New Hobby

Taylor emailed me the other day, sharing with me the new Groupon for Orange County.  If you aren't familiar with Groupon, it’s awesome and you should definitely sign up for the one in your area (go to groupon.com)! Basically, Groupon negotiates huge discounts—usually 50-90% off—with popular businesses in your area. They send the deals daily to you in an email.  The deals are usually coupons for restaurants, massage places, fitness classes, oil changes, hair salons, etc.  Anyway, the Groupon Taylor sent me was a 50% coupon for cake decorating classes at a local bakery. 

I have been really into baking lately (and cooking), mainly because of the new and fun kitchen gadgets people blessed Taylor and I with as wedding gifts :)  I also did a lot of baking in college with my roommate Sophie, who is now working her way through culinary school in Washington DC to become a pastry chef.  She taught me many different things to bake and cook in college.  We'd stay up real late and bake for hours— things for friend's birthdays, things for our neighbors, things for parties we were going to, or just things for ourselves and roommates (which probably didn't help us defeat the "freshman twenty").  Most of the time, I would actually just watch her and chat with her for hours, because I couldn't do nearly as good of a job as she did.  I think, though, this is when I grew to love baking. 

So, I ended up purchasing the Groupon, and am super excited excited about it! The deal includes a 4-week course on any level I choose.  (I will stick with beginner course for now) The classes will be 2 hours each session, 1 night per week.  In the beginner's class, we learn how to create: 

·  borders, scallops, basket weave, roses

·  my own choice cake

·  cupcake bouquets

·  and character cakes

Just the basics for now—since I know nothing so far. If I decide to take further classes, we learn how to make wedding cakes, bikini cakes—wohoo :), fondant, flowers with gum paste, fondant bows, color flow, and other decorating techniques.

For the classes, and obviously to continue cake decorating on your own, you do need a lot of supplies—tips, couplers, a rose nail, a turntable, a cake comb, and drape markers.  So, if anyone knows a way to get those items at a discounted price, let me know! :)

I'm really excited about it!  After baking a lot this Christmas season (and loving it), I tossed around the idea of maybe pursuing it a little bit further someday...opening a bakery, doing some in home baking for people as a side job, doing it for charitable purposes...who knows?  The beauty of being a teacher is having summers to enjoy new hobbies :)  I'd love to continue learning and seeing how well I like it….I’ll keep you posted!