"The average girl would rather have beauty than brains because the average man can see better than he can think. — Anonymous"

The Steamboat Arabia

With a name like Arabia this Missouri River steamboat already had me fascinated.  Why Arabia, when clearly this boat never sailed anywhere near the east?  As quite a large ship, it contained a picturesque glimpse into life in the 1800s.  With a wide array of knick nacks, apparel, tools, food (even glass jars of unopened and still EDIBLE pickles!) and toys, the Arabia was a virtual treasure trove sunk 45 feet below the mud and muck of the Missouri River.  Over time, the course of the river altared and allowed the family access to the steamboat.  After weeks of winter excavation the ship was finally unearthed and artifacts were carefully uncovered from the dirt. 

Once the family realized the quantity of artifacts preserved underneath the rich farmland, they were unable to separate the collection.  It would be the largest collection of 18^th century frontier items ever discovered(preserved in mint condition-most items having never been used).

It is the sheer quantity of items that first dazzles the visitor, but as the tour began, my guide quickly explained that the preservation effort is still underway.  The museum has an active preservation lab on premises and with a staffer on site daily, continues to preserve the past right in front of anyone who cares to watch.  I spoke with Dr. Wright, the Textiles Preservationist at the museum.  She works with the boots, reams of fabric (which are not surprisingly few and far between, as anything plant-protein based was entirely disintegrated)  The biggest hurdle to the preservation effort is just that; all cotton and organic matter has disintegrated over time, leaving boots like old banana peels, ready for a preservationist to spend more than thirty hours lacing together.  To give you an idea of the work these historians have undertaken I'll detail some of the findings.  In the hold of the Arabia, the family found 5,000 boots, even more shoes, thousands of buttons, barrels and barrels screws, and all kinds of equipment meant to furnish life on the frontier. 

Currently, Dr. Wright is working on a particular shirt of unique historical importance.  In the 1800's rival gangs patrolled the borders of the three states (Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska) fighting other gangs and controlling their territory.  The way Dr. Wright explains it, these gangs seem to be a form of entertainment, like sports teams today.  To augment this image, the gangs each had a particular symbol, a heart, a star, or an eagle.  These symbols were proudly displayed on the front of a handmade shirt.  Unlike today, it was extremely uncommon to find manufactured shirts with patterns in the 1800’s.  Dr. Wright is carefully piecing together one of these symbol shirts.  It is unique in that it is a manufactured shirt, it is not handmade.  The stitches are too regular and widely spaced for the maker to be a human.  The shirt was also constructed with as little material waste as possible, following the utilitarian style of the factories. 

This particular revelation, coupled with the knowledge that these shirts were on a steamboat coming from a popular factory town, St. Louis, with an end destination in Omaha, we are to imagine that factories have begun mass producing these 'gang' shirts.  Why would they do this?  What does this mean in terms of the history of these places and the history of these rivalries?  No one knows for sure the answers to these questions, but visit Dr. Wright and she’s sure to give you her theory on the matter. 
If you are in KC, swing down to the river market district for a tour of the museum.  There is sure to be something here for everyone.

If you're not in KC visit the website for a virtual experience: http://www.1856.com/

Also visit Dr. Wright’s textiles blog at:

Best Laid Plans

I don't have time to explain right now the entirety of what happened with this cake.  I'll save that for after I return from work this evening (around 10).  But I will say that I had lofty ambitions for this cake that were only partly fulfilled.  You will see through the photographic journey the flaws and minor setbacks that were my first client's sheet cake order.

 The mishap begins....sugar work is a bit more complicated than it looks...

 All the Ironman heads broke except the one I managed to repair for the b-day boy's cupcake.

Fancy on the Inside

So as you might know, I'm something of an avid baker.  I love trying new recipes and adding ingredients and twists to classic foods.  Specifically when it comes to sweet treats.  Well, as you may also know, I have been going through the Wilton Cake Decorating Basics courses.  I just completed the second course last week, as a matter of fact.  And now, I know various techniques for decorating cakes, as well as baking them.  So I have put my skills to use.  Sunday night I baked (with my mother) two cupcake recipes, a chocolate and vanilla.  We made mini cupcakes for me to decorate and take to work to suprise my boss on her birthday.  She is a classy lady, very white wine and pearls, and so I wanted to make some mini treats to match. 

As I have little time, and believe fully that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will simply end this post with showing the results. 

Until next time, happy baking. 
~Samantha

Chocolate Cherry Bomb Cupcakes

I'm a nanny, in case you didn't know, and today is one of my charges birthday.  David is five years old today, and he asked if we could make cupcakes.  Certainly!  He wanted chocolate, with chocolate icing, and cherry bombs.  So voila, Chocolate Cherry Bomb Cupcakes were born. 

The boys both helped mix the ingredients together.  As someone once said, it is a comfort to know that eggs mixed with flour, oil, chocolate, and all the other ingredients will unquestionably yield 24 dozen cupcakes.  After mixing the ingredients, I poured batter into cupcake tins and let the boys drop maraschino cherries into the batter, knowing also that the cherries were heavy enough to sink to the depths of the cupcakes, transforming regular cupcakes into cherry bombs. 

After 20 minutes in the oven, the cakes emerged, chocolatey and deliscious, from the oven.  We let them cool (impatiently) while playing with fondant, and then glazed them with a thin layer of chocolate icing before applying our fondant creations.  I pulled a suprise from the freezer, turtles I had piped the night before, and we slid those onto our creations.  We added sprinkes for pizzaz, and then the boys returned to playing as I cleaned the mess.

Their creations (and my careful preparation) spoke to me, and sent me reminiscing about the simple times of childhood.  Everything is done for you, when you're younger than 4.  Your meals are prepared and set before you, your hair is combed, your body bathed, at times your clothes put on and shoes tied.  All that is left for children to do is play and learn a little.  They learn social skills, letters, colors, and the reasoning skills to build upon when they start school.  It's incredible that these little people become us.  The thinking, reasoning beings that become brilliant scientists, outstanding athletes, and parents.  It all comes down to the fundamental skills and our funtamental personalities we developed when we were children.  And I get to have some kind of affect upon these two kids.  I feel such a privelage just to be able to spend these hours with them, learning from them as they do from me. 

Ah well, time to change Chris' diaper.

Light and Fluffy

When you think of those words, "light and fluffy" airy cute things come to mind. Like clouds. Sheep. Pillows. Not, of all things, peanut butter.

But that's what this recipe called for. Mom and I decided to make Reese's inspired cupcakes for cake class tonight and she and my sister just left to get supper. So I was left to make the simple filling myself. That sounds easy enough, so I spooned a cup of peanut butter, 3 tbsp unsalted butter, and 2/3 cup powdered sugar into our transport tupperware. The next instructions have caused unforseen frustration and pain. Beat until light and fluffy.

Light and fluffy my butt! How is peanut butter supposed to get light and fluffy? Peanut butter has informed me that it will stay thick and creamy no matter what you do to it! Believe me, I tried. My elbows hurt from the effort! That was a lot of beating going on, and it hasn't changed much in its consistency.

I give up. It can stay thick and creamy and my friends can just deal with having a thick and creamy filling. I mean, they don't know that it should be light and fluffy, right? They should be thankful that I even thought to bring them cupcakes. Sheesh. Light and fluffy.



Stepping back from this rant, I'm wondering how many times I've been told to do something seemingly impossible with the 'ingredients' i have. Like, pull a winning resume out of a pretty average college experience. I did an internship, I took classes, I had a job, I was involved in student government. I studied abroad. Plenty of people have done those same things. ANd plenty more have done bigger and better things. How am I supposed to transform my resume into "light and fluffy" when it is a seemingly impossible task? Or do I just leave it "thick and creamy" and try and sell that.

Here's my current plan: Do a great internship, make all kinds of good connections, and then use those to find a job. That way my "thick and creamy" resume comes with a five star recommendation and I get the job in spite of it all.

Take that light and fluffy.

Royal Icing Roses (and the smaller bouquets of our lives)

Today is Tuesday, which means cake class day for mom and I. This particular Tuesday is the day we will learn drop flowers, star flowers, and leaves. I'm excited, though last night baking the cupcakes I had a chance to practise a bit. Mom and I made amazing chocolate cupcakes from scratch. We plan on filling them (in class) with a peanut butter concoction, making Reeses (r) inspired treats. Then we will decorate with not-so-inspired flowers.

Anyway. After the cupcakes were finished cooling and we were beginning to put them away, I decided to ice the mini cupcakes we had baked with the extra dough. I pulled out the practise page for roses and decided to take a stab at it. Roses were one of my primary motivations for taking the class, after all. They look so elegant and impressive sitting on top of a cake, especially a wedding cake. I wanted my cakes to look professional like that. (By the way, it turns out we won't be learning roses until Classes 2 and 3, so I may as well practise now, right?) To start your rose, you first need tip 6 (I think, I can't remember right now. It is the larger round hole, about 1 1/2 centimeters in diameter) to make a blob in the center of a flower stick. I used my small cupcakes as the flower stem. Then you start at the center of the blob making circles with tip 2D. The rounds turn out to be petals and after several rounds of ribbon-like icing, you start to see the bigger picture. Even with my amateur hand, the roses still looked pretty darn good.

It was after this experience (and after looking through Martha Stewart's cupcake book) that I proposed to Mom a home business idea. Why not try making all different kinds of cupcakes, different flavors, fillings, and icings? Once we have our favorites (and have perfected our technique), we can post pictures and descriptions of the cupcakes up on Ebay and sell our bakery/catering services online for local delivery. That way if it is unsuccessful we haven't invested all that much and we can go on with our lives. But if it is successful, we earn some money, gain experience, and hopefully can open our own little bakery with confidence. We would do artisan breads, muffins, cupcakes, cakes, pastries, and maybe even add a cafe with warm beverages.

Opening a bakery has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time, and now my mom has started getting enthusiastic about it as well. Though, as usual, she's a bit hesitant because her humility has her convinced that she is never going to improve to professional status. I beg to differ.

The life lesson I take from these Royal Icing Roses is this: never let reality douse your creativity. Though I am outwardly confidant and excited about this idea, I have a nagging doubt that any of this will come to fruition. Too much will get in the way, and I might get a job yet. But none of that is going to stop me from learning all these techniques and attempting to achieve professional results in my cakes/cupcakes/desserts with the hope that one day I will be able to own my own bakery.