Spazzmanda

Imagine it surrounded by blue jello and you have the finished project. It is two sheet cakes stacked (then frozen) then carved in the general shape of a naval aircraft carrier. (the most expensive part of this cake were the airplanes- but they were absolutely necessary for the success of the piece and they came with the bonus blue sky backdrop.) The tower is made from two mini-loafs, frozen then cut (a very important step) and then iced with pretzels stuck in for the antennae. All in all, it was a very cool cake to make and pretty tasty (so I’ve heard) so I think it to be a success. I do believe I may have peaked in my short career as a hobbyist/amateur cake chef. I don’t think I can out do this one, so I’m going to retire for a bit- maybe focus on pies. If you want to see REAL culinary talent, please check out my friend Jen at sugarchef.com. (Hi Jen!) She is a south-Floridian now and I haven’t seen her in ages, but she remains a pastry chef and artist that has impeccable taste and talent, and I love her dearly!

Also, I finished my Le Slouch last night (helloooo- free pattern over at Knit and Tonic!) Actually, it started as a Christmas gift, hence the no progress photos so as to not spoil the surprise, but then I remembered how last year, I made all these cute beaded fingerless mitts and never a pair for myself (sniff sniff) so I decided to keep her.

Besides, I had to retool the gauge a tad (I was using a finer yarn than the pattern called for.) And I swatched. Ok, I semi-swatched so it is a hair bigger than it could be, but it is a slouchy beret and I love it. Crap, don’t ask me to recall the yarn. I bought it at Hobby Lobby a month or so ago. I actually think it is actually a baby yarn, but it is cool with this little white and pink wrap around the black, made the seed stitch really ‘pop.’ Yes, probably asscrylic, but it is soft and I don’t care. I do have an affinity for black and pink together, so this was meant to be my hat. (See how I justify being so far behind on the holiday knitting and keeping an FO for myself?) I’m not going to sweat it, really.

Tah!

Last weekend I joined a group of lovely ladies, some old friends and now some new, in an excursion to Decatur to partake in the Chocolate Bar. We first went to Watershed- a spectacular restaurant where I’ve eaten several times – and have NEVER had a bad meal- particularly on fried chicken Tuesdays. I even have the cookbook- Southern Cooking- written by the Executive Chef, Scott Peacock, although I haven’t had the guts to make anything out of it, it makes for very good reading if you are a fan of southern cuisine. I had the salmon croquettes which came with grits, spinach and sliced tomatoes- it was in a word – yummy. But it was a toss-up between that and the basic pimento cheese sammich (which Jenny had.)

This was a Non-Knitting excursion I’ll have you know. It was hard to leave the house without a bag of knitting to take with me, but somehow I managed. We did sneak in a brief peek into Nease’s Needlework- because it was, after all, right THERE! I refrained from buying anything, but mostly because I neglected to use the ladies room before leaving the restaurant and couldn’t “focus” on anything fibery at that particular moment.

Anyhoo, back to the chocolaty goodness. Read the rest of this entry »