An Easier Week

 I am settling into my new-old job, and this four-day week was much easier than the first eight-day week!  I only introduced one new dessert, seen here, but it needs work.  It's the strawberry consomme from the pickled beets & strawberries, made in to gel-oh, layered onto buttermilk panna cotta, set on a piece of pink peppercorn shortbread.  There's a piece of the gel-oh on the plate, and the strawberries are drenched in the consomme.  The flavors were all fine, but the panna became somewhat... relaxed by the end of the night.  I will try it again today in square molds and see if it will come unmolded in a peaceful way for the p.m. pastry cooks.
  We had an elopement at the farm this weekend, and this cake was a team effort.  Adjryche, the outgoing pastry chef had a stockpile of cakes frozen ahead for when guests suddenly remember their birthdays.  That always cracks me up, if I have cakes ahead and can make one quickly.  Oh, yeah!  It's Grandma's 80th birthday today!  Can we have a cake for 40 for dinner tonight?  Anyway, we pulled the cakes out to thaw, and I assembled the cake.  I was nervous about the ribbon application, so Krissy took over.  She and her husband make cakes in their home for customers, so she has a lot more experience with wedding cakes.  She finished it, and the florist provided the hydrangea blooms.  The photo the bride sent is behind the cake.  I think we nailed it!
  The torrential rains Monday flooded my neighborhood, but not my house.  The backyard was Lake Davidson for a few hours, but now, it's just muddy bare garden spots.  The weeds are really excited about the warm weather, but Jeff the gardener has warned me to not give in to the temptation of plowing.  He assured me that my cover crops of clover and rye grass are doing the plowing for me, and to leave it alone until the last frost.
  My black walnut tree got a reprieve yesterday, when the friend who will be cutting it down came down with a cold and couldn't make it to Knoxville yesterday.  This picture makes it look very majestic and beautiful, but it is actually a scraggly, poisonous tree that always looks diseased.  It leans back toward the alley, so if it falls, it won't fall on the house, but I'll still have to pay to get it removed from the alley!  My friends want it for furniture making, and I want the space for a rose garden and beehive place.  I'll be excited to be an urban beekeeper!  Especially since the tree-cutter-downer is also a beekeeper and will tend the beehive for me, with a supply of honey to boot!
  Today is my Monday, and it will be a busy week.  We hold a fundraiser for the Knoxville Museum of Art every year, and it's this weekend.  It's only a four-day week again, but it'll be a full one.  I hope yours is sunny and happy!