I've been a bad blogger the last few months! Sorry about that. It's just that I wrote a post for the Foodbuzz Project Food Blog and I didn't make it to the next round. I found that out just after baking all the layers for Swedish Princess Cake, which was meant to be the theme of my next Project Food Blog entry. Then I went on vacation for a week and when I came back, I just couldn't bake. Life was busy and I couldn't spend 3 hours in the kitchen. I missed two of the Daring Bakers' challenges; decorated cookies and doughnuts, because I just couldn't get myself to do it. (Also, the cookie challenge was supposed to be done with lots of piping tips, which I don't have, and doughnut making involves boiling oil. Enough said.)
Oh yes, did I mention that I failed two of my exams and now I have to repeat a year of school? That was probably the most important factor in this equation, lol. I should actually have more time on my hands now that I did last year, but somehow I don't! In addition to the two exams that I'll have to pass in the next year, I'm also taking two of the 3rd year classes; Instrumental analysis and Cosmetology. Fun! Not.
But here's a happy photo of me so you won't be too worried:
School is boring. That's why I started learning French! Now I'm almost at the end of the 1st course and I'm starting the second one in December. I also decided that being on WiiFit for an hour each day isn't exactly the workout to be proud of. So I went and signed up for Pilates. But, there weren't enough people signed up in the advanced Pilates group, so they made one group of all of us (beginners + advanced) and we all got universal tickets to all the workouts they offer. So now I'm doing Zumba too, twice a week. And it's awesome! I never thought I would enjoy sweating to the point of being soaking wet, but I do. (It also burns a lot of calories, which makes more room for sweets!)
I should probably mention that I'm working on getting a drivers' license. And that I joined a great website called Swap-Bot, which is really awesome and keeps my mailbox full all the time! The most awesome thing I got in my mail were tiny silicon cupcake molds, which I now use for everything. My mother made Linzer torte last weekend and we make a few Linzer cupcakes as well! I would've never bought them myself because ''I don't need them''.
Since I haven't baked in a while (except for the Daring Bakers' challenge which is a secret!) and I don't have the time to write a proper post about the cupcakes I recently made, here's a list of things I have learned in my first year of baking/being in the kitchen.
- Water balloons explode when in contact with hot chocolate. Do not attempt to make chocolate bowls. Ever. Again. (You don't want to see what our kitchen looked like after...)
- Don't separate eggs above the bowl with already separated egg whites. You'll be sorry.
- Sticky dough is sticky.
- Plastic bags will not survive piping pate a choux. No, really, they won't.
- Metric system is awesome.
- Butter that has been at room temperature for 10 minutes is definitely not butter at room temperature. Also, do not attempt to warm it up by putting it on a radiator.
- You might want to clean and empty the kitchen counter BEFORE you start putting all the ingredients for a cake on it.
- The oven will never be the right temperature at the right time ± 5 minutes.
- If the recipe calls for 4 hours of refrigeration, don't refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes and think it's enough.
- If something didn't thicken while cooking, it will not thicken in the fridge.
- If you use a wet spoon to transfer the starch into something, most of the starch will stay on the spoon. (-> Tiramisu = a liquid mess)
Learn from my (very painful) mistakes, people! I'm sure this list will be a lot longer in 2011. I hope this post will keep you busy until Saturday, when I can publish the Daring Bakers' challenge post. À bientôt!
4 comments:
Morati ću se složiti sa svim zaključcima do kojih se došla u svojoj prvoj godini kuhinja, sa naglaskom na "Metric system is awesome" Izluđuju me šolje i šalice!
Ali od svih grešaka, koje bi još i mogla ponoviti bez pretjeranih posljedica, pad godine nemoj!:)
Čekam sutra da vidim što si ispekla! :)
I find idea of making chocolate bowls on balloons filled with water great idea, something that would probably cross my mind if I ever needed chocolate bowls, so thanks for warning us and saving my kitchen :)
Making chocolate bowls with balloons can be done easily, the trick is that the chocolate has to be tempered to the correct temperature. Tempering is a pain in the rear, but if your molding chocolate, that what you want. The temperatures for tempering chocolate very depending on the chocolate percentage and brand of chocolate. you might be able to get away with un-tempered chocolate for making balloon bowls, if you keep it at about 90F. your chocolate was probably too hot, which is why they exploded. If you ever get the chance to try them again, be sure at the very least your chocolate isnt too hot. Awesome blog by the way.
hi, new to the site, thanks.
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