In the kitchen.

So, yesterday I took a stab at making fondant -- the play dough like frosting for cakes that is super trendy right now (for those of you -- like my husband -- who don't know what it is). I made it with marshmallows, which isn't traditional, but is supposed to taste much better. It is currently sitting in the fridge waiting for a cake to magically appear in my kitchen. It didn't taste too bad, though not the best frosting I've ever had (I do think I'll try adding a flavor when I knead the coloring later). However, it is for aesthetic purposes that I am making it, so as long as it is edible, it is all good with me. I want to do Lucy's cake in fondant, so I have plenty of time to try this over several times.

It was quite the sticky mess. Essentially, you just melt a bunch of marshmallows and then knead in a lot of powdered sugar. My counter (and apron) were a mess. And so was Reid. I kept him busy by letting him lick the bowl from the marshmallows. You know what happens to melted marshmallows after a few moments at room temperature, right? Yep, it gets quite firm. So, it was really an impossible task that I set Reid to. That didn't matter, though, he kept at it for a good 1/2 hour. And that was plenty of time for me to make the fondant and then clean up.

Hopefully I'll get a first stab at putting the stuff on a cake next week.

And for those of you who know me well, then you'll also know I'm a bit like "Tim the toolman", but in the kitchen. You know, that lovable guy from "Tool Time" that had to have more power in everything that he did. Well, that rule applies to my appliances -- more power is always better.

I have a nice KitchenAid mixer that I got for a wedding gift. It is totally adequate for most mixing purposes. I, however, convinced myself several years ago that I needed to upgrade to a bigger model because of my bread making (which, legitimately, was pretty rough on my original mixer). Jeremy has mostly ignored this repeated request. But, he must have gotten tired of listening to me. So, my oh so sweet husband surprised me with a new mixer. When I got home from Ohio a few weeks ago, this was waiting on the front steps for me:

Cool, huh? I more than doubled the power in the motor and did double the bowl capacity. So, I now have 6 quarts of mixing capability. And this thing is so stinking cool!!! I can actually knead a loaf of bread without it walking across the counter.

And I was originally trying to figure out what to do with the old one. But I've decided to keep it. I like my kitchen toys and don't part with them easily. Plus, you just never know when you'll need two at once, right?

P. S. I should mention now that I typed this post while making dinner and feeding Lucy. It works like this: type sentence, feed Lucy a bite or two of banana, throw some cheerios on the tray, type sentence, peek out at boys who are on the screen porch (which would be visible from my sink if I were two inches taller) and yell at them for being ornery to each other, write sentence, stir pasta, repeat. So, yes, this may not be the most well written post ever.