i'm on chictopia only (chictopia.com/queenelizabeth) until further notice...
September 21, 2010
August 4, 2010
this is pretty much how I feel nowadays
(at the 1:50 mark, otherwise this makes no sense)
See you at Thanksgiving break? who knows anymore...
July 9, 2010
smells like team spirit
One of my favorite parts of being on a sports team in high school (you know, besides the obvious things like getting in shape and making friends and winning medals) was team spirit for races. Basically, we dress up according to some goofy theme the day before a race to show our support for the team, etc...and of course, I always went way overboard. If spirit was all black with warpaint, I added a tutu. This next outfit, from earlier this year, was for "all one color" (plus warpaint) - and it's probably my favorite team-spirit outfit, maybe even one of my favorite outfits ever.
Checklist: grey tailcoat, silver skater dress, grey tights, silver oxfords, silver chain headband, silver glitter on eyes and "warpaint" stripes.
And look what else ended up matching my outfit...
Two events, two shiny silver medals. Sure, gold is nice, but silver is nice too. I was happy.
THE END
ps. blogging is DIFFICULT! More 4th of July shenanigans this weekend, maybe? I'll try to squeeze it in between sleeping, making another cake and watching Tyra...
Checklist: grey tailcoat, silver skater dress, grey tights, silver oxfords, silver chain headband, silver glitter on eyes and "warpaint" stripes.
And look what else ended up matching my outfit...
Two events, two shiny silver medals. Sure, gold is nice, but silver is nice too. I was happy.THE END
ps. blogging is DIFFICULT! More 4th of July shenanigans this weekend, maybe? I'll try to squeeze it in between sleeping, making another cake and watching Tyra...
July 7, 2010
it's MAGIC!
Hey, you know what, fashion is boring*. Let's talk about food:
*not really
Hungry yet? Keep reading...this photo is (oh snap...wait for it) JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE.
ZING!
Now that I've got that out of my system, let's get started. (FYI - there's a more straightforward recipe at the bottom. Highly recommended.)
My friends and I had a picnic this Saturday, and since it was 4th of July weekend (an occasion I just made up) I decided to make a flag cake. But not just any flag cake...this had to be an insane, technicolor, fireworks-shooting mother of all flag cakes. I got home late on Friday and started planning and sketching right away, the final goal being a cake that had flags on the INSIDE - in other words, you cut it open and see a flag in the cross-section, on every slice. Confused? Because I just re-wrote that sentence 10 times and it still doesn't sound right...well anyways, here's my master plan.
OK, two plans, technically, the top one (7 layers) being more ambitious and awesome-looking, the bottom one (5 layers) for if I chickened out or worried about the method not working. Guess which one I chose?
(I chose the 7-layer one.)
So basically, it's like rainbow cake, except instead of random swirls of color, we want a specific pattern (the flag), which is made by arranging and piling up layers of red, white and blue batter in the pan - lots of three-dimensional thinking and design going on here. Since I wanted the flag to be "all cake", without frosting in between layers, I used a bundt pan (tube pan? whatever it's called) to make the cake as tall as possible.
Since photos of cake batter being made are pretty boring, let's fast-forward a bit...I divided the batter into thirds (if you look at the paper above, you can see all the math I did to figure that out) and then mixed in the food coloring. I'm pretty sure this stuff is older than me...awesome.
Mmmmm.
Red, white and blue cake batter...I ended up transferring them into Ziploc bags because I didn't feel like getting out the real pastry bags from the pantry. But piping from pastry bags (or Ziplocs, whichever) makes the next steps SO. MUCH. EASIER. Oh and - cut a small hole in the corner of the bag! Cake batter is a lot thinner that frosting and will pour out if the hole is too big - and you need to be really precise when you're putting it in the pan.
I followed the plan I laid out for the 7 layers, and...(this is VERY important) built the whole thing upside down. Because when you use a bundt pan, you flip over the cake when it's finished, and if you did this the right way up, you might get some people upset over upside-down flags.
Layer 1 (before and after adding the white stripes), 2, and 3. I forgot to take a photo of layer 4, but picture layer 2 without the white stripes and that's pretty much what it looks like.
The white stripe should have some height to it...this ends up becoming a "star" (OK, a white dot inside the blue part) when you cut the cake. It goes on top of the blue, not at the same level.
Layers 5, 6 and 7, and into the oven...I completely ran out of batter after 5 layers and made another 1/4 of the original recipe. It sort of slipped my mind that 2 remaining layers out of 7 > 1/4, and I almost ran out at the end. I'd recommend a smaller pan (mine was ~10 inches) or more cake batter.
I took the cake out of the oven, let it cool, took it out of the pan, flipped it over, and...yikes.
Green? Orange? I was worried this was going to look more like a tribute to the Irish flag...not that there's anything wrong with that. But see that little speck of blue where the crusty outside part of the cake came off...that's like a little glimmer of hope. I think the food coloring just does weird things in response to heat, so don't panic if the outside of the cake is butt ugly like this - the inside will still be beautiful.
And now, the best part...the frosting. You can see in the photos that it's slightly melted in some spots, because I didn't let the cake cool completely, and you can also see (below) that it's messy and thick and falling off the sides of the cake. I call this "rustic", and I choose to embrace it. Whether your cake is perfect and neat, or...not so much, is up to you.
So then I took it to the picnic in this adorable little country-girl picnic basket...
and tried to keep it in the shade until it was time to eat...
and THEN...
Except my film camera wanted to focus on the shoulder in the background instead of the awesomeness up close, so here's a better view.
I was actually really happy (in a surprised way) by how it turned out - sort of psychedelic and swirly, rather than straightforward stripes. I think I like it better this way, actually.
Oh, wow...check out that cross-section. Check out those STARS...
Seriously, guys? Every bite was like something out of Dr. Seuss - all swirly and stripey and magical.
And then we left it in the shade for a few hours and wandered around the park and drove home...and this is what it looked like.
Yikes...although I guess that's what you get for trying to serve buttercream in 90º weather. On the plus side, though, the frosting that melted off sort of got infused with blueberry...and I ate it alllll.
And this is what it looks like now:
Yup. Disappearing one piece at a time.
The final verdict? The cake itself was delicious, although a little dry and dense (more science-y reasons why that is, in a minute). The frosting was unbelievably good (as long as you keep it cool) and the berries on top were the perfect addition. I'm definitely making this again, probably in a different pattern (any requests? Other countries' flags?) and with more trial and error. I love cooking experiments.
4TH OF JULY SURPRISE CAKE: THE RECIPE
Makes one 9 or 10-inch (ish) tube pan, plus extra batter, maybe...I dunno
For the cake (adapted from a Joy of Cooking recipe - You can use your own recipe, or *gulp* a MIX if you like, as long as it's a white cake and not yellow. Because the flag does not have yellow stripes.)
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
5 1/4 cups cake flour*
6 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
12 egg whites
Red and blue food coloring
*If you don't have cake flour, you can fake it! Put 2 tbsp of cornstarch in a 1-cup measure, and fill the rest with flour. Now you have a cup of cake flour.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and creamy. (Science fact: the air bubbles in the fat are what make cakes light and airy, so if you don't beat the butter for long enough, the cake will be heavy and dense.) In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter and sugar, alternating with the milk, 1/3 of each at a time (Does that make sense? So you add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, and then 1/3 of the milk, etc...) Beat after each addition, then mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl (and make sure you clean the beaters first!), beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. My mom says adding a teeny bit of salt and/or cream of tartar helps here, so do that if you like. Just a tiny bit, though.
Now gently fold the egg whites into the other bowl, and there you have it...cake batter! You want to try and get through these steps as quickly as possible, because (more science!) once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, the chemical reaction that makes cakes rise in the oven starts happening. The longer you wait before putting the cake in the oven, the less it rises. And trust me, these layers take a loooong time.
The pattern for the cake layers - hopefully it's clear enough!
Divide the batter into 3 bowls and mix the colors into each one, then put each color of batter into a pastry bag or Ziploc with the corner cut off. Start piping the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, according to the pattern above. Each layer should be less that 1/2" thick (if you're doing 7 layers), or a bit more than 1/2" thick if you're doing 5 layers. Or just make your own pattern - get creative! (But make sure each section is thick enough that it doesn't disappear like some of the smaller stripes in my cake.)
Bake at 350º for...um...an hour, I think? Just check every so often to see if it's done, I dunno. When it's done (when a cake tester comes out clean), take it out, let it cool completely, and then put on...
THE FROSTING
(I used this recipe, but I'm re-printing it here)
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup (2 sticks!) butter
1 cup sugar
Whisk the flour and milk together over medium/low heat until very thick, then remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and cool completely. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the cooled milk mixture. Whip until light and fluffy and delicious. Frost the cooled cake (this icing melts really easily!) - you'll probably have some left over, but you know what? You can put it in the fridge and eat it with your fingers later.
Put some berries on top if you like - I think it's cool to have a flag on top of the cake and one on the inside, but that's just me. Do your own thing!
And don't forget...Cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and midnight snack. It's the right thing to do.
*not really
Hungry yet? Keep reading...this photo is (oh snap...wait for it) JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE.ZING!
Now that I've got that out of my system, let's get started. (FYI - there's a more straightforward recipe at the bottom. Highly recommended.)
My friends and I had a picnic this Saturday, and since it was 4th of July weekend (an occasion I just made up) I decided to make a flag cake. But not just any flag cake...this had to be an insane, technicolor, fireworks-shooting mother of all flag cakes. I got home late on Friday and started planning and sketching right away, the final goal being a cake that had flags on the INSIDE - in other words, you cut it open and see a flag in the cross-section, on every slice. Confused? Because I just re-wrote that sentence 10 times and it still doesn't sound right...well anyways, here's my master plan.OK, two plans, technically, the top one (7 layers) being more ambitious and awesome-looking, the bottom one (5 layers) for if I chickened out or worried about the method not working. Guess which one I chose?(I chose the 7-layer one.)
So basically, it's like rainbow cake, except instead of random swirls of color, we want a specific pattern (the flag), which is made by arranging and piling up layers of red, white and blue batter in the pan - lots of three-dimensional thinking and design going on here. Since I wanted the flag to be "all cake", without frosting in between layers, I used a bundt pan (tube pan? whatever it's called) to make the cake as tall as possible.
Since photos of cake batter being made are pretty boring, let's fast-forward a bit...I divided the batter into thirds (if you look at the paper above, you can see all the math I did to figure that out) and then mixed in the food coloring. I'm pretty sure this stuff is older than me...awesome.
Mmmmm.
Red, white and blue cake batter...I ended up transferring them into Ziploc bags because I didn't feel like getting out the real pastry bags from the pantry. But piping from pastry bags (or Ziplocs, whichever) makes the next steps SO. MUCH. EASIER. Oh and - cut a small hole in the corner of the bag! Cake batter is a lot thinner that frosting and will pour out if the hole is too big - and you need to be really precise when you're putting it in the pan.
I followed the plan I laid out for the 7 layers, and...(this is VERY important) built the whole thing upside down. Because when you use a bundt pan, you flip over the cake when it's finished, and if you did this the right way up, you might get some people upset over upside-down flags.
Layer 1 (before and after adding the white stripes), 2, and 3. I forgot to take a photo of layer 4, but picture layer 2 without the white stripes and that's pretty much what it looks like.
The white stripe should have some height to it...this ends up becoming a "star" (OK, a white dot inside the blue part) when you cut the cake. It goes on top of the blue, not at the same level.Layers 5, 6 and 7, and into the oven...I completely ran out of batter after 5 layers and made another 1/4 of the original recipe. It sort of slipped my mind that 2 remaining layers out of 7 > 1/4, and I almost ran out at the end. I'd recommend a smaller pan (mine was ~10 inches) or more cake batter.
I took the cake out of the oven, let it cool, took it out of the pan, flipped it over, and...yikes.
Green? Orange? I was worried this was going to look more like a tribute to the Irish flag...not that there's anything wrong with that. But see that little speck of blue where the crusty outside part of the cake came off...that's like a little glimmer of hope. I think the food coloring just does weird things in response to heat, so don't panic if the outside of the cake is butt ugly like this - the inside will still be beautiful.And now, the best part...the frosting. You can see in the photos that it's slightly melted in some spots, because I didn't let the cake cool completely, and you can also see (below) that it's messy and thick and falling off the sides of the cake. I call this "rustic", and I choose to embrace it. Whether your cake is perfect and neat, or...not so much, is up to you.So then I took it to the picnic in this adorable little country-girl picnic basket...and tried to keep it in the shade until it was time to eat...and THEN...Except my film camera wanted to focus on the shoulder in the background instead of the awesomeness up close, so here's a better view.I was actually really happy (in a surprised way) by how it turned out - sort of psychedelic and swirly, rather than straightforward stripes. I think I like it better this way, actually.Oh, wow...check out that cross-section. Check out those STARS...Seriously, guys? Every bite was like something out of Dr. Seuss - all swirly and stripey and magical.And then we left it in the shade for a few hours and wandered around the park and drove home...and this is what it looked like.
Yikes...although I guess that's what you get for trying to serve buttercream in 90º weather. On the plus side, though, the frosting that melted off sort of got infused with blueberry...and I ate it alllll.
And this is what it looks like now:
Yup. Disappearing one piece at a time.The final verdict? The cake itself was delicious, although a little dry and dense (more science-y reasons why that is, in a minute). The frosting was unbelievably good (as long as you keep it cool) and the berries on top were the perfect addition. I'm definitely making this again, probably in a different pattern (any requests? Other countries' flags?) and with more trial and error. I love cooking experiments.
4TH OF JULY SURPRISE CAKE: THE RECIPE
Makes one 9 or 10-inch (ish) tube pan, plus extra batter, maybe...I dunno
For the cake (adapted from a Joy of Cooking recipe - You can use your own recipe, or *gulp* a MIX if you like, as long as it's a white cake and not yellow. Because the flag does not have yellow stripes.)
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
5 1/4 cups cake flour*
6 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
12 egg whites
Red and blue food coloring
*If you don't have cake flour, you can fake it! Put 2 tbsp of cornstarch in a 1-cup measure, and fill the rest with flour. Now you have a cup of cake flour.
Beat the sugar and butter together until light and creamy. (Science fact: the air bubbles in the fat are what make cakes light and airy, so if you don't beat the butter for long enough, the cake will be heavy and dense.) In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter and sugar, alternating with the milk, 1/3 of each at a time (Does that make sense? So you add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, and then 1/3 of the milk, etc...) Beat after each addition, then mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl (and make sure you clean the beaters first!), beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. My mom says adding a teeny bit of salt and/or cream of tartar helps here, so do that if you like. Just a tiny bit, though.
Now gently fold the egg whites into the other bowl, and there you have it...cake batter! You want to try and get through these steps as quickly as possible, because (more science!) once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, the chemical reaction that makes cakes rise in the oven starts happening. The longer you wait before putting the cake in the oven, the less it rises. And trust me, these layers take a loooong time.
The pattern for the cake layers - hopefully it's clear enough!Divide the batter into 3 bowls and mix the colors into each one, then put each color of batter into a pastry bag or Ziploc with the corner cut off. Start piping the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, according to the pattern above. Each layer should be less that 1/2" thick (if you're doing 7 layers), or a bit more than 1/2" thick if you're doing 5 layers. Or just make your own pattern - get creative! (But make sure each section is thick enough that it doesn't disappear like some of the smaller stripes in my cake.)
Bake at 350º for...um...an hour, I think? Just check every so often to see if it's done, I dunno. When it's done (when a cake tester comes out clean), take it out, let it cool completely, and then put on...
THE FROSTING
(I used this recipe, but I'm re-printing it here)
5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup (2 sticks!) butter
1 cup sugar
Whisk the flour and milk together over medium/low heat until very thick, then remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and cool completely. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the cooled milk mixture. Whip until light and fluffy and delicious. Frost the cooled cake (this icing melts really easily!) - you'll probably have some left over, but you know what? You can put it in the fridge and eat it with your fingers later.
Put some berries on top if you like - I think it's cool to have a flag on top of the cake and one on the inside, but that's just me. Do your own thing!
And don't forget...Cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and midnight snack. It's the right thing to do.
July 5, 2010
i want to go to there
ETA: Sorry guys, I did it again - this monstrosity of a post is wayyy too long to read in one sitting. Whoops. Do yourself a favor, if you're in a hurry or have a short attention span, just scroll through and look at all the pretty pictures. Thanks.
okay, ETA after that - on second thought, I'm splitting this up into a few separate posts, coming up this week. Just trying to spare y'all the mile-long photo marathons.
July 4th is probably my favorite holiday, ever. Think about it: hot summer weather, burgers and hot dogs, you get to wear red, white and blue, FIREWORKS...it's like a perfect storm of awesomeness and summer fun. Plus, it's the one day of the year when I can profess to maybe sort of like this country of ours without being embarassed to say it. (And then I can eat a Rocket Pop afterwards.)
I'm not exactly patriotic, but I do have a soft spot for kitschy Americana and anything that could be called iconic or quintessentially American - bonus points if it involves my favorite color combination, ever. This post has been brewing in my head since February, but since I was too lazy to post it then, I figured now would be the perfect time...right? Anyways, here's what's been piling up in a folder on my desktop called "USA!"
This music video was what made me want to put this post together, way back when. I mean, you could go through this thing with a checklist. Band jackets, glitter, hot dogs, popcorn, pageant queens, cheerleaders, jocks, Marilyn Monroe- and Johnny-Cash-esque extras, a big ol' flag...and the CLOTHING. Gah. I need that sequined jacket in my life, stat.
Speaking of music videos...clearly, taking tons of fuzzy screenshots is becoming a habit of mine. But there's quite a bit of red-white-and-blue in the video for Telephone...
...and of course, a mind-boggling amount of product placement. Ain't that America...
This is where I was last 4th of July - seeing Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst at Battery Park. She came out wrapped in an American flag and it all felt very country-ish and summery and American.
I made this linoleum print earlier this year...try and look at it with 3-D glasses. Trippy.
I think the iconography of the American map is really interesting. Left- wish I could remember where this came from, but it's pretty cool. Right- Drew this up last-minute and sent it in to Quoteskine for a contest...long story.
Cafe Society is a tiny and incredible vintage store that always has the best seasonal displays...I took these while walking by last week.
I love seeing local businesses get into the spirit of holidays - but "heck yeah", Trader Joe's? Really? Let me show you how it's done.
Aaaand I think that's a good place to stop, for now...
TO BE CONTINUED.
okay, ETA after that - on second thought, I'm splitting this up into a few separate posts, coming up this week. Just trying to spare y'all the mile-long photo marathons.
July 4th is probably my favorite holiday, ever. Think about it: hot summer weather, burgers and hot dogs, you get to wear red, white and blue, FIREWORKS...it's like a perfect storm of awesomeness and summer fun. Plus, it's the one day of the year when I can profess to maybe sort of like this country of ours without being embarassed to say it. (And then I can eat a Rocket Pop afterwards.)I'm not exactly patriotic, but I do have a soft spot for kitschy Americana and anything that could be called iconic or quintessentially American - bonus points if it involves my favorite color combination, ever. This post has been brewing in my head since February, but since I was too lazy to post it then, I figured now would be the perfect time...right? Anyways, here's what's been piling up in a folder on my desktop called "USA!"
This music video was what made me want to put this post together, way back when. I mean, you could go through this thing with a checklist. Band jackets, glitter, hot dogs, popcorn, pageant queens, cheerleaders, jocks, Marilyn Monroe- and Johnny-Cash-esque extras, a big ol' flag...and the CLOTHING. Gah. I need that sequined jacket in my life, stat.
Speaking of music videos...clearly, taking tons of fuzzy screenshots is becoming a habit of mine. But there's quite a bit of red-white-and-blue in the video for Telephone...
...and of course, a mind-boggling amount of product placement. Ain't that America...
This is where I was last 4th of July - seeing Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst at Battery Park. She came out wrapped in an American flag and it all felt very country-ish and summery and American.I made this linoleum print earlier this year...try and look at it with 3-D glasses. Trippy.I think the iconography of the American map is really interesting. Left- wish I could remember where this came from, but it's pretty cool. Right- Drew this up last-minute and sent it in to Quoteskine for a contest...long story.
Cafe Society is a tiny and incredible vintage store that always has the best seasonal displays...I took these while walking by last week.
I love seeing local businesses get into the spirit of holidays - but "heck yeah", Trader Joe's? Really? Let me show you how it's done.Aaaand I think that's a good place to stop, for now...
TO BE CONTINUED.
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