return from the lost (2) week(s).

So, I think I might have been suffering brain death the nearly two weeks I was M.I.A. Well, no, in reality I was suffering academic death in which I was (and continue to be) commuting back and fourth between my two separate schools for classes, rehearsals, the two weekends of the show... the list of places and excuses goes on and on. Oh, and after being involved in my first minor car accident (shock alert: it was not, in fact, my fault) I haven't had a car to drive for a week and a half. Which, of course, made the whole commuting thing infinitely more fun.

So, after catching up with a lot of class, spending a lot of long hours, dropping two classes that were ultimately just going to plummet my GPA, and doing a lot of explaining ... I made a cake.

Cake in point: Oozing.

I made this beauty (or, rather, potential beauty - in a rush I completely disregarded my melty frosting and runny fudge in an effort to simply get the damn thing made) for our closing night cast party. This was a double-layer marble cake with mocha mousse, crushed Joe-Joe and graham cracker filling with coffee buttercream frosting and hot fudge topping. It might have made a lovely slice - if the freaking sweet was devoured by twenty hungry mouths and forks digging into one communal plate.

I have to say... it was pretty goddamn good. At least, I sure liked it and I had received a roster of birthday-cake requests by the end of the night.

I like crazy, overdone, outlandish cakes. Most pastries I want simple: flaky fruit scones, sweet and sticky cinnamon buns, custard tarts. Cakes, however, need at least at tri-fold flavor combination, as many layers as time allows, and tower-high toppings. This isn't a half hour at Rachel Ray's... it's hell in Ace's kitchen (sans all that Ace of Cakes talent and whatnot). Even when I don't have the patience to really flesh out the appearance of a cake, I need it to literally ooze variety and sugar.

I'm supremely frustrated about this whole MoFo Fail business, though. Not because I feel like I've disappointed anyone - I mean, really, who exactly was chained to their computer, on hunger strike until another post came through? - but because this was going to be some fun posting, and all I can serve up are tired cake stories and droning whines. Hopefully I can continue to the post stream into November, though. It's never too late to make up for lost time! Until you're dead. Then, yeah. It is a little too late to make up for lost time.

Joe-Joe, anyone?

scone city.

Whoops, better late than never! I was baking up a scone storm to bring to this morning's workcall (set construction all weekend mornings) and fell right asleep... ok, so maybe I was watching a few hours' worth of DVR recordings, but I was nodding off the whole time, I swear.

These blueberry scones are a success in (almost) gluten-free baking. The recipe for Raspberry Scones comes from Babycakes, which I adore if for no other reason than the cutesy-kitschy photographs. Instead of using two cups of whole spelt flour, though, I used the rest of my light spelt flour (about 3/4 cup) and Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour. Because of the spelt, they can't be considered gluten-free. They turned out much better (and much prettier) than the gluten-full Orange-Chocolate Chip Scones that I made for variety. More scone like, they seemed - tender, buttery, hint-of-sweetness sweet. I hate serving things I'm not one hundred percent happy with, but off they will go anyway. Too bad I didn't double the Babycakes recipe - but I'll definitely be coming back for more the next time a scone craving hits!

it's still alive.

I apologize for having abandoned my baby, Blog. It's the same old "busy" spiel - school, shows, and whatnot. Apparently I only make time when I'm on the verge of death sick. Illness - it spreads like wildfire among with the group when you spend no less than two months virtually living with your castmates. Unfortunately I will have much more free time starting next week (possibly the only time in my academic career that I will say "unfortunately") when our current production, Twelfth Night is over. It's been a great couple months and I'll be sobbing into my closing-night cake come Saturday when it's over. 

The above shots are of some of my most recent deals in the kitchen - a friend with my birthday cake from earlier in the month (I did indeed bake my own birthday cake), Vanilla-Hazelnut Cake filled with Mocha-Hazelnut Mousse, Chocolate Joe-Joe's, and topped with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Hazelnuts, and buchty rolls from a magnificent bread book I bought at Border's on super-clearance.Valentine's Day was a treat as well - my "wife" and I celebrated with a Banana's Foster "wedding cake" from My Sweet Vegan. I baked, she got down on one knee with an enormous plastic keyring ring. All very romantic.

Also, I am very excited to be exploring photography more intently with the Nikon D60 I got for Christmas. More food porn in store, of course.

me doy la bienvenida al... BLOGSPOT.

Look, ma, I trekked aalll the way over from my own itsy bitsy domain for... Blogspot.

Why move? Because it was simply a pain to keep up appearances on a domain that I felt no passion for any more. Doing everything myself to maintain something that had little direction and purpose was difficult. Not to say I don't like webdesign, but now is not the time nor place.

In any case, it's summer, and unlike last year I will not be participating in any shows downtown. After five productions over the course of nine months, I'm a little theater-burnt out. After all I have much to be excited about and agonize over next year. You must understand that theater is a constant love-hate relationship that you're just too committed to get out of. The times that you love it are full of passion and wild days, but even in the times of hate you're afraid that you amount to nothing without them and just can't let go.

Dramatic, I know; But it comes with the territory.

So what are my summer plans instead? Likely Portland and LA in August. In the meantime, lots of watching lame-ass I Love the New Millenium (sans the two and a half years we've yet to complete for the decade, VH1) and culinary delights.

What has arisen in the kitchen meanwhilst? Many things, but the last photographically-documented treat was My Sweet Vegan's Cookies 'n' Cream Pound Cake that I made last month. I have had a great deal of difficulty with pound cake the last few times I've tried. I don't know if it's my glass loaf pan or what. Perhaps splitting the batter into two next time? In any case, the latest disaster was I could not, after many toothpick-testing attempts and fifteen minutes extra in the oven, detect any uncooked batter and removed it from the oven. Upon trying to remove it after some cooling, the loaf split in half. So I chopped it up and served it to my castmates anyway, where it was promptly devoured.




an unfortunate accident... in terms of presentation.

In addition, I've been trying to eat more raw meals and finally bought Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo a few weeks ago. The whole process of raw food is fascinating to me, such as the sprouting of grains and seeds as well as the the use of dehydrators. I love the cooking process too much to currently be a raw foodist, but the idea of more fresh, raw foods is logical. Though the starchiest grain and a pain to rinse, I've been sprouting mostly buckwheat groats, which make a really nice raw pizza crust. Unfortunately the last batch I made went moldy much quicker than previous batches while I was trying a rinsing/storing method that seemed to drain the groats more efficiently.

previous pre-mold sprouting conditions


Oh, and how could I neglect to mention - I currently anxiously await the release of an apparently amazing vegan whipped topping being developed on one hand by Julie Hasson. Stay tuned on that front, for sure.