The bun in my oven

I've missed you. But I have a good reason why this blog has been dormant since December.

A little bun was in my oven and the oven decided to start overheating at 19 weeks, you could say. And so, I was off my feet since January, out of the kitchen entirely to avoid strenuous activity as well as any adverse odours which aggravated my morning (& afternoon & night) sickness. Although frustrating to be on bedrest for so long, it was ultimately worth it to avoid having my little bun be half-baked.

My creative pursuits are temporarily on hiatus as I figure out this new creature in my life and cope with sleep deprivation which accompanies such mysterious beings. Hopefully, in the weeks and months to come, our lives will develop a new normal which includes diapers, playtime, sleeping, and artistic endeavours in my food, photography, and writing.

Framed

During my years in medical school, our Associate Dean for Student Affairs was Dr. Andrew Seal, a general surgeon by trade who is considered by many to be quite a Renaissance man, with diverse interests ranging from the history of medicine to music and to painting. In fact, if you lurk around the ground floor of UBC Hospital, one of his canvases might still be gracing the hallways.

My fondest memories of Dr. Seal involve his role as patron of the arts at UBC Medicine. At a time when I was suppressing my creative tendencies in order to concentrate all my energy on scholarly pursuits, participating in the UBC Medical School Choir, Jazz Band, and Spring Gala concerts was a true highlight of my four years (admittedly, I am just a band geek at heart). Without Dr. Seal's influence, I doubt that the arts would have flourished as they did at UBC Medicine.

And so, to be asked to create Dr. Seal's retirement cake was a huge honour and conceptual challenge. Much time was spent brainstorming how to combine general surgery with painting in cake form without being too literal. The challenge was even greater because it has been over 10 years since I have been in a non-ophthalmic OR using those gigantic needle drivers and 1-0 sutures. Congratulation Dr. Seal on your well-deserved retirement!

Still here

Although it has been eons since my last post, I am still alive but have been greatly distracted by some personal matters during the last few months. My poor little blog has suffered from negligence but alas, an infusion of some creative juice will hopefully rescue it from complete dissolution.

Let me show you a few cakes that I did manage to do during this hiatus. This surfing Hello Kitty cake was from the end of September for a young-at-heart 40 year old. Blue buttercream scares me a little but what else is Hello Kitty going to surf on?

Then, in early November, my niece Caitlin turned six. You may remember her past cake requests involved turtles, rainbows, and planets. This year, she wanted a flower cake. Rather than your typical big fat daisy cake, I remembered seeing Penny Porschen's posy mini-cakes in a book and decided to re-create it in larger form. Two 6 inch round tiers were stacked and then topped with a 6 inch half-dome. At first, I thought that this cake would be quick and easy but it was actually fairly time-consuming to roll out all those thin stems!

Collaboration

Back in July, during pleasant dinner conversation with my friend Chris, the seeds were sown for this special 60th birthday cake for his mum, Margaret. Apparently, Chris has unique gustatory abilities and had been dreaming up cake flavour combinations in his spare time. Pairing vanilla and black currant was his original idea but I felt the need for nuttiness, which would give warmth and texture. We ultimately decided on pistachio as the last component of this elegant flavour trio.

The cake design was less definitive. Margaret loves her Boston Terrier and enjoys the music of Tony Bennett but I could not imagine the likenesses of Mr. Bennett and a dog on the same cake without appearing comical. And so, her favourite song "Fly Me to the Moon" provided the design inspiration for this sophisticated cake, worthy of celebrating six decades of memories.

The Boston Terriers led me to choose a black and white colour scheme for this sleek and modern design, accented by one single pop of colour in the form of a sugar pink peony, Margaret's favourite flower. The subtleness of the white on white lettering, moon and stars allowed the dogs and birthday inscription to stand out.

My favourite elements of this cake are impossible to choose. I love everything on it, from the dogs, to the hand-cut stars, to the gumpaste peony (the first one I've made), and even the lettering which is based on a font called Sparkly! Interestingly, I have now made cakes for three generations of this cake-loving family which is certainly a great privilege and the biggest compliment. Happy Birthday Margaret!

Expectations

When it comes to cake design, there are some situations which give me more stress than others. The perfect cake request for me is from someone who knows me well, gives me specific thematic elements as inspiration, and then trusts me completely in the ultimate creative process. Of course, this does not always happen but when it does, it yields my best work and is the most enjoyable experience, often filled with hours of brainstorming and research prior to cracking an egg or rolling out fondant.

Another similar lower-stress scenario is the opposite situation, when someone asks me to reproduce an existing design. I do not get the same creative satisfaction but there is some degree of challenge in the exact replication of a cake. The obsessive-compulsive part of me even tries to make my version of the cake better, tweaking a little here and there, trying to make it cleaner or more refined.

Such was the case with this baby shower cake, based on this cake by Pink Cake Box. The mom-to-be knew almost exactly what she wanted and besides some minor changes like the addition of ducks and making the pregnant lady Asian, this cake was virtually identical to the original. The pregnant lady was quite challenging to make since I am no dressmaker and rarely make humans. Have you noticed this is the first human I have ever featured on a cake?

When life gives you apricots...

On a recent trip to Kelowna, my main focus was not on wine, but rather on the bountiful fruit which the Okanagan Valley offers. We brought home almost 20 pounds of cherries and more importantly, 10 pounds of apricots. They were the most perfect apricots, found at Gatzke Farm Market in Oyama, on a 34 degree Celsius Sunday afternoon on our way to lunch at Gray Monk Winery.

Unfortunately, I was so dazzled by the beauty of these perfectly ripe apricots that I failed to consider the heat and 36 additional hours which the apricots would be enduring before arriving back home in Vancouver. These blushing orbs of apricot perfection became dented weeping lumps over the next few days, still delicious to eat, dripping down my elbow over the kitchen sink, but too unsightly to photograph for your viewing pleasure.

Not surprisingly, we could not eat them fast enough and so I cooked them down to a puree and made apricot pâte de fruit and apricot ice cream. The pâte de fruit was slightly thinner than I had wanted so I added a second layer of strawberry pâte de fruit. On my first trip to Pierre Hermé, I remember marveling at the bejeweled two-toned pâtes de fruits. In retrospect, adding a second layer and thus flavour is so easy and elementary. In fact, if you have made Rainbow Jell-O before, the concept is identical!

Coiffed

I have only had one haircut in my life when I went home and cried. It was in high school, during my short-hair perming years, when the nape of my neck was shaved into the shape of a V. Being much too edgy for my taste, I immediately got my mom to buzz off the point and make a nice straight line instead. Oh, what I rebel I am.

Aside from growing out my bangs and vowing never to get a perm again at age 20, my hair has simply been varying lengths of the same style. It has been as long as my waist and as short as my chin. I had a version of the Rachel at one point and it took so much work to hot-roller every day but I did it anyways. Wearing a ponytail is always a challenge because it is too thick for the average hair elastic and the weight gives me a headache. These days, the increasing prevalence of white hairs is my biggest concern.

And so, this cake really does speak for itself. Akemi loves pandas, is a hairstylist, and is delighted by the comic nature of screaming monkeys. It took extensive brainstorming to marry these three personal elements into one coherent design, but I think it worked. The hairstylist panda is made from Rice Krispies internally and everything else is fondant with royal icing details. An 8" square chocolate cake with mango mousseline is hiding underneath. You could say it is Act 2 to Akemi's previous cake in 2008!