Spring so far...

I have been a terrible sloth where my blog is concerned. I have been up to a few things, but I have not bothered to take the time to write about them. To my 3 readers, I apologize. Here's what I have been up to...

I bought a new chef's knife. After a journey to the Calphalon outlet in Maine, I discovered that Calphalon was not just about pots and pans. They had a variety of knives stamped with the Calphalon logo. There were German steel knives, and Japanese steel knives and to test these beautiful works of metal, a cutting board and fresh veggies was set up. I took hold of the Katana eight-inch chef's knife and fell instantly in love. I walked away from it at approx $56, but when I found it on Amazon.com for $48, I decided that I could not resist. It has been one of the best kitchen purchases I've ever made.

Additionally, I found, thanks to the brilliance of one of my co-workers, a marble slab to use for my pastry-rolling. It was suggested to me that I go down to the local tile store and buy a marble tile. I did just that! I got a marble cutting board for $10. It was beautiful. I say was because today, while pounding out frozen pie dough, I broke the thing. Who would have thought that my deep-fried guns had so much hidden power? However, for $10 I plan on going back to the tile store on Monday and getting another one.

Also, I baked my first chocolate cake entirely from scratch. (Not counting the German Chocolate Cakes, those were different and quite a bit more complicated.) The occasion was for my aunt's birthday. It was exceptionally yummy, moist, and chocolaty with an exquisite chocolate butter cream frosting that I whipped up myself. Unfortunately, once assembled and frosted, the cake was rather boring. It tasted quite good, but my ability to do more than simply frost a cake is severely lacking. So I enrolled in the Wilton's cake decorating class at Michael's craft store. It starts on June 7, and I cannot wait. This year for my grandmother's birthday, I want to bake and decorate a beautiful cake for her.

Spring is here...much to look forward to. Cannot wait to get things going!