Tag: Appearance

A Few Cake Decorating Ideas

Did you know that the first cakes baked in America where small loaves of sweet bread? Look how far we have come. Home bakers should not be intimidated by the elaborate cakes being made today. You do not need to be a pastry chef to make beautiful cakes, you just need the know-how and practice. Of course the right tools will go a long way in your cake decorating endeavors. Here are a few ideas you might like to try.

Every cake worth merit starts with a smooth icing. The cake needs to cool completely before they are iced and decorated. To keep crumbs from ending up in your icing and ruining the look of your cake, start with a thin base coat of frosting that is not quite as stiff as the regular layer will be. Once this coat is on, set the cake in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. This will set the icing and any crumbs will be caught in this first layer. Now you can spread a regular layer of icing without worrying about crumbs.

Use an icing spatula to apply and smooth the second coat of icing. Once the icing is on the cake, start smoothing on the sides by running the spatula around the perimeter of the cake. One trick for smoothing the frosting is to dip the metal icing spatula in cold water, this will aid in smoothing the frosting. To smooth the top, dip the spatula in cold water and holding it horizontally over the top of the cake. Start at the point farthest from you, holding the spatula in both hands, skim the top of the icing by bringing the spatula straight toward you.

Simple Designs

Some cake decorators say learning to smooth the icing is the hardest part of cake decorating. Practice will make you a pro in not time. Once you have it down, show it off, even a cake without many decorations that is clean and smooth will make an perfectly elegant offering.

Instead of icing, cake tops can be dusted with powdered sugar. You can choose to use a stencil for a more decorated appearance, or just the powdered sugar for a clean look.

Edible decorations are a beautiful yet simple cake decorating technique. The use of sprinkles, candy, nuts, and coconut pressed into the icing before it sets, will make your cake stand out.

To apply a textured look for your cake decorating, use a small cardboard comb, available in baking supply stores.

Piping is achieved by using a pastry bag fitted with a metal tip that is held on by a coupler. This is your most important tool for cake decorating. You can make lines, words, shells, flowers, and many other designs on the top or sides of the cake. Fill the bag with no more than 1 cup of icing at a time, twist the top of the bag and keep steady pressure when piping the design. Use your other hand to guide the tip. It is wise to find out everything you can about piping before you begin.

Fondant a smooth white paste, is used in complicated cake decorating. Fondant is kneaded and rolled to cover cakes with a sleek smooth layer of icing. It is also used to make designs that are 3-D. It is less tasty than buttercream, but the cake will look sleek and elegant.

Learning How to Become a Chef

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to first learn about the definition of the word “chef”. Most people would define the word “chef” as someone who cooks professionally for a living. However, you should know that learning how to cook is not the only thing you should do in order to learn how to become a chef. In order to learn how to become a chef, you must learn how to define a chef by the way that he or she sees food.

For a chef, food is not merely seen as “good” or “bad”. In learning how to become a chef, you need to learn about the different factors that need to be in food. You need to learn how to take aroma, taste, texture, appearance and other factors into consideration when creating a dish. In order to truly learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how these factors combine to make something people will love.

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to know the fact that there are different types of chefs. You need to realize that in order to truly become a great chef, you need to know who you are. You need to be able to focus your skills in a specific area in order to truly improve. Learning how to become a chef requires you to examine yourself and where your interests lie. This will help you determine which types of foods you specialize in.

There are a lot of people who try to become jack of all trades and learn to specialize in different types of dishes. However, in order to achieve mastery, you need to focus. There are a few chefs today who have mastered the art of cooking two or three types of cuisines. Even focusing on such few can be quite confusing since different styles of cooking require one to adjust his or her taste buds often.

In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how to create your own dish. The difference between a chef and a cook is the fact that while a cook follows recipes, a chef creates them. You need to become innovative. In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to learn how to ask the question, What if?

You need to constantly explore different tastes and textures in order to find different ways to improve your cooking. Only by becoming innovative can you learn how to become a chef. Remember that becoming a chef does not end when you are employed. Becoming a chef is a lifetime task. In order to learn how to become a chef, you need to realize that there is no beginning and end to the task. Becoming a chef is a way. The journey is what defines you.

Learning how to become a chef also demands patience. There are people born with the natural talent for cookery but even these people need to study hard. This is because learning how to become a chef can be a difficult road to travail. Some people think that the stirring and slicing involved in cooking is not really that hard to do. But in order to learn how to become a chef, you need to understand that you won’t employ these skills occasionally; you will be stirring and slicing every day of your life. This means that you had better be patient with each task and learn how to do it properly and reflexively.

4 Components of How to Become a Personal Chef

In learning how to become a personal chef, you have to realize that people require much more than the certificate ion order to hire you to cook for them personally. There are certain skills and attributes expected of you. Some of these skills can be acquired in the normal course of study at a culinary school, while others can be acquired through experience. Here are some of the skills that people expect you to acquire when you learn how to become a personal chef:

1) Hygiene Would you hire someone to cook your food if it you are not sure of their cleanliness? In learning how to become a personal chef, people expect you to have great hygiene. If you are applying for a position as a personal chef, you should not treat it as an application for just another job. You have to make sure that your appearance is not just presentable, but neat. You should expect people to observe your every move, looking for signs that you have poor hygiene and you should definitely make sure that they will not find any.

2) Taste Basically, a personal chef will share his or her taste of food with whoever employs him or her. In learning how to become a personal chef, people expect you to have acquired a taste for fine food. That is, future employers expect you to give them food which they will like.

Oh sure, some people think that eating escargot is the peak of fine dining, but would your employers really want you to prepare snails? In learning how to become a personal chef, you need to learn how to let go of your personal taste and how to expand it to include the preferences of other people. If you own a restaurant, then you can scoff at the person who wishes to have more salt. But if you work as a personal chef, then you have to realize that your livelihood depends on that person and you must make accommodations.

3) People skills Some people think that in order to become a personal chef, you need only to know how to cook well. However, you also need to learn how to interact with the people around you. In learning how to become a personal chef, you need to realize that you will not be working alone.

Personal chefs depend on their assistants to make sure that they create delicious dishes. Personal chefs need to be able to manage the kitchen staff with efficiency in order to make sure that people get their meals on time.

You need people skills most of all because you need to interact with your employer. You need to be able to tell what a person wants to eat. You need to excite them with the next dish you prepare. Not many people know that a huge part of taste is psychological. No matter how good you say your cooking is, if people don’t want it, then it is useless. Learning how to become a personal chef does not require you to develop telepathic powers, but you need to know what other people are thinking just the same.

4) Showmanship In learning how to become a personal chef, you should have acquired at least a bit of showmanship. Learning how to become a personal chef will show you that some dishes need a little bit of flourish in order for people to enjoy them.

Fishing with Live Bait

There are many myths that surround using live bait instead of artificial and most of them are not true. Live bait is still used by many anglers. The one factual part of live bait, which no one can dispute, it that is often messy, and it smells terrible. If you can surmount these two factors, you will be in good shape to try live bait on your next fishing outing.

There are some basic principles that should not be ignored when using live bait. None of the principles concerning live bait are clean or nice, but they are mandatory. You should never handle live bait when your hands are dry. Bait has a slimy layer on the outside, which is protective as well as inviting to predators, and if your hands are dry you will risk removing that layer.

If you are running short on live bait, try to save the bait that dies in your live well or in a nearby bucket. When your live bait has run out, you will still be able to use the freshly dead bait on your hook to attract fish. All you have to do is cast your line and bob it a little to give the appearance that your decoy has some life left. Be careful of the weight that you put on a line with live bait. Fish are going to spot a weight if it is too heavy and weighting down the bait. Your weight or sinker should be light enough to give the bait the appearance of free floating in the water.

Seasonal fishing can change the perspective on live bait. For instance, the summer months can be brutal, especially in the South. You may need to adjust your thinking and practices when the summer months hit. Keeping the bait alive will be the hardest obstacle for any angler in the summer. In order to keep your bait living, you will need to change out the water regularly so that the oxygen can keep flowing through to the bait. However, you cant just stop at changing out the water.

The temperature of the water is crucial because the water on the surface is hot and deadly for living bait. Therefore, having ice on hand to put into the live well will be the most beneficial way of keeping your live bait happy until they reach the hook.

Some other tips you should keep in mind when fishing with live bait is to never hook your live bait in the eyes. The reason is that you want the bait to see the fish approach them because they will become more excited and it will cause the fish to latch on better. Another thing is that you should add water softener salt to the water that is holding your live bait. The salt will make the scales of your bait harder while instantaneously preserving the slimy coat that attracts predators.

Lastly, you should make sure that you know how to properly throw a casting net before trying to catch bait. People often times throw the net too hard or too soft and this results in frustration and a net that does not consistently open.

Sewing Party Favors

Nowadays, many party organizers believe that personalized items are the best presents they could give to others as party favors. This is because these exude more sincerity because of the effort that you put into iteither by making these or in finding these items.

If you are one of those who are planning to give a party favor that is unique, it is best to consider handmade itemsespecially those that you are able to sew yourself. This is because hand-sewn gifts would mean that you took extra time to find out more about the interest of that person and you took extra effort in learning to sew.

Sew it!

If you just get started on sewing, one of the most important things that you should pay attention to is the various sewing techniques needed for successful outcomes. These sewing techniques are very important to ensure that you will not waste time, effort, and materials in the current and future sewing projects you have in mind.

Aside from learning the different sewing techniques out there, you must also take notes of the useful tips that you have discovered and encountered so you will use them the next time you will be facing needlework.

When sewing unique party favors, it is a must that you familiarize yourself with various sewing techniques. This is very crucial in a successful needlework because these define the overall appearance and endurance of the item. The most basic sewing technique that a neophyte sewer must learn is marking. This is very important because this will serve as your guide before you cut the fabric. Marking is done on the fabric using a tailor’s chalk once all the measurements are listed. When marking, always remember that the edges are marked properly so it won’t be erased once the fabric is flipped or tossed.

Next important sewing technique is cutting. This should be done using a sharp pair of scissors to ensure that there will be no frills hanging once the fabric has been cut. In cutting, always make sure that the fabric is not stretched and is not pinned to avoid miscalculations in the measurement. It is best to put weights on the fabric when cutting it to ensure that you get the measurements marked correctly.

After marking and cutting, the sewing proper comes next. Whether you will be sewing by hand or by machine, always make sure that you use new and sharp needles. This is very important because it ensures that you will have hassle free sewing.

The most common sewn items that could be given out as party favors include something that a person could wear like a piece of clothing or something that would really remind him or her of you such as a quilt, a blanket or even a hankie. Others may include things that can be used at home or in his or her workplace or at home such as rugs, place mats, covers for appliances and pillows, and the like.