The Miniature Way.....June 2010...Issue 6

http://www.cdhm.org/imag/1006/mag-index0610.php

My Youngest's Poison..Strawberry Daiquiri for Kim!

Not that my good old hubby has driven me to drink or anything...........
I would love to be sitting in the luxury of an Abu Dhabi hotel right now drinking a REAL size jug of raspberry mojito or a delicious margarita while watching my youngest, Kim (& probably her sister, Brie), demolishing this & a few more jugs the same.
This is for Kim.......a miniature strawberry daiquiri......I know she'd just want to try & drink it though!

Cupcakes that have kept me relatively sane!

If you are regular follower of my blog & for that, I thank you...although I'm not altogether sure I understand just why you'd want to read my ramblings...but that's a different story :-))....you'll know that my good old hubby ruptured his achilles tendon for the 1st time 11 weeks ago & then, being the "special" person that he is, ruptured it again...in 2 places this time..2 weeks ago & was put back in a full leg cast.... meaning, of course that he is even more useless than normal!! I've just picked him up from the local hospital where he was hoping to be put into a pneumatic shoe & hence no longer needing crutches (or a full time waitress!! :-)) )...guess what...yep, they wouldn't do that, probably too expensive for the NHS despite having paid into it for years & years & years...so he's now in a half cast for another 3 weeks........another 3 weeks of waitressing practice...I'll be able to get a job in my local Pizza Express at this rate LOL.    How I wish he was David Beckham, who ruptured his achilles after my hubby did it, but seems to have received "slightly" better treatment...now I wonder why that might be?????  Oh to be an overpaid footballer or his wife LOL
Anyway to try & keep myself relatively sane, whenever I could, between catering to the cripple's needs & working on the "wedding garden", I put together this little 4 tiered very modern wedding cake made up of  loads of cupcakes & in the colours of the delphinium...one of my favourite flowers!

 Not that I'd fancy this sort of wedding cake...I'm far too much of a traditionalist for this!

Flans & quiches

In between cutting grass, strimming the hayfield that was the hen "pen".......not that the hens are ever in there, they roam all over & often dig out my plants as fast as I plant them.......In fact, if it wasn't for the fabulous eggs, I would say that they are about as helpful as my good old hubby LOL!!..... planting what seem like hundreds of hanging baskets & planters, in the wedding colours of course, Hot Pink...Black (ever tried to find BLACK annual plants...impossible!) & silver...I gave up on that one & hot pink & white are going to have to be OK...I actually managed to do some mini baking! Some creme anglaise & fresh fruit tarts & some tomato quiches actually made it out of my mini oven last night..or was it in the early hours of today.......

Do you ever feel like you "can't see the wood for the trees"?!

OMG.....sometimes I feel as though I am permanently running round in ever decreasing circles & getting absolutely nowhere at all...anybody else have that feeling? :-))
Things have not been helped as my good old hubby has managed to rupture his achilles tendon AGAIN...the 2nd time in 9 weeks....so is back to a full leg cast, as he puts it "from my toes to my nuts!!"..& is even MORE useless than he normally is...if that's at all possible!! LOL.
The weather is better right now, so the veggies need planting in the veg garden, the grass grows too damned quickly & needs cutting twice a week...that alone takes 3 full hours...why do I have SO much grass????..the fox is on the prowl & killing my chickens....the annuals need planting for the August wedding...commissions need to be done...OK..I think I'll just get the 12 bore out & shoot myself now!! LOL
Here is a simple blackberry pie that I managed to "throw" together last week....since then mini making has been at a premium!!
I'm not a pastry lover, so this little pie has as little as possible of the stuff..just a fluted base crammed with juicy blackberries & topped with a pastry blackberry & leaf...I wish someone would make me a "real" one right now.....I don't have the time...BUT I do have the blackberries from last autumn in my freezer..any offers??? LOL!

More Soft Fruits?

Sometimes I think that I'm my very worst enemy! I was adamant that I was NOT going to be making any more of those teeny tiny soft fruits....but....I never like to waste any clay that I've mixed & as I didn't have enough of it to store until next time the urge to drive myself mad came upon me, I spent last night & ALL of today finishing off the clay that I had to hand. The end result was another, although different, basket of those damned things & 2 meringue "crowns"...one oval & one round. Thank goodness the clay is now finished.....& if you see me posting anymore soft fruit displays, you've got my permission to really YELL at me! I might not listen...but feel free to yell anyway! :-))
This little oval crown is going on eBay tonight, after much soul searching....I just can't decide whether or not eBay & their "greed" fees make selling there worthwhile anymore. At least at the moment they are listing items with a start of .99p FREE....the final value fees are still a killer though :-((
Anyway..you don't want to hear my moans ......so here it is...the very LAST...I promise! :-))

I've been baking pies!

I wish I'd been able to make the "real" thing, but the gooseberries are nowhere near ready yet & if the weather stays as cold as it is, I'm not sure I'll be able to pick any of the "real" thing!!
But...my thoughts (despite the weather!) are turning to summer & the very first fruit I get in my garden are the gooseberries...closely followed by red & blackcurrants..I just love anything made out of any of these 3 fruits so in my mini sweatshop, I've been making a gooseberry pie & a prep board to go with it. This pie is not quite the normal pie as I'm not too keen on pastry overkill...so I've named it a "Gooseberry Crown Pie"!  Next one to work on to get my tastebuds anticipating the fruit ripening is a red currant pie, then perhaps a blackcurrant.......

Please send me some warm weather so I can make this for real! :-))

Something savoury...just to make a change!

I really had to have a break from all the endless sweet things...I almost think I'd rather go back to making thousands of tiny fruits than having to make cupcakes & meringues & macarons! Enough is enough! So....I decided to make a little cannelloni set just to keep me sane...Italian food just can't be beaten...I think it was Michel Roux who said a chef could never be called a chef unless he'd been to Italy! If I'm wrong don't shoot me ...please...I really think Italian food, cooked by an Italian, using Italian ingredients is the very best you can get!
Here is my mini version of a creamy, rich cannelloni.......now guess what I'm craving :-))

Minifood blog birthday bash contest!

Sumaiya over on http://www.theminifoodblog.blogspot.com/ is holding a celebratory birthday contest...for those who don't know...Sumaiya does a wonderful job showcasing miniature foods from every level of artist making mini foods! It's a great blog...so show your support & get over there & cast your vote for your favourite. I promise there are some fab creations there!

Chocolate croissants

I'm supposed to be working on a commission for a couple of 3 tiered stands full of the dreaded cupcakes & to be quite honest, it doesn't take too much for me to get sidetracked from the numbingly boring cupcake making! As I had the clay mixed & the pastel colours already on my workbench, I went off on a tangent (nothing new there!!) & decided that I fancied making some chocolate croissants...I think possibly because at that moment I had a craving for a "real" croissant...chocolate or not. Then I had to tempt myself even more by making one of the croissants with melting chocolate oozing out of it...that was IT...to hell with the miniature, inedible versions...guess what I had for a snack! Yes....a delicious buttery croissant, heatted up & spread with yet more butter & then Nutella.....sheer heaven! My excuse is that it has given me the energy to face thousands more of those cupcakes! :-))

The VERY last of the soft Summer fruits!!

Remember I said that I was lying when I said that I was finished with rolling hundreds of tiny Summer fruits! Well, I was lying...but this time, I promise, that is IT...no more..I value my eyesight too much to make anymore ! I just wish it felt more like Summer here, but it doesn't..in fact, it's so cold that I think it might snow :-((.  Typically, for once, I'm praying for it to rain having put weed & feed on my huge expanse of grass...& although it keeps threatening & is damned cold, NO rain...if there's none by tomorrow I'll have to be out there with the sprinkler watering the stuff in & That's a real PIA! Maybe if you all pray for rain over Durham tonight I'll be OK!

Roll on Summer when I can pick the "REAL" thing...if it ever gets warm enough!!