Fowl, Fleurs and Failures

I've been lazy lately. In an ideal world, I would update this blog with some new and exciting gastronomic adventure every single day. As it is however, I have discovered that making something fantastic (or truly awful) every day is more difficult than I had expected. It's tempting to give in after work and go to Macdonald's for dinner (delicious delicious Macdonald's...) or to just whip up some scones for dessert and say that they aren't worth it to share (even though they are scrumptious). I also make the excuse that I can't put enough pictures up on here because the ravenous hoards get to my food before I can get to my camera, and while this is very much true, I could make a more concerted effort to fend off such ravenous hoards that come my way.

So here I give to you my failures and successes of the past two weeks along with a fresh resolve to update much more frequently (and with more photos).

Vanilla Bean Butter Cake with Saskatoonberry curd filling and "Classic Americana Icing" from Organic and Chic--FAIL
I made these mini cakes that I thought would be really fun in bright colours and varying sizes. The cake itself was really yummy, and while the saskatoonberry curd was a bit bland, I'll admit it was a hit with everyone. The real issues for me went along with the "Classic Americana Icing"--an icing that consists of one cup of butter and SEVEN cups of icing sugar. The book said that this particular icing was good for little cakes like this because it was so versatile and good for decorating. Not true. The icing was so thick and dense that it was nearly impossible to get it on the cakes without the cakes crumbling into mush. Added to that, it was very very overwhelmingly sweet. Blech. One lick of the spoon and my pancreas was in overdrive. Maybe this icing would do better on sturdier cupcakes or something aimed at a more sugar-centric demographic, ie. six year olds. Someone else's six year olds.

Stuffed Maple Glazed Cornish Hens from... somewhere on the web--SUCCESS
I found cornish game hens at the supermarket for cheap and decided that I would take a running jump at these miniature birds. It was a good jump. In fact, it was such a good jump that I did it again not five days after the initial jump. Never having had cornish game hens before, I had no idea what to expect, so when the result was tender, juicy, succulent meat that was stunningly easy to prepare, I was thrilled. The key was the glaze that I poured on the hens half way through their time in the oven. A mix of maple syrup, dijon mustard, and melted butter. Sweet baby Jesus. Alas, due to the delicious nature of these little birds, there are no pictures. Re: Ravenous hoards.

Some Fluers-- SUCCESS (surprisingly...)
This is what I have been doing on my time off from work:

I think I'm getting pretty good at it. Aside from parts of it being so frustrating that I want to pull out my own hair, it's pretty fun. And I think this is what makes the failure: success ratio so encouraging. Or at least has made me forget the other things that could be squeezed into the FAIL column.