Cakes!

[KingOfPain]

A rube, not at all. I don't keep anything secret. I usually do up garnishes in between whatever that needs taken care of, and in plain sight where ever I can find a space to leave things sitting out. Many cooks have asked about and tried their hands on garnishes, but I guess it is not as easy as I think. That can be a problem when I need to teach it so I can free myself to do something else. I think it will be a good thing when I start to compile a book on garnishes and actually sit down and layout easy to follow instructions. Sadly, from what I have seen, knifemanship seems not to be an important part in a cook training curriculum.

I could probably do the 30 second crab in less than 20 seconds in a hurry. The carrot flowers takes around 2-3 seconds each - I need that kind of speed because I usually do up a bucket full and use them to fill the whole salad bar. It forms the background for everything else.

There is no coloring on the fish. Any "unnatural" green tint (especially in the shadow area) is from not having proper lighting, reflection from the zucchini skin, and because the zuch flesh is a tad green to begin with. I usually do the fish with cucumbers because they are more flexible and their flesh don't bulge (curve, making it harder to cut if you want a straight even cut) after cutting. The fish eye I don't usually decorate but in this case, it's a piece of red pepper like those on the lemon curls.

Thanks

KoP

[ShadowHM]

That was amazing !

The sons agree too. They say they might even eat zuchini if I served it like that. I cook like Sirian claims he does. I make sure the nutrition is there (taking into consideration a number of finicky eaters) and worry not at all about presentation. I am not very good with a knife either - more likely to cut myself and stain the presentation a rusty red than create such beautiful works of art.

Shadow, who values creativity in others but has none of her own.

[dathon]

I'm not sure you realize the magnitude of the talent you seem to have. If you can create beautiful works like this in the little chunks of time between other duties, think of what you might come up with if you sat down and gave it your full concentration for several minutes I'm sure you could go beyond garnishes to creating visually spectacular vegetable side, or even main, dishes. Follow your talent!

[Griselda]

Beautiful! We got a calendar of "food art" from the in-laws this year, but that fish is much nicer than anything that's in there. Thanks for taking the time to cut and post them!

[Griselda]

I'd like to see a photo of it if you get a chance, Shadow. There used to be a stained glass shop on my way to work, and it was always a landmark to look forward to as I was trying to move completely into the waking world. When we were far enough into the year for the sun to be up when I was going to work, it was a real treat. Sadly, the store closed last year. All that remains is some of the work that they did on the door and windows of the shop that couldn't be removed. It's definitely a landmark that I will miss.

I've only seen the Northern Lights once, and, since I was in upstate New York when I saw them, they were only white and not particularly bright. Someday, I'd love to see the real thing. I imagine that no representation can quite do them justice.

[Griselda]

Blood sugar concerns or no blood sugar concerns, you wouldn't be worried about the flour if you saw the amount of butter and eggs that went into that thing. It was terrifying. Both the cake batter and the buttercream overfilled my mixer and had to be mixed at least partially by hand in my largest bowl. I had really hoped to make a smaller cake, but I couldn't figure out how to do it and get a similar shape with the cake pans that I owned. I also need to get better at slicing cakes into layers, so that I don't have to bake them in separate pans to get multiple layers. I hate to waste cakes practicing cake-layer cutting, you know?

So, anyway, nobody came close to finishing that cake, although I tried to force it on just about everybody who came near the house while it was fresh. It was pretty, but really way too much to eat. I think I had two pieces in two days, and really didn't want any more after that.

Meanwhile, my plain little apple cider cake that I made was devoured in its entirety, with almost no help from me. Just think of what would have happened if I could have made a KoP-style apple garnish instead of the gummy apples that I had to resort to!

Sirian, as far as presentations go, you're right (at least as far as this family is concerned). Mr. Gris wouldn't even have made the cake; he'd have bought one. Of course, little Gris protests every year that she's not "allowed" to get one of those grocery store cakes with the dolls inside! I'm such a mean parent that I won't even let her buy a cake from the store.

[KingOfPain]

Actually, thank you for starting the thread and started me on this again. Boy, am I rusty. The melon didn't turn out too bad, but you can clearly see some mis-cuts and mis-calculations if you look carefully.





This one took about 2 hours and tasted delicious. It was a good practice. One of the reason I like doing garnishes (especially ones that takes time is that it relaxes me and gets me thinking. I think I have come up with another original (or two), at least an idea I have never seen done before - Doing the whole melon with inlays, much like the fish eye. The other idea is similar but a mix with melon cut and insets of various garnishes. Will be quite a while before I get these ideas worked out tho.

KoP

[Kylearan]

Hi,

that's just...amazing!



Outstanding work, like the other three! I think I'll try to copy your zucchini work if you don't mind...

-Kylearan

[KingOfPain]

Try it with Field cucumber first. Field cucumber is more flexible when there are folds involved, and the skin curls better in cold water. On the other hand, zucchini or Long English cukes are easier to cut whithout thick skin.

Good luck

You might want to check this out - Cheap TOOLS
That is all one need for most stuff one wants to do, don't waste money on fancy useless expensive knives. I have seen sets like these in Home Hardware, and many dollar stores.

Anyone remember the good o 5 and dime store before they changed to dollar store, then tooney store, and now 5$ and under? That's progress, eh?

KoP

[ShadowHM]

[QUOTE=Griselda]I'd like to see a photo of it if you get a chance, Shadow. QUOTE]

I am a very poor photographer.





This was taken from the inside of the cottage, and the flash from the camera destroyed the 'real' colours that you should see. On the other hand, it does show the solder lines and cuts that were involved in making the piece.

As I said above, hubby was inspired by the particular piece of glass to design this to show it off. Pine trees on Georgian Bay do grow on rock islands, and we do get fairly regular displays of Northern Lights.

I am surprised that you do not see Northern Lights in Oregon. Your latitude is about the same as mine at the cottage, or perhaps even higher? (The cottage is just below the 45th parallel). And, since the Lights are related to the North Magnetic Pole, which currently closer to due north from you than than me, I would have thought that you would see them more often/easily than me.

They usually are white moving streaks across the sky, but occasionally will show as green or pink, and (very rarely) as red or blue. They are most often only in the northern quarter of the sky, but can, on very rare occasions, cover the entire sky.

I do have one tip for you on knowing when to look for them. The conditions that make for the highest likelihood of Northern Lights are the same conditions that make for really poor HAM radio operations, hence the HAM operators are the first to know and they often post to local websites. You may be able to tap into that information source to get a chance to see them.