Deep Sea Diver, 1938

Modern Mechanix Magazine, Dec 1938

"Lead weighted shoes" and a "heavy steel diving helmet." Ahhhhh, those were the days.

All Hail Jewish Cake Lady

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Cake Bible uses a slightly different method to mix cake batter. Instead of the more common 'creaming' method where butter and sugar are creamed together first and then eggs are added, followed by flour and milk, Rose suggests this: combine all the dry ingredients first and to the dry stuff add soft butter along with a little milk. Then add the rest of the milk, vanilla, eggs, and what have you.

Why? AHA HA! (maniacal laughter continues)

Gluten. Gluten, which outside of bread making, is a deplorable word.

Rightly so-- gluten in a cake has a toughening affect. However. If butter coats all of the flour before the milk is added, it protects the flour and everything is mixed faster and blah blah blah--gluten production is diminished. To quote Rose, "the thing about this method is that it makes a cake that literally seems to melt-in-your-mouth and it has a very moist, dense, and velvety texture." Huzzah! Rose continues to say "the only downside to this is that the cake doesn't rise as much as usual." Boo hoo? I mean, come on, which do we prefer? A) Dry cake that's impressively tall, or B) what was that quote--ah yes--"moist, dense, velvety texture." Hmmmm. Tough question.

So now it's up to me to try this new methodology and stop gluten from bullying cake batter.

Buttercream Project #1: "Antoinette"

Usually there's an occasion for baking a cake like this. My purpose was simply to practice decorating, so choosing what words to pipe was somewhat new. What am I supposed to write, anyway? "Happy Un-birthday?" Lame! Laughing at myself I decided upon, "Let Them Eat Cake."

Everything you see here is buttercream frosting. Huzzah! No yucky fondant in my kitchen! This sugary glop was good enough to smack your lips on, and I had ever so much fun playing with it. I could barely contain myself. My roommates were all out, and I made happy use of my solitude listening to Claire de Lune and washing dishes. *sigh* I've spent so much time with friends lately, I'd forgotten how much I require and enjoy time to myself. Especially time alone in my kitchen. Nevermind-- back to the cake.

My "roses" need some extra practice. I made several dozen, going through pastry bag after pastry bag and refilling them over and over, just playing around, you know? Eventually I decided that I'd need to use a different (larger) petal tip to make roses, but that the one I was using (101 tip) was ideal for carnations. Besides, who's ever seen a carnation frosting flower on a cake? I think it's innovative and chic! Not to mention realistic, eh?

You're wondering how the buttercream looks so smooth? I combined the advice of several youtube decorators and SmittenKitchen: a "crumb coat" frosting layer to glue down pesky crumbs, adding a thicker top layer, and then using a flat bladed knife and wax paper to smooth it all down to this-could-be-Kansas-flat.

My other nifty trick was using a 5-point star tip instead of a 12. It makes ruffles instead of a shell; the result was less stuffy, less predictable, and slightly more romantic. Much preferred!

I let the cake sit overnight and brought it over to my sister-in-law's in the morning to make use of her camera. Also, I'm narcissistic and wanted her to gush about my lovely creation. (I can't shut up about how amazed I am that it turned out so well! Proud mother am I.) Anyway. While I was with Heather, playing with my adorable nephew, we decided to slice it open. Check out that edge! WHAHA!

Admit it-- you want to try some, don't you?

Last year "my birthday present to me" was the book SkyHigh; full of complicated recipes guaranteed to widen your eyes and make your mouth water. Things like "Chocolate-Hazelnut Nutcracker Cake," or "Banana Cake with Praline Filling and White Chocolate Ganache." Oy. My head is still reeling from my last attempt (at a Ginger-Lime cake) which was a near disaster.

This time I kept it simple-- I just wanted to practice frosting stuff! So I used a white box cake and added vanilla. A box cake can be delicious IF and ONLY IF you know my mother's nifty little secrets, of which there are many. Tee hee.

I pronounce buttercream project #1 to be a success. "Antoinette" is a light, summery, tasty confection. Come on over if you'd like a slice!

Emotion

"I struggled to find words to name the feelings that flooded through me, but I had no words strong enough to hold them. For a long moment, I drowned in them.

When I surfaced, I was not the same man I had been."

--Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer

Prose Master

"He would make a lovely corpse."

"Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some."

"There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts."

"This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in."

"It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper; so cry away."

"Papa, potatoes, poultry, prunes and prism, are all very good words for the lips."

"There are strings in the human heart that had better not be vibrated."

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast."

"We forge the chains we wear in life."

(and my personal favorite) "To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart."

Charles Dickens

Politically Correct

In 1949 the Crayola factory first produced the "flesh" colored crayon. Civil rights actions led to the company changing the color's name to "peach" in 1962. Isn't that just peachy.


For more history of discontinued crayons, visit the factmonster.

Missed the Tony's? Watch these and you haven't.

I deliver unto you all the goods from the Tony's, and none of the boring crap. Merry Christmas.

A little microphone difficulty is taken in stride...Nicely. (Nicely? *snort*) Guys and Dolls starring Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit and Lauren Graham (from Gilmore Girls) as Adelaide? Fact.

Dig the choreography! Check how many Jerome Robbins bits you can find. Nifty tidbit of information-- every "Shark" in the cast is 100% genuine Puerto Rican.

Hello, lyrics.

The "swan lake" sequence of Billy Elliot where the kid flies on a wire is much prettier, but this number would carry a heavy weight of emotional impact into the audience. I can't believe the Billy's keep up this performance multiple times a day.

For the brief showcase of EVERYTHING at the Tony's, including the fun spats of Hair and 9 to 5, refer to this, the opening number of the program.

HORROR!

I found this in my fridge this morning. MY FRIDGE! Aaaah! 10 wrist slaps to whichever of my roommates is responsible for the presence of this abomination in my abode.
I don't know what to say first; either that "nonfat" and "margarine" seem exclusive to each other, or to laugh at how people could believe SmartSqueeze will aide their quest for health.

Don't you find it peculiar that with all the hype about eating organic veggies, whole-grains, all natural items, things with no preservatives, and otherwise edible foodstuffs humans haven't tampered with that there could exist something as far out there as NONFAT MARGARINE SQUEEZE SPREAD?

This near-liquid substance is not recommended for baking or frying. Why? Because according to user recommendations, it does not melt. Now let me just say this--anything that won't melt in a 500° skillet is not going to break down inside your body. But don't you worry! With its greasy residue, I'm certain SmartSqueeze will leave a tar-like substance behind as it passes: a gift for your colon to forever cherish.

Did I forget to mention? SmartSqueeze is gluten free! Hooray! Wait, what? Oh yeah. So is butter.

Best of the Tony's 2009: NEXT TO NORMAL

The new show on the block this year is Next to Normal, nominee for Best Musical and winner of Best Score, Best Leading Actress, and Set Design for the Tony Awards this year. (Billy Elliot might have won "best" new musical-- but hey, Ragtime and Wicked didn't win the "best" Tony either so we know the prize isn't everything.)

N2N's score is exactly what I like to hear and sing: deeply emotional, crystal clear mix placement, and goosebump raising harmonies. Top songs are "Superboy and the Invisible Girl," "Everything Else," and "You Don't Know/I Am the One."

The plot is blowing my mind: so different, so emotional, so stunning! Diana, the main character, is a mother suffering from bi-polar disorder and believes the illusion that her son is alive-- though he's been deceased years. Diana's son haunts her life and influences both her own daily decisions, and emotionally wounds the rest of the family: Diana's devoted husband and adolescent daughter who vainly tries to gain attention (insert "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" here for graphic irony).

With a script that includes things like "thank you, Doctor; Valium is my favorite color" and "these are a few of my favorite pills," Next to Normal has fully captured my interest.

P.S. You can keep Adam Lambert, Joni. I'd much rather take Aaron Tveit. ;)

Philosopher Emperor

Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, "The Wise"

"Anger cannot be dishonest."

"Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also."

"Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

Dreamy Summer

Made by Frye.

"Lawst Dowg" Ace.

What would you think if you saw this?

This is... TV?

I thought only movies were this good. I can't even breathe! Goosebumps from a pilot tv show? Wha wha wha... where did it come from?

I mean, sure-- Matthew Morrison (broadway star from Light in the Piazza) plays the main character, and the kids can really sing and dance. Sure-- the last five minutes of the show became the #1 selling song on iTunes overnight. Sure, it's bound to bring FOX tv some big fame. But that's too good to be true! No tv is this good.

I have to wait until September for another episode to prove I'm not dreaming, but I do have one thing to say.

High School Musical can drop dead. I pledge allegiance to GLEE.

Don't believe me? Watch the ending scene-- 

Anyone ever hear of this?

THE GREAT SMOG OF 1952 (aka "big smoke" and "killer fog") Early in December of '52 a cold fog settled over London like an icy comforter, blanketing everything. Not usual, right? No big deal-- just add another lump of coal to the fire. Well. The increased pollution was trapped by the fog in what's known as an "inversion," (which all Utahns are intimately familiar with). Inversions are caused when concentrated pollutants become a haze trapped by a dense mass of cold air. Trapped within the sooty brew were particulates and gasses from London's many factories, though the main pollutant was coal smoke. It was as if a black soot bubble had surrounded the city.

Smog was everywhere, even indoors; concerts, plays, and movies were canceled because the audience could not see the stage or screen. Archivists at the British Museum found smog lurking in the book stacks. Maureen Scholes, a nurse at the Royal London Hospital said the smog penetrated through clothes, blackening undergarments. Cattle in the city's Smithfield market were killed and thrown away before they could be slaughtered and sold — their lungs were black.

After two days of the smog, visibility fell to one foot. The sun was entirely unseen. Driving became impossible and abandoned cars littered the streets. Ambulances stopped running, and thousands of gasping residents walked through the smog to the city's hospitals. Children, the elderly, and smokers were affected most (as per usual). Deaths were attributed to hypoxia, pneumonia, and other infection. Doctors noted that a virulent pus filled lungs and airways and was particularly difficult to treat.

The extreme air pollution caused or advanced the death of several thousand Londoners. In the blitz, 30,000 Londoners died. According a recent study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, 12,000 may have been killed by the great smog. The terror of the fog's lethal nature led to parliamentary action. In 1956 the "Clean Air Act" was established, a forefront pollution restriction which led several other countries to take action, hoping to avoid a tragedy of their own.

Radiant, Ravishing, Riveting, R!

R is for Rachel. What a coincidence-- I was born in the Chinese year of the Rabbit. Wish I could hang this on my bedroom wall.

That Shocking Time of Year

I'm back. Despite popular belief that my life expired having fallen from the edge of a cliff and rumors of being otherwise incapable of blogging, I have returned to haunt you once again. Aurelian is back on the market, boys!


Guess who wasn't ready for the picture? If you guessed sullen-face-Cassidy with the bow in her hair, you'd be right.

You seek explanation? Very well. This past month I was away from the internet (zooks! zounds! egads!) and any semblance of normalcy. My life was deliciously turned topsy turvy; I was on tour with a folk dance team from BYU, visiting 58 elementary schools to perform for children. What exactly did we do? We shared worldwide culture with kids by showing them dances from:

South Africa, Russia, Korea, Colombia, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ireland, Mexico, the United States, and we even did a Yiddish dance.

Four weeks hanging around these beautiful people? Cant beat that!

This is the dance from Colombia. I'm the saucy one in the pink skirt.

Half way through our final number in the show (Ukraine), we pose. Everyone thinks the song is over and starts to clap, but no-- we're not done. Then it happens again (cue clapping? not yet) and then the music stops again-- okay NOW we're really finished. Reminds me of an orchestra performance when people start clapping before the third movement has really ended and "...diminuendo sheepishly."

Shown below is our first POSE-BUT-THE-SHOW'S-NOT-OVER-YET moment. My eye scrunching smile is visible front and center (which is slightly to the right from the camera's angle). Heaven and saints be praised, I finally got to wear those red boots! Huzzah!


Proof that I've done Hopak? Check.

P.S. A true story addendum to the top picture.

Friend #1: Bacchus elementary? Wasn't Bacchus the Greek god of... something dirty?
Rachel: Wine and Revelry. And it's Roman, actually-- Bacchus is the Roman form of the Greek's Dionysus.
Friend #2: Geez, do you know everything about that stuff?
Rachel: Not complicated, chief. Cartoon education--Bacchus is in Fantasia.
Friend #1: No way!
Rachel: Dude with the splashing-wine goblet and the nymphs. Yes way.
Friend #2: Hey, you're right-- that guy is in Fantasia.
...
(A moment later)
Principal: Are you with the BYU assembly?
Friend #2: We sure are! *dimpled smile*
Principal: We're so excited to have you all here.
Friend #2: Thanks so much, we're glad to be here too.
Rachel: (rudely interrupts by raising her hand) I have a question.
Principal: Okay.
Rachel: Please tell me you didn't name your elementary school after the ancient god of wine and revelry.
Principal: Our school is named for Thomas W. Bacchus, the distinguished founder of our city.
Rachel: Good! Cause I was gonna say...
Friend #1: You'll have to excuse her. She gets carried away with mythology.
Rachel: (glares playfully at Friend #1) You get no cookies from me. Tee hee.