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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Jose Barajas vs. The World

Hello lovely readers. Hope everyone's week was just as exhausting and hectic as mine was! As my title says, this week has been a complete obstacle finishing cakes. It was hell, from my car breaking down to guests invading my kitchen space, it was rough! Even blogging right now was rough! I was halfway done blogging on my cell phone and Bam! My battery dies and I didn't save my draft! Bleep My Life! In the end, cakes made it to their destination with satisfying results and I'm blogging on the laptop with the adapter plugged in. NOTHING CAN STOP THIS POST NOW!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA! Let's try this one more time:

Friday, December 9th - Holiday Cake - Delivery Time: 10 a.m.
This cake was for my cousin's holiday party for the federal court. Since she was in the party committee she asked me if I would be able to make her a cake to serve 100 guests for the party which started at 4, but since I went in to work at Standlee's at 10 that day, it would have to be ready earlier. She was expecting a sheet cake, but since I found this to be an awesome opportunity to show off what I am capable of to a new group of people, I made something more extravagant other than a simple sheet cake. She told me the theme of the party was a "Vintage Hollywood Christmas" theme, so I jumped to the internet and started looking on Google images to give me some inspiration on what I should create. As I was browsing through, I saw that the colors were a lot of reds, greens, and lots of gold and silver tinsel. I started my cake with a white base, but didn't want to make red and green as a secondary color because then it would look too much of an Italian or Mexican theme looking cake. So instead I began to decorate the cake like an elegant "winter wonderland' a la Margaret Braun type cake with the secondary color being an "icy" blue color. Then I started adding the vintage touches with some very deep, brownish, red bows and some dark green holly throughout the cake. Finishing it all up with dabs of gold and pearlizing it completely to give it that old antique, porcelain feel. After decorating it almost all day Thursday (I say almost because I had to take a 3 hour break to take a quick class) from 6 a.m. calling it a night at midnight, and waking up early Friday to finish it up, I fell into a dilemma with my cousin... She didn't have a big enough car. =\ Luckily, she had enough notice to find and SUV to transport the cake. The result was a hit, like my cousin always tells me when she is satisfied with my work, "Mamma Likes!" =)

 
Mamma Likes!

Saturday, December 10th - 5th Birthday Make Up Party Cake and Drumline Debut Sheet Cake - Delivery Time: 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Getting off of work at Standlee's around 3 p.m. on Friday I was exhausted, but nothing that the love of my life, Red Bull, wouldn't be able to help me with. Right after work I had to go to Linda Vista to pick some things up for the rest of the cakes and as I'm ready to leave, my car starts to have itself a little seizure and then... it dies on me. GRRRRRR!!!!! %^$T#&#!!!!! BLLLLAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of my time organization was thrown out the window. At a panic and in need to be in the kitchen and working, I called a tow truck to take me and my car home. Now with time being of the essence I have to pull out a trusty vintage cake decorating tool I can always count on, my mother. I assigned her to help me with the sheet cake since that use to be her forte when she was a cake decorator in her hayday, I was able to put most of my energy on the make up cake (plus that one was the first one due in the morning). The make up cake was a pretty important one since my friend sent me an email venting on how the client sent her an email on how she wanted this cake to be PERFECT! This cake wasn't that big, just serving 40 guest, but the details were time consuming. Bows, flowers, pearls pearls and more pearls, and the main focal point, the make up. I managed to get all the details done by 1:30 a.m. on Friday evening to be able to wake up early on Saturday to assemble, deliver first thing in the morning, be able to help my mother out with the sheet cake to serve 100 guest for a new dear friends drumline cake for her debut shindig at the YMCA which was the one due at 2:30 (GO THUNDER SQUAD!!!), and be able to go into work at Standlee's at 10 a.m.! Pheeeew!!! Oh and btw, the sheet cake was another delivery dilemma since my friend that was picking up the cake had a small car herself. My mother told me that one was a mission to get into the car. 3 down, 1 more to go!

 
Sunday, December 11th - Pirate Baby Shower - Delivery Time: 10 a.m.

Leaving Standlee's at 4 on Saturday my body said ENOUGH! Time for a break. Red Bull couldn't work it's magic at this moment. I went home and just slam my face into my pillow and take one of my rare naps that people only read about in blogs. Waking up around 8, I'm ready to finish my last cake... so I thought. As I prep myself to start working, my brother arrives with my cousin and his girlfriend. I don't mind having some people around when I cake decorate, especially close friends and family, but right after my brother arrives, random guests that my brother invited come over, that's when my work came to a halt. Frustrated with the fact that I am now wide awake with no ability to work since the kitchen had been occupied by people, I decided to go to bed to be able to wake up around 4/5 a.m. to finish the 30 guest pirate cake in record time... Can you say insomnia! I was able to finally close my eyes at 2:30 a.m. to then open them at 5 a.m.... alright, lets get it over with. Peace and quiet in the kitchen, I managed to finish the pirate cake with an hour before delivery to spare and enjoy some menudo that my mother prepared that morning. Dropped off the cake and FINITO!!! Time to enjoy my Sunday with family, friends, and my on and off again love, food!

 

This week was really grueling, especially with the inability to drive around since I had a car that was out of service, I managed to finish the job from home and with limited cake decorating tools since most of them were in Linda Vista. All the cakes came out exactly how they were envisioned with now caketastrophy. 

FINALLY! Today's blog done with no dead battery interruption and 18 minutes to spare before it is officially Monday! Now to toast myself with a glass of wine and then a date with my bed for a full 8 hours before another crazy week! See ya next Sunday!!!

2 comments:

  1. You are sooooo talented, your hard work and dedication to your craft will be pay off some day. Proud of u kid! Susy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! That really means a lot! It helps me validate that I'm heading in the right direction. =)

    ReplyDelete