think is the rest of the pictures of cakes I decorated this season and I'm pretty happy with my progress. These aren't really in any order. The first one, turned out to be a real showstopper. I was looking forward to doing it all year and didn't know if I'd actually get to since it was booked the week before my leave started. But, I held out and it went really well.

We didn't use a shaped cake pan for this one -- I carved it out of a full sheet.

This one was still due to get flowers on top and around the sides to finish it off.

Cupcake trees were a big hit this year.

Back to the Garden

It feels like I've been neglecting the garden most of the summer since I've been pregnant and we've been so busy. Now my seasonal allergies are wreaking havoc, so it takes some nerve for me to go out and spend any amount of time in the backyard (we have a beautiful crop of ragweed between our garden and the cornfield, though). But lo and behold, we're actually getting a decent harvest of tomatoes and peppers. It's been a dry summer, so I've had to make a conscious effort to water them a couple times a week so they don't just wilt and die. It seems like they're turning red faster than last year and I have to wonder if less water is actually doing them good (or I'm just distracted with too many other things and not checking them every single day for what seems like an eternity).

Today I threw in some new seeds in hopes of potentially reaping a fall crop this year, but I'm not holding my breath since we got our first frost in only the 3rd week of September last year. I planted more carrots, beets, green onions and parsley. I'd love to plant some sweet potatoes, but know nothing about it and haven't really invested any time in finding out. Maybe someday. Now to deal with all the veggies sitting on my kitchen counter....

Cake Season

I have lots of images to catch up on, as soon as I can find them on the server at work. Here's a few cakes I did recently and caught on my own camera. Some just birthday cakes, and a couple wedding cakes later.

Who would've guessed my music background would come in handy with cakes??

I had a blast with this cake. They asked for produce and cheese. I got going on fondant decorations and realized I get rather excited about vegetables. =)

This cake looks a little plain, but it actually went through a few processes. After it was covered in fondant, the middle tier was covered in coarse sugar. Then the tiers were stacked and airbrushed for the gradual color effect. Then, they were shimmered with luster dust all over. It takes a while, since you have to wait in between each step for things to dry before applying the next "effect".

It's Busy Time

The garden's thriving, and cakes are getting made like they're going out of style, so it's a busy time. I know it's not officially summer, but all the natural signs say it is: peaches, plums and cherries are at the store, cilantro is blooming and tomatoes are flowering, and the baby swallows in the back yard are poking their heads out of the birdhouse as if they're thinking about trying to fly. And, we haven't had any frost since the week before Memorial Day -- yay!

Here's some cake pictures from the last couple weeks. I need to retrieve some pictures from the computer at work of cakes that I didn't get to see completely assembled. I'll try to update the garden pictures soon, too. It's looking very lush today, though I'm about to go harvest a bunch of cilantro and freeze it before it goes to seed.

The cartoons on this cake were orignally drawn by the couple themselves, and I transferred them onto the cake by freehand piping. It was definitely a challenge, but turned out really cute. This was set up and their reception was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art -- how appropriate!

I made this for my husband's Civil Air Patrol unit because they were celebrating their cadets who are graduating from high school this month. The decoration in the middle is their squadron logo, which I piped out over fondant.

It's Wedding & Graduation Season!

It's wedding season again, so I should have more cake pics to share in the next couple months.   Here's a few from the last couple of weeks.  Not all weddings, but still cute and fun.

A Test of Will

It's almost Memorial Day.  At this time last year, there was absolutely nothing in the garden.  Our last frost was on Memorial Day, and so I put all the seedlings outside that following week.  They did great from there, but we weren't harvesting tomatoes until mid-August I think, and then the first fall frost came as quickly as the third week of September and killed everything.

This year I've been determined to have food earlier and do something of a three-season garden.  I suppose it's moderately successful so far -- the perennial herbs from last year came back fuller and lusher than I imagined: oregano, chives, sage, lavender, and thyme.  The cilantro went to seed last year and managed to reseed itself all over the place, so that will be plenty.  I also started some cool-weather vegetables which are coming along slowly but surely: beets, carrots, peas, leeks, swiss chard, spinach, lettuces and a solitary broccoli plant.  We've been harvesting spinach for about a week for salads and pizza and quiche, so that's nice.

Now the summer crops, on the other hand, are testing my will again and again.  I started seeds way back at the beginning of March.  We were really brave but determined, and put the seedlings outside in April, because we built covers to go over the gardens to protect the plants and figured they'd be safe enough.  The problem has been, however, that it gets really cold at night and really warm in the daytime, so we can't just leave them on all the time.  They're fairly heavy, and there's four of them, so it's no little thing to go put them on or take them off the garden, and contrary to our original design, we didn't build in a way to just prop them open.  So I had put the seedlings out in the garden during a beautiful week in April -- sunny, warm, etc -- and then we had to leave town for a family wedding.  A day and a half later we came back and pretty much all the seedlings had fried.  I believe it was too much sun exposure; Scott thinks lack of water.  Granted, I didn't temper them for very long, just a few days (what good does putting them outside do when it's cloudy and rainy for three-four days at a time?) and it came back to bite me.

So I started over.  I put in rows of all the same peppers (jalapeno, pablano, mixed sweet and green peppers), tomatoes (roma & brandywine) and flowers (snapdragons, delphinium, columbine, nasturtium, pansies, and marigolds) with plenty of time to start over.  At least if they get started outside they don't need to be tempered for the adjustment, right?  Forget about the brussels sprouts, it's too late already.  I'll try those again for fall.  Everything's been coming up a little at a time, and I was breathing a sigh of relief that we would have vegetables after all.  Now suddenly this week, the week before Memorial Day, the weather's been up and down and rainy and sunny and generally unpredictable.  We've had the covers off for weeks, but put it on two nights ago because it was gonna be really cold and there was a chance of frost -- good save.  But I took them off again yesterday because it was in the 70's.  Last night I worked late and didn't think about it.  This morning I went out and it looks like most, if not all, the seedlings are shriveled again, and the tomato plant we bought a few weeks ago on a whim is barely hanging on.  I checked the weather from last night and -- WHAT?!  28 DEGREES?!?!

I'm feeling defeated, but gotta be realistic and admit that I was gutsy (or just stubborn) this year.  If I never tried it, I'd always wonder.  Some of it's paid off.  At least we've got herbs and spinach already.  Beets and carrots and lettuce will probably be next, hopefully followed by peas and broccoli and leeks.  We may just have to go buy some tomato and pepper plants this year, though, because at this rate I wouldn't be harvesting until September, just in time for the frost again.

Cilantro is growing back in abundance here and several other places in the garden.  That's ok, ladybugs like it and supposedly it deters some bugs.

Perennial herbs that grew back bigger and fuller than last year: (L to R) oregano, chives & sage

Thyme that grew back from last year much fuller -- I can never have enough of that!

Frost damage to my tomato seedlings.  Notice how the weed just next to them (bottom right) seems just fine!

Peas in front and spinach behind

I think the bean plants got too much frost too -- maybe I'll try them again for fall.