Cake Decorating 101

I say really best. If the image was larger you would see me grimace and momentarily consider starting over before quickly realizing I can't as I only have one cake to decorate. Please forgive me.
You can also see my dog going crazy behind me. He pulled a pair of my underwear out of the laundry basket that is under the table. It was really hard to focus on talking and not to stare in horror at the possible mutilation of my white lacy unmentionables, but I soldiered through. Just for you guys.

Oh, and I should have checked my video settings better. Sorry it's tiny, I'm much better at frosting cakes than I am at using technology. I swear :)

The King

So my husband is an artist. He did the drawing of my that is on the card in my profile picture, and he did this digital painting of me. So I thought I'd just put up a little link to his blog (which I just redesigned for him, it was hard to switch gears and make a masculine template), and a link to his website which is about to be remodeled.
Just because I'm proud of him. :)

Mmmmm pie

I love pie. It's awesome. A friend declared this possibly the best pie they had ever tasted. Need I say more?

Berry Pie
(adapted from Taste of Home)
Fills one deep nine inch pie

1 double pie crust
1/4 c cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 c plums
2 c blackberries
2 c blueberries
2 c raspberries
1 1/2-2 c sugar, depending on how sweet the fruit is

Combine sugar, corn starch, and cinnamon. Add to the fruit with the vanilla. Pour into unbaked pie crust, and cover with second crust. Seal and flute edges, and brush with egg wash. Bake in the center of the oven with a baking sheet below to catch and drips. Bake 400° 50-70 minutes or until nicely browned.


I made the mistake of transporting the pie while it was still warm, so a fair amount of the filling sloshed out of the steam vents, hence the pie looking somewhat skinny in the middle here.

A Year

Well I had wanted to post something fun to commemorate having been blogging for a year, but I've not been in the kitchen much lately. I did film a new video for you all (some easy cake decorating instructions), but I am currently struggling to figure out editing software so that won't be up for a little while yet.
I don't know if it's just the heat, but I've felt pretty uninspired to bake lately. Well... really I've been uninspired to clean the kitchen so that I have space to bake. But it's clean now, and with some luck I may not have to work tomorrow so I can fulfill my fantasy about making red white and blue pinwheel cookies.
For now I will leave you with some red white and blue cheer from last year.