Life of the Best Dressed Cookie, By Diana (Vega) Gill

  Do you  need a culinary degree to make  the perfect cookie?  No certainly not, but I can say  knowledge and the best ingredients are the key to the time you will invest in making your baked goods come to life!

Don’t by any  means let them take a form of their own. You are the boss in the kitchen! “After all it’s just a cookie you say… but which would you rather serve a dry  over baked cookie or a cookie baked to perfection?”

Most importantly  study your recipe before you start. Especially the part where it says the dough must be chilled.

Make sure you have all your  ingredients before your start .  Do not sub if the recipe says use fresh strawberries or cranberries do not use frozen or dry. I only use unsalted butter and pure vanilla extract (never artificial)

 

 

 More  Tips To Follow  In My Next Blog!

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Cook-ie Monday!!

 

Mira Vista Country Club, El Cerritto, CA

http://www.miravista.org/

Cookies Favors by: www.couturebaking.com

‘I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!’”
- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland,

The week came and went so quickly that I cannot help but smile because the little things I worry about seem to be the things I should be the least worried about….. dinner, kids’ homework,  work,  end-less piles of laundry,  and in the end how would I ever make it over to my commercial kitchen in time to finish off the two parties on the same day and be done by the due date.  My day job will remain a secret for now or until I find a simple formula to incorporating into my stories without  boring you to death! There is no jazzy assistant that I can call to turn on the oven or get  the gumpaste flowers ready on this particular sunny day in winter it is just me loving the life I live even when  it feels like my feet are made of lead.  My energy boaster does not come from a little  bottle that says drink me ,  and suddenly I remember a quote from “Alice In Wonderland”, “Who in the world am I?” When I left this morning I slipped on my chef shoes only to be laughed at by my co/workers at my day job. They thought it was pretty funny that I could  not tell if it was morning or night. I looked at them sleepily and smiled not wanting to seem distraught still worried about the job at hand and dues dates that had to be kept. Asking myself was I Alice or more like the rabbit in the story who was always late, late for an important date!! Needless to say I did make my due dates!  On delivery day the sun was still shinning , I could feel the warmth of the colors of gold, pink, petal pink, bright orange, of my cookies. The smell of freshly made fondant and the lemony dough of last night still feeled the air of the early morn….

 

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Martin Luther King, Jr. , By Diana (Vega) Gill

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

” Dad never gave up on humanity. He never failed to see the good in others.”

Today,  I sat on the sofa and watched “A Raisin In The Sun” with my fourteen year old.  What a masterpiece, as I glanced over from the look of my daughter’s expression the whole thing seemed foreign diluted with pain, sorrow, and in the end happiness pursued . 

 Tears came streaming down my face as I remembered ,  Dad a laborer , a scholar at the same time. I shuttered at the thought of never knowing the look of compassion  in  his eyes as he read to me  the “I Have a Dream Speech”  he spoke  to me of his days growing up in Oakland as a boy. His Father disappeared suddenly when he was a youth some thing he would carry with him for the rest of his life. But my Dad never gave up on humanity. He never failed to see the good in others. 

 While January  is a month for setting goals like working out more,   family time, and the pursuit of the mighty dollar I will add to my list to be more like “Martin”,  and more  like my Father “Delfino” who taught me which side of the world I would be standing on when he was gone.   Sometimes  I  believe I can still hear his voice reading to me  late at night ” I Have A Dream”

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today. -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Related Links:

http://blog.richmond.edu/openwidelookinside/archives/3175

 

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A Raspberry Kiss , By Diana (Vega) Gill

 

Yesterday found me back in my commercial Kitchen looking for something fresh and new for spring……

www.couturebaking.com

Detail of a Vera Wang wedding dress.

Image via Wikipedia

That morning as I turned on the television to find that “Vera Wang” had lunched her new  “Bridal Collection”. Surprised to find that all of the gowns were shown in black. I admire her sense of artist flair!  As if to say, “Who said a bride has to wear white,  after all in  third world countries white is considered the color of sorrow.”  Suddenly  phones start  ringing , last-minute e mails come  pouring  in, rush orders had me wishing  for one more  day…  Super man could turn back time for his “Lois Lane”.. why couldn’t I ? Okay I ‘m a push over for a love story…..

The wedding of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, from ...

Image via Wikipedia

 If  the body had jumper cables my customers kind words and requests were just that solution to my soul…
 
There it was a sweet but short request for a:  ”Raspberry & Green Wedding” a gift for a bride.  Another for a” Blush/ Blackberry Wedding” lastly more just “Blush, Blush , Blush” !!  Giggling to myself I thought of a the blushing bride full of life! And with that  in mind I went to work with zest.  Kicking up my heels and rolling up my sleeves wondering  why in the world has no-one designed a better solution to the “ hair net” as I caught the ghastly sight of myself in the mirror.
 
In the end it was all worth it!  All deliveries in one morning completed  accompanied by smiles, hugs and  Kisses!!   Later meeting my husband for coffee he sits at the table with his lap-top aka “His second wife”  (he’s a tech-guy).   He looks up .  I ask , “Are you ready for lunch?”  he replies, “Ah, it’s only ten-fifteen? No Bogart/Bacall here  but somehow it sure feels like it on this particular day….
 
 
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Wordless Wednesday, By Diana (Vega) Gill

English: San Francisco Temple, Chihuahua, Chih...

 Photo: Under The Bridge” By, Diana (Vega) Gill

I can’t go home, I left my heart in San Francisco….” she said, people walked by as if she was not really  standing there.  Lover  of plastic bags, colorful tinker stuff, and old worn out scarves. Collection of dreams found their way to the shopping cart that defined the life led. I wanted to know how one  arrived at this place under the bridge now  home. It had been few years now but the girl in her had lost track of time.  ” Ten years ago you would have begged me for my autograph”-

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