silicone valley

truth be told, i don't know what the actual silicone valley is or was, or where said valley is located...or why it was called that...nor do i care. i do know it makes for an [somewhat] apropos title for this next blog post. why you ask? well, because we made silicone molds!

this is one of those skills that i've never actual sat down to teach myself, or learn. i've watched youtube videos, read articles, even talked to people in the field...but i've never actually made one. i've bought them. but MAN they can be expensive, and sometimes sort of ugly or old-looking...nothing contemporary that say, a mandy, would use.

well we delved deep into the valley with Chef Ron as our spirited, knowledgeable guide. on the agenda? gems! think facets, think shiny, think luxurious, think unique...

we were given a handful of glass and plastic jewels and a piece of plexi-glass. we first had to attached them to the board and then built clay walls around them. all in preparation for the silicone.

now, i'm nothing if not fastidious when it comes to working with messy materials. there is a time and place for meticulousness, and i do believe that working with silicone is one of those times.

you must be methodical, you must be prepared, you must have a vision from beginning to end (since you only have a limited timeframe with which to work before your silicone begins to set) and you must, must, must remember to follow the techniques and rules in order to eliminate unnecessary flaws, air bubbles and blemishes on your finished product - or alas, all of your hard work, time [and product] will end up a waste.

making molds is one of those things that should be done with attention to detail. and of course, it would make sense to make a bunch of molds in one day, given the amount of time they take. you could spend an entire day making a bunch of molds. but boy would they be worth it!

you can make a mold of almost ANYTHING! and that excites me. [here, i'm already eyeing my collection of antique buttons my grandmother, and great-grandmother gave to me when i was little]. oh the fun i'm going to have!!

what i love about Chef Ron is that he is a pioneer of all that is cutting edge in this field that i love so very much. i like his clever nature, his creative mind and the fact he CREATES. it's something i SO enjoy seeing in someone else! no, i'm not even trying to compare us, because he wins. BUT, i respect the notion that...hey, there is no mold of this exact shape, article, thing?? well, i'm making one then! that just makes me swoon! and continues to inspire me along my path!! it's all very "if there's a mountain, move it."

so i will admit, originally, i struggled with [don't laugh] making the clay walls. *rolls eyes* i over thought it, made them ridiculously tall and TOO thick... Chef Ron basically came over and said, "that makes no sense. fix it." and so i did. thank goodness he's so straight-forward. i LOVE straight-forward! if there's one thing that bothers me when learning something, is if someone is too sweet and too careful with their feedback. granted, no one wants to hear that they do something imperfect, BUT if you're like me, you're just grateful to have someone like that say "you want to be better? then do it better!" god, i'm so sad RBI classes are over already! [i will never forgive the LIRR by the way.]

anyway, i took some photos of the process from start to finish.

from preparing the jewels on the plexi-glass...

to coating the jewels to prevent air bubbles...

to pouring to break those small, blemish-causing bubbles that could ruin your mold...

to a particularly cool photo of all the molds poured and ready to set...

to the finished product two days later (word of caution, let your molds air-dry after you wash them, so as to eliminate debris in your molds!)

and of course, i took a few shots of the molds at work ... after Chef Ron spoke to us about the various ways that we could use our new molds! from sugar to sugar paste to chocolate to candy... it's just really exciting!

sugar paste goes in, sugar paste jewels come out.

just imagine this painted with a disco dust or shimmery gold. talk about adding some edible luxury to your cake! [lub dub]

well, there are about 1,000,000 more things i have yet to post, BUT alas, i've got a train to catch! i'm planning on talking about flowers, pastillage, and SO MUCH MORE!

as always...

more to come!

xo

m

what does spring look like when it's made of sugar?

i'm finally playing catch-up with my blog. it's been a hectic week, filled with lots of late nights and lots of work and now i'm working again, BUT have carved out some time to pay some much needed attention to my blog.

first up on the menu, i want to share some photos of my sugar flowers. with all that happened, some of my flowers aren't fully detailed yet, but the beauty of that is you don't HAVE to dust and detail your flowers immediately, when you don't need them immediately. so when i have need for an orchid or some lilies or roses, i can dust away! ;o)

anyway, coming in the next [lengthy] post, i will be discussing silicone molds, pastillage and sugar (pulled and blown) and a mixed bag of my thoughts leading up to now. i can't believe that we only have 20 classes left?!!??! and to think, the next time i see RBI, we'll be graduating! *sniff* but on the plus side, i'm applying to internships (for cake and for food writing)!! so that's cool! fall is gonna be EXCITING!!

more to come!

xo

m

grow, sugar garden grow

first...this was a shot of the incoming storm that caused monday's debacle! (had i known how long i was going to be on the train...i would have taken more!)

...

there's some sort of saying, isn't there? about without rain, there can be no sunshine? or rain makes the garden grow? well, whatever it is, i've been growing some sugar flowers!

...

so, my husband's birthday is this weekend. we've got family coming in from all over the planet, i've got literally seven MILLION things to accomplish before class tonight and no, i'm not prepared. and yes, i'll be up all night tonight!!

HOWEVER, i simply cannot WAIT to post some pictures of some of the things i've been working on! Chef Ron is a PHENOMENAL talent who shares such a wealth of information, in gushing torrents. i have learned so much already.

yes, i, sadly, missed out on a finale of sorts, BUT despite that, a testament to his lessons, AND chef cynthia's gracious willingness to come in early, sit with me and show me what i missed, i was able to play catch up wednesday afternoon!

my flowers aren't fully dusted or detailed, but it's certainly a garden now! take a peek and i'll write more... once i'm done having fun this coming weekend!

cheers!

more to come!

xo

m

so i figured it out...

remember when i said that wild horses couldn't drag me away from class? ...well apparently, wild horses can't. but one, giant, slow-moving metallic train can.

this is a story about last night and why i am mad... and sad... and spent much of the night bitterly gazing at the sky, as though it betrayed me in the worst way possible.

i missed class. and it had nothing to do with me.

it all started out so normally. got on my train at 3, we left at 3:11. i started to read, i was listening to some tunes on my ipod... reading a great book, fell a sleep (like i often do) because i'm constantly doing double-time in order to justify cake school, and compensate for how much time i spend in NYC. quite content to just enjoy my sleepy ride in to penn station. like i always do.

every once in a while, i'd peer out the window at the storm clouds off in the distance. they were majestic, ominous and growing darker. i dug around in my bag. "good," i thought, "i've got my little umbrella!" - i hate getting stuck in the rain in the city. it's such a long walk to and from the subway, the rain can soak me through before i get to the safety of my school.

i kept reading, wondering how much rain we were going to get. from the looks of it, it seemed we'd be getting our fair share, and then some.

not long after, the rain started to fall. i watched it, peacefully, as it hit the windows and in unison, started to slip and slide in a diagonal path across the window panes. hundreds of tiny little rain drops. the drops go bigger. the sky got darker. soon it was just sheeting across the window- like someone had turned a hose on and left it blasting. everything outside began to dance in the gusts of wind. and bend and sway to the pounding of what looked like giant, hail-sized raindrops.

"great," i though to myself, "hopefully it's not this bad in the city. i'm going to get drenched, even with my crappy little umbrella." (i got it for free with a beach bag last summer. it's little spring had broken almost immediately, and one of the little wire arms was bent, but typically it did the job. i don't really have much use for umbrellas. i'm typically the weirdo twirling around in the rain, letting it fall on my face...of course, i mean when i've got no where to go. umbrellas have their purpose. and i was particularly fond of this one for two reasons: it was impossibly tiny and i loved how large it got when you opened it from such a small beginning. AND i loved it's colorful, polka dotted pattern.)

but then there came the announcement:

"attention passengers. we will be stoping at hicksville and then going to westbury and stopping for an indeterminate length of time due to severe weather conditions up head and some weather-related signal problems."

UGH. now i was a bit annoyed. i didn't like a few things about that announcement. "indeterminate" meant we didn't know how long it could be...which sounded bad. and "signal problems" which can often delay a train for a while. 'a while' was something i didn't have, since i get to school exactly on time when things are running normally. a delay would mean i'd be running again, running and dodging people and puddles and obstacles.

so i figured, i'd call my chef, let her know my situation and advise her that i would likely be a little late to class. but i had no signal. every time i tried to call, i'd get "signal lost" on the screen. PERFECT! no phone, stuck on a train, in a storm. this was NOT looking good. i eventually texted my husband and asked him to call my chef (who didn't pick up, so he left a message) and one of my classmates, my current partner, just in case the chef didn't get my/his message.

the train moved up a the track slightly and i was hopeful. for about three seconds. and then there was another announcement:

"attention passengers. [didn't like the tone in his voice] we are going to be staying at westbury for at least an hour due to severe weather and signal problems up ahead. we will leave the doors open and if you want to arrange for a ride home, if you don't want to wait, feel free to make calls. there are pay phones on the platform."

WAIT, go home?! arrange a ride?! an HOUR??!!! no. this was NOT happening.

the very first though that dashed through my mind was "this is such an important class!! we have a practical. it's a chef ron class. CHEF RON and the flowers. we were finishing the flowers." this was monumentally unfair. and i was ... well... i was angry.

as if on cue, by the way, the sky just opened up. lightening began racing across the sky in every direction, in yellow, orange and purply white branches. thunder clapped and boomed so loudly the train windows rattled. a group of high-schoolers sitting nearby screamed bloody murder.

"great."

and the we waited. and waited. and waited.

every minute that ticked by left me feeling more desperate to get to school, and yet dimmed the hopes of that becoming a reality.

about an hour and ten minutes later however, the conductor came back on the speaker and said that we were awaiting the green light and we would be advancing west. YAY! okay, so i'd be late, but at least i could get to school. i looked at my watch and did some quick math. if i got there in 45 minutes and then caught the Q, i could get there by 6:25ish. sure, i'd be late, but i'd get there! i sat back in my seat and waited happily with my book, watching the rain and lightening.

not long after that, we were off. off like a herd of...turtles. or snails. seriously...i COULD have walked the track faster. but whatever, we were moving!!

we, an HOUR later, got to jamaica and then stopped right before the platform. again, came another announcement:

"attention passengers. this train will terminate at jamaica. we are informed that there is NO westbound service on at line on the LIRR at this time between jamaica and penn station. you can- [but everything sort of went muffled here]"

terminated? NO service? i looked at my watch - 7 pm. even if i could walk outside to wherever we were, and catch a cab...i wasn't sure if cabs went from jamaica to soho. and if they did, i had 5 bucks on me - i hadn't gone to the bank recently. my debit card was sitting on my desk, at home! [because i forgot it...again].

school was impossible?? school was impossible. and i was going to miss out on my class with chef ron. of all the classes to miss, it's the one that he said "DON'T miss monday! take your vitamins!" [i always take my vitamins!] ...

i grabbed my backpack and stood near the door. 'just let me OFF this thing!' i thought, angrily.

a conductor walked by and i said, "there's NOTHING to penn? to the city?" all he said was "nope" as he pushed by me

...thanks!

so i had only one choice: get back on a SUPER crowded train headed back east...and stand amidst 500 people and slowly inch our way back home. and so i did, begrudgingly. and some guy coughed on me the whole way home. i got home at 8. 8pm. which means i was on the train for about 5 hours. and i went no where. nowhere but disappointed.

i missed out on a class with chef ron, which, as you can imagine, kills me. since i've yammered on about him in like 75% of my blog posts. i missed all the magic. and my practical. and on a class i've waited over a year to take. i've literally waited YEARS to take flowers with RBI and on the big day, i can't go.

it occurs to me that i could've probably walked there faster. and thoughts of "ugh, why do i live so far away?" cross my mind.

yes, there are worse things to happen in life. but i'm sad and utterly disappointed. and me and the weather? we are so not friends right now.

no pictures to post this time.

xo

m

digressions, philosophy and the pathway to Om through sweet peas and such...

it's hard to believe it's only been two classes with Chef Ron and the sugar flowers. i say that for a couple of reasons. first: it feels like we've learned much more than could be taught in two classes. second: time is supposed to fly by when you're having fun. ...

now here's where i argue my point. i've NEVER bought into that theory. or saying. or adage... whatever you want to call it. when i'm having fun, it lasts. take for example, my marriage. i only recently celebrated my second year of marriage. we spent it frolicking about in a lavender field out east, doing a photo shoot for a photographer friend of mine [a dreamy, re-live your wedding type thing...] after the shoot, i even wore my wedding dress out to a little secret restaurant, famous for its seafood and old-timey, long island-y, traditional family victuals. and two years?? it's lasted for EVER.

the night of my photo shoot...it stretched on for miles as well. far beyond my blueberry pie [yup, wore my dress out to a public restaurant and i ate blueberry pie IN my champagne white, swarovski-adorned, silk taffeta gown. we left all together, unscathed by the way...haha] this is probably why my friends like me...i'll do almost anything on a dare. but can you imagine if i was afraid to get my pretty dress dirty? what's the point in worrying? it will never be said of me that i worried too much about my hair, or my silk gown, or any minor thing. bridezilla i am/was not! [by the way: bridezilla is term that is SO passe. it bores me and at the same time, reminds me of how sad it must be to not live fully present in the blissful moments of your life - if you can't wear your dress and eat some blueberry pie and dance until you fall asleep, well... it's a shame.] but i SERIOUSLY digress... *sheesh!*

and my wedding too, a 5-hour affair complete with westhampton sunset, rainbows and a giant, towering, glimmering wedding cake... lasted at LEAST 15 hours. not 5, but 15- maybe 20. i mean, there's this song that i love, by this band that i love...i sit alone at night in my tiny little office, playing it on my imperceptible piano, singing all by myself - a little secret place that no one can experience but me - it's called "celebrate" [give it a listen] and in it, there is a lyric that says:

can't make time stand still

but you can make it run

you can make it bend at will

and that's sort of how i look at this experience. you can't stop time and make it last forever, BUT you can absolutely drain every last second, celebrate it, make it stretch out and waltz by...make it bend at will. so yeah, it's been two classes...it feels like many more than that.

is that preachy? guess i am just a philosopher at heart. and i always hope the very best for everyone and everything and every moment. SO...obviously, i'm making sure to soak up all the Chef Ron that is possible...especially in light of the fact that i may never get an opportunity like this ever again in my life. i have to wrap my arms around my life experiences and hug them as long as they will let me.

we worked on so many wonderful things already...the whole room looks like early spring right now! slowly, little by little, flowers are coming to life...i swear it almost smells like things are blooming!

we started with the calla lily! a white one. one, simple petal, wrapped around a yellow center... and yet... it gave me the most challenge! NO, not frustrating, i don't get frustrated when it comes to getting challenged... i just simply felt....challenged. there are times, when something looks painfully simple to someone else, yet it will cause me the greatest challenge. like, for example...i can solve calculus equations...sometimes, partially even in my head...i can [and have] memorized ENTIRE Bach sonatas and played them without error on my flute - but if you ask me to give you change of a 20 dollar bill... and you're one of those people that will give me a 20 AND a nickel [ugh, or a penny], because you want a 10 back..FORGET IT! i'll be lost amidst a challenging sea of confusion...i'll figure it out...it'll just take me an impressively long time to do so. [hey, as long as it's impressive right?] anyway, my experience with the sugar calla lily brings to mind one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy, in which Lucy grabs her hair, messes it up and says, "the calla lilies are in bloom agaaaain" - i guess lifted from the original: The Stage Door with Katherine Hepburn...

but, after a great while and a lot of visualization, i managed to get two done (not the four that we were supposed to have finished *sad face*) but i was somewhat happy with it (only somewhat...in a "eh, i've seen better" kinda way). just give me time to practice them a few hundred times... *smile* i do love how it graciously hugs its center. wraps around it delicately, secretly, provocatively. flowers are sexy. i mean, they can be.

so we also worked on one my favorite flowers in the entire known universe: the peony. my entire wedding was filled with peonies: creamy white ones, soft pinks. hugged up to gorgeous roses, hydrangeas of celadon green. my bridal bouquet was solely comprised of creamy white peonies and ivory white roses. peonies are a luscious, soft, fragrant flower that promises sweetness and romance. and so of course i'm always excited to learn a flower that i love so.

see? proof from my wedding photo album!

so it comes as no surprise that i sincerely enjoy making them, petal by petal. it's like building a little dreamy flower that sparks notions of romance in your mind. if, back in high school, when they asked what you wanted to be when you grew up...had "sugar peony maker" been on the list... i'd've circled that one. [well...that and world traveler and writer. for the record, i'm going to figure out a way to do all three *smile*]

my peony is not my best work. i was struggling to get a clean cut with my cutters. might be because my thumb is still sprained slightly and i can't press as hard as i'm supposed to... but i don't care if someone lobbed off my thumb. i wouldn't miss this class for anything. wild horses couldn't drag me away.

i also know that we will be adding more petals and of course i'm guessing we'll be dusting the flowers too. it's amazing what petal dust can do. it brings things to LIFE. i've done it a few times...but i know it transforms those sugar petals, breathes a vibrance into them that causes them to dance awake. at least i'm pretty certain that's what we'll be doing when we get to that step. but i'm just a mate on the ship, not the captain. i'm tabula rasa.

we made sweet little sweet pea blossoms out of a delightful shade of pink. what a delicate flower. [as an aside: i call my one cat maggie, "sweet P" on occasion, on account of her pink little nose and the fact that one of her 10,000 nicknames is princess baby kitty, aka. PBK, aka. P, aka. sweet P...get it?? she's pretty adorable].

so of course, i adore them. the ones we made look like the ones i've seen here and there before. i love their name, and their little hidden, sweet, shy appearance. (see photo below)

we made a part of our orchid which is a frilly little piece. i can't wait to put that together and see it come to life! (see photo below)

lastly, we worked a bit on "finger flowers." these are flowers that you use nothing but a pair of scissors and your ...you guessed it...fingers! it takes some time to get the hang of it... we were joking in class that if i could create a little portable work station, i could sit on the train and practice on the way home! [DON'T put it past me! i just might you know! i've mentioned how i am about dares... AND it's a long ride home! *wink*]

so these sweet little blossoms... the finger flowers. there are many types to make. last night we worked on hydrangeas. you start with a little ball, turn it into a tear-drop shape, then make 4 snips and start to pinch and twist and form the four petals. mine are...okay. they need work. guess that's what the train ride's for!

so at the end of the night, we had to pack all of our things together. i think we all are doing a fabulous job. and i love how everyone's trays are coming to life. like i said earlier...little by little, spring is blooming down in our kitchen! i can't wait to get back to class and see what's next!

well, what does "Om" have to do with all this? i guess just that getting to sit and conjure flowers out of thin air...it's just about as close to meditation as i can get. it calms me. i will forever love the act of creation. just sit down, pull a vision from the recesses of your mind...and then pinch, pull, twist, cut, snip, vein, curl, furl, frill, and somehow, out of gums and sugars and heat and vision, you end up with ...well, with beauty. sweet, sugary beauty. that's meditation. that's Om. namaste.

more to come!

xo

m

best get your boots on...

and pull up your socks while you're at it! drink up! eat up. get some sleep. make sure you got your gear. ...

oh, what am i talking about? a little somethin' Chef Ron calls sugar flower boot camp! BOOT CAMP. no joke, we were cranking last night.

we worked on a ton of petals, such a variety in 5 hours, it was whirl-wind-esque...

will i be divulging all the magic? the tricks? nope.

but i will be sharing some of the highlights!

so first of all, we all know how much i adore Chef RBI. if you are my friend, my family member, my friend of a friend...my waitress, my hair stylist, my make up artist, my favorite photographer, my neighbor...my cat... well, you know this. the way i will BALK at someone who might say, "who?," or the way i might dry-heave at their ignorance...[smacking my forehead here]...well, just know that if you want to hang with me, you MUST know this with certainty. and you must love him too, or alas, we cannot be friends.

i was so happy that the rain and the train (and all things that rhyme with -ain) cooperated with me yesterday and i got to school with TONS of time to spare. typically, i'm running to and from the sub rails like someone's trying to murder me just so i make it with time to spare. yesterday, i could WALK..stroll, amble even! i enjoyed the ride down, which was not crowded, i enjoyed the cool breezes, the gentle rain shower, even the screaming fire engine [filled with all those hot NYC firefighters - my husband understands this about me... he WAS involved with the fire department and was a volunteer firefighter for a time as a younger guy..long enough to get a sweatshirt with his company's maltese cross, which i now wear around the beach and on bon-fire nights so...] wow, talk about a tangent...

anyway, i got to school without even breaking a sweat, which put me in an even better mood. i couldn't wait to get to class and get to learning from my hero. yup, cake hero. i'm pretty sure even Chef Ron knows i refer to him as my cake hero...and he is and will always be just that!

on the creation menu for the day were petals of all kinds: tulips, lilies, orchids, peonies [oh, peonies how i love thee]. even some leaves for roses and such.

and while this may sound remarkably vapid, the EASE and confidence with which Chef Ron handles his sugar paste is inspiring. i know that's so boring to say, so obvious...but it's one of the first things i noticed. i mean, it's not that i didn't expect that, but it was inspiring...what can i say?

his demeanor as a master of his craft is warm and he seems eager to share his knowledge. i mean, let's face it, it's intimidating to learn from someone like him and what i liked about him was that he didn't seem to mind that our entire class seemed a little star struck...a little quiet...a little nervous. but wouldn't you be? a little??

of course, by the end of the class, everyone seemed to be feeling more confident in their skills, myself included. my hands didn't feel nearly as jello-like as they had in the first hour. i mean, compared to my first leaf, my last petal was 100% more confident and i was steady-handed again. it was a great feeling. to see how much we had done in such a short time was exciting.

what made that even better was at the end of class, Chef Ron had even asked us to take a minute and look at all we had accomplished in 5 hours, and said we should be very proud of ourselves and our accomplishments. his clear vision and direct nature are infectious. and when he corrects and critiques, i welcome it. what a loss to not learn in such a wonderfully supportive and knowledgable environment. it's not like i want to look like a sugar-flower-buffoon...but if i make mistakes and mess up, i WANT him to see it...i WANT to hear it. how else am i going to learn??

the tips, tricks and flower magic [as i call it] that he shared with us..well it is just so amazing, it's impossible to convey! all i can say is, i CANNOT WAIT to get to class tomorrow, see what's next on the menu, and to see what else i can learn!!

with that, i can't be showing all the Chef Ron/FCI magic... i leave you with a few snippets of what i worked on! think of them as teasers! *wink*

i'm going to turn this into a tulip!

and i can't wait to turn these into gorgeous blossoms, blooms and beauties!

much more to come!!

xo

m

things are about to bloom!

so last friday's class was spent making sugar paste centers for the sugar flower unit! we made centers for flowers like roses, peonies, tulips, star gazer lilies... and quite a few more! all of this, of course, in preparation for the arrival of chef Ron Ben-Israel! i've spent years hoping to one day learn from him. as a matter of fact, it was just last year, almost to the day that i made the declaration that "this year, i'm going to meet Ron Ben-Israel!" long before i knew about this course at FCI, long before i even thought about paying for one of his classes...i just would repeat this simple fact to myself!

so you can imagine my excitement when i woke up this morning. today is day ONE of sugar flowers with RBI! i have limited experience with making sugar flowers - but i have learned what i do know from one of the best in the universe - ms. betty van norstrand - who i adore and will continue to learn from as long as she'll have me! i'm hoping i can keep up tonight! wish me luck!

can't wait to post about it! but mostly, can't wait to get started!

more to come!

xo

m