An Exciting Foray into Cake Pops

I think I've posted about the site Bakerella before but I'm not 100% positive. It seems like I would have and I believe Maria mentioned she found Bakerella through me but maybe it's because I'm a Bakerella fan on Facebook... (None of this matters to any of you so why am I wasting time babbling about it?! Yeesh. Moving on.) Anyway, the point is that I like Bakerella and Maria likes Bakerella and that's where the story begins.

The lynch pin of Bakerella's stable of sweets is the cake ball. The cake ball then morphed into the cake pop and that - or, rather, more specifically the starter chocolate cupcake pop - is what Maria decided she wanted to make for her friend's birthday party. While I was at the McCauleys' on Father's Day she started chatting with me about making the cake pops and I told her I'd be very interested to see how they turned out. I answered a couple of questions Maria had about melting chocolate and then didn't think much else about it. But later that same week Maria gave me a call and asked if I would be willing to help her out with her baking and, of course, I said yes. The cake pops really have long intrigued me... but BOY did they look like more work than I ever wanted to do for a dessert! Doing it with a partner was the perfect opportunity so we set it up for that Friday night and here's how it all turned out.

We were under a time constraint so, unfortunately for us, we had to start from the very beginning (i.e. baking the cake) at 7:30 PM. This made for a looooooong night; all told, it took us about 6 hours from mixing the cake to putting the ribbons on the finished pops. Needless to say, we were all a bit exhausted at the end of it all! It's not even that anything in the process was particularly hard - just time consuming. You have to wait for the cake to bake. You have to wait for the cake to cool. You have to freeze the pops after each step. You have to cool the pops before packaging them. It all just takes a lot of time. Still, we persevered and I think the end product was darn fine! You should refer to the earlier link to see a much more detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make the cake pops. My photos are a little more choppy. But I still think they're a good representation of how we worked.

First, after baking, cooling and crumbling the chocolate cake, Maria stirred the cake crumbs into our homemade cream cheese frosting.


Then we had scoop and mold the mixture into 1-inch balls. (See photo after the one below.) After freezing the balls, they get rolled into logs. This is a photo of the poo log. Had me cracking UP! I was tired.


The logs then got pressed half into a little flower-shaped cookie cutter to make the cupcake shape. On the right and left you can see the molded cupcake shapes; the pre-poo log cake balls are in the center of the tray.


After we froze the cupcake shapes, we dipped the bottom halves in bittersweet chocolate. More setting and then we were ready to dip the top halves in white chocolate and put on the final decorative touches.


Somewhere after the poo logs but before the final white chocolate dip Biji stopped by for a bit (he left the following Sunday so we were trying to squeeze in as much Biji time as possible). We put him and Robert to work, fashioning stands for us to put the pops in while they cooled and making room in the fridge. Here is Biji completing Operation: Transfer Pops.


And here they are! What do you think?


The pops had to set up in the fridge before we could package them and since we were bone tired at that point, we enlisted Robert and Biji's help in finishing up the project. Had we more time (or patience) we would've let the pops set just a wee bit more, as a few that got too warm slid right off their sticks and were sampled by the assemblers. (They were quite tasty! But even with four of us we couldn't eat all the rejects - as you can imagine, they're pretty rich. So some just got to go home to Bob.) Robert transferred all the pops to and from the fridge, Maria bagged'em, Biji held'em and I beribboned'em. We were a well-oiled machine, I tell ya. Biji's Army training really came in handy.


Bagged and ready to chill out overnight.

From what I heard from Maria, the cake pops were a big hit at the party. As they should have been! I think we were all very impressed with our first attempt at cake pop making... and I'm not sure Maria or I will attempt to make another batch anytime too soon.

A Couple Dorky - but Funny! - Dog Posts. (No, Not My Dog.)

I hate to be incommunicado for a week and then bore you all with another dog post but, well, I guess I don't really hate it that much 'cause that's what I'm gonna do! Sorry, guys. But I read this post from Hyperbole and a Half and it made me giggle out loud. (The previous post 'This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult' is also fabulous.) I don't know much of anything about the author but I do enjoy her writing style and drawings. Hers is what I would like my blog to be!

Dog

A lingering fear of mine was confirmed last night: My dog might be slightly retarded.

I've wondered about her intelligence ever since I adopted her and subsequently discovered that she was unable to figure out how stairs worked.

I blamed her ineptitude on the fact that she'd spent most of her life confined to a small kennel because her previous owners couldn't control her. I figured that maybe she just hadn't been exposed to stairs yet. Accepting the noble responsibility of educating this poor, underprivileged creature, I spent hours tenderly guiding her up and down the staircase - placing biscuits on each step to lure her and celebrating any sign of progress. When she still couldn't successfully navigate the stairs at the end of her first week with me, I blamed it on her extreme lack of motor control. This dog is uncoordinated in a way that would suggest her canine lineage is tainted with traces of a species with a different number of legs - like maybe a starfish or some sort of primitive snake.

The next clue came when I started trying to train her. I am no stranger to training dogs - much of my childhood was spent working with various canines because I lacked the social skills to interact successfully with people. With so many years of experience behind me, I was sure that training this new dog would be a very simple task.

I was wrong. Not only is training my dog outlandishly difficult, it is also heartbreaking. She wants so badly to please me. Every fiber of her being quivers with the desire to do a good job.

She tries really hard.

But when turning her head at an extreme angle fails to produce a life-altering epiphany, she usually just short-circuits and rolls on her back.

Over the past two months, she's made some progress, but it's been painfully slow and is easily forgotten. Still, I was living under the assumption that maybe my dog just had a hidden capacity for intelligence - that all I had to do was work hard enough and maybe she'd wake up one day and be smart and capable like a normal dog. Until last night.

Last night I was sitting on my couch mindlessly surfing the internet when I looked up and noticed my dog licking the floor. Just licking and licking. At first I though maybe I'd spilled something there, but her licking did not seem to be localized to one spot. Rather, she was walking around the room licking seemingly at random. She lay down on her side and kept licking out of the side of her mouth while staring directly at me.

At that moment I realized that I needed to know for sure whether my dog was retarded or not.

I Googled "how to tell if your dog is retarded" and after a bit of research, I found a dog IQ test that looked fairly legitimate. It involved testing your dog's ability to solve a few very basic problems, like figuring out how to get out from underneath a blanket.

I gathered the necessary supplies and began testing.

The first test asked me to call my dog using a variety of words that were not her name to gauge whether she could tell the difference. I called out "refrigerator!" and was pleased to see that my dog did not respond. She also failed to respond to "movie," "dishwasher" and "banana." I was beginning to feel very proud of her. Then came the crucial step: I called her name. Nothing. I called it a few more times to be sure. Still nothing.

The words hung like a neon sign broadcasting my dog's failure. "It's okay," I thought. "She'll do better on the next one."

In the second test, I had to put a blanket over my dog and time her to see how long it took her to get out. I threw the blanket over her and started my stopwatch. She made some cursory attempts at freeing herself, but as the seconds ticked by, it became clear that she was not going to pass.

Still, I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed that she just enjoyed being under there and could get out if she wanted to. I added an extra couple points to her tally for faith's sake.

After flagrantly failing three more tests, it came down to the final trial. If she could score five out of five possible points on this section of the test, she could bump herself out of the bottom category into "below average."

First, I had to make her sit, which was a test in and of itself. Then I was supposed to show her a biscuit, let her sniff it, then - after making sure she was watching - place the biscuit on the ground and put a plastic cup over it. If she knocked over the cup to get the biscuit within a certain amount of time, she'd pass the test.

I put the biscuit under the cup and started the timer.

My dog ran over to the cup and sniffed it. She walked around it once and then looked up at me like I was some sort of wizard. I pointed to the cup. I knew it was cheating, but I wanted to help my dog pass her test.

She didn't understand, but she knew she was supposed to do something, so she just started frantically doing things because maybe - just maybe - one of those things would be the right thing and the magical wizard cup would let her know where the treat went.

After five minutes of watching my dog aimlessly tear around the house, I finally accepted that she was not going to pass any part of the test and yes, she was most likely mentally challenged. But damn it, I was not going to let my poor, retarded dog feel like she failed.

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

I also enjoyed this video from Pawcurious. I give Dr. V credit - I tried to make a video with the same site quite a long while ago but gave up because I was too impatient. I thought this video was hilarious; I hope you do, too, and it's not only funny to sad dog ladies... ! The queso fresco part is the best. ;o) (And yes, this is based on an actual conversation the author had with a client.)

Lost Funk Photos

While taking photos of the Panda hat, I realized I had a few photos of the Funk that never made it to the blog. How can this be?! He hasn't had a photo post since June 7th! I KNOW! Poor thing will start to feel unloved.

Here he is, a few weeks back, pulling the stuffing out of his Tuff Toy lobster. He'd already pulled just as much stuffing out about 3 or 4 times prior to this so I have no idea just how much stuffing is in that sucker! Because there's still a bit left in the body even now. Crazy.



And here he is basking in his cloud of fun:



Quigley came over a few days ago while my parents attended a play and the puppies just get sooooo excited when Robert comes home. They bombard him as soon as he walks in the door; here, they actually let him change and sit down before literally dog piling on him.



It's always fun when Quigley comes over. He adds just that little extra pep to the house. :o)

Movie Morsels 61: New DH Trailer!

The first official trailer (for parts 1 and 2!) went online at 4 PM PST but I was away from a computer. Now I'm here and I'm posting the new AWESOME trailer ASAP. Did I mention it's awesome? 'Cause it is. AWE.some.

The Panda Hat

This really and truly has nothing to do with anything but Robert looks so darn cute I had to share. We went to the McCauleys' on Father's Day proper to celebrate the day and, while there, Maria busted out her Panda hat. Apparently, if you are a fan of baseball and of the Giants in particular, you'd know that Panda is the nickname of Pablo Sandoval, the Giants' third baseman/first baseman/catcher. (I'm sure he's one of these more than the other two but Robert's not here right now and I really don't care enough to check. Sorry!) The dude is fat and funny so I guess he's like Po (from Kung Fu Panda) or something, I don't know. I really like Po and I don't see any resemblance, physical or otherwise, to the tubby baseball player but whatever. I guess I just don't get it. Anyhoo, his nickname is indeed Panda and I guess he's a popular enough player to warrant his own hat. And here it is:

Me likes! So I tried it on.
I wouldn't say it's uber-flattering on all head types but I hear it does keep you nice and toasty during cold games.

Plus, it freaked Garfunkel out so that was a bonus. :o) Mean, I know, but also fun. What can I say? I'm just a little bit evil.

TV Tidbits 92: Captain Phil's Death

Robert and I have watched Deadliest Catch since it began and I've posted a few things here and there on the show over the years. This season (season 6) is probably 2/3 finished but the episode I was long dreading aired last week - the episode where Captain Phil has his (ultimately fatal) stroke. I almost felt like if I didn't watch it, it wouldn't happen. (Not really, of course, but you know what I mean. It's like whenever you watch Ghost, you just tell Sam to give the dude the wallet and make a run for it. It's not worth it, man! Just give him the wallet!!! Again, I'm sure you know what I mean.) Anyhoodle, I did watch and it did happen and, as it turns out, the remaining 6 episodes of the season will all be Phil-centric. Here's a little blurb from this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly:

Overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy from fans, the Discovery Channel will devote the remaining six episode of DC to the passing of Phil Harris, the captain of the crab boat Cornelia Marie who died February 9 after suffering a stroke. The depiction of his illness and death began June 22 and will culminate with the show's season finale on July 27. "This is one of the harder stories in our history," says Discovery president Clark Bunting. "It's the full arc of Phil's life - not just what happened to Phil and the boys, but also the rest of the fleet."

You can read a more in-depth Q&A with Bunting here. And you can read a NY Times article about airing Capt. Phil's death here. Pretty interesting stuff, I think. And, while Captain Phil's early death was, perhaps, sadly predictable*, I don't think his stupid son, Jake, being a massive pain in the ass all season long and then Phil discovering Jake been stealing his dad's prescription pain meds right before he keeled over is a coincidence. Normally I'd feel guilty about putting some of the blame on one person but (1) I'm not too worried Jake Harris reads my blog; (2) the dude's drunk or high the majority of the time so even if he does, he won't remember it; and (3) I really, really, really, really hate Jake. He's just sort of worthless all-around. So there! Suck it, Jake!

I will miss Captain Phil. He was one of my favorites on the show. :o(



* Here's a quote from one of my earlier DC posts: "Captain Phil is pretty good, too, though - he is a funny guy and very animated. He's much more palatable since his haircut... and, apparently, he's single! ;o) (Though, I've never seen a human being smoke as much as he does, so you may need to act fast, ladies...)" Bummer.

A Robert Post (Kinda)

Robert sent me this photo on Monday and since he very rarely asks me to blog about anything in particular, I just had to share it with you all. Robert is the official tweet-er for RHI and, as part of the job, he subscribes to other companies' career Twitter pages. It was on Warner Brothers' page that he found this:

The world's coolest golf cart.

Apparently, some lucky WB employee duck gets to tool around Warner Brothers' 110 acre lot in this awesome little Batcart. I love the tires! Sadly, I'm sure not just any ol' WB schlub has the privelege to drive the cart... though I hear it's pretty easy to hotwire a golf cart. It'd be worth it.

Teeny Tiny School Update

Boy, I bet you didn't think I could get any less communicative, eh?! Ha ha! Wrong-o! Take me away from a computer (my preferred mode of communication) and you will never hear from me again. Apparently. Those few I have actually talked to in recent days have been inquiring as to my current school status so I thought I'd take a minute and let you know that not much has changed. You're welcome!

In all seriousness, though, things are pretty much in limbo until mid-July. I took my final on the 15th and am just waiting for my grade; however, since finals week at Foothill doesn't technically end until the 25th, it'll be a bit before my final grade is posted. I'm not too worried, though - I got 94 1/2 on the midterm and 100s on both projects so I'm thinking I did pretty okay on the final and that I'll do just fine in the class. [Yay me! :o) ] Once my final grade does appear, I have to send my Foothill transcript to the vet tech program peeps and then I should hear about whether or not I've been accepted into the program sometime around July 15th. Until then, I'm just plugging along...

Will keep you posted.


Oh, and if you're wondering why I have a photo of a weird owl statue, it's because it's a photo of an actual statue on campus of the Foothill mascot. Don't worry - I won't be changing my handle from anthrobruin to vettechowl anytime soon.

More Memorial Day Pics

Christina took MUCH better photos of the Trouts' Memorial Day festivities and since she just uploaded them all to her flickr account, I went ahead and downloaded'em. (Thanks, Chrissie! Good work with your tripod!) My eyes are actually open in most of these so yay me.



L to R: Christina, me, Robert, Rob, Mrs. Trout, Mr. Trout, Amber, Jim, Mrs. Kidder, Paul, Emily, Mr. Kidder

Funny or Die: Ralph Macchio

I intended to post this back on the 11th but, well, I obviously didn't quite get there. So! Without further ado, here is a very cute ad for a 'documentary' on Ralph Macchio from FunnyorDie.com:

Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio from Ralph Macchio

(@ 2:48 is one of my favorite parts!)


And here is a Q&A with Ralph about the video from Entertainment Weekly. He really does seem like a nice guy. I really, really wish they hadn't remade his movie... especially with Will Smith's stupid kid. Gah! Don't get me started.