Currant Affair

Summer is more than simply winding down in my neck of the woods.  In the span of a week I've gone from nauseating heat + socked-in smoke filled Puget Sound from the BC fires to bundling up in my amazing technicolor dream-sweatsuit.  And that can only mean one thing: Baking season has arrived!

The Verdict is in:

GUILTY on 12 counts of being delicious!

After much anticipation, they're finally here, but not without mishaps ... though it really wouldn't be baking with me if there weren't any (like the time I mixed up baking soda, and powder for the lemon squares, but that doesn't really count because my way turned out better anyway). You might be wondering why the tops look particularly shiny, well that's what happens when you can't get the frosting right, and have to scrape it off 3 times (and that's before I started drinking). So the tops are not only frosted, but "glazed" as well. I realized something went very wrong when the frosting I loaded into the super shooter came running out when I turned it business side down. Back to the mixer with it! Way too many portions of confectioner's sugar later, and my frosting was none the thicker ... more of it, just not thicker. Realizing it was much too late to call my mother and desperately whimper "Help," I grabbed for the flour...

It Triggers a Whole New Era

Of Ease, Convenience, and Versatility in the Kitchen: What is this miracle gadget you ask? Why, none other than the Wear-Ever Super Shooter, of course!

Let's hope it holds up to the boasts on its "box" (and I use that term as loosely as possible), because anything that will revolutionize my kitchen experience (whether it's from the 1970s or not) is definitely welcome in my world. But the boasting doesn't stop on the front of the box, according to the sides I can make "picture perfect cookies, eye-catching appetizers, garnished entrees, and filled pasta". While the other side advertises "beautiful candy mints, easy filled desserts, delicious deviled eggs, and interesting salads (if that's what you wanna call the last one, but I'd call it a picture of Romaine lettuce with tomato wedges standing in cliques around the plate with orange goo in the middle of each tomato huddle, perhaps that's why I'm not in the advertising business).

Now, I know you're asking yourself, "Where on Earth did she find this radical Appliancesaurus Rex?" I'll tell you. This delicious relic came courtesy of my mother on her winter trip to see her grandbaby, and this is the first time I've pulled it out of the box since ... ok, that's a lie. I looked at it once to verify that the trigger was, indeed, 1970s green. And to my delight, it is, although it's much more lime rather than scary Brady Bunch green in person. But don't think that you can't actually get these anymore! As I was googling (I love the digital age!) for the missing user's manual (I know it all seems pretty straight forward, but there are some parts here that I can't for the life of me remember how to put where) I found this VERY model on sale for nearly $60. Who knew my mom was so cutting edge with kitchen gadgetry in a previous lifetime?

Anyway, I'm feeling like pretty hot stuff with my new muffin tin and this guy who I hope will help me in frosting my cupcakes I've been whining about making for ages now. Even if I don't get the hang of this thing, they can't turn out worse than if I smear it on with a knife (frosting things is definitely the gene I'm missing from my mother).

Wish me luck!