Chocolate Cream Pie & Papa

When I was growing up, my Papa had mad skills in the kitchen. He was a cook in WWII. At 6'6.5" tall he joked that he was "too big to put on the front lines". When I went to summer camp, he was the cook. They called him "shorty". All the cabins would compete to see who would win the grand prize...Bana-splitz at the end of the week! The other cabins got lemon meringue (My favorite!) so I always tried hard to lose. Papa was always great at baking pies too! Coconut cream and chocolate cream, lemon meringue...all 4 inches deep with 3 foot golden peaks on top. I wish I would have been smart enough to remember all the amazing things he tried to teach me years ago. Tonight, though, I tried my hand at chocolate cream pie. I found the recipe in an cook book that I open all the time but never use except for 1 recipe. I could never get a recipe from Papa because it was all in his head...he could never cook for 2...he had spent too many years cooking for hundreds! lol He tried to teach me how to make pie crust once but I could never figure it out and I'm pretty sure I still suck at it! I've also always had lousey luck with Meringue and this recipe had both. Crust and Meringue...I wont' comment on the crust part till I try it. I'm also pretty sure I burnt the chocolate, but DH says it's awesome. As for the Meringue...I aced it!! I had fun baking my first pie and I'm pretty sure I could hear Papa in my kitchen - reminding me that my egg whites had to be room temperature and be sure to mix at high speed. That my butter had to be cold...then shaking his head at me when he saw that I used margerine...

Gawd I miss him.

Not meant to have my coffee!

This morning was crazy...DH had an appointment so I had to take the bus to work. I like the bus...nobody calls me Mommy and I can work on my crochet project. The down side, though, is that I don't get to stop at Tim's on my way to work. But - my next best is that I can totally swing by Tim's on my walk to the office from where the bus stops! SCORE! Yeah...not so much! I got there this morning and it was lined up out the door! I waited for about 5 minutes - nothing was moving so I left and walked to work. My office is accross the street, so I can go back around 9am and grab a coffee - right?? WRONG!! I just got back empty handed...the line up was clear out to the stinkin sidewalk! I didn't even bother crossing the street!

Ugh...I reeely need a coffee! :(

Fishy Princess cake & Friend!!!

Here she is!! The first of my 2 cake weekend. She was a ton of fun, and quite different from the Barbie cakes that I normally do. I'm even pleased with her seashell bra! lol Kiddo was quite concerned until the belly was covered! :) She felt that Barbie should have more covering her middle then just seashells on her "boobies"!

So the rest of her went together quite nicely I think. Lots of pink and purple...just like the birthday girl asked! :) I tossed in the blue - just cuz I like the color. I'm embarassed to say, though...the cake was dry! :(

Here she is from the front...

The side...

And the back...but...the next cake!! The next cake is my newest favorite of all time faves!!! It really was a Whale of a cake!!! :) How freakin adorable is he!!! Oh - I should clarify - this is the arial view of his "blow hole" :) he he - can you believe that kiddo at the party actually said "I wanna eat the blow hole!" True story!

If the top view isn't enough to sell you on this little guy - how bout that killer smile?? :) I just love those perley whites!! :) Don't you??

So here he is...in all his glory! One very happy looking purple whale! The only trouble is that now...both my girls want Whale cakes for the rest of their lives!! lol