5th Times the Charm!

Howdy, I hope everyone was able to pull some information from the first two posts and were able to read them. I saw 41 page views for today and smiled! It was wonderful to see that people at least glanced at my page! :) Thank you.
Yesterday my family, minus my sister Colleen, officially started "The Chicken Coop, an Egg Co-op". The manly men moved a Chicken Coop, fences and chickens from the Novak's house because they are moving. Four families will be around to take care of the chickens and the Novak's shall be back in a few years making this a 5 Family Co-Op! Yesterday when the coop was moved we had a picnic as well and shot potato guns (we used rolls instead). I, being a champ, (just kidding) was in the yard trying to catch the flying rolls and threw them back at everyone sitting under the porch. Turns out I haven't lost my softball arm after all!
Going into the baking factor, the minute I heard "picnic" I said "I'M BAKING CUPCAKES". For almost a year now there has been a cupcake design i've wanted to try, but when would I ever have a reason to have white chocolate egg shells with lemon curd yolks on top of a cupcake. So I knew exactly what I was going to do for my contribution to the picnic.
I started with yellow buttermilk mini cupcakes and frosted them with vanilla butter cream frosting! Simple yet SCRUMPTIOUS! I then gathered some plastic Easter eggs and washed them out and let them dry. While the eggs dried I melted white chocolate morsels in the microwave until smooth. Here is where the tricky part came into play. My first attempt at getting a WHOLE half egg of white chocolate did not go so well. I painted the inside of all the egg halves and place them in the freezer for 5 minutes. Once hard I pulled them out and started to loosen them onto a plate. The first one started to loosen and when it fell out it was a bunch of little "egg shell" pieces. So I tried the next 8 egg halves and the same thing happened with each one. I then took all of the chocolate that I had just removed from the mold and I melted it again until smooth. Attempt #2 didn't go any better. Attempt #3 and #4 I altered a bit. These times I oiled the inside of the plastic egg before coating it with white chocolate. I used vegetable oil and butter oil. These didn't work either and gave the outside of the eggs a weird not shiny look. So after many failed attempts I decided to wash the eggs once more. I melted the chocolate again and decided that I could deal with the "shells" being cracked. So I coated the inside of the 9 eggs with chocolate and repeated this 5 times until I had enough to put some on each mini cupcake.
As if that didn't take long enough, the lemon curd was a nice yellow but I decided I was going to make it a bit darker....well...I didn't think that through. So I added Red and Yellow...well for anyone who has been in Preschool and Kindergarten...those two colors make Orange...not a deep yellow. So my lemon curd turned Orange. Sigh, so I finished the cupcakes off the next morning with a new container of lemon curd and they were quite a hit.

It took me about 30 minutes to make the cupcakes and 10 for the icing and about 3 hours on the eggs. If I ever have the need to make "egg" cupcakes again I assume they will take an hour and a half total including cooling time and decorating! Yay!

On the Road to School-Take 2

 After lots of arguing, confusion, tears, and a myriad of other emotions I have figured out what I am going to do about school. I am planning on attending NVCC Northern Virginia Community College (I applied tonight) and getting an associates in Business Administration in a year. (Thank goodness multiple credits transferred) After this I plan on transferring to the University of Mary Washington and completing a Bachelors in Marketing, which will take me 2 years. Hopefully i'll be able to finish the program in less than 2 years by taking classes over the summer and breaks. *Fingers Crossed* Once I have graduated I am hoping to attend the Art Institute for a year and get a Diploma in Bakery and Pastry. 

To get one thing straight...I did not flunk out of school. Radford was a wonderful place to meet friends and create lasting memories. However, Sophomore year was less than fabulous. Ups and Downs, fights, and constant tears. The second semester was better than the first, but that was because I got back together with my wonderful and loving boyfriend and decided that it was my last semester at Radford. Even though i'm changing my plan to become a teacher, my love for children has not changed. I will be able to work with them in a different environment than a classroom. I will never stop being apart of children's lives. But the past semester I realized that the path I was following wasn't what I really wanted. 

So, here is the beginning of my schooling...a new journey on the way to an incredible future. I am blessed to have the support of my Family, Great Friends, and Loving Boyfriend. 

Hello fellow bloggers, readers, and interesting folks! I do hope that this does not bring your lids to close or your mouse to move towards the upper right hand corner "x". I hope to bring you joy while following the new treats I create and mistakes I make! :) But let us hope for more treats.

I have been baking ever since I can remember. I started on my easy bake oven and then got the upgrade to the adult size. SAY WHAT!? I started making cookies. My top was Chocolate Chip and second was Chocolate Chip and...wait for it...MM's! Even to this day I can't believe how incredibly creative I was...sarcasm intended. Since the days of choco chip cookies and the era of stylish easy bake ovens I have expanded my skills and made a multitude of delectable desserts and other non sweet items. So my blog shall be updated every few days with pictures of what i'm doing, things I did before I started this up, and progress on school as well.
So I hope you enjoy! <3