Baked Alaska and Other Adventures

The second week of the school holidays was certainly action packed with visiting family,  a 14th birthday and various outings. She loved the secret project - a camera bag and did not seem to mind that the lid does not fit as flush as I would have liked;) Nell got her braces off after 3 years, dyed her her neon pink and got a helix piercing expertly done by Maree at Rebel Ink in Aberdeen. We visited the Cat Cafe which was not teeming with cats as I expected. One feline did show up at our table but only because it wanted to steal the cream off the top of the milkshakes. 

This year’s birthday cake request was a purple baked Alaska. I watched some Youtube recipes for inspiration but most of them used a blow torch which I don’t have among my many kitchen gadgets. I added parma violet syrup and purple colouring to white ice cream and dolloped meringue on top. It is essential to work at speed so I quickly put the cake back into the freezer so it would be nice and set for a blasting in the oven. I forgot that an oven tray would have been a good plan because my fancy plate exploded with the drastic temperature change so we had a bit of slippage on one side. Sparklers and edible glitter saved the day and I now know how not to oven-bake ice cream.

I had no phone for 2 days while the screen was being repaired but I did not really miss it as we were so busy out and about, although I should have taken more photos with a real camera! Bumble enjoyed her visit to Crathes Castle and kept up with the little-boy cousins on an expedition to Dunnottar, an almost impregnable ruined fortress near Stonehaven. Pumpkins were carved and the sludge collected for a pie but eventually the house emptied and things settled back to normal. 

Over the weekend I managed to cut out and fuse wool felt pieces for a folk-art piece that I will be teaching in Germany. It was inspired by a painted panel in Coburg Castle but I don’t think I possess the geometry skills required to arrange six motifs around a central point, 8 would have been far more sensible. Since it is “folk-art”, I reckon it is fine to arrange by-eye.

I am hoping that the temporary supply-teaching job that I was offered will have been snapped up by someone else because I have so much that I want to create, although I have to be realistic and appreciate that some extra cash would come in handy…