Some catching up!

I'm going to quickly put up a few pictures from snow shoeing, but will catch up on some more while we are in Boston, or soon there after.  The picture of the Aspen looks prettier in the size I took it in, but the blogger won't let me upload it, even though the picture of the ski pole is the same size!  It was a beautiful day, it snowed on us, and was probably in the low 30's although warmer and snow melting down in Spearfish.  This was a 4 mile snow shoe trail on Big Hill outside of Spearfish.  I wanted to see how far the pole would go in the ground since we could tell there was a lot of snow, and this is what happened! 

Cake, cake and more cake

These are the four 'practice' wedding cakes I made Chick and Steve.  The very back dark chocolate one, is just that, all chocolate with a chocolate syrup over the cake, and dark chocolate ganach frosting, called 'chocolate passion wedding cake.  This was chosen unanimously for the grooms cake.  The other back cake was a yellow cake with raspberry mousseline buttercream center and vanilla mousseline frosting.  The cake itself had too much syrup (something to keep them moist if not eating them in the next two days, and I made these ahead and froze them).  The front left is a Grand Marnier Cake.  Yellow cake with chocolate chips (Valrhona chocolate 'les perles') and a milk chocolate ganache.  The deccorations are the chocolate 'les perles' and the rose I made from candied orange peel.  The front right is a lemon/almond cake with lemon/white chocolate butter cream frosting, and filling for one layer, I torted the two main layers and put a lemon custard between those half layers. It had a candied lemon peel rose. It was all so good. The decision, at this point, was to make all the cakes with the same recipe as the lemon/almond cake, but only flavor one tier lemon with lemon filling and lemon mousseline buttercream (it has a plain butter cream in this picture, a much heavier frosting), the others will be without flavor (so they will be just yellow cakes) and filled with raspberry mousseline filling, and one tier will have the chocolate les perles (a chocolate chip cake), all with a vanilla mousseline buttercream.  That could change, but I'll practice those for now, unless I hear different from Steve and Chicky.

The funny part was, we barely ate any of the cakes they are so filling, plus we follwed them after a great homemade pizza and salad dinner Chicky made, there was tons of cake left.  Dad and I forgot to take some with us, and got to Montana last night, and had left over frosted weight watchers ice cream, because it was all we had in the house!!

Sign of the times...

The top picture is a church that shares a parking lot with a casino/motel, reminding me of Jimmy Buffett's words: "It's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning."

I began noticing some of the signs we get to pass on our way to Montana City, and found some of them quite intriguing.  First, there are all the 'foreign names', then the ones that make you think, "What the hell were they thinking?"  I didn't get pictures but we saw two signs, one on top of each other: The first was a sign for: "The College of Technology" with an arrow pointing right, and underneath it, also with an arrow pointing right is a sign that says simply, "Zoo".  Another is a huge billboard for an antique store named, "Raging Bull."  There were more, and next time we drive through, I will have my camera ready to get those shots.  All the above pictures were on the Crow (or leaving it), reservation, and the "Crow Country" got me thinking about being around all the 'foreign' places.  Of course the guy walking across the highway is just a sign of something else, but I won't go there.

Enjoy the pictures..

And for this last one: I say don't order the hamburger. - Why would you name a restaurant with the word 'horse' in it??

Yummy, Chorizo Bread!

This is the second time Dad has made this bread, and it is becoming my favorite.  The chorizo comes out so soft and with the home made bread....you should try it! 

My first day back to hiking with the Chix.

We 'hiked' 6 miles today, I say hiked loosely because we did the Mickelson Trail, and that is more like a flat walk as it is a bike path too.  Either way, the weather was beautiful.  A light snow started on us on the way in, and by the time we finished, it was coming down pretty hard. 
Next week I'll have to miss a special hike, as they are hiking on the Needles Hwy since it is closed for cars in the winter.  I am going to get directions and maybe take off with Jake on Monday or Tuesday and check it out myself. 

Bannacks Quilt

I can finally post a picture of Bannacks Quilt: I am sooo sorry it took me so long to get it in the mail. But better late then never.  No excuses, I just slacked.  I didn't get a good picture, but his name "Bannack Casey Taleff" is quilted into the bottom three half circles.

Finally finished my Latte and Licorice Quilt.

What can I say about it, except it is finished!!!  The close ups show some of the quilting I did with my new micro handles.

At this rate we will be very fat by our Cuba trip.

Well, my cakes did not turn out very well, and tasted even worse.  The chocolate looks very good, and hopefull will taste the same.  I'll post that picture when I bring them, all frosted, to Chick and Steves.

This is raisn bread Dad baked this week end. It was sooo yummy.