Let them eat cake

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:00:59 -0700

SNL Chocolate Cake

Amazed and Dazed... and more than a little tired

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:53:48 -0700

Whew, it has been a busy week. I’m working on putting together a silent auction to raise money for our adoption process. And I really didn’t do much on the project until this week. But this week has been a real flurry. The event is Saturday night, 7:00 – 9:00. Hubby was gone all week until early this morning. It’s so good to have him back, now I have some moral support and a pack mule.

I've got scarves, art glass, jewelry, soap, beads, purses, sachets, hand made quilts and maybe some other stuff in this silent auction. All stuff that I have made from my gallery days or since. And that's not counting the edibles.

Monday, Tues and Wed I spent making product and going through my studio pulling out supplies to sell. I did pretty good at organizing things for the most part. The dogs were getting clingy. I would leave at 8:30 in the morning, drop by briefly to grab a hot dog every now and then and then I’d drag in around 10 most evenings and both of them really needed some TLC by that point. They had food and water, they just wanted me. Sweet really. My girls need me.

Vase

We’ve had some big donations of stuff to sell. A bunch of gardening stuff from a closed garden center was interesting. He took us into the old store, showed us around and said “Take everything you can sell.” Then he left and we loaded the Civic. That was good. Quite a few other things and I don’t know what all we’ll get Saturday morning when church people bring out more stuff. Some of my friends from hither and yon have mailed us packages. That kind of thing always amazes me. It’s the sort of thing I’d think of doing but wouldn’t actually get around to doing.

Thursday I started sugar cookies to sell. A friend helped me, I cut them out and she baked them. She did a beautiful job, never touched a timer but they were always perfect. And we had the most interesting conversation. We are both extremely private in person (not so much in writing for me) and we talked about the most interesting things. By Thursday evening the week was starting to catch up with me. I had two helpers for decorating the cookies and they came at around 8:00 pm. It wasn’t long before I pretty much hit the wall and started fading. They weren’t very task oriented helpers but seemed to have fun and I was extremely grateful for their help. The cookies look great. Hubby and I packaged them this evening and I hope they really bring in some funds. We packaged a dozen chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with six colorful decorated sugar cookies on top. All that was on a plate wrapped up carefully. Hubby is really good at making those chocolate chip cookies, and I’m good at making the sugar cookies. So that plate is kind of symbolic of us and our uniqueness and the way we compliment each other.

Quilt 2

Today hubby and I both played pack mule and we hauled boxes and such. Another friend showed up to help unpack and display the stuff. We have a few more things to pick up. Hubby is headed out right now to go pick up a Fender Telecaster electric guitar that a friend donated.

After we’ve had dinner and I’ve had a nice pain killer, we’ll go back in and see if we can make some chocolate. I’m not going to do the twelve kinds that I did for “Art and Chocolate” only about five kinds plus some really easy chocolate and nut combos. I hope that goes rather quickly as the ol bod has really had it. I’m tired and the back has started to feel like a holiday weekend at the bakery.

I know that I don’t look like it right this minute, but I’m glad to do these kinds of events. It’s something I know how to do and I feel as though I’m investing in my children. Clearly I literally invest, because adoption is really expensive. But this is a personal investment as well. That is how I see it. And this way our friends (and people we don’t know because this was fairly broadly advertised) and strangers can enjoy an evening and the blessing can go both ways. They get a fun entertaining event and we get their hard earned money, and then they get a tax deduction. All the way around it works.

Bubble bowl

I need to go make some phone calls and sort out a few more details. Tomorrow two or three friends are coming and we will make silent auction sheets for every item. They are bringing a laptop and a laser printer. I’m bringing paper. I hope that goes rather quickly. And then it will be just the finishing touches and the food and the event will be upon us. I’m really tired at the moment, this was a lot of work. Especially with hubby away. But I know it will be good and I’ll probably cry at the end of the night with the generosity of friends and family. We’re blessed. Completely ostentatiously blessed.

Oh, and I’m going to tag this one thing on the end. Hubby’s grandma decided that she didn’t really need her “economic stimulus check” and thought she’d donate it to our adoption fund. When Hubby’s other grandma found out, she wanted to do the same thing. So these two darling little old ladies who could certainly could have found uses for that money have made their investment in us and our children. I am mostly amazed, completely blessed!

Can’t wait to meet my kiddies. A friend told me she thinks I’m getting three.

PS... all photos are of things I've made that are in this silent auction.

Send to a friend

Chocolate Choo Choo

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:57:42 -0700

Choo Choo Cake

This was an interesting project. A woman brought in her cake pan from Williams and Sonoma. They make beautiful things, but nothing a bakery would ever touch just because of the impractical nature of the equipment. This was a case in point. The client wanted the end product to look like the photo on the cake pan. Well, it was naked cake with a few candies glued to it. Cute, but hardly practical. Let that baby sit out for an hour and it would be hard and stale and nasty to eat. Cute but nasty. Hardly the reputation a bakery really needs. So we finally settled upon the idea of making them from Chocolate cake and putting on a very thin coat of chocolate ganache to coat them so that they would not dry out. Some of the detail from the pan was lost but not too bad. So I went back in with the icing to bring out the details and the client was very happy with how it turned out. And who wouldn’t love a chocolate cake frosted in chocolate ganache? Yummmmm!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Report from Art & Chocolate

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:06:50 -0700

Well, the big fundraiser weekend is over and I’m sitting at my desk feeling rather amazed about the whole thing!

I got off work Friday and went straight over to the church to get started wrapping up details. I decorated sugar cookies and worked on displays in the fellowship hall. There were a number of friends there working on pulling together the donations for a huge yard sale. They worked until late and it was fun to have their company in the fellowship hall as we worked. My in-laws arrived from Indiana and even though they looked quite tired, Hubby’s mom helped set out jewelry boxes and a variety of other things. Hubby and his dad went off to bring us some ice cream and we sat for a while with the marvelous flavors they brought from a new ice cream shop in town. Yummm... I worked for a bit longer and then we sent the in-laws to my parent’s home for the night.

Saturday morning I took my time getting going because I was tired from a long week of preparation. Hubby’s mom arrived and started to help me finish up some chocolate and put together the last of the displays in the fellowship hall. Hubby’s dad and hubby spent most of the day working on a few things around the house, including a new faucet in the bathroom and a new valve on the water heater and the window air conditioner installed. Hubby and father-in-law went for Sub sandwiches for dinner and as we were finishing up my parents arrived with the fruit and vegetables. The Mothers put out the chocolate as I showed them where it went and we put out all the other munchies as well. As we were finishing up the food displays and lighting candles, the first guests started to arrive. And at 7:00 when the fund raiser was officially starting, there were maybe 4 or 5 guests. After a while though, the numbers started to swell and we had a crowd.

A friend of mine is a professional violinist and she brought along a friend who plays harp and they played music for the event and really did a lovely job! What a blessing they are and a beautiful addition to the evening!

At about 8:00 we showed the video that I made a while back giving some of our history in this journey toward parenthood. I watched people watching the video and was blessed by how people allowed themselves to connect emotionally with it. I think it is a lot to swallow in the five minutes of the video since it represents an often painful journey, but at least it is mercifully short. I found myself comforting my friends who were moved by my story. How’s that for a strange twist?!

The Art

I had small tables with a jewelry and artwork of a variety of media. I also had a table where I had old jewelry that was significantly reduced in price. The SALE table. That may well have been the hit of the evening. Most of the time there were ladies huddled around that table trying things on and giving each other feedback. It was fun to interact with the people the same way I did when I had the gallery. I could help them choose things that looked good on them, and make suggestions on things they should try on. It was a very interesting evening and I really enjoyed interacting with “clientele” again. And I saw quite a bit of that jewelry Sunday morning in church – which was a delightful surprise in some cases because I did not take care of the money so I had no idea who had purchased what. I really enjoyed that.

The Chocolate

We had a whole table of just chocolate. I had made twelve kinds of truffles and caramels and my Mom brought another three kinds in addition to the cookies that both of us made. And because there were so many choices, people may have been a little overwhelmed. So I found them gathered around the table making recommendations to each other on which ones “you just have to try!” I heard special compliments on the lemon truffle and the marzipan which was a favorite of quite a few folks. Surprisingly, the dark chocolate truffle with cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper was a favorite for quite a few people. I was very surprised by that but it is a completely unique flavor to an American palette. And of course the South American dulce de leche cashew was widely favored. Yummmmm! My very favorite truffle of them all (a Hazelnut crème) never actually made it to the table though we did use it in the assortments that we made. And a friend of mine later remarked that the chocolate wasn’t like home-made chocolate, it was like a cute boutique chocolate – “you know, the good stuff.” That was a really sweet compliment and it felt really good to hear that.

Before the event we made plates that had one of each kind of chocolate. We carefully wrapped them up and set them aside for people who had ordered via email. I’ll be mailing these out this week to friends, plus we sent some via family members. It will be fun to hear how these go over with those who receive them over the next few days or so.

At the end of “Art & Chocolate” I went to my dad who had been manning the check out station. I asked him about the total and he had me guess. My guess was low. Hubby had a number in his mind that he was hoping for. And when my Dad showed him the figure, it was double what hubby had hoped for! Yeah, talk about dropping my chin to the floor. My response was “holy cow!” but we quickly changed it to “hallelujah!” It had been a small and very casual crowd, they were comfortable and enjoyed each other’s company. And they blessed us WAY beyond our expectations! I have not seen the checks, and I don’t know who gave what. My dad took care of all of that. But it really packs a bunch when you see a big figure and know it translates into being that much closer to bringing our children home. What an amazing thing is unfolding in my life!

The crowd thinned out and I started packing up the artwork and jewelry. And the Mothers worked on the leftover chocolates, putting them out on plates in nice assortments and my Father-in-law carefully wrapped each one in plastic wrap. We had 25 or so of these assortments prepared after the event. So we gained permission and made a quick announcement in church Sunday morning that they would be available in the fellowship hall. Well after the service let out, Hubby’s Mom and I quickly sold those plates to the crowd of people that were sucked in like magnets. As people shoved cash my direction and wrote checks, it was another overwhelming moment for the weekend. Some dear folks were just too late and it was gone. People wrote checks for more than the chocolate, and some wrote checks without even taking any chocolate. A friend looked me in the eye and asked me how I was doing. I told her I was going to go home and bawl because I was overwhelmed. She hugged me tight as I tried to pull myself together.

After church, and after the chocolate blitz we went to my favorite place for lunch. And then home where I folded my tired bod into my bed and vanished from consciousness until someone gently shook me and said it was time. The in-laws, hubby and I drove up to my parents home, planted ourselves around the kitchen table and enjoyed leftovers from the event. Fresh fruit (including kumquats – which I really like) and fresh vegetables. We popped some of the lady finger popcorn that my in-laws buy and yes… we shared a plate of chocolates. Yummm! Still good! We talked and played Rook (an ethnic Mennonite card game) into the night.

I’m humbled and amazed. Really! I’m trying to take lots of photographs and write it all down. I can’t trust my memory to keep it. Our children need to know how much anticipation and generosity went into bringing them home. If they can understand the miracle that brings them to us at some point in their lives... well, that will indeed be a beautiful thing! For now I’m struggling to get my own mind around it. Humbled. And Amazed.

Send to a friend

Chocolate Truffle Heaven

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:50:03 -0700

Chocolate Photo Guide

It looks like most of the chocolate for our Adoption fund raiser Saturday night is finished. My mom has made/is making a few other kinds also so they are not on here. Looks yummy, right? Oh yeah!

Send to a friend

Chocolate Covered Truth

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:06:04 -0700

Well, I love creating big events. I really enjoy the challenge of creating a celebration that people will enjoy. I haven’t done this since the Katrina Benefit concert and I’m feeling all kinds of insecurities with this one. I don’t mind raising money for any good cause – but when the money goes to benefit me, (well, our adoption) suddenly I’m all bashful. I’ve been just thinking of these events as a way to share the joy of this adoption with our friends and family, I just have to stay focused on that.

I’ve really been through the ringer with this event though, so many fears and insecurities have really been playing leap frog through my head. What if the (name of family from church) family shows up with their (I can’t remember how many) unfettered children? They’d make short work of a bunch of dainty chocolate, those kids have skills! And there is that dear sweet man that puts away a whole huge portion of desert in the time it takes him to walk from the buffet back to his table. Then it’s time to go back and fill that empty plate. Suddenly I’m frightened of a grown man and little grabby children!?! THEY should be afraid of ME! LOL!

On the flip side, I’m terrified that my mother may be right. Oh, she says I’ve made waaaay too much. And she doesn’t like the flavors I made and on and on. Hubby thinks people may treat the truffles like M&M’s. I even fear that there is a chance that we went to all this trouble for a very small crowd. But I’ve made flavors that I think are really really good, so if there are lots and lots of leftovers I’ll just pretend I’m a member of the above mentioned family. And then I’ll pack up a bunch up to give away to people I like.

The in-laws are coming, the in-laws are coming. Yeah, the same father-in-law who wants to ask the owner of the gallery why that painting isn’t $8 instead of $4000. He’s an adorable sweet little man, but “Art & Chocolate” isn’t exactly his thing. And Hubby’s Mom will be a big help with food and clean up. And when the event is over, I’ll be vanishing to nap for a nice long while and leaving the in-laws for Hubby to entertain. That will be lovely.

Come to think of it, I have conservative Mennonite family members who may feel a little uncomfortable with this event. I make my living selling things like jewelry – which is something they don’t wear because of their scriptural convictions. And their church doesn’t allow musical instruments and we’ll have a violin and harp duo there. I am free to create my work outside their realm, indeed I feel that I have a scriptural mandate to release the beauty of God in the earth. I happen to do that through jewelry and I have no apologies for anyone on that.

So even with all my insecurities and fears, I am going to make it through this event. It was great to read R.G. Ryan’s post this morning and it really helped me to kick in some perspective. I AM GOING (pant!) to MAKE IT (pant pant!) through (pant, pant!) this event! It’s Art & Chocolate – what’s not to love?! And if it is horrible, I’ll go home and take a pain pill and go to bed. And then it really will be sweet.

With a nod to R.G. Ryan’s “Toxic Thought” post this morning, here is a fresh perspective. You see, the truth of this event is simple. I’m an artistically gifted individual. Don’t worry – that’s not as arrogant as it sounds. Cause I know that this gift did not come from me so I can’t take the credit. We ARE ALL GIFTED in some way or another as God chooses. I happen to be able to create art and people don’t seem to have any problem buying it up. I happen to love sharing really marvelous chocolate, and I know that sometimes people really don’t mind buying that either. (At least I don’t mind shelling out big bucks for the good stuff.) And when it came time to celebrate the fact that it seems that God is FINALLY going to allow us to become a family – well – what better way to celebrate than to share a bit of who we are with our friends and family? So yeah, I’ve had a real time of it with this event. I’ve been very insecure and afraid at times. But that doesn’t change the pure and simple truth of the purpose of the evening. We are going to be who we are and share ourselves with our friends and family as they share in the process of bringing home our children. And I think that’s cool. No matter how freaked out I am about it.

Send to a friend

News from the Center for the Study of Chocolate

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:00:00 -0700

LOL! How do you like that title? Well, there are a lot of things I should be doing with this moment. But I don’t feel like doing any of them except writing. So here I sit. And I shall tell you about my work with chocolate.

We’re having a fund raiser this weekend for our adoption. It’s called “Art & Chocolate” and I’ve been enjoying making lots of delightful flavors and combining them with chocolate. I’m looking forward to seeing how this event goes over. There will be a delightful harp and violet duo playing. Wasn’t it lovely of them to offer? And I’m borrowing silver from Mom so I believe the display will look pretty also.

So here are a few of the flavors I have photos of so far:

Cranberry

This is white chocolate ganache with cranberry puree dipped in milk chocolate. It’s a lovely balance of sweet and tart.

Vanilla Bean

This is a vanilla truffle made by steeping a vanilla bean in warm cream for a while, the straining out the bean and using the cream to make white chocolate ganache. It's a rich flavor molded in dark chocolate.

Red Rose

I’ve gotten into the habit of calling this one “Red Rose” though it actually started out to be “Red Hot.” It’s a dark chocolate truffle with a dark chocolate ganache filling with cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. It is very mild but comes off as dark chocolate with an exotic flare. And those little red roses on top are sooo cute!

Earl Grey

This is “Earl Grey.” I steeped warm cream in Earl Grey tea until the flavors were infused. I then used the cream to make white chocolate ganache. This is molded in milk chocolate and it pretty much just melts in your mouth. I wrapped these in silver foil and they look pretty in an assortment.

Dulce De Leche Pecan

I found South American dulce de leche (caramel) and paired it with toasted pecans and milk chocolate for an extra yummy version of the turtle.

Dulce de Leche Cashew

More caramel but this time paired up with Cashews and dark chocolate. Oh yummmmmm!

Creme de Mint

This is dark chocolate and when you open it up it is fresh white chocolate crème de mint inside. Mercy, I love these flavors. I'm garnishing some of the chocolates in the colors of the Colombian flag so that the display of the mixed pieces looks really beautiful. So that meant that this mint (usually green) got dressed up in blue (with a tiny white snowflake) for the event. My mother disapproves, but my mouth can't tell the difference.

Blueberry

This is a blueberry truffle. Now I’m not crazy about the combination of blueberries and chocolate – it just doesn’t work in my opinion. So I did this completely in white chocolate. And let me tell ya, which chocolate ganache with blueberry puree, dipped in white chocolate – well I may be biased… but I think it’s really wonderful. Blueberry is a fairly delicate flavor and this one won’t bash you in the mouth. It’s more of a ballad than an anthem. *rolls eyes!*

Your monitor is scratch-n-sniff, right? Sorry, don’t mean to torture you. There are other flavors coming. I’ll be mailing out a box to the Shush and Butt Rock Ken family. (Send me a mailing address you two!) Anyone else want to place an order? I’ll be photographing the other kinds and putting them up here when I get a chance. Anyone brave enough to try ordering chocolate when it could sit in the Mail Person’s 140 degree mail truck for a day? I'm pretty sure I'll have extra from the event.

Send to a friend

Artyz Carmen's Potpourri

nobody@vox.com(Artzy Carmen) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:26:43 -0700

Last week sure had some ups and downs. I had one really difficult day with my Mom and I was pretty furious this morning, but in spite of all that it was really a lovely week.

I spent the day with my Mom on Thursday which was a really mixed bag. We got a lot of chocolate made for the fund raiser but it wasn’t much fun as she nailed me at every turn with the different things she did not approve of. So most of the flavors I’ll be serving have not passed the Mother Darling taste test. Oh well. Guess my guests will have to find a way to muddle through in spite of the chocolate horrors I’ll be serving. I’ll spare you the run down of the “bland” and “yuck” and “you’ve got to be kidding me” flavors. She did like the marzipan (the one formula I did not make.) I’ll post photos of the finished kinds when I get a moment. I already had a back ache and spending the day with her just made the pain radiate a little lower than usual. Poor hubby got to hear all about it when I got home.

I got a bit of a shocker this morning when I realized that another event had been scheduled in the fellowship hall for the night of our fund raiser this Saturday. The church secretary made a mistake and both of us planned to use the kitchen and fellowship hall area. The church secretary never said she was sorry, only that she hated that it happened. I have struggled at other times to know how to deal with her so this didn’t really help. Well, I didn’t get much out of the sermon as I tried to think through our options. After the service the lady from the other event and I got together and walked around the building considering our options. We had finally come to the conclusion that they’d just have their event in a private home until her husband showed up and said no way, they were having it at church. Oh well. So on the day that we’re throwing this huge party, the kitchen is going to be in use from about 3:00 – 6:30 and then their mess will get cleaned up somewhere around 8:00. And we are supposed to work around that for our 7:00 – 9:00 event. I was furious when I found out because I had this carefully planned out and had reserved the kitchen and fellowship hall both Friday and Saturday all day long. We had both done exactly what we were supposed to do in reserving the date with the secretary. Only this time it just didn’t take. I was not mean or rude to anyone, but neither was I fake-nice about how I felt about the situation.

Hubby and I had a delightful dinner at one of my favorite local places Friday night. We ended up having one of the most interesting conversations ever and it was a lovely “date.” I’m happy to be married to a guy who is so good at talking with me about important things. I am crazy about him.

Saturday I finished up a wedding cake and BL and I delivered it to a picturesque barn on a lake. It was one of those hip trendy not-really-a-barn-at-all kind of barns. Everything was wrapped in tulle and Christmas lights with a pristine hardwood floor. LOL! The cake turned out beautifully and I’ll post photos when I get the time.

In other news. I’m in the process of handing my Cake Decorating job over to a teen who will graduate from High School this Summer. Yeah, I’m almost 40 and pretty darn good at the whole cake decorating gig. And I’m passing the – uh – decorating bag – to a teen! Does that seem strange to anyone besides me? She’s a beautiful girl with a delightful disposition and I think it will be good for everyone. She can’t do what I can but she’s a teen and everyone has to start somewhere. We’ve been working on a strangled shoe string with BL refusing to order the needed supplies so I’ve really nailed her hide a few times this week when I didn’t have the stuff I needed to do the work. I’m hoping to be able to leave the new girl with the equipment to do the job. On the other hand. It is just not my problem.

Saturday evening we spent with some friends and had a very nice time. I had no idea that one couple has one adopted child. They had worked at an adoption from Bolivia and something happened and it didn’t work out. So they put their name on a domestic list while they were considering their options and *poof!* they got a domestic assignment. So instead of a little brown boy, he’s pastel. Then they had a pregnancy that actually went to full term and the little boy acquired a matching sister. Lovely family. I knew they were older than most parents but had no idea what their story was.

After lunch this afternoon with friends, we sat around and talked at length about things like pacifism, politics and a variety of other faith and praxis issues. Very interesting and engaging conversation though I fear that we may have freaked out the turkey farmer who was listening. He’s such a darling creature and I adore him, but I can only imagine what he thought of the conversation.

Looking forward to this week will involve finishing up lots and lots of details for the big “Art & Chocolate” event Saturday. I’ll be wrapping up the work on the art I’ll have for sale. And of course there is the chocolate to finish up. There are tons of details and things to iron out so it’s going to be a very busy week. Hubby’s parents will show up late Friday to help out, so that adds a certain amount of additional work to get the house ready for guests in addition to everything else. I hope I can get all the needed details rounded up. I wish I knew how many people to plan for. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

And finally (insert trumpet blast here) I’m going to start a new business. I’ve got an appointment to take work to a gallery in H’burg that has been a very profitable venue for me in the past. That will be good. I decided to pass on the local farmer’s market since they’d only allow the soap that I make and not the jewelry. And there is a marvelous little boutique in H’burg that I’ll try out as well. I think my more expensive work will be a lovely fit there. So I’m going to start getting my work out there and see how people respond and take it as it comes. There are lots of local and regional venues to choose from, it’s only a matter of time. I’m pretty excited about that though. And I’m blessed to have a hubby who is willing to see me give this a shot again. It really is time.

Send to a friend