Baking and Making

I might have mentioned a few times that we’re big fans of the Great British Bake off.

It has inspired The Man and me to try lots of new things in the kitchen- but we’d never attempted the notoriously tricky Macaron.

Well, this week, an unfortunate accident over at Schoonover Farm resulted in me filling in for Donna at a virtual baking class with one of the show’s contestants, Dan Beasley-Harling, and the recipe of the day was Rose and Raspberry Valentine Macarons!

(Thankfully Tom is recovering and home from the hospital now. And macaron delivery is scheduled for later today, just in time for the Super Bowl 🙂 )

It was a unique technical challenge! The Man got all my ingredients prepped and equipment staged, and I felt a little bit like a TV contestant- but having the guidance of someone experienced with this particular recipe really helped.

It took me a little longer to get mine dried and baked than most other folks- perhaps because of our cool damp conditions (a hair dryer on low helped get them over the finish line). So I finished mine up after the zoom session ended. But they appear to have worked out. I haven’t actually eaten one yet, because, according to Dan, the 24 hour maturation period for macarons “is not optional”. Who knew!?

Thankfully I have lots of other things to keep me busy while I’m waiting to sample the goodies. Like……

My Felty Yellow Chicken friend

Made lots of progress on this girl in the last few days, and am really excited about how she’s coming together. Wings aren’t attached yet, as I’m thinking I might do more embroidery embellishment, which would be easier to manage while the wings are separate. Here are the colors I’ve selected.

Will then do something similarly fanciful with her tailfeathers.

And, I’m also making pretty good progress with the Griff Smokeshow vest.

It’s quite enjoyable to work- and I learned a new thing with this pattern- Ysolda’s One Row Buttonhole, which is pretty ingenious. I’m feeling like this is going to be a really nice layering item for the wardrobe. I do love a good vest!

Have a great week everyone-