Cake Trial: Part 1

I baked cakes yesterday in the start of my practice run for my wedding cake. I didn't make the full three rounds of batter like I will for the "real" thing, I just made two rounds. This means that I will have three tiers with two layers each. (Above: 9-inch and 12-inch layers.)

Here's what I learned:

- It's not that hard to make a cake batter. (I already knew this.)

- It's not hard to bake the cake off, although I did need to adjust baking time for my oven. (This is why I'm making a practice cake.)

- Prep work takes the most time. (Eggs, butter, and milk take several hours to come to room temperature.)

- Making a cake this large uses more eggs and butter than anything else I've ever made in my life.

- Greasing, flouring, and cutting parchment paper for my pans took as much time as making the batter.

- I need bigger cooling racks. The 6-inch layer ended up cooling in a flat-bottomed colander because I didn't have enough cooling rack space. It still worked.

- Wrapping the cakes in plastic wrap for freezing takes almost as much time as prepping the pans.

The instructions in the book (America's Test Kitchen Baking Book) and the blog I read for help both said that time is the biggest factor. I do like that I can do this in stages, so when the actual time comes, I can be comfortable making the cakes a few weeks in advance. I ended up dragging a chair into the kitchen to sit in front of the oven while I read my book and kept an eye on the cakes. I've never been much of a cake baby-sitter, but this is important. After the first batch came out, I was more comfortable with the baking time and just letting it go on it's own. (With a timer.)

I am very excited to have all these new baking supplies. Where have offset spatulas been all my life? I finally have a pastry bag with different tips for frosting, which I look forward to breaking out. I never felt stressed when making this cake. I think knowing that it could fail and that was okay made it a much better situation for me. We'll see if this feeling continues throughout the process. I do like my start though!

Next weekend, filling and frosting.

Fish Tacos

I've only eaten fish tacos a handful of times in my life, but I always really like them. The creamy sauce and the cabbage create a great contrast to mild fish. The fish is usually fried, sometimes breaded, sometimes not. Last night, I was craving great flavor and something light, yet meaty. Enter fish tacos.

We're trying to eat a little more healthily around here, so I combined a few recipes to get the tacos we had last night. I used Serious Eats Fish Taco recipe, but used catfish instead of tilapia. (I don't like tilapia; it has no flavor.) I also didn't make the sour cream sauce, but instead substituted with Pioneer Woman's pico de gallo and guacamole. (As requested by Greg.)

For the fish, I coated it in a spice mixture of salt, cayenne, paprika, and cumin, and then shallow fried it in olive oil. The result was great flavor that married well with the cabbage, guacamole, and pico de gallo. It was like eating a salad with fish and a tortilla. For two people who have eaten a meat salad as a side dish with fish (we follow the Ron Swanson rule that fish is a vegetable), this was satisfying and filling. We will definitely be having these again, paired with a Corona.

I promise that at some point, pictures will get better. It's hard to cook and photograph at the same time!

Creativity Always Needs an Outlet

The problem with being a potter is that when people ask me if I ever get to work in clay, it's always a tough question for me to answer why I don't. It's not quite a hobby, and even with my class this summer, I never got it together to pick up my finished pieces. (Part of the problem there was not having a car.) It's tough to lug a wheel, clay, kiln, and glazes around with you. And expensive to have those things on hand. I know every art comes with it's tools, but I tend to think mine are slightly less portable.

Which is all to say that at times, I still need an outlet for my creativity. Sometimes I write, but mostly I cook. I really think cooking, baking in particular, is a close cousin to pottery. You work with your hands, you shape things, you add heat, some basic chemistry, and BAM! you have a work of art. This weekend I was very much in a cook-to-be-creative mood. I made fresh Italian bread that we turned into garlic bread, lasagna from scratch (everything except the noodles), biscuits, brownies and pizza. I've often thought about being a food blogger, since I cook and bake all the time, but just forget to take pictures.

However, I've resumed my resolution from a few years back to make one new dish every week. I realize that I get stuck in a rotation of about 10-14 dishes that I really like, are easy to make, and lean toward the healthier side. I'm going to try and remember to take pictures and I'll try and blog about the new dish each week. This will also help me get toward my goal of blogging more, since the job has led to less of that.

And, at the end of the month, there will be the test wedding cake, which will definitely have to be blogged.

I'll try and provide links or where you can get the recipes I work from. Typically, I use America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, which I received for Christmas last year. Really great recipes, but I also try things from Serious Eats and Pioneer Woman Cooks. So, there will be more pictures, and food!

Abstract Art

I've been studying art in one way or another for most of my life. It occurred to me the other day that my elementary school art teacher was teaching us art history right alongside our art lessons. This became more pointed in high school, and then one day, in my college years, someone pointed out that Art History was a discipline. Something that I could study, write about, and explore in ways that other subjects were explored. My life was forever, wonderfully changed.

But in all of this study, and after all these years of looking at art, sometimes I forget how important and powerful it can be. I am fortunate in that every single day of my job, I get to handle original artworks, but most of the time, I don't even think about it. It's just my job. I never walk in and think, "I GET TO LOOK AT AND TOUCH ARTWORK TODAY!!!!!!!!" Today though, I realized I should.

I often think about art more in the abstract, like an idea to be discussed, rather than actual, physical objects. Strange, since I argue all the time about object-based focused in art. In all of my studying, writing, and working, I've forgotten how powerful the original artwork can be--and is.

Today, I got to touch an M.C. Escher print. And a Van Gogh print. Two things that the artist also touched. Two things that the artist designed, created, and have survived in amazing condition. I stared at both for minutes on end, poring over each little detail, marveling at how Van Gogh's faces all seem sad, sunken, and full of a world-weariness. Escher's print was like standing on the top of a roof and looking both down and out, with the perspective working perfectly--simultaneously! That is the beauty of Escher, he understood how math made amazing art. Something I still don't grasp in my own work.

The irony of working in a museum is that you can become numb to some of the things you see on a daily basis. Artwork becomes part of a job, not a thing of beauty. Today I was reminded that artwork is a real thing, to be admired, savored, and learned from.

I'm a little angry about arts education

Recently I learned that the governor of Florida proposed to stop funding majors at state colleges in subjects that do not lead to “practical degrees,” meaning that many arts, English, and other liberal arts degrees will be considered unimportant. As a student of art history and history, I am frustrated by the idea that what I studied was “worthless” and what the greater implications of this are. Here are my thoughts:
When we say we will only used state funds to fund majors that will have jobs waiting for them at the end of the line, what are we saying about arts, literature, history, and other “liberal arts” studies? Are we saying that the limited jobs in these fields are not worth funding, and that no matter what people have talent in, we should only fund those careers that will have jobs that will bring a better return to the state? Are we then saying that private schools should carry the burden of the liberal arts, thus creating an even bigger divide between the “haves and have nots?” Where does the talented kid in drama, painting, sculpture, dancing get an education when private schools are not an option for him or her because his or her parents can barely afford to put food on the table? How will this child develop talent in a world where extra lessons are too expensive, and he or she is required to get a part time job at 16 because his or her family needs that extra income. Maybe this isn’t the kid who is going to go to college anyway because there isn’t going to be a way to pay for it. But maybe, just maybe, that kid has a talent like no other and has to put dreams on the back burner. Why can’t we decide that as a society we do value art? Why can’t we say that there is a place for the aesthetically pleasing? Or a place for the thought-provoking? Why do we feel that there is less value in a person who paints or writes (or makes pottery) for a living than in someone who uses a pipette to separate out biological matter? I’m not demeaning what scientists or others do, I’m just frustrated by the social value that’s placed on one over the other. We all can’t be in those positions. As someone who was told she was “too smart” to be an artist, I get frustrated at how we (as a society) try to tell people what to do with their talents and their skills. While I wouldn’t trade the fact that I get to work with artworks every day, and am very fortunate to be where I am, art historian isn’t a job that is valued. Nevermind that it takes tons of grey matter to memorize art movements, artists, influences, social history, social changes, and how our history as people is so intertwined with our history as artists. Let’s not tell kids that the only value education has is to train you for a job. Let’s teach our children that art, music, poetry, drama, and so many other things have value. And that funding these projects lets not just children, but everyone see the value in the arts. I don’t often get political in my blog because I don’t feel that it’s an appropriate forum. But I am passionate about the arts. I believe there is so much value in what they bring to our lives. I want to know that my kids can be a part of a world where knowing how to draw and paint, and write are important skills that can transform who they are. And I want to live in a world where what I can do with clay is considered amazing, not just something that “must be fun and relaxing.” I want a world with art.

Note: This was a very stream-of-consciousness post with very little editing.

Bakeshop Update

Short post to let you all know what my thoughts on a bakeshop are. First, thank you all for your comments, encouragement, and suggestions for how I can get my business going. I think for now, the best way to go is through a farmer's market. It helps build a rapport with local customers, create relationships, and gives me a set group of people who are potential customers at a set time each week. Now that I'm in Silver Spring, I'm considering applying to be a part of their weekly market next year.

And, I've been lucky enough that two very dear friends who are getting married next year agreed (after I asked) to let me make their wedding cakes. Thanks to Drew and Jess, who are an adorable, fantastic couple! More posts to come as I move forward with my ventures.

Etsy Bakeshop?

For a while now, I've been kicking around the idea of starting an Etsy bake shop. You know, a store front on Etsy from which I sell baked goods (like cookies, brownies, pies, cakes even), but I'm hesitant for a couple of reasons:

1. I'm not quite sure I understand how to ship baked goods. When I read about it on Etsy and on the USPS site, I feel very confused about how to go about that.

2. Not sure where my customer base would come from. I want to make some money off this venture, so I need to build a customer base (like you, friends!).

3. I'm not sure how much to charge. I want to have fair prices, but also need to include realistic costs, as well as my own time.

4. Should I build a menu of choices and then also allow special orders? (ie, gluten free)

So, blog-reading friends, I can you provide me answers for these questions? Should I build up social networking (Facebook, Twitter) to notify people of my ventures? Would any of you be willing to be guinea pigs for me, placing orders, allowing me to ship to you, getting discounts for being loyal customers?

And as a random last note, I do want to make my own wedding cake, but am definitely going to do a trial run. Anyone want to volunteer for taste-testing that?

Feel free to post answers/comments/questions I need to consider below.

Thanks!

Photo is of a peach pie I made this week.