Girls Camp!! (Pre-Camp edition one: the first aid kits)

So! Heather (our MJ president) was moving. This means that we wanted to do things with wonderful Heather before she moved away after she graduated from Purdue. So! Because of this, we changed around when we did activities in MJ with the other Lafayette units. Ultimately, this means that we missed pre-camp with the other units. Meaning that I had to do pre-camp, by myself, with all the girls.

So what did I do?


I MADE FIRST AID KITS!! :-D

I don't know why I thought making these would alleviate my stress about doing pre-camp, but that was my reasoning. :o) AND, it was my FIRST time using my SEWING machine by mySELF! And, I had to call my mom on skpye so she could help me load the bobbin...! Bobbins are trixy little things.

The inspiration came from these things my mom makes out of place mats and ziploc bags. They are super cool.

I went to the store and bought all kinds of things to go into the first aid kits (band aids, medical tape and gauze, sheets to rip into cravat bandages, disinfecting wipes, ets). I came home, separated everything into piles, and went to work:



I think the hardest part was that those slippery little ziplock bags would NOT hold STILL! I eventually had to tape them down, THEN sew them into place, then remove the tape. Oye. Oye vay.

This is what they looked like when they were finished! I stuffed all there little things into the little bags where they went, they were SO COOL! :-D





I even put these little ties on the front and back so that you could tie them shut! I was so proud!

I showed them to my mom, and she thought they were a great idea!:

Me: LOOK MOMMMY!!!! :-D I created this MASTERPIECE!!

Mom: WhoA! Great job sweetie!

Me: Aren't they COOL?! Look! Look there is a little place for this, and this, and THESE! (etc.)

Me: SO. What do you think.

Mom: I think they are great! but....are you going to leave them like that?

Me: Ummm, yeah! Why....why, wait, what do you mean?"

Mom: Well, they're...."functional", but...

Me: Oh...Oh, you mean they look kinnda ugly since my stitches are exposed and pretty bad looking?

Mom: Yes :o)

He he!

So, I had some ribbon and some extra white fabric and some fabric paint... and with some brainstorming with mommy I came up with THIS!!



and THIS!!



and THESE!!



Mommy has the best ideas!! :-D

I must say. these were stinking adorable. The white on the front is even a POCKET, so you can keep things in them. I love them. I have the "functional" one still here at the house. The be-dazzled ones went to the girls. Yay! Thanks mommy! they LOVED them! :-D

Panna Cotta cake...in VANILLA!

:-D

So, I might have mentioned that the chocolate panna cotta cake was SUPER rich. To the point, I would say, that it was almost not.....enjoyable. Wait, that is not the right word. Hmmm, it was yummy alright, but it was like CHOCOLATE. like REALLY CHOCOLATE. Still good, but really really CHOCOLATE.

The gooth and I decided that we thought vanilla panna cotta would be AMAZING with a yellow or white sponge cake in the middle, and with fresh fruit.

So. I couldn't wait too long to try it out.

and man were we RIGHT! :-D I made one for the Sociedad de Soccoro activity that we had and it was SO good. I didnt get a picture though :o( Sorry! We devoured it too quickly. And. I must say. I think it was the best cake I have ever had in my life. Period. And I have experienced a lot of cake in my life, you may have noticed. It was light, it was creamy, the panna cotta was not too sweet, and it was so, so good with the fruit. So good.

If you have ever tried my mom's panna cotta you would know: its life changingly delicious. Just imagine it in cake form. SO GOOD!

So good in fact I came home and made mark another one since there were no leftovers. And, since I was lazy when I made the second one (it was, like, less than 24 hours since I made the first one after all and I was out of sour cream) I use pudding mix instead of the panna cotta. *GASP!* I know, I know, but! the good news is it worked out great! I like mixing a box of vanilla pudding and a pox of white chocolate pudding, and using some cream, or less milk, to help it thicken up nice and firm if I am going to use it instead of pastry cream. But listen here: you need to try making it with the real panna cotta, just once. I don't know what it is about that stuff that makes it so good....but it is increadible. You know what, dont even worry about making it into a cake, just make some and stick it into a bowl, and put some fruit on the top. Mmmmmmmm. Paaaaaana coooooottaaaaaaaa......

Anyway, if you do want to make it in cake form, I will tell you this trick: I like making cakes with pudding or cream fillings in spring form pans, but when I bake the cake in my 9in rounds, the cake never seems to fill all the way to the edge of the spring form pan, and then my filling pools in the edged! Totally a bummer! This is also a problem with ice cream cakes, and then the icecream leaks out everywhere. Total bummer as well. So! One day I had a great idea: why don't I just bake the cak in my spring form pan first! Then it will be the perfect size! :-D So, I do now. I will just put the whole cake mix into the pan, and then cut it in half when it comes out. Perfect size! Now you may be thinking "good heavens! that is really got to be THICK!" and you are right. It is. To help it cook better, I take a sheet of tin foil and fold it and fold it and fold it until it is like a thick, squat little rectangle that I stick into the middle of the batter. It helps the cake cook evenly, and it "bakes itself out" [meaning that you wont have a little piece of metal in your cake making a hole, as the cake cooks, the tine foil will rise out, until when its done you will only have the tin foil lying on the top that you can lift out]. ANYWAY, I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but I do it this way when I will be having a layered cake in my spring form that I want the bread to go all the way to the edges. Call me crazy.

After the cake bakes, I let it cool and then cut it in half. I leave on piece in the bottom, put frozen fruit on top, poured on the mostly thickened panna cotta, and then stuck it in the freezer to set for a bit. Then I put the other piece of cake, the rest of the panna cotta, and then fruit on the top. Its TOTALLY yummy!

Marks had just blueberries since he likes it like that :o)



Anyway! Wanted to share!

More on Mothers Day

In the Spanish Branch, they gave us flowers! My friend Claudia wasn't able to make it, and so I got a flower for her that I wanted to take over to her. When we got the flowers, they both looked lovely, and pretty much identical.


So, I put her flower carefully in the back seat in the shade with a paper towell wrapped around the stem. My flower, I proudly carried in my hand holding it out for Mark to smell it every, oh, 5 seconds or so (his favorite part I think ;o) ). We made a stop to visit someone, and I set my flower on the dash in the front seat while we ran inside.

When we came back out, the flowers DEFINITELY did not look the same any more.

Guess which flower THIS is:.....




Lets jsut say flowers don't look quite this good baked. At least Claudia's flower was the one that survived!

It looked this pretty when we gave it to her the next day too :o)

I didn't get a picture of mine, but believe me, it was pretty conclusive proof that flowers are NOT preserved with heat. No, no, no. :o)

Live and learn!