Easter cake was asked for 3 days before the delivery day. redonkulous! but is ok. First time working with fondant. Ill post my recipe later, I merged 2 popular recipes.

What I Learned:730 am is no time to STILL be decorating a cake. Fondant is sticky, but easy. Flowers are time consuming to make. Frosting must be thick and not runny and melty. Fondant is an easy fix for a lumpy cake. Dry cake+ spritz+steam= moist cake. Everybody loves lemon. Scratch cake isn't the devil. A cake covered in fondant takes smaller pieces per person.

my first every flower!









Everyone loved the cake and I got monies for it! My first monies cake!

Hut Cake

Made this for BF's Sister's Best friend. Beach hut with ocean and big leaf door.

Things I Learned: 3am is no time to be decorating a cake. Pretzel sticks are a life saver. Put on the crumb beach 1st. Premaking leaves = so much easier.







I dont remember getting the plate back :-(, alas.

Flower cake

Birthday cake for roomie of BF's sister. covered in tiny icing lady bugs and each lady bug cake has a different face.
What I Learned: Dont try to take out a cake from the pan too soon. Super soft cake doesn't like to be frosted. If all else fails, Brighten up the colors.











Cake was white lady bugs and flower, and chocolate cake base with chocolate & peanutbutter filling.

Dawn of the Chicken

shh.. the Doctor is asleep in the other room and this is a surprise.

I've been making him breakfast the last week or so..cause food and snogs are the best(only) way to get him up with the least fuss. soem of my ideas have not been so good because, unlike me, unusual textures are a deal breaker. So i thought this morning i could make him honeyed chicken tenders and alfredo rice.

Not Breakfast you say?! Tiddlywinks! If you eat it first its breakfast. If you like it, eat it. dont let anyone tell you when you have to eat eggs and waffles!! I often have eggs Benedict for dinner. that's just a tasty-anytime-meal that is.

but since i dont have honey i have to improvise. Also since fried chicken is sometimes dipped in milk/cream before the breading i think i have the perfect solution. Haagendaas Special Reserve Hawaiian Honey and Cream Icecream! now wait a moment.. lets work this out. honey, yes, cream, yes, ice..can be melted. This also fixes the problem i've seen around of honey burning and not being able to coat the chicken and stay on.

so my ingrediant list goes as follows. :

FOR THE CHICKEN
Software-
1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into finger sized strips
~ enough melted icecream to coat and half cover the chicken

(Breading)
1 cup of flour
1 heavy tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried onion flakes
1 pkt of Ramen chicken seasoning

Hardware
Deep wide frying pan
cooling rack
paper towels
cookie pan
tongs
2 shallow bowls
enough crisco to (melted) coat the bottom of pan by 1/2 inch

FOR THE ALFREDO RICE
Software-
1 cup white rice
2 cups cool water
1 jar of alfredo sauce
1 tsp of parsley flakes
~ Extra Parm Cheese for Garnish

Hardware
Rice cooker
med/Lg mixing bowl
serving spoon

How to Prepare

For the Rice
put water and rice into rice cooker.
cover.
turn on.
walk away.
Wait till finished cooking.
carefully put hot rice into mixing bowl.
stir about to cool.
add alfredo sauce. stir
add parsley. stir
taste. season with salt if too bland.
Plate.
Sprinkle Parm cheese over top
Enjoy.

FOR THE CHICKEN

add the chicken strips to the melted icecream in bowl.
cover
let sit in fridge for 30min to an hour
Mix up breading in other bowl
take chicken from fridge and set next to breadding bowl
with tips of fingers on ONE hand take chicken from bowl and dip both sides into breadding mix.
place on cooling rack.
repeat until all chicken is done
let sit 2 min for the breading to set.
turn pan on med high and add crisco
dip chicken in icecream and again in breading
place in (now heated) pan. should start sizzling.
repeat until pan is full. dont crowd the pan.
cook for 2 1/2 min
flip
cook 2 min
wash off cooking rack while chicken cooks
place a few layers of paper towels on the cookie sheet
place cooling rack upside down on them
as the peices get done move them to the cooling rack
let rest for a couple min after to cool and suck back up juices
Plate with Dipping sauce if wanted.
Enjoy

And now i goto make them!! pictures will be in the next post hopefully later today.

Eat and be Merry!
~Gourmet Girlfriend~

Right Right

So here's what I've been up to since.. then. Set fitness shows to record, stuff like yoga, dance and other random workouts to keep me interested and moving. It gets a bit repetitive when you have to do 50 crunches then 20 leg lifts then 30 crunch/leg lifts. also, I stopped cooking with as much butter. I managed to make eggs without a single bit of butter in them, thanks to teflon and slow cooking.

Painted a bit in pink and black. think it turned out quite nice actually. but The Master keeps trying to get at the two mice i painted.

I've also decided to start singing again and actually keeping the recordings. maybe find a way to lay the sound over puppets or something and make a few videos for the interwebs. ..

..and apparently The Master has decided it is my duty to be her bed right now. gotta love cats. lay on my hands and keyboard then get insulted and kneady when i dont pet her, what a silly girl.

and today i will not goto sleep so early then sleep till The Doctor gets home. that makes nothing productive get done. My achievement today will be to hook up the PS2 and Break out DDR.

thats right, I said DDR!

also..*deep breath*.. do..ALL.. of the...*winces*...dishes.. GAH! I said it and im not editing it out.
I WILL Do all of the dishes and then....*prepares paper bag*... the laundry!!
...*takes a moment to panic about household chores*...

okok.. Ill be fine.. I can do this. Its not like i said ild unpack or anything... cause thats just crazy talk.

everyday i find something new i love about the Doctor. like his knowledge of blondie songs. and his lil dances..love those so much! I'm so glad he's a dork.

well i gotta go **** in *** ***, so i can **** him ** in a ******* ***. :)

Later Days.
G.G.

New Year! Same Old...

First blog of 2009. *ahem*

Portfolio(Top Secret):
Alias: Amanda, Gourmet Girlfriend, Charlie Brown
Current location: United States of America, Montana, Missoula, floor cushions.
Current Recorded Age: 24
Known Associates:
-The Doctor, aka, Boyfriend Priority 1.
-The Master, aka, Sundae, aka, Calico Kitten.
Known Offenses:
-Cooking more food than required.
-Pestering The Doctor about meal selection
-Sneaking food to The Master
-Playing Video Games more than ...anything else really.
-Producing counterfeit monster models and keeping around the house.
-Cooking Like Paula Deen
-Collecting books and not reading them
Current Mission Objectives:
-Turn lumpy exterior into sleek fighting machine
-Learn how to cook Everything
- Speak several languages Fluently
-Write proper English
-Snowboard without embarrassing Herself or The Doctor
-Finish the multiple books that have been started
-Own a slinky dress and wear it well

This is me and those are my plans. I think we'll leave off writing proper English until I've got basic down. I use slang, i do runons, I forget to capitalize, and I don't feel bad about it. Neither should you!

My point for the blog is this; to get into the habit of doing something everyday. to practice writing. Maybe meet interesting people. to post pictures of the food i make and of things i find interesting. also.. to learn how not to always put things into lists.

Step One.

i mean... er..

... Hi! Im a Gamer Chick! and i love to cook. Nearly as much as i love VG(video games silly). Im upbeat unless im not. Im CRANKY when i first wake up. I love the idea of pie and making foods in miniature. My biggest (heroes/people whos work i love) are Michio Kaku, Alton Brown, Paul Gauguin, (.____.), Paula Deen, Eddie Izzard, Monty Python Crew, and all people who just ran out of my head and popped round the corner for a pint. Love old movies, but favorite movie of all time is Monty Python and the Holy Grail! I've been witnessed to quote that movie in my sleep. I like making people feels slightly confused and out of depth. if I've known you 5 seconds ill be willing to bake you something. I recently moved to the hippiest city in Montana, out of the 5 they have. Can you tell im not from here? Not one me'self though.

This year, along with millions more, I've resolved to get into shape. Thing is though, this time last year i was pretty danged close. Navy Recruit, long story short, I'm not anymore.

Here's the gritty, I am just over 5'1'' ..or is it 5''1' .. but i weigh.. *cough160cough*.. yes. So the time is nigh to make sure my conflicting, yet oh so compatible loves of VG and Food dont come bite me in my giant peach.. im talking James' here. Im tiny, i got curves, but down there its like ...well.. lets just say i could drop an apple and it would orbit... but in my case it would more likly be a dumpling.. fried.. with gravy..

Also, my education sort of stopped at HS. Im smart, have varied interests, read alot. but none of this counts diddly to a college entrance exam when you barely graduated. Longer story, shorter answer, Difficult home life. I hope to amend this by learning languages, ala French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese (mandarin), and to pick back up my spanish. Also i would love to relearn the piano. there's a sweet machine at Best Buy for 375 that can just about spin the moon. ill put that on my birthday list. Which is in late Sept. In Case you're thinking of a gift. (p_q) thats the ever popular Dual monocle happy face.

Oh..also.. Tomorrow is my 1yr Dating The Doctor. yay us! we are so goddamned like the same person. Cept hes a tall white MT Bred stud of a man, and ima short tan mixbreed of ItaliaJapenGermaFrenchCanadiaNWesternEuropeEastCoast kinda gal. I date him cause hes purty. ahur! ahur! I did mention i was a dork yes? good. moving on.

If you do anything with your life, make someone elses better.

The steps ive taken towards my goals are such, buy actual veggies(parsley doesnt count anymore) acquire multiple language learning devices, DS game, Rosetta stone/pimsleur, Russian for dummies (actual present from The Doctor, aint he sweet) oh I wubs him. I thought seriously about working out.. and according to a show i watched on the science channel, that is actually more effective that the actual workout!!.... *ahem...cough....(<.<)(>.>)*... So i might be off to a slow start, but i stopped frying things.... earlier today... (>.<).. but i drank a lot of juice! yay Juice! delicious.. fast disappearing Juice. I swear if the faucets ran Juicy Juice Berry from them .. or better that from the cold and a Tangy White Grape from the hot.. mmmmmhmm... both running cold of course.. Showers would be completely useless but completely delicious!!

I think things have been a bit hard to stick to because of a lil thing called MapleStory. Bloody addictive, slightly repetitive, annoying when you cant jump, game. A 2d MMORPG, aka, go online and fight monsters with your friends. Ill come back to that in another post. Look it up, learn it, loves it, addict it. I've taken to creating some of the monsters in clay and acrylic paint. they are loverly. But useless to finding me a job, oh i forgot, unemployed because of recent move and the holidays. so that will be another fun thing. job hunting AFTER the shopping season. All the things im really good/any good at dont really make you money unless you "get discovered" or have a degree in. Ala, Art, food, cuddling, being a confidant, ego cheering, crafts, and collecting research material. I kid you not, my virtual library could restart civilization if anything apocalipticish happened. and you'ld have enough scifi books to ... well.. lets just say ive nearly got them all. (hardly exaggerating either).

QN(quick note) I like my tomato juice/v8 at room temp cause cold it kinda tastes like blood.. not a flavor I wake up in the morning craving... its usually late afternoon BLEGH!! hehe. j/k Vamps are more my sister's thing.

Right right, 4 siblings, two of each, Bro, me, sis, bro, sis. Two teens, and one much younger. She was our 'Surprise'! I wubs dem too! Ill give them code names as blogs get less listy and more story. but my butt hurts, I've no chair, i've pillows. Ima lounger. if i could saw off the bottom part of my bigblu comfy chair and use it i would.. hmm.... (<.<)(>.>)...where did i ... DRAT left my sawzall in my other shorts. *snaps fingers* .. i guess that chair is safe for now... for... now.....

That wasnt a quick note at all!! Oh Blog you've made a liar out of me already! Oh well since my
reputation is ruined i guess ill just goto bed and make the better of it tomorrow. er... later today. Woot! sleep! Doctor snuggles!!! Double Woot! Peace and may your pies be flakey and ala mode.

-Gourmet Girlfriend-