A Black and White Cake

A cake for Doreen. Happy Birthday!   This cake is chocolate on the bottom and vanilla on top.  It is filled with a vanilla custard and strawberries.  The frosting is buttercream.  Doreen’s friends asked that her cake be decorated in red, white and blue. 

 I just love baking cakes and decorating them. On a rare occasion, usually when I think the cake is an easy one and the decorations not a challenge, I get a surprise.  This cake had one challenge after another in store for me.    😛

I didn’t take a picture but there was a point when Shane had frosting on his head.  Poor Shane. I had to give him a late night shower on half of his body because, as you probably know, frosting is greasy and it wouldn’t come out of his coat.  He did look funny and SO CUTE! 

As for the cake, you can see most hurdles were overcome and I was REALLY happy to deliver this one!   😳 

When you’re cooking or baking, you need to assess your mood, never rush and NEVER try to make ANYTHING when you’re in a bad frame of mind. It reflects in the outcome of whatever you are cooking/baking.  Make yourself smile, take a deep breath and enjoy the experience.   😆

It was truly an enjoyment delivering this cake.  As I walked into the restaurant and made the delivery, Joanne (Doreen’s friend … and mine since she orders from me 🙂 ) greeted me.  She insisted I meet “the girls”.  Only 3 of the partiers had arrived but what a nice group of ladies.  I handed out Apple Crumbles cards.  When the desire for cakes, cookies, and other treats overcome these ladies again, Apple Crumbles will be on their list.

So Happy Birthday, again, Doreen. I hope you enjoyed your birthday with friends and especially your cake.

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Gabriel’s Trattoria and More Cake

Two more cakes to celebrate THREE more birthdays.  The first cake is complete and is a 6″ round, chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling.  Yellow and pink roses were the decorations of choice.  Happy Birthday, Linda and Cindy!

 

The second cake will be posted later today (hopefully).

 

The Morning Run…

I didn’t know what I felt like this morning when I got up. We ran 4 1/2 yesterday so a shorter run wouldn’t hurt. 

It was 55 degrees. Shane will need water along the way so I grabbed the bottle, the baggy, the belt and clipped it around my waist.  Off we went.  We went over to the college, back to Sherman and up, up, UP the hill. Then I took a new route, straight across Higby, turning left at the end of that road (don’t know the name of it), and at the bottom of the hill, began climbing again up Mohawk St. Mohawk was no way near as steep as Sherman.  We hit Higby again, turned right on Valley View. The steep down hill felt good. The end result was farther than I had planned, 8.4 miles. Poor Shane is down and out at this point. My feet hurt. We’re spent. 

Gabriel’s Trattoria…

Mural In Bar Area of Gabriel's

Last night we went to a little restaurant tucked away behind the ever popular Cavallo’s.  It is called Gabriel’s Trattoria.  The last time we ate at this adorable little eatery, I ordered red snapper and when I put my fork to the fish, it zipped across my plate. It was too firm to cut. It resembled a little baseball on my plate.  The chef was quick to correct the situation saying he got talking and let the fish cook too long.  However…. last night was a very pleasant experience all around.

We found they had expanded to add a little bar area with extra seating.  The decor was nice and quaint. Italiany.

The wine menu offered “Food Affinities” with each selection to help pair wine with your intended food choice.

 

 

“La Playa Sauvignon Blanc” was my wine choice.  It sounded familiar and I thought it may have been that horrible wine I had at Charlotte’s several weeks ago. To my relief, this wine was fruity, refreshing and the way a Sauv. Blanc should be.

The only fish options were shell fish: shrimp dishes, scallops, lobster.  Apparently if Chef does not like the freshness of the fish offered by his supplier that week, he won’t purchase it (good for Chef!).  The shellfish offered were done in pasta or over pasta.  The waiter was kind  to accommodate my request for the “Linguinne” which was a rock lobster tail, shrimp, scallop over yellow squash and zucchini slices (instead of over pasta).  Ted had the same however he opted for the way it was presented in the menu…over linguine. 

The waiter came back to the table and passed a suggestion from the chef…”would you like the dish served in a white wine, lemon, caper sauce instead of the marinara?  Chef believes it will pair better with the vegetable”.  Well, HECK! The chef knows best…”go for it”!

To start… a wonderful Rosemary Foccacia was presented to the table with dipping oil. 

I had the Salad Gabriel which was bib lettuce with walnuts, granny smith apple slices, Gorgonzola with a citrus dressing. Superb!

Now for the Linguinne…

An excellent sauce suggestion by the chef.  It could not have expressed the flavor of the dish any better.  The sauce was fresh with lemon. The capers were large and offered a “zing” that would have been missed without them.  The sauce base was not too oily or over flavored. It was perfect.

As for Ted’s version, (I had a taste of his pasta because he was ohhing and ahhing), it was homemade. You could taste the freshness of the linguine, so light and delicate. 

The end result of our dining experience at Gabriel’s…Wonderful!  Highly recommended if you live in the area.

Foxes…

Ted has been seeing a fox running up the hill in back of our house.  He spied (he thought) a few little ones yesterday.  It is not unlikely since every year I can remember living in this house, there have been fox in the back yard.  We have the perfect place for fox, skunk, deer, and consequently, coyote.  There is brush, there is water, there is leafy plants and berries.  The coyote show up due to the other critters being around.

That’s it for now. I have a cake for Ann to decorate.  The request on that one is red roses.  Have a super Saturday!

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