Danny, Seidi, Charlie, Mina: October 2009

Now the food obsession is actually my own trial, not Charlie's.
Although it may appear that Charlie
loves food in this one picture, don't be fooled.
He DOESN'T! Charlie doesn't really have an interest in food yet. Yes, he's
SIX MONTHS
and counting but that doesn't really mean anything to him.
He'd rather drink
milk and just milk.
The following picture is of him eating his
green peas, also the one and only time he actually wanted to eat.
Sadly, the next day he wanted nothing to do with them.
He's pretty cute though, if I do say so myself.

Now for more details on my food obsession.
The other day, Danny and I were just enjoying some of our very few moments together
(3rd year stinks!)
and he asked me what I've been thinking about lately.
I thought for a while and the only thing I could recall thinking
about was food and cooking/baking.
I am obsessed!
I proceeded to tell him that when I have free time,
if I'm not already making something, I'm researching on blogs looking
for the latest and greatest recipes and baking tips.
Thanks to Monica Miles (a pastry chef at the Grand America and my piano student),
I'm learning all the basics.
We do a little swap (piano for baking lessons) and it is the greatest thing ever!!!
Our first lesson she taught me how to make the most
amazing chocolate cake with all the fixings-
ganache, swiss meringue buttercream, and and chocolate filling.
My mouth is already watering.
In addition to the chocolate cake we made angel food cake (from scratch!) and lemon curd.
The next lesson was on custards where we made Creme Caramel/Flan, Creme Brulee, Chocolate Pot de Creme, Coconut Panna Cotta, Creme Anglaise, Eclairs, and Fruit Tarts.
I can't wait for my next lesson!
Long live FOOD!!

The following pictures are some of my creations:

These cookies are definitely not to the level of the desserts that Monica is teaching me to make but they were fun anyway. I made them for my friend Sara Pickett Christenson's baby shower. It was my first attempt with royal icing and "flooding" the cookies. In case you couldn't figure it out, the green ones are umbrella's and the blue ones on the right are clouds.