My Best Cakes

I'm still a complete amateur when it comes to cake decoration but I'm getting there! Here are some of cakes I've made which I think came out best.

Wedding cake

Baby Cakes

Naruto

Ryu (from Street Fighter)

Peppa Pig

Strawberry Cream

Christmas biscuits!

So 'tis the season to be jolly and time for the work Christmas party. Last time I missed it because they decided to have it the day I was flying off on holiday. I was having a really horrible time of it anyway because I'd managed to catch swine flu a week before my holiday and got over it just in time for my flight. I was seriously afraid of passing it on to other people but my doctor assured me I would be well enough by the time I had to go. I was well enough, just a bit weak and also a bit annoyed at all the last minute things I hadn't been able to do because I was in quarantine at home (I was as cross as Mr Flibble).

Well anyway, this year I planned to make cupcakes with holly leaves for the party, really professional awesome looking ones. But it was when we had that awful snow, and since the ice was keeping the buses away I didn't bother. But then 2 hours before the party my sister offered to drop me off so I decided to rush and make them. They came out ok but as you can see they are nowhere near awesome:

unawesome cupcakes

In fact now that I am seeing them again, they look pretty crap :-p. I didn't cream the butter and sugar for long enough and I didn't have time to make proper red holly berries. It didn't matter in the end, as it turned out there was so much ice on my sister's car that we couldn't even get it out of the drive let alone to the party. Oh well. I've ended up working at 3 Christmas parties at the children centres I work at so I don't feel like I missed out that much. 

So then I thought I'd make Christmas biscuits instead of giving cards this year, including some for the pre-nursery group children I work with. I decided to make stain glass biscuits; angel shapes for colleagues and Christmasy shapes for the kids. I wanted them for a Wednesday but was working full day on Tuesday so ended up making them on Monday night till after midnight. Yeah I'm not really that busy, I'm just a great procrastinator. I was super sleepy all Tuesday but the biscuits actually turned out quite well :-). The angels weren't as great as I expected so next time will just do the circle ones. 

These were made with a basic biscuit recipe. I cut out the inside shape and baked for 5 minutes, then added a crushed boiled sweet in the gap and baked for another 5 minutes so that it would melt. I love the result, the light shines right through them especially the lighter colours and they are great for hanging on the tree or by windows. I threaded some red thread through mine before handing them out (hence the holes in case you were wondering). Would have preferred gold but couldn't find any so I settled for wrapping them in gold tissue paper.

My cousins on facebook liked them so much they've asked me to make some when they come round for the roast dinner so am looking forward to making a new batch. Probably try smaller cut outs next time and experiment with patterns. I am also going to try and send a batch to my best friend in Brighton when the weathers a little better and I can be sure the post won't get stuck in the snow.

Meanwhile, am having fun planning my New Years Party with the cousins. Was originally going to have an Alice in Wonderland theme but not many people are coming. I'd planned a whole bunch of things but it'll be a waste if only a few people come so am postponing it till spring. By then the weather would be warm enough to have it in the garden (hopefully) and I can set up the chaise lounge and sheesha (hookah) for the caterpillar. Have a lot of great ideas for it all and can hardly wait. 

Instead of that theme, I've decided to go with a simple Video Game party theme. Have quite a few ideas for that too and if it turns out well will post some pictures. I am seriously obsessed with bento box's right now and the cute little characters people make out of food. If you don't know what I mean then check these guys out: My Mealbox. For the party, I'm going to try doing the Boo Bento with rice seeing as he's from Super Mario and goes with the theme. Plus I love rice :-p. 

I've decided against costumes as we've already had a street fighter 4 costume party (to celebrate the release of the new game, yes we are super nerdy) but might dress a little funky anyhow :-p. Oh and here's a pic of me from our street fighter party, I was Juli from SFAlpha 3. My real hat looked stupid so I drew one in and then it looked fake so I cartooned the whole thing up. Overdid the hair a bit I think...

"Yes Sir!"

Why I love the X-files

I work part-time, usually mornings and all I want to do when I get home is get my lunch and sit and relax with some telly. Anyone else who watches daytime TV will be well aware that there is NOTHING to watch in the afternoon. To be fair there are good shows on (Everybody loves Raymond, Frasier, Scrubs) but they are reruns that have been on a million times before. They're shown so much that they just aren't entertaining any more. But there is one show that I would never get bored of. Oh yes, The X-files. It's on two channels, two different seasons and I've been following both zealously. I've recently ordered the first series on dvd to feed my renewed The X-files addiction.
Here are some reasons why, to me, The X-files is one of the best shows ever.

Reason #1: Amazing, thrilling and intriguing story lines
17 years ago The X-files was first aired, and even though I was too young to have become a fan of it at the time, the one episode I saw then is one of my favourite series episodes ever! Episode 8 of season 1 "Ice". I saw it at a time when I didn't even know what the X-files was and always thought it was a TV movie I'd seen as a child. I didn't see it again until 5 years later and it was still as awesome.
 It's a tense thriller about a group isolated and trapped, while someone of them is killing them off one by one and they don't know who. They only know that the killer has been infected by a parasitic worm and spend their time trying to find out who has it and how to kill it. This episode is a perfect example of the genius of the series. Unfortunately, this genius didn't last all the way through to the last series and the latest movie was a complete disaster that should never have happened.
Nevertheless, The X-files has some of the most amazing episodes ever to be aired and story lines that have been emulated in other programs but not executed as successfully. There's the switched bodies episode, the psychic killer episode, invisible killer, supernatural cults etc and then there are the episodes that can never be copied.

Some of my fave episodes:

• Ice (1-08) a great chilling thriller equal to a TV movie.

• Shadows (1-06) a spooky ghost story, one of the first episodes I ever saw and still consider one of the best. I was in my Robotech phase at the time and always thought the woman in this looked like Minmei.

• Eve (1-11) a creepy episode about identical girls who live miles apart with different families. Mulder and Scully get called in when both their fathers are killed in the same weird way. Their looks aren't the only thing they have in common. A great performance by the two girls and Harriet Harris (who is also wickedly funny as Bebe in Frasier)

• Humbug (2-20) a horror episode set in a circus town with some really freaky characters and an even freakier monster. Gillian Anderson eats something very odd at the end.

• Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (3-04) this one is about a serial killer who kills psychics. Mulder and Scully get help from a real psychic to find him. The real psychic is played by the late Peter Boyle who won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role.

• War of the Coprophages  (3-12) If you are scared of cockroaches don't watch this. Or actually, do watch this for the thrill :-p. It's one of the funny X-files and will always be in my memory as "the one where Scully gets jealous".

• Jose Chung's From Outer Space (3-20) The men in black episode! Very funny episode about an author writing about an abduction after hearing the story from all eye witnesses. 

Incidentally, pretty much all of these are stand-alone episodes and can be enjoyed by fans and non-fans alike.
The X-files is one of the few shows I've ever seen that can switch back and forth between comic episodes like Jose Chung's From Outer Space and deadly serious ones like Shadows and still work.

Reason # 2: Classic, believable, interesting characters
The reason The X-files is so excellent isn't just the thrilling story lines but the complete believability of the characters, their charisma and the chemistry between them. The the two main characters are so different with Scully being the scientific sceptic and Mulder being the open-minded believer. The relationship between them, the friendship, develops so well that you just can't imagine them with anyone else.
How many times have we seen a male and female character put together in an X-file type show where they just don't go together at all. Where the attempt to copy the whole idea of two agents solving supernatural cases fails miserably or does ok but still seems a bit cartoony e.g. Warehouse 13 and Haven.
You can pick Mulder and Scully out of a crowd. I don't think I'd recognise the main characters of Haven the next time they come in anything. As for Warehouse 13, the main characters are such cartoon characters, it makes the whole show seem like it's aimed at children. Maybe it is...

Reason # 3: Scully's outfits
I don't know about you, but I have seen soooooo many shows where the crime busting female wears high heels even though she knows half her time will be spent running after people. Or a law enforcement character will be dressed like she's going to a cocktail party or wearing full make-up and have perfect hair in situations where she wouldn't have had a chance or be bothered to tart herself up. I love that Gillian Anderson as Scully was always dressed professionally and according to the storyline. By not constantly being reminded that she's a glamorous actress it was much easier to believe Gillian Anderson was actually Scully, an FBI agent. A perfect example is Darkness Falls. The agents are trapped in the forest and there isn't a hairbrush or stick of lipstick in sight. Because Dana Scully isn't just a beautiful woman, she's a professional FBI agent doing her job the best she can just like any other agent. She's not there to look pretty and be rescued, she's there to kick ass :-p.

My first cake order :-) peppa pig

I love making and decorating cakes, but so far I have only have made them for family and the only ones to order them from me were family. So I started showing photos of my cakes around work and finally got my first non-family order :-D woohoo.
It's after 2am and only half an hour ago I finished decorating a cake which is being picked up at noon tomorrow :-p. Yes, I am the queen of procrastinators. I made the cake after dinner and didn't start decorating till around midnight (that includes designing and deciding what to put on it and printing out a template to copy). Then I worked incredibly slow and careful because I knew if I messed it up I wouldn't be getting another chance, I had left it too late.
Luckily, it's gone well. Hope it tastes as good as it looks! I've made it for a friend who has ordered it for her granddaughter's 2nd birthday. I'm wondering now whether to add any more decoration but I think simple works best and I don't want to ruin it. It's safe in the fridge and I just hope I don't manage to kill it before she picks it up.
The cake is vanilla sponge with butter icing and strawberry jam filling. Then I jammed the whole thing and rolled out some ready to roll icing to put on top. I used to find that the hardest thing about making cakes; rolling out the icing without it sticking to the damn board. Because no matter how much icing sugar I sprinkled on the surface first, at some point it would stick. A colleague suggested putting down some cling film first. I sceptically tried it out and it actually does work!
Peppa and the balloons are also ready to roll icing that I coloured in little portions. I had fun making the eyes and balloons but I almost forgot to make her tail! Which ended up being the hardest part of her to do.
Anyway, here it is, my Peppa Pig cake:

I rearranged the balloons a bit after this picture because the 'a' looks rather lonely up there. I might make some sugar paste buttons in the morning and stick them on the sides. Or maybe sponge some light food colouring on the sides although I can't think of a colour that won't clash with the balloons.
I'll have to get some opinions in the morning when people are actually awake. Meanwhile, I better be getting to sleep myself.