Late October Update

once again, almost the entire month has passed since i have posted. i seriously cannot wrap my head around where all my time and effort is going. no idea at all. at any rate, i had a couple of cakes over the weekend, and even made some birthday cupcakes for work (cuz we had two birthdays in october)! on work note, i think between yesterday and this morning, it is the most time i have spent at home in i dont know how long, but its not a bad thing. it's just always something, it seems. ugh!

well enough about that. i can complain about it all day long and it won't really do anything. so here are some pictures of my latest creations! oh! i almost forgot, maybe i'll throw some pictures in from virginia beach- we went down for our anniversary and got caught up in the storm that swept the east coast (hurricane matthew)! it was pretty interesting.

i had quite a bit going on for october. i also "taught" a painting class, one of those paint and wine sessions right after we got back from virginia beach, had some football themed cupcakes right before i left.....things are getting crazy!

these guys were a last minute request. i try to accomodate what i can, but having two jobs and doing this on the side can get stressful. i had someone else ask for a cake that weekend, too, but i had to turn them away. i had to deliver these early since i was leaving that thursday. i worked a couple doubles on top of that, and had to worry about packing and such.

PLEASE. i have it on my facebook page, and i will say it here: GET YOUR REQUESTS IN TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE. again, i do this outside of work around two jobs, and ask for a bare minimum kind of payment (usually my supply cost and a little extra). i should start asking for extra for each day beyond the two weeks.....i put a lot of effort into my work and sometimes feel i am underappreciated.

moving on....once we got back from virginia, i had to crack down and get in cake mode for two more looming on the horizon, one being this wedding cake i made for my cousin dave and his now wife, elyse. because fall and halloween? yep. my fridge was jammed full of cake. i had nine layers for this one, and four more for the next one.

i had to bring this one in three pieces to the location (beardslee castle near herkimer). there were several dowels holding it together, as it is tilted. first ever tilted cake, by the way. i actually piped the roses out and refrigerated them the night before, so i was able to attach them when i got there. i also (as you can see) added the spider webs upon arrival as well.

i was up pretty late on thursday working on everything. i made their "cake topper" since they couldn't get one, and got a little frame to put it in once we were done with it.

i think this is one of my favorite cakes i have made so far. it's always the ones i spend lots of time on, i noticed after thinking about it. i put about 10-12 hours into this one.

sigh. well, for now i guess i will just post the cupcakes and the wedding cake. it is now time for me to get ready for work, because what day isn't complete without it? hmm. oh well. that just means i have to post again soon to show you the other stuff. if you follow my instagram (birdladyleesh), you can see more stuff there, as i update it pretty frequently now that im getting into it. pictures make me happy. well, enjoy these, and have a good week! thanks for reading!

October Already- Apple Cookies and Banana Bread

Yet another month has come and gone, many crises encountered and (hopefully) averted. Ive been getting the feeling lately that i am almost suffocating where i am right now. Yet, i tried to do something about it, and i was almost afraid of the change. 

I went around, applied to a bunch of places, and ended up with an interview at a call center. It went very well, but the hours would have been 330-midnight. That is pretty late for me. Its one thing to do it once in a while for our goofy midnight sales, but to stay in a cubicle and get yelled at because your internet isnt working properly? Slightly less stimulating. But....here we are again. Continuing the same routine ive been doing for years. There are two rays of hope, however, but i will not hold my breath, as believing i have a chance usually curses me into a deeper, more desperate hole than im already in. 

These cookies, though!!

I had a dental procedure done a week ago, and now i have stitches in my teeth. I had been living off of apples and peanut butter (almost), but now, as the apple skins can get stuck between your teeth, i had to find a way around it. That, and i have to stick to non-crunchy foods, and chop everything else up into bits for another week. I got these out of one of my taste of home magazines, and the recipe is super easy! Seriously, its like a half cup of everything. Check it out!

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/apple-peanut-butter-cookies

Sigh. I suppose there is a bright side to things. In a couple days, i will be heading to virginia beach for my 4 year (technically 9) anniversary. We are taking a long weekend for lots of reasons, aside for our anniversary. It will be nice to get away for a bit and hopefully clear the tension. I made him some banana bread today, too! This was a new recipe i tried, and it seems like it came out pretty well. No burnt edges, or extra crispiness or anything. Here is the link:

http://funcheaporfree.com/2014/08/grandmas-famous-banana-bread-recipe/

Well, i am technically at work. I suppose i should leave this at that for today. Wanted to share the treats, and maybe vent a little. As always, i appreciate the few readers i have, and thank the few i get to see for the support. Thanks for reading! 

Officially Fall- Caramel Apple Cider Cake, Insane Inflatable, and More

prepare yourselves now, aside from the delicious apple cake i am about to rave briefly about, i may go on a rant again. haven't decided yet, though, as i am not feeling as sad as i have been lately. anyway, so this cake.

this caramel apple cider cake comes from a blog of a blog, from pinterest. my pinterest link goes to country pleasures, while in her post, it goes to a hint of honey (which is not a direct link to the recipe, just their page). (also, random note, country pleasures posted this on my and ron's anniversary, a year before we got married! just thought it was funny. more on that in a minute.)

it is more of a spice cake, i think, although the frosting by its self, you can taste the apple cider in it. the cake is made with brown sugar, cinnamon, apple sauce, and caramel sauce. oh, and some white whole wheat flour. eh, eh? not terribly bad. until you get to the caramel sauce mixed into it. it is totally worth it, though. i didn't even use my mixer on it, as only the frosting has the butter.

i spent another day baking and cooking (kind of). aside from this cake, i made corn bread and had some cheesy broccoli chicken in the crock pot. i still need to make some rice, but that requires effort.

i am still silently wishing i could have more days to spend at home. as much as i hate this place because i live in a cave (hence all the horribly lighted pictures), i haven't had a day in a while where i just get so sit around and read or watch hulu or something. i've even been slacking off with running, and that makes me more achy, cuz my body is expecting the exercise, but it's not happening, and it's like, "hey, you should go do something. stop being lazy," and my brain is like,"be lazy. got it." aaaand, here we are. i can't get motivated over anything. being anxiety ridden and depressed isn't helping the case. not today so much, but lately everything has been stressing me out. work, home, work, car problems, work, money issues, work....sigh. i feel like i am in the same boat i was so long ago, where nothing i do is good enough, because they are threatening my job security once again for numbers, this coming from the place that has no idea what it wants to do anymore, and i am sick to death of going in and wondering if i can complete the day without a) walking out, b) telling someone off/punching someone in the face, c) setting fire to everything, d) curling up into a corner and crying while rocking back and forth, etc. it's so overwhelming that i can't wrap my head around anything. one thing though, i keep telling myself that once february comes around, that is going to be my last car payment, and i will have a car payments worth of extra money to put toward other things, plus the fact that it should reduce my car insurance, because no collision. so close, yet so far away. i have also taken up to scrolling through instagram and watching all the birds, cakes, and other things to pass the time and make me happy. reading gets me away from reality for a bit.

i tried a drip thing, but the caramel i used for in the cake did not double well as a topping, it was just really runny. it still tasted really good. also, those chips on top? salted caramel chips. i found them at tops a while ago, and have been waiting for the opportunity to use them, and this was definitely it. and sprinkles, because i can. (it was kind of a birthday/anniversary cake.)

i made another round of jello shooter cupcakes for my work friend/sister (all of our customers suspect we are related), because you need a special kind of cake (or cupcake) for a 21st birthday. the cupcake recipe is a cream cupcake (mainly from the addition of cream instead of milk), so it has a slightly different texture, but it paired well with the jello and cream cheese frosting. the recipe comes from heather christo's blackberry cream cupcakes. my rendition is strawberries and cream, of course! i used her vanilla cupcake recipe, improvised a cream cheese buttercream (i had some leftover buttercream that i mixed half a brick of cream cheese into), and made alcoholic jello with UV Cake vodka, about 1/3 of the jello (of 2 cups, about 2/3 cup vodka) being booze. i find that half and half is too strong, but a quarter isn't enough.

okay, now i am rambling about alcohol to water ratio in jello shots. stop me now. where has my morning gone?

with that, i'll post some pictures from this years insane inflatable 5k. it was just ron, my mom and i, but it was good fun, none the less.

it rained a little right before we started, but it wasn't overwhelming. i was disappointed that i didn't get any battle wounds. mom and ron had some rug burn (or something of the such), and my mom almost died rolling down one of the obstacles, but we survived. we survived and got breakfast after. it was a pretty good day.

i might be running out of things here for now, but last thing i will leave you with....finally got my tires put on! i cannot stress how sad my wallet is, but it is totally worth it. the rims look really nice, and having new tires is a world of difference. the others were so unevenly worn, it sounded like i was riding in a helicopter they would get so loud. i am still getting used to my car being so quiet that i can hear the engine.

i love her. car bffs. ♥♥♥ one nice thing that i have done for myself and my car. they are my first aftermarket addition. one of the little things that brings even a little joy to my day.

i did forget one other thing! i had a pretty bad day at work a few days ago. it started with a migrane, i tried to get someone to cover me, and then had to go in anyway, all sorts of crap happened, up to and including a customer who yelled at me because his kid bought downloadable content and couldn't return it. ron gets out of work, and then brings me this from barnes and noble. totoro music box!! i also have a plush catbus. i am pretty sure i have wound it up every day i've had it so far and listened to it. it plays the totoro theme song. we watched the movie the last two nights going to bed, because i can't get 10 minutes into a movie without falling asleep. so yeah. i have the best husband ever. just saying.

now, i am full of cake and tea, and need to get ready for the rest of my day. because work. maybe it won't be so bad today. who knows, though. have a good weekend, all. thanks for reading!

September Already

yep. and you know what that means.

APPLES.

sure, everyone is all aboard the pumpkin hype train already, but screw that. apples are where it's at.

apple sauce, apple muffins, apple streusel bread...apples with peanut butter!! (my current obsession.)

so yes. we have gone to beak and skiff just once so far, but will probably go once or twice more between now and october.

the ginger golds were in season at the beginning of september, we lucked out with a nice day off together (the stars and moons must have aligned briefly for that to happen), so ron and i ventured out for an afternoon. mid week is the time to go. no kids, not many people in general, so it was nice and quiet.

anyway, aside from apple picking one afternoon, i had a few cakes to work on over the last week or so. i made a smash cake for one of my regular customers at work.

pink tractors all around! or on top, anyway. just a quick one. it seemed to go over pretty well. he sent me a picture of her with the cake as well, super cute!

a few days later, aside from labor day weekend, it was my grandma's 93rd birthday, and kristen's birthday on the same day! needless to say, there was quite a bit of cake consumption on my part. lots of cake, pizza, and a little barbecue at the end of the day. grandma's cake was a marble cake with buttercream frosting, and whipped cream and strawberries in the middle. cake and strawberries are pretty tasty together.

ron seems to think we look identical, what are your thoughts? happy 93rd to my grandma! ☺

kristens cake, on the other hand, was a little less traditional...it might be the very best.....

that no cake ever was....

to frost that is my real test.....

to serve it is my caaaauuuse.....

okay, enough with the pokemon theme song. i can make things up all day long to other songs. it is what i do to pass the time at work all day, otherwise i will set the place on fire. i mean, it's great! >_>

for serious though, i think this was one of my best fondant jobs to date. no wrinkes, no major flaws or bubbles. it was a lemon cake with raspberries between the layers. also one of the tastier ones i have made. fruit and cake are pretty great together. it's like magic. chocolate cake is great and all, but fruit has something special about it.

of course, i can just sit here and ramble on about fruit and cake and bore you to death, but i will leave it there for now. i have a long week ahead of me, and today was pretty tiring itself. ran the insane inflatable 5k this morning with ron and my mom, and will most likely post pictures next week. along with that, on monday, i should have my new tires put on. i was very bad, and my wallet will be sad for the next few months, but it will be worth it in the long run. i have new rims also, since mine were looking pretty beat. my tires are poop, too.

oh, another thing! i now have an instagram! not sure why, but i decided to start one of those about a week and a half ago. you can find me here as birdladyleesh. come follow me! ☺

i do like pictures, i would like to post more photography stuff on there, along with my cakes and of course, my zoo. but you know how things go with me. i dont cuz i forget or i am lazy.

anyway, here is a picture of my new car stuff! yay! exciting! expensive. i am poor. *cries in the corner*

have a good week, thanks for reading!

Tomato Pie and More Muffins

i know i have already posted these in the past, but here is what is in my fridge/on my counter this week! today i think is more of a picture show, since i still don't have much going on aside from work.

that, and i am in a ton of pain right now, but let's leave it at i am a total idiot and things. accidents happen (i guess) that lead to physical and emotional torment.

check out this dough, though. for whatever reason, outside of my baking classes in college, i can't seem to make any kind of dough work, but for whatever reason, this tomato pie crust i can do spot-on. i should try some other stuff again, though. i do like breads and rolls, and one day, i will have a perfect bread bowl for my goddamn cheddar broccoli soup. and for serious- it's probably because i over-mix it, following the directions according to the recipe, while with this, i just eyeballed it, and it was a lot less time than the recipe specified (it called for mixing 10 minutes, but it came together in about 4?).

anyway, here are some pictures. i really miss having this regularly, and it sucks that it takes so much time to make. from start to finish, i would probably need a good 4-5 hours. work kind of owns me, though, so i don't always have that much time to put into things lately unless i split it up between days.

sigh.

so puffy! i didn't over-bake the crust this time, either, so it is nice and soft. this is what a good day is made of. (it is almost gone, already, too.)

i am planning on doing another batch shortly to bring out for my grandma's birthday next tuesday. my dad's side of the family is italian, so it is pretty much a given that at any event, tomato pie is present.

as for the green tea muffins- as you may know, i have a (not-so)mild (hardcore)obsession with tea. these are some of my favorite muffins so far, especially with the proper salt in them (because last time i used sea salt, and that was a huge mistake). get the recipe here from damn delicious. one of these days, i will use the matcha in something else, but again, that is requiring that time thing. someday i will get it sorted out. in the meantime, i just have to work around everything.

short post today, so i hope you enjoyed the pictures, and if you get a chance, give these muffins a shot! they are so easy, and totally worth it. i'm going to try to relax and play the waiting game until work in a bit. thanks for reading!

Another Long Break

this keeps happening, and i don't really like it. i get back into this for a short time (well, vacation was different, because it was vacation), and then i drop off of the face of the earth again into the spooky depths of hell known as work. i don't want to be a workaholic again. it kind of sucks the fun out of everything. that is the best way i can describe it. like, how i like baking and doing art things....lately i feel completely unmotivated to make things. i want to. i can't make it happen for some reason. i went blueberry picking in cooperstown a couple weeks ago, and that kind of re-sparked the interest, because come on: blueberries. i need to keep this wind up, though.

i hope it doesn't go away, anytime soon. i have so many things coming up, and/or things i want to make, including these spiffy galaxy themed macarons. *gasp*

since my last blog.....it was my birthday! i am old! it was a pretty good day/weekend, despite working saturday morning. i went out with my "wife" (aka heather) to cheesecake factory for national cheesecake day, and let me tell you . that chocolate hazelnut cheesecake they came out with this year- worth it's weight in gold. holy crap. it is one that i need to experiment with and make at home.

yes, look at that in all of it's chocolatey, hazelnutty glory. chocolate hazelnut swirled cheesecake, with a ferrero rocher layer (or something similar), a graham cake-like crust, a layer of whipped chocolate hazelnut topping, and topped with nutella. chocolate overload. i couldn't even finish it, and i didn't even get a whole meal, because i wanted cheesecake.

this is going to be an experiment for the holidays, because it is acceptable for everyone to be a fat kid during that time of the year. or, depending on the stress level, comfort food.

after we left there, we wandered the mall some more, and went home to get ready for the harry potter midnight sale! kristen and i had made our own wands a few days before, and she put together a costume since they let her dress up at work. i made my own makeshift costume based on the internet's theories/pictures and turned up as some punk ass gryffindor. we deemed ourselves the first ever cross-house couple at hogwarts.

eh? eh? not too bad, haha. it rained a whole bunch, but it was all in good fun to see everyone else come out dressed up and stuff. i started re-reading the series, too (i may have mentioned that). i did not realize that harry potter and i have the same birthday! neat! except i am old.

speaking of birthdays again, i didn't have to make my own cake this year! as a matter of fact, i got two cakes!

 one from work, proclaiming they didn't re-key the store (funny all on it's own, i guess i ranted about last year's disaster enough).....

....and one made by the best husband ever (finally)!! because LEGEND OF ZELDA FOR THE WIN.

in all of it's 8-bit, pixelated frosting glory! this made me so happy. for one, i've been hinting for a while now that he should make me a cake because we took the same classes in college so i know he could do it. secondly, because of my sick obsession with the series, up to and including buying games for systems i don't have, or having multiple copies of the same game (i have 3 verisions of the original nes zelda).

after having a little picnic at green lakes, i am a fat ass and insisted we go to melting pot to get some fondue! i can be fat on my birthday, too. we had some cheese, some chocolate, and i got chocolate covered strawberries at the end. it was a pretty good weekend. then, of course, i had to go back to work the next day. boooooooooo.

i say that i should invest more time in mini vacations, but then bad things happen when i am not at work, or at least it ends up a cleaning job for a shift. i suppose, though, i wouldn't have anything do do though, if i never went away.

 last week (i think) we brought cosmo out for a car ride. i wasn't sure how he would react to everything, since he is more active than satch (satch had the equivalent of a stroke in 2006, so he does not move as quickly as most birds, and cannot grip well or fly). it didn't go too badly, though. he quite literally screamed as i walked him from the door to the car, and not bird scream, either. he actually screams like he's on a roller coaster or something.

just picture that for a minute. some crazy, rainbow haired lady with her goofy ass green bird wrapped in a towel, his head poking out shouting, "AAAAHH!!" and occasionally barking at the trees and cars.

i am not sure if that qualifies me as crazy, sad, awesome, or some mix of those terms. i don't really care though.
i
he sat on my seat and vibrated most of the drive, staring at other people in cars, the scenery, anything that moved pretty much. covered my back seat in poop (the towel on the chair failed, but it came off mostly easy). i didn't bring him in anywhere, like with satch and his ice cream adventure. i am not sure he would enjoy that many people.

on another note, i made another cake for one of my co-workers at delphias. this one was filled with strawberries and whipped cream. i may have another one for her friend in september. i am hoping so, because it is for a wedding, and whatever i get from that will go towards new tires for my car. my cousin is getting married in october, which will also go toward said tires. also in october, i am going to "teach" one of those wine and paint classes! i was offered some money to come in and teach for an evening, and that will also go for tires. cars are expensive. anyway, it is kind of exciting. i was thinking of seeing how this goes, and possibly do my own class another time after that, if i can get enough people to get on board with it.

 

alright, let's get on to some baking and cooking, shall we? i have made preparations for tomato pie again. by "made preparations," i mean that i roasted some roma tomatoes and garlic for some of the best tomato pie sauce ever. it is definitely an upstate new york thing (like halfmoon cookies), and if i ever leave, i will take this recipe with me. thank goodness for the internet.



probably tomorrow morning before work, i will attempt to get up and make the crust, along with some other stuff i have been waiting on making. the recipe is from circus berry, and i do say, it does this treat justice. this is also one of my favorite foods, along with said halfmoons, cannoli, and about 42 other things since having one favorite is for losers. #jklol

i  baked a handful of blueberry things, too. i love blueberries. especially in things. like muffins.

i made two dozen muffins a week or so ago, and a few days ago i made my first ever blueberry pies. i got the recipe from one of my taste of home books, it had lemon zest in the crust and in the filling. it smelled pretty good, and they actually came out looking pretty nice (compared to most fruit pies i attempt).

speaking of pie, i still need to make my coconut cream pie.

i made minis! they were 7" pies. i've said it before, but mini everything is better by default. that, and ron won't eat a whole pie by himself, so i brought the other to a friend that comes in to my work.

anyhow, i hope things kind of get sorted out soon. i have been feeling like everything is overwhelming me, between work and home. i am not entirely sure why. i don't think i have been doing more than usual, but it feels like it. it is confusing and frustrating. maybe it's because i work nights all the time, who knows. today was a nice change to come home at 5, and have the night to hang around.

i have another countdown, too though! in 45 days, ron and i are going to virginia beach for our anniversary for almost a week. i know it's like i just got back, but i am ready to get out of here again, because it won't happen again for a while.

i am ready for change, is more like it.

i can do without all the bullshit. what the hell. (because as i am typing, why do things keep happening?)

anyway, i will try to post again soon. thanks for reading.