August Cakes, 2009

Some variations on a theme... Lately I've been fascinated by peeling citrus rinds into fine spirals and using them in different ways to decorate my cakes. Both cakes pictured are chocolate flourless, with some sort of goat cheese frosting, a substitute for the usual cream cheese.

Hannah's Birthday Cake
Flourless Chocolate-Lemon Cake with Monterey Chevre Orange Frosting
Decorated with Wild Flowering Purple Raspberries, Orange & Lime Rinds

Business After Hours Cake
For The Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce BAH Meeting
Hosted by Hammertown
Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake with Ricotta-Goat Cheese Lemon Frosting
Decorated with Orange Rind Roses & Lime Rind Leaves

Some Nature Pictures

Why I love the Berkshires...

Where to Go?

I learned to can cherries this year.

Boston Events

I went to go visit my friend Jessica in Boston this weekend and she made the most lovely rose and yogurt cake. The yogurt she used is homemade and sold at a little Greek market near where she lives.

We went to the Natural History Museum to their exhibit of glass flowers, made between 1886 and 1926 by the naturalists and glass artisans Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. Yes, these flowers are all made entirely of glass!

A few other shots from the museum:

This last shot is not from the museum...

Candied Violets & Pansies

A few days ago I went in search of violets since I knew I had a cake to bake for my friend Elena. One of the first cakes I remember as a child had white frosting and was decorated with candied violets and miniature carved wooden animals going around in a circle like a merry-go-round. When each child's slice was cut, they got a little wooden animal sitting on top! Since violets are in season, I decided I would candy as many as I could for future cakes.

Candied Violet Recipe Variations:

The simplest way to candy violets is to dip them into egg white, and then cover them with sugar. It's easier if you whip the egg whites a little, but then there's more of a clean-up. I just took the whole head of violet, and dunked it into the egg white while holding onto the base of the stem. Swirl the violet around until it's completely covered and swipe it out of the bowl to remove any excess. I used my pinky finger to reopen any petals that may have gotten closed. If you select violets that are in full bloom (as to partially closed), you can develop a technique of swiping so that the violet comes out completely open.

Have a bowl of sugar ready and use a spoon to pour the sugar over the entire violet flower. Snap off the stem and place to dry on a sheet of wax paper. Repeat with however many violets you have the patience for! It takes a good 24+ hours for them to dry before you can store them in an air-tight container in a cool dark place. If the flowers are still wet in a few places on the second day, you can sprinkle on more sugar before allowing them to continue drying. After storing, the colors will fade a little bit, but are nonetheless very pretty!

For Elena's cake I also made some candied pansies. I used paintbrush to paint on the eggwhite, working back to front before sprinkling them with tons of sugar. Medium-sized pansies that were just starting to wilt were the easiest to work with and produced the best results.

Working Hard

I've been busy sewing... Here are some of the dresses I've been making either for myself or for selling on Esty! The one with the mini scissor print is complete.


I also have some old pieces from school that I never wear. I'll probably end up selling this knit halter top that I made about 6 years ago at school.

Esty!

Finally! I now have my website set up on Etsy.com, a place where one can sell hand-made items, vintage pieces, or supplies for making things.

For the moment, I've only posted some hand-dyed bamboo fiber that's been taking up too much of my shelf space, but there are certainly more hand-stitched and home-spun goodies to come:

Please visit:

www.saraparrilli.etsy.com

Cloud Formations

The clouds were very unusual on my Wednesday morning drive to work. I was unable to capture the most intriguing ones hanging over East Mountain as I was looking south from Route 23. When I arrived at work however, I was able to go to the other end of the parking lot to take a few shots and the result is this, four photographs patched together into one:

Click on the image to see it up close...

The photo does not really show how defined these clouds were. I still haven't had the chance to check my weather book to see what kind they might have been. Anyone know? Stratocumulus undulatus?

Chocolate-Orange Cake With Kumquats

For a recent morris dancer birthday I made a very dense chocolate-orange cake, using coconut flour and cocoa powder instead of wheat (therefore making it wheat and gluten-free!), adding both orange juice and zest for extra flavor. The icing is the 7-minute orange icing from the Joy of Cooking, though mine is an older edition from either the 50s or 60s (?). I decorated the cake with kumquats that I had left over from another friend's birthday (see below post) when I made ginger-kumquat agave syrup (see recipe below, I might post the cake eventually too, if I can remember what I did!).

Ginger-Kumquat Agave Syrup (Cake to come!)

Peel a nice a chunk of ginger (my mom says 3 oz., but I don't measure such things) and chop into a few pieces.

Blend in a (high-powered!) blender (such as a Vitamix) with agave syrup (1 cup, or more...) and some halved and pitted kumquats until completely smooth. Don't strain the mixture, or you'll loose a lot of nutrients. Just keep on blending for awhile until it's smooth.

Bring to a low boil on the stove to kill off any microorganisms present.
Cool. Can be stored at room temperature at least without the kumquats, but I've been refrigerating it with.

To mix with seltzer, add 1 tsp+ to taste with a small amount of seltzer. Mix well, and then add more seltzer after mixing for best results.

Oscar the Parrot & Ginger-Kumquat Agave Syrup

Recently my mom came up with a low-glycemic index recipe for ginger syrup using agave as a healthier substitute for sugar. It can be mixed with seltzer, club soda, or any other bubbly substance (as well as gin!) to create a ginger brew or ginger ale alternative. Agave syrup can be purchased in bulk, otherwise it can be more expensive per volume. I made my own version of the syrup as a present for my friend Bharati's birthday using kumquats.
(See recipe below in above blog...)

My mom has an African Gray parrot that was rescued from a tree in a friend's yard. Even though Oscar lives in the same house as both of my parent's, when I say he's "my mom's bird," that is because he views my mom as his mate and my father as a threat. Interestingly enough, he's OK with my brother, and views him more as "cool buddy" and will whistle at him when he comes in the room.

Because of the above listed recipe, my mom has a lot of ginger lying around the house. Oscar loves ginger, and when left alone for barely a minute, he will seek it out and...

...help himself!

He's also very fond of garlic, and will go after an entire head!

Cat food is not his favorite, but he
will have some crunchies once in a while...Stealing some nuts from my mom's display...Busy at working building a "nest."

Flowers By Alicia

My Swiss-Spanish-Australian, multi-lingual, talented friend Alicia (and recently momma of two!) sent me these lovely felted flowers and necklaces from Australia a few months ago after I sent her her wedding dress in the mail. They were the most unexpected early springtime surprise!