Youngest's Dinosaur Birthday Cake

Tomorrow my youngest will be three years old. This is the birthday cake I created for her. She was very pleased with it since she just LOVES Dinosaurs. She is pointing to the little cupcake and candle. She told me over and over tonight how she was sure her friends would love it at school.

This is the first cake I have made using homemade fondant. The fondant was made with mini marshmallows and powdered sugar. It tastes so much better than real fondant and works great!

Oldest wanted to add a big, blue turd (in Oldest's words, "a cake"). I had occupied her with some extra fondant, finished the cake, and walked in the kitchen to clean up. I went back to check out the cake again and there was this big ball of blue stuck to the side on my cake! Ahhhh!!!


Luckily, I was able to surgically remove it so it didn't mess up the cake too much. This cake was a big learning experience and a lot of fun!!!

Celebrating Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras

Recently Hubster recorded The Princess and the Frog on DTV. Whenever he records a movie like this, or even when the girls get their minds on a new video we may purchase for them, we have to watch it every night, every day, for??....until something else comes along. It's that 'toddler/preschool' mind figuring out how everything works.....you know???

While, The Princess and the Frog is a really cool story and the characters and music are GREAT, I was even more impressed when Oldest asked me what Gumbo was. (Those of you that don't know the movie need to know that Tiana, the main character is a waitress in New Orleans, that gets turned into a frog and then gets turned into a Princess, Tiana's dream in life is to open her own restaurant and to serve Gumbo like her Daddy and her used to make together.- I relate so much with this connection of food between her and her Daddy, that I like the movie even more!)

But back to that Gumbo.

Disney plays up dish so that both of my girls have been saying, "Muuuummmm Gumbo!" And then rubbing their bellies in a circular motion. Even I however, have never in my life eaten Gumbo. So I made it for them last night for a family celebration of Mardi Gras.

I searched the internet. It's a favorite past time of mine- to mine the internet for all the reviews of the best recipes and then to try them out. These are the sites I decided upon:
Quick and Easy King's Cake, Yam Biscuits, Alton Brown's Gumbo. One note about the Gumbo, I did add the file powder- I splurged and ordered it online from Williams and Sonoma. Gumbo has been on my mind a few weeks now, but with the holiday yesterday was a perfect time to try it out.

I was pleased with all the recipes. Hubster has seconds on the Gumbo and said it was spiced perfectly which I agreed- be careful with that Cayenne Pepper, you can ruin a dish quickly if not used as needed!! I also made a -kicked down a notch- version for the girls with no cayenne and substituted sweet sausage. Although they are usually really good eaters and were excited about the having Gumbo for dinner, they wouldn't touch it!!!*cry* But they ate their share of the Yam biscuits and King's Cake after dinner. And yes, I do know that the baby is meant for inside the cake, but the girls and I just thought they were so cute we had to display them on the cake when we decorated it.

Lastly, an apology for only a picture of the King's Cake. I was just so busy all afternoon and so excited to dig in to dinner, I didn't take a picture of the Gumbo or the Yam Biscuits.*Sorry*

Learning how to make Beef Pho- the International Dish of Vietnam

~Delicious Vietnam #11 -Beef Pho

I've been thinking of how to approach this entry. It's like comparing the homemade pizza you might whip up on a Friday night with the 100 year old Pizza Shop business that Tony's Great, great, great, great?........ Grandfather, opened when he first emigrated to New York City and has been passed down through the generations. It is so easy to order out, yet is also just so good when cooked at home. Pho is the same way.

Being from rural Vermont, I never would have been exposed to Pho. But when I met my husband (Hubster), I ate a bowl, another bowl, ate my way through Vietnam three times, once from South to North, and then back to south again! Sounds very Piggish of me, but I love Pho!

It's steaming hot and like a aromatic facial when you lean over for the first bite. It's ideal for any time during the day or night. It will keep your belly full for hours and is light and energizing from the assortment of fresh herbs you personalize you bowl with: basil, bean sprouts, cilantro, culantro, and green onions.

Not only have I gone out and eaten my fair share, but I have experimented, making my own: venison, different cuts of beef, meatballs-store bought and homemade, chicken, ox tail, and there are still more things I'd like to try. However, I recently discovered Andrea Nguyen's Blog Site: Viet World Kichen (I own her two cookbooks, but enjoy the surprise of each posting more on her blog!) Andrea goes into great details and even gives some pointers that the most experienced may not know. Here are my pictures from my attempt of making her version. I love the charring tips for the yellow onions and ginger (which is one picture I didn't take, I just charred them on my gas stove.) -Andrea's Recipe

I made one big alteration. Instead of marrow and knuckle bones, I used a fattier 2# roast of meat and boiled it for half an hour. Then took out the roast and placed on a plate. The roast was just right-pink on the inside (right before serving I cut this meat into very thin 1-2" pieces to use as the meat in the served bowl). Then I strained the water, added the spices, charred onion and ginger, and cooked for an hour and a half. Again I then strained the broth and seasoned with salt, palm sugar, and fish sauce. I adjusted these seasonings to my liking. Posted below are the pics of the process and final product. Please check out Andrea's tips and recipes and try some on your own.

**** This is my monthly entry to Delicious Vietnam, a monthly event created by A Food Lover's Journey and Ravenous Couple. Thanks to this month's host, Nam from The Culinary Chronicles****