Happy Birthday, Harrison!

My baby turned 14 the other day. Overnight he also grew enough to make me the shortest one of the family. We held a family celebration after church. We had Mediterranean chicken in the crockpot waiting when we got home.The birthday boy always gets to choose his cake for dessert. H specifically asked for peanut butter cheesecake with chocolate crust and caramel topping. I knew I could oblige him, and make it gluten free in the process.

The day before I baked the cheesecake, I made Fauxreo cookie dough. (I cannot emphasize enough how i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. these were!)I did not bake the cookies for a crumb crust – I just made the crust with about 2 cups from that recipe.(I made sure my pan was ready for the coming water bath! I had lined it with parchment and wrapped the bottom with foil.) Pre-baked the crust for 15 minutes in 350° oven.To my 24 oz. of softened cream cheese I added 1&1/2 cups creamy peanut butter and 1 cup honey. Whipped it for about 5 minutes.It tasted wonderful (and I’m thinking about using it for an apple dip for Thanksgiving!)Added 3 eggs.Stirred in 1 cup mini chips.Baked it in a water bath at 300° for about 75 minutes. (Bake until filling is set.)

I topped it with a honey caramel:

• 2 c. sugar
• 2 T. honey
• 1 c. cream
• 4 oz. butter
• 1 T. vanilla extract

and topped that with chocolate ganache sprinkled with Snickers® chunks.Here’s what it looked like just before slicing:

…and here’s a piece just prior to devourment:(Yes, that is a paper plate. I was sick & had a houseful of guests – don’t judge.)

Orange Cardamom Compound Butter

I’ve been watching all those “Chopped” Thanksgiving episodes to see if someone pulls oranges & cardamom out of their basket… Not having much luck with The Food Channel’s offerings, I decided to try my hand at something simple with this month’s Improv Challenge’s ingredients chosen by Kristen: cardamom and orange.I’m thankful there’s a lovely orange tree in our back yard; but I did have to go to the Asian market to find my cardamom.I “loosely” followed compound butter recipes I found all over the web. For my taste, however, next time I’ll use less cardamom, a little more honey and add smoked paprika, I think. Here’s what I made:

• 1 lb. butter, room temperature
• 2 t. fresh-ground cardamom
• 2 T. orange zest
• 2 T. fresh orange juice
• 2 T. honey

Beat all ingredients until well blended. Transfer to plastic wrap, roll into “log” and refrigerate. Here’s my story in pictures:I stuffed the skin of two chickens. They were roasted at 425° for 60 minutes.I also made a pilaf utilizing the compounded butter.
Short work was made of the hens…

Lighting up the Glow Worm

Of all the characters in “James & the Giant Peach”… well my son had to go and get assigned Glow Worm.
His first lines in the play explain that he’s not a worm, but a lady firefly (you know, they don’t have wings…)
His basic costume was simple: I found a nice (women’s) suit for $1 at Goodwill on Thursday. (THAT was not a simple task a couple weeks before Halloween!) I did have to take in the waist of the trousers quite a bit.My most important task, according to the director, was to light up Glow Worm’s butt! She purchased a variety of light strands that I brought home & played with until I found the one I thought would work for this costume.The tone of our production’s set & costuming was a throw-back to 1940’s England. I was inspired with the brilliant idea that Glow Worm would wear an apron that “she” could turn around to the tail area when it came time to light it up.
I found a wonderful pattern from Wild Ginger for a “Petal Apron” that I sized for my actor.I backed the iridescent fabric on two of the petals with some light yellow cotton from my stash.
With the center backing panel I used invisible thread to stitch on the lights!I was so impressed I took it into the darkened laundry room to try to get a visual.

Very carefully, then, I attached the iridescent front to the petal. (Uhhhh… using a serger around fragile wires was quite frightening to me!) Next, all three petals were stitched to the band/tie. Apron complete!
I took video of the entire mannequin in the dark to make sure it had the effect I wanted.

I fashioned a hat with the remaining fabric.
My boy was a hit!

(Please excuse the “ocean” waves down front…)

A Peach of a Show

Well, it’s finished… stage has been painted back to black, props have been dismantled, and all the costumes put away.Here I gave you a couple sneak peeks of the costumes I worked on. (The glow worm project is a separate post, here.)My absolute favorite image was Aunt Sponge.
Totally ridiculous! Here’s Old Green Grasshopper with his dyed hat & corduroy trousers I fashioned to look like jodhpurs.Inchworm was such a truly adorable character!
Centipede carried the show with her singing!Ladybug’s poses (& incredible accent!) kept me giggling all night.All I did for Spider was to sew her legs.Oh, and I did hem James’ shortsand consult on the sharks’ fins…
Here are the pictures taken by the school; and if you wish to see some highlights video-recorded by the school, you can look here.
(If you think you might have seen the narrators’ butterfly outfits before, you have! They are part of the fairy outfits I stitched last year for the “Midsummer Night’s Dream” production.)