Old-House Expo & Architectural Cake Competition Update

"Patricia's Wellness Art's Cafe" cake on display in the Shower's Building


This is a follow up to my last brief post on Bloomington, Indiana's 2nd Annual Old-House Expo & Architectural Cake Contest which took place Saturday, May 11 2013 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the atrium of Bloomington’s City Hall at 401 N. Morton St. Eight non-professional bakers had cakes in the contest. Cakes ranged from a 19th-century jack plane, a covered bridge to the Taj Mahal! Every participant received an award. Judges for the delectable event were Tommy Kleckner of Indiana Landmarks, Gayle Cook of the Monroe County History Center and Erica Sagon of Edible Indy Magazine.


The photo above shows my Patricia's Wellness Arts Cafe cake, recipient of the “Most Herbal Essence” award and later judged “best tasting”, with Carol Krause’s Downton Abby, recipient of the “Masterpiece” award to the left. Beyond that is Kathy Holland’s “Smitty’s Standard Station” on West Second Street). I loved the use of gummy candy as hose for the gas pump and gummy rings with lifesaver inserts for the wheels. It was one of three cakes to receive an award for “Best Looking along with cakes by Marlene Newman and Hiestand.

To my cake’s right is a historic land area of I-69 cake detailing the architectural significance of irreplaceable land and life formations; the Taj Mahala by first time cake baker Sara Schwab stands brightly white in the background. It is easy to see how this cake won an award for outstanding architecture.


Here I am receiving my award! A blue ball jar with gourmet lollypops.

This was my first ever food contest. I truly had no idea of what I was getting myself into, or the amount of time on my feet late at night to have something presentable. I started out with the intention of building my Quilter’s Comfort “Spicy Ginger Mint” Gingerbread Cake. I think I have been around too many builders because I was trapped in the idea of building a structure. I approached the entire thing from the perspective of parts to be assembled. I baked walls, front, back and sides, roof pieces and doors.

It is clear to me that I also may have been unconsciously influenced by my one experience creating a gingerbread house with my children decades ago. I even created little planter pots from my spicy mint dough to hold thyme sprigs standing in for blueberry bushes which turned out very well. I even tried to make post strong enough to hold up the front overhang. They might have worked had I some very small tube pans.

So there I was with all the pieces baked and cooled, vegan Royal Icing and my cream cheese frosting chilling in the fridge, it was time to put it all together. As I worked, I had been wondering, how was I going to get the thing to stand up? I knew that I had zero ideas for assembling everything in an upright position, and as I dried, it was becoming very clear that inner support (which I did not have) would be the only way the cake would stand. I run out of most of my grains by the time I mixed my third batch, and had resorted to using some brown rice and little barley flour. To say the least there was a variety of strength in the pieces and pieces made with the brown rice and barley began crumbling even as I stood them on edge.

The hour being late, I had been on my feet form nearly five hours, was tired of standing and I decided to lay out the building as you see in this image below and fell into bed.


I woke early the next morning with a plan. Drive to town, get flour, yogurt eggs; start over, this time making Spicy Ginger Mint Pound Cake. After a day in the “Café” I mixed up a new batch of icing and began the process of layering the soft, yet firm cake pieces together with thin coatings of cream cheese frosting. I then cut and layered pound cake to define my store, I was simultaneously deconstructing the first cake, taking large slabs of the crunchy gingerbread cake into my new cake body. Large slabs with Vegan Royal Icing were also layered to the back of my new cake.

As I worked, I thought of the eaters and how they would experience a variety of textures and taste with Quilter's Comfort's Spicy Ginger Mint as the central flavor and the different color layers ranging from caramel to light molasses.

Once I used up all the icing I had, I wished I had more frosting, then the crumbs would have disappeared and left me with a smoother finish and a slightly less rustic appearance. I knew it would taste good.

The little ginger bread pots received a dollop of frosting to secure the thyme representing blueberry bushes. Originally, I thought I would add popcorn to the little branches to represent flowers. I looked through my jars of herbs hoping to find one dried oregano branch to use as the linden tree outside the shop, alas, I did not find one so the sprig of fresh oregano would have to do. I pushed its thick limp stem down into the cake side sidewalk and supported it with amaranth linguini.



On the drive into town next morning, I asked myself what had I been thinking and that this could be thought of as a once in a lifetime experience. Upon delivering my cake and looking at all the others, I found myself wondering, what building will I bake next year?

For more information about the Old-House Expo & Architectural Cake Contest visit
http://cakecontest.wordpress.com/

Patricia's Wellness Arts Cafe & Quilter's Comfort Teas is located at 725 West Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington, Indiana. Hours are 1:00pm to 6:00pm and every first Friday 1:00pm to 8:00pm where Patricia and Yuko serve delicious herbal foods and Quilter's Comfort teas. Sometimes there is pound cake on the menu. Visit Patricia's Wellness Arts Cafe on the web at http://www.hartrock.net/cafe.htm.

Dear Readers,


Thank you for being out there. I hope that 2013 brings you much happiness, joy and great food!


I just posted an update to Local Food News. Following my brief note is an article written by a new local about a great organization, Food NOT BOMBS!


Patricia's Wellness Arts Cafe & Quilter's Comfort Teas is almost ready to announce the winner of the 2nd Annual "Name the Tea Contest". The selection of jellies, herbal, coffee, beer and wine has increased. Currently all are made using Certified Organic or locally sourced herbs from growers using organic and sustainable practices.


Visit Food News at for lots of articles and information concerning food, gardening, and food in the news.


May your gardens be abundant.



FOOD NOT BOMBS!


Bloomington, as most readers would agree, has a notable, functional, people-powered food security infrastructure to address hunger resulting from poverty. The product of decades of continuous hard work, the folks of these community organizations provide the town with a peace of mind that would otherwise not be available, and is (unfortunately) seldom found on this scale in towns throughout the US.


Most of these folks come together with a pretty straightforward goal: provide a consistent source of wholesome nutrition for every member of the community. Food security, like physical and health security, is considered by many a basic human right, and with it comes a collective responsibility. These issues are handled in many ways, from neighbors providing mutual aid, to centralized services provided by local, state and federal government. Some believe that food security can and should be kept without encouraging the exploitation of those providing and receiving these vital services(a constant risk when the solutions to such basic human rights issues are made into commodities). One group of Bloomington residents respond to this concern by not only providing free, nutritious food, but by sourcing it outside any monetary system. Free food, made free.


With the slogan 'Solidarity, not Charity!', B-Town Food Not Bombs has been a fixture in the local community, on and off, for nearly ten years and FNB has been around globally since 1980. As the group's name indicates, they can trace their roots to the Nuclear Disarmament movement of the '80s and are committed against violence and state aggression. The central difference between FNB and other groups/collectives is their penchant for sourcing their delicious (as the author and many residents can attest) vegan or vegetarian meals from no-cost, local sources. These are often vendors such as grocery stores, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) groups, local farmers and backyardeners whose donated food would have gone to waste for one reason or another, but is otherwise perfectly good and ready for our and our neighbor's plate.


The 'feeding frenzies' are free to all and take place in public spaces (here at Peoples Park most Sunday evenings) as a way to combat hunger but to also encourage real, meaningful discussion and action against poverty and homelessness...an issue that, even here, is kept more silent than it can and should be. That said, the folks are genuine, friendly and encourage a sense of community with all who attend. Cliquish-ness is discouraged by a common ground; fixing hunger.


So, as a member's invitation went one Sunday, 'B-Town Food Not Bombs presents a real, tasty meal! Come one, come all at 5:45 p.m. to People's Park. Bring the whole household, even pets! Tell a friend, tell a foe.' I'll see you there, in hunger and solidarity.


Kyle F is a recently transplanted Bloomington resident interested in food security and community-powered projects in general.'

HOT TEA MONTH IN BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EACH OF YOU! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE POTABLE WATER AND DELICIOUS .HEALTHY FOOD AND GOOD COMPANY TO SHARE IT WITH!

January is HOT Tea Month and PATRICIA’S WELLNESS ARTS CAFÉ & Quilter’s Comfort Teas is celebrating with a "Name a Tea Contest"! Tea Blender, or more aptly, tisane blender, Patricia C. Coleman of Quilter's Comfort is settling in at 725 West Kirkwood Avenue with the introduction of 14 new certified organic Quilter's Comfort proprietary blends, as soon as possible, there will be an introduction of locally sourced blends!

One of the new teas being released does not have a name! Everyone making a purchase during the month of January can submit a name suggestion for the unnamed tea. Current teas include Patricia's Delicious, Cold Thyme, Orange Earl Green, Chamomile HipHop, Owl and Pussy Cat's Berry Green (now a staple at the Runcible Spoon) All Ears and others. The person submitting the name selected by our panel of judges, Ash Burgess, Noah Dadds and Betty Irvine, will receive one bag of tea each month through 2012!

Stop in and enjoy self-serve sampling of the new nameless tea, another tea; tea syrup and tea jelly. I know, some of you are saying "tea jelly?" I have never heard of such a thing. Patricia creates what she calls a "tea essence" from one of her blends and works that into jelly. Yes, every certified organic artisan tea blend is mirrored in jelly and syrup. One taster described the jelly and syrup as subtle, complex and layered. Another expressed how there is a long pleasant mid range of delicate flavors.

If you are in Bloomington, stop in Patricia's Wellness Arts Cafe and experience what BLOOM Mag calls "A Cafe Life No Other". Not in Bloomington, Indiana and would love to taste these delicious and nutritious teas, you can place an order by calling . Visit the Quilter's Comfort website at http://www.quilterscomfort.com. They hope to have it up to date as soon as possible.

Blessings of delicious food,