Updates and Housekeeping: BBA, CSA, camera, and wedding updates

A few bits of housekeeping. I've been out of town and rushing around. Still cooking, from olive oil cake with mutant blackberries in Welfleet, to new potatoes and crunchy kohlrabi at home, all the way to Rose's chocolate butter cake with Smitten Kitchen's Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting and raspberries. Still cooking, but not really taking good pictures, because my camera batteries died and I have been too lazy to update. Still, be assured it was beautiful. We ate wonderfully on Cape Cod, from Matt's mother's excellent cooking, to fresh tart blueberries from the yard, to my mother's cheesy omelettes and linguica egg sandwiches at the Portuguese Bakery in Provincetown, one of the best places in the known world. At home, Jon picked up the CSA, which included another kohlrabi, greens, and a large bunch of cucumbers.

Along the way, the past few weeks' efforts have included BBA challenge bread #9, Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread (with pecans and craisins), twice. It was excellent, and not photogenic, no pics. Next up is corn bread, filled with honey, corn, buttermilk, and possibly bacon.

And, in wedding cake news, Stacey and I took a trip to New York Cake and Baking Supply on 22nd Street, and played with everything. We piled pans on top of one another in several different configurations, and finally decided on a tiered cake, using 10", 8", and 6" layers (Rose tells me that standard size is 12", 9", and 6", which serves 150 people. This wedding will be closer to 90 people, and they will also have access to a 'brownie tower,' so I think that the layering we've chosen will be perfect. I do wonder if having only a two-inch different between the layers will make the tiering look less pretty, as Rose leaves a three inch difference in most of her combinations, but when we stacked the pans the result looked pretty good. The rigging needed for stabilization might mean that there are some dowel/straw holes in somebody's piece of cake, but hey, it's a wedding. Also: super-secret possible fondant magic, from a mystery guest. After playing with all the pans in the store, I went right home and ordered them all online, from a much cheaper source. Details when my new toys arrive.