Bird Art

Birds are kind of funny when it comes to pecking on fruits in the garden.    They just seem to know when they are sweet and ripe -- the ones that I have been waiting for the right time to pick.  They just seem to get to it before I do.

Homemade Italian Margherita Pizza from Nancy Silverton's The Mozza Cookbook

My book order from the Amazon.com have finally arrived.       The first edition of the Nancy Silverton's "The Mozza" cookbook.     It is filled with delicious recipes, and I tried her Pizza dough and my hands in making the pizza dough for the Margherita Pizza.      The dough is delicious, tasty and healthy.     The ingredients include dark rye flour and wheat germs.     The pizza dough turned out bubbly puffy at the edge just like the pizza you order from the local pizzeria.   Before trying to make the Margherita pizza recipe I found in the book, I decided to make my own special pizza with toppings made from my garden vegetables.      The toppings are:  roasted sliced onions, roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted zucchini, and some shredded Parma prosciutto.     Boy! it was delicious.      The onions, rather than sauteed were baked in the oven.  It made the onions toasty and sweet with concentrated flavor.      The recipe for the tomato sauce in the book is easy to follow, and with some modification to incorporate my home garden's fresh tomatoes, the tomato sauce turned out uniquely of my own.    Then, I tried the Margherita Pizza.     I did not know how such a simple Margherita Pizza can be so tasty.     There were four distinct flavors in my pizza singing in my mouth.     None overpowering the others.    First the crispy crust of the pizza (great flavorful crust!), then the fresh tomato sauce flavor - sweet and with full body that is not acidic like some tomato sauce can be; then, the ever so gooey and tasty mozzarella cheese, finally the fresh basil (home grown) greeted all and brought all together - Margherita pizza!      I love it.  

 With a little help from one of the Italian national shopper I met at the Corti Brothers market, I purchased a good prosciutto for my cooking.  Not cheap, but it tastes great.

( Need some more practice with spinning and forming the dough.)

 

Homemade tomato sauce tastes with just the right amount of acidity and sweetness, full tomato flavor (not like the hothouse tomatoes that's. . don't know what it is. .)

 Top it off with my creation.  Brush the edges with olive oil.

 Here it is - my pizza with crispy onions, roasted garlics, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini.

 Bubbly -- well developed and baked dough.

 

Here is the Margherita Pizza!

 

Fondant - Lego Punk Rocker Birthday Cake

My grandson ordered a Lego Punk Rocker Birthday Cake for his birthday.      Last year, I made him Lego Pharaoh.     Then, this year, he wanted the Lego Punk Rocker birthday cake.     I like the challenge.     First I had a difficult time finding a image of the Lego Punk Rocker with full details of its composition.      It took a while searching, but I finally got one.     It became my model.      Luckily I have a silicone Lego cake mold, and I filled it full with Persian Lover's cake batter without cardamom spice or pistachio.      I filled it full to make sure the cake will be fuller to give the 3D effect without me baking the 2nd mold.      For fondant, I softened the Wilton's brand white fondant.     I also purchased some other fondants from the "Michael's".      Unfortunately, after several hours of assembling and shaping the fondants to the cake parts, I did not like the way the new fondant (Ace of Cake, Duff brand) behaved - it is too soft to roll out and difficult to hold the shape of the cake's form and it breaks easily... with no choice, only 3 hours left to sleep before I leave for the birthday trip to south bay, I end up with droopy fondant on the cake - just hoping that they would dry out a bit in a few hours or day??? (it didn't.)      It became more like a decorative piece than for consumption.    (I would not care for my grandson to eat that sweet artificial fondant.  It uses quite a bit of artificial colorings.)     Luckily my design plan of the cake worked out.     With the rectangular shaped cake at the bottom to set up to look like a stage, it was served and everyone was able to enjoy the birthday cake.
Irregardless, my grandson was so happy to see the cake.     And it was my pleasure to see his joyful expression in receiving it.  
Print out pattern I used as a model for the cake:

Forming guitars with chocolate.          Was going to make guitars with fondant, but thought about the weight and chocolate was the better choice.       First draw the guitar pattern on a piece of paper, then, place a parchment paper over it, tape it down.     Then, temper the couverture pistoles and pipe the chocolate to form the guitar shapes.    (Unfortunately, my tempering technique with the microwave suffered....)   but the guitar looks rugged.     I could have covered them up with the paper cut out pattern, but I ran out of time.

Fill the cake mold full, so it will puff up to give that full-body look.

The meringue is tempered with sugar syrup at 240'F.       Love the silky smooth taste of this frosting.     But sadly, it is not meant to be set over night.        The frosting disappeared into the cake by 24th hours.       Of the 1/2" thick frosting, only 1 mm of it were left.  I quickly come up with solution with creme chantilly to cover up the 'stage'.        Or I could have used the mixture of chocolate pudding with whip cream to do the same, but I chose what everyone likes - fresh whip cream.

 

To make this 3D Lego Punk Rocker cake, I sliced the arms off the cake and covered with fondant.      Worked out quite well.

The most challenging part is the punk rocker's Mohawk hair.       My original plan was to make the model hair with parchment paper, then, paint the hot pink chocolate melt over it; let it set.    But, again, short on time.         I decided to use the fondant (it is heavy).      As it is already 2 am in the morning, I did not 'refine' the design to be hollow, which would have worked out better in regards to the extra weight it will put on the overall cake structure.     But I had to what I can with the time I have.

The fondant from the Ace of Cakes - Duff is not my choice of fondant ever, unless they change the formula a bit.     I am not sure if they know, but it sags and would not hold it's shape.     I really wished they did some quality check before selling.      I depended on it.    I could have mixed my own, but I was so pressed with the time.        On the bright side,  the sagging fondant gave the rugged leather look to the clothing design.... (sigh...)

Arms were frosted, then, the lollipop sticks were inserted at the top and midway to support them.    While drying, keep them propped up with aluminum foil supports.    Make the skull and roses design on the shirt with different color fondant.     Attach them to the body with frosting.

Arms were held in place with lollipop sticks.

(Fondant - please dry up a bit)

The guitar is suspended around the body with a ribbon.    

(Sagging fondant - .... hold the pants up, dude! )

Happy Birthday!