Candy Clay Wrap Up

O.K so this is only about 2 months late.  But, I did want to do a brief report about my fabulous candy clay idea for my son’s candy theme birthday party.  It was not all I dreamed, but who could dream this?

I switched to colored melting disks made by Wilton.  (dumb.)  I thought it would be cool to have a lot of colors for the kids to play with especially since I was unsure about the ability of the food color markers to work on the surface of the oily candy.  So, in order to get a lot of colors, we had a LOT of candy clay.  I’m talkin’ pounds folks!

The only new and useful thing I have to tell you is this: when the instructions say to melt gently, them mean “uber” gently.  This stuff separated so badly that I was certain I would need to pitch it.  I spent a lot of time kneading the candy with my silpat mat to get it to come back together again, and was able to save most of it.

So the big Saturday arrives and I am well stocked with candy clay.  The day looks iffy weather-wise.  It has rained for days and there is only a chance that it will clear up.  I have mixed feelings about this.  On one hand, this means the clay project will take place in the dining room where I have nearly white carpeting.  On the other hand, I hate the carpet and have been neglecting it for years in the hopes that it will get so bad we will have no choice but to replace it.  This could be my big chance.

Party time, the rain stops.  The kids, who all have been cooped up for days due to rain and the start of school, go outside and play without giving the candy clay a second glance. (Who can blame them.)  The are all polite kids so they did give it a brief go.  I think only one kid actually completed some sort of sculpture, that he forgot to take home with him.  I was a little disappointed, but the rest of the party went really well, so who can complain.

The party gods were certainly on my side though.  That evening S started to complain of a sore throat.  Early Monday he was diagnosed with strep throat.  So my little project that would’ve meant lots of germ-my hands playing in moist candy to be eaten later would’ve been the perfect way to infect a group of children, except the great outdoors were a greater temptation. Huzzah!  No one who was at the party got sick.  How great is that!  (But I’m still stuck with this awful carpet.)

Candy Clay, Take Two

The second recipe is based on candy melting disks and is very simple.  But, despite the simplicity there were some variations among the recipes I found.  All of them used the candy melting disks combined with corn syrup.  The weight of the disks used varied from 10 oz. to 16 oz.,  but oddly the amount of corn syrup always remained at 1/3 cup.  The other difference was the amount of cooling time, this varied from 3 hours to overnight.  For my version I decided to use 14 ounces of disks (1/3 cup corn syrup) and cool for 3 hours.  

Here is how things went for me.

I slowly melted 14 oz. of candy disks, and then stirred in 1/3 cup corn syrup.  The disk were initially very smooth and creamy with a matte surface after melting.  I noticed a change in the quality of the disks as soon as I added the syrup.  It became gooier  and much more shinny.  At first I thought this was the effect of the cool syrup lowering the temperature but the texture change persisted even after the syrup was fully incorporated and warmed.

 

Candy Clay Cooling on Silicone Mat

I then poured the mixture out onto a silicone mat to cool.  Waxed paper would also be suitable.  You can see the clay is very shiny.  There seemed to be a layer of oil on the surface of the clay.  Most of the oil was pulled back into the clay as it cooled.  I then covered the clay with waxed paper to avoid cat prints from my very curious pets.

Candy Clay Bear Made With Melting Disk Recipe

After three hours of cooling, I made bear in the picture above.  

Here is how the clay rated against my criterion.

• Stickiness:  A little less sticky than the first recipe I tried.  The stickiness here was due to oil from the melting disks and not a sugar stickiness.  B-
• Color Fast: OOPS!  I forgot to color this clay, so I don’t know the answer here.
• Consistency: As you can see in the photo above, this clay held the shape much better than the first recipe.   A-
• Taste: Like white chocolate.  B+  But, I’m sure that the quality of the melting disks used could vary a great deal.  It will pretty much taste like what ever disks you purchase.

Red: "Frosting" Clay, White: Melting Disk Clay

Over all I think I liked the melting disk clay better.  A disadvantage of this clay is that you need to use the stove to melt the disks; clearly this can’t just be handed to young kids for an “on their own” project.  Since I will prep this clay in advance, the use of the stove is not an issue, and the active prep time for this clay was less than the frosting clay.  The white clay seemed to handle much better, and held shapes much better.  As you can see in the photo above, the frosting like clay continued to slump even more after I took the first photo.  I am also considering just leaving the melting disk clay white and letting the kids color their creations with food coloring markers.  I will probably chill them in the fridge for a while before coloring.  I know some kids will love sculpting with the clay, some will just eat it and some will head straight for the sand box.  But everyone will be busy.

Plans for our party are going well and I’m really looking forward to the day.  I will post some photos of the kid’s sculptures (and maybe mine) after the party next month.

BTW, I finished the invites yesterday.  I think they will be a hit!

Candy Birthday Party Invites. The invitation is printed on the reverse of the wrapper.

 

 

 

Candy Clay

Birthday parties are a big deal at our house.  We get a little crazy and always try to do something out of the ordinary.  Last year we had a Pokemon party.  Since the characters in Pokemon frequently are on the road and camp out a lot, we did too.  I borrowed a digital projector and we showed Pokemon movies on the back of the house while the kids roasted marshmallows.  Later they all retired to tents.  You can see the cake I made on the Photos page.

This year S has requested a “candy” party.  As an activity, I thought we should make some sort of edible candy craft.  Candy clay seems the perfect thing.  Many of the guests bring younger siblings and pleasing them all is sometimes problematic.  If they are not interested in sculpting with it, they can still eat it.

I started hunting around the net looking for recipes and found lots of variations of one that used candy melting disks and one other that was frosting like.  I decided it might be a good idea to test the recipes first.  The potential for disaster seems pretty high.  (Our party will be outside and I can just see 8 children covered in sticky goo that leaves brightly covered stains on everything after we turn the hose on them!)  I would like a candy clay is not too sticky, is relatively color fast, has a consistency similar to playdoh, and would taste good.  I decided to try the frosting like recipe first. Here it is: 

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring

1. Combine powdered sugar, corn syrup, salt, margarine, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.  

2. Mix until the dough doesn’t feel sticky.  You may add more powdered sugar to make it less sticky 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  be sure to add it slowly and stop when the dough feels dry.

3. Divide the dough into smaller balls and put each ball into a separate bowl.

4. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl.  Make the dough in each bowl a different color.

5. Mix the food coloring into the dough with a spoon so you don’t stain your hands.  Once the food coloring starts ti blend in, use your hands to knead it in.

6. Sculpt a creation.  Eat them soon as they will become rock hard over time.

THE RESULTS:

I made a 1/2 recipe all in the same color to keep things simple.  The clay took a lot of mixing to get it to come together.  I did have to add the extra 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, ABOUT THREE TIMES!  The clay was very sticky for a long time.  I added about 1 teaspoon of red paste color.  When I got to the point of kneading the clay, I added MORE powdered sugar, maybe a cup.  I stopped when the surface of the clay would crack a little when I pushed down on it.  Despite all the extra sugar this clay still gets sticky when your hands get warm.  It is sugar after all.  So, here is how it rates on my criterion.

• Stickiness:  Not too bad, although doing this on a sunny deck may be problematic.  C
• Color Fast: Also, not bad a after all the mixing was done and it rested for a minute or two. B
• Consistency: As you can see in the photo below, there is a lot of slump.  C-
• Taste: Like frosting.  S thought we should have something that tasted more like candy, or that we flavor each color differently.  That would be easily accomplished by substituting various extracts for the vanilla.

Candy Clay Bear made with the "Frosting" Recipe

So, I think I will test the other recipe sometime next week.  Look for Candy Clay Take 2.

Mini Moon

As promised, here are the rest of the details from my wonderful holiday weekend.

I awoke Sunday morning with a hangover, a mild one.  But since this was my first in more than 10 years it seemed significant.  Breakfast was made for our overnight guests.  A little more catching up and then, reluctantly, they had to hit the road.  

J and I continued cleaning up from the party at a leisurely pace.  We talked a lot about the party, mostly about things that were said that the other missed.  We watched the chipmunks play in the retaining wall that we put in last fall.  They moved in pretty quick we thought, and there is now three little chipmunk families in our yard.  Their presence only added to our blessed feeling that morning.

The clean up took until lunch time.  We had some re-heated ribs and other left-overs from the party.  We all packed up our bags and head off.  S to grandma’s and J and I south.

When J and I first talked about our celebration we had considered the Summit Inn Resort as a place for the festivities.  As time wore on we decided that it would be a barrier to those attending from out of town, it would add an hour each way to their trip and make wallets much lighter.  Not to even mention that about half of our guest list consisted of kids under the age of eight, and although a beautiful spot, not entirely a fun place for kids.  So we decided to overnight there after the party for a “mini-moon”.

If you don’t know about this place have a look at the link above.  The hotel was built over 100 years ago over looking a beautiful valley in SW PA.  It has seen many renovations over the years so it has many modern amenities (indoor pool, game room) that you would expect from a resort and the oldest part of the complex has been restored.  Unfortunately, a large part of the upgrades took place in the 50’s and 60’s and some of those parts of the complex retain their lack of charm.  The rooms, however, are beautiful.  

We arrived a bit before out room was ready, so we enjoyed a soda on the expansive porch that overlooks the valley.  The weather was sunny, but not over warm, in short, perfect.  We checked into our room and then went down to the restaurant for an early dinner.  The food was very good, but nothing to “wow” about.  I think the garnishes were trying to hard.  After dinner we went for a walk on the surrounding property.  It was pleasant walking but unfortunately the woods had been cut through with many access roads for natural gas wells.  The roads made for easy walking but really did detract from the ideal walk in the woods.

When we got back to the hotel we poked around a bit exploring the labyrinth of a building.  The have a HUGE amount of event space.  What made it fun was despite the fact that the decor was way out of date, it did actually have some character.  The decor extended to the architecture of the rooms, unlike modern banquet facilities that just slap some wall paper on the the sides of a sheet rock box and call it decor.  My favorite was the “Baron Von Munchhausen Room” that boasted a 60’s Bavarian look. 

We eventually ended up in the game room where we played ping pong and pin ball, all with a valley view.  Then we went back to our room to take advantage of yet another valley view and watch the sun set.

The next morning we set off early and just sort of wandered the mountains. It was so pleasant to ride in the car, have adult conversation interspersed with silence and enjoy the views.  We stopped at a few antique shops and at a dying outlet mall.  We found a few meager bargains and decided to head home after a very light lunch.  Good thing we did too.  Poor S was bored to death of the grandmas and quite ready to go home.  Apparently, Great-grandma had wanted to go “visiting” the night before and they dragged poor S to the homes of 2 or 3 different elderly ladies that S has never met before.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend.  I wonder what we will dream up for our 25th?  

Whew!

What a weekend! 

Let’s start on Friday.  J took the day off to help get ready for the party.  He was really wound up and flew through the work.  (As usual, he is not good at pacing himself, so kept sneaking peeks at my “to-do” list because he had already finished his.  This meant we got on each others nerves a bit over  . . . well let’s just call them quality control issues.)  My mom came over to help with the house work too, so it was not a very stressful day all in all.  We even had time to get the last few issues worked out with the hot tub so S was able to go in after dinner.  (Yep, paella again!)

Saturday arrived and J and I were both wound up now, so the last of the work was getting done very quickly.  It was, until my in-laws came at 10 am, and things ground to a halt.  I didn’t think we would see them until at least lunch time.  So we talked and caught up and had a simple lunch, no, NOT paella. 

My in-laws irritate me.  They only come to our home once every two to three years.  A typical visit will last 6 to 10 hours despite the fact that it is a drive over 9 hours one way.  I always have a room ready for them, unless they show up with-out warning as they did on their previous visit.  But, none the less even then all I need to do is put fresh sheets on the bed.  My father-in-law is retired, my (step)mother-in-law is not.  She continues to work at a job that does not pay well and where they are very inconsiderate of the employees.  She has been at this job for more than 20 years and it would not even occur to her to take an extra day off for an event like our renewal of vows, even when the day is Memorial Day.  So, once again they took off after about 8 hours, and managed to gripe about the timing of the party.  I should be grateful it was only brought up once.  I also try to convince myself it could be worse, that generally they ignore us instead of hassle us and complain about stuff.  The biggest issue that just really bugs me is that the children from step-mom’s first family get so much more face time than S.  One of the other grandkids spends a whole month in the summer living with them and my son is lucky to get one long weekend a year and the burden of travel is nearly always on us.  For that weekend we have to travel the nine hours north or to a step sister’s home four and a half hours east.  We have made the trip east about 10 times, and step-sister’s family has never come to our home despite repeated invitations.  My son is very confused, he thinks that step sister’s home is his grand parent’s home too.  Oh, off-topic, sorry, rant over.

So once lunch was over, I excused myself and went back to work.  J and his parents hopped in the car to go to Clem’s to pick up the meat for the party.  I was kind of grateful for the quiet house, but now we have subtracted an hour and a half from the time Grandparents could have used to get to know their grandson.  Grrrrrrrr.

(BTW, Clem’s has a beautiful new building 3 miles east of their old location.  So it is very close to Blairsville now.)

I should probably take a moment to marvel at how the weather cooperated this weekend.  (Now that it is pouring rain AGAIN!)  Not only did we have a nice day for the party, but a day and a half prior was rain free enough to do a lot of yard work in advance and J and I had wonderful weather for our overnight trip the day after as well.  We were SO stinking lucky!

By three o’clock my best friend from college (D) and her kids arrived.  YEAH!  It is so nice when ever I get t see her, two years ago we managed to get visit with her and her family.  It is one of those friendships were we pick up again like we just saw each other yesterday.  

Just before four, the pastor arrived and all the guests were here by 4:30.  The ceremony went very well, tears were shed as anticipated/feared, and ended with a big laugh.  When the bride was kissed, all 10 kids went “eewwwh” in unison and then took off in a sprint for the back yard. The adults responded with laughter and applause.   I know it was one of those “had to be there” moments, but it was quite memorable.

Dinner was served and was enjoyed by all.  The kids played, the adults lounged until the kids teased all the Dads into a game of tag and sword fighting.  As dark began to fall, S mad it very clear that he had waited too long for s’mores and a camp fire was lit.  Now it was sincerely dark and all the guests headed home except D and her kids who were spending the night.

All three of the kids enjoyed the hot tub (reeaallly enjoyed, they needed goggles to cope with all the splashing) until about ten.  Then dressed for bed we all enjoyed the fireworks that were part of the local recreation departments” Beginning of Summer Celebration” in the park that is about half a mile from the house.  Then we sent all the kids to bed, cleaned up a bit and then we collapsed into bed around midnight.

Whew!  What a wonderful day!  Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the little trip J and I took.

 

 

 

 

20 Years!

Yesterday was my 20th wedding anniversary.  It was a good day for the most part.

 After getting S off to school I had to go to the university for a while.  We are still in the process of moving.  Yesterday we had to sort things we didn’t think we would need for next year to go into deep storage.  Some things sorted easily, others were puzzling.  It was difficult to keep four scripts in my head and then say “yes, we might need that”, or “no, not gonna need it”.  

The part that was uncomfortable was that the TD started asking about what designs I wanted to do next year.  Which meant I had to start projecting what was going to happen with the adoption.  Also, I don’t think he is aware of the discussion I had with the program director, where I said I didn’t want to commit to more than my half-time contract until I knew what was happening.  In any case, I was starting to get a bit flustered because I didn’t want to have this conversation around students (who were hired to help with the move.)  TD is a smart guy, he must have known that I was struggling and didn’t ask again. 

After the sorting task I went to my office briefly to sign some purchase approvals, turn in receipts and the like.  That done, I did a little clearance rack shopping and went to lunch.  That is when it started to rain AGAIN!  I then called J to ask if it would be a problem if I didn’t pick up the mulch, fearing the mess the wet bags would make of myself and the car.  Turns out he was on his way home to surprise me for our anniversary!  So he got the mulch since he had the van, and we met at home.  We did a bit of yard work (rain stopped) until S came home from school.  And prepared to head out to dinner.

Just then my mom and grandmom showed up with gifts, since they (the gifts, that is) have been forbidden at the party on Saturday.  Gifts were opened, cooed over and maternal units sent on their happy way.  Then on to dinner!

We drove into the city to a well-known Spanish restaurant, Mallorca.  J and I both had paella and S ordered Alaskan king crab.  The food there is always wonderful.  S was in heaven, he loves seafood and he ate most of his crab along with some of my food.  He sampled deep-fried squid (our appetizer) mussels, clams, shrimp, langosta (mini lobster tail), and scallops.  Loved all of it but was luke-warm on the mussels.  For desert J ordered creme brulee and S and I ordered sherbet.  The sherbet was delicious and looked awesome.  It was made at the restaurant and used the empty fruit rinds for dishes, so it looked like a a big piece of frozen fruit on your plate.  S ordered watermelon and they even stuck mini chocolate chips in the sides to look like seeds.  I had the pineapple, and ate a lot more than I thought I could because it was so good.  

We over ordered though and brought home as much as we ate.  If you go, think of the paella as a dinner for two.  I think I will be eating paella for about three days.

Back home, for homework and baths and to bed with S.  J and I shared one of the mini champagnes left from New Year and called it a night.

But then, I could not sleep.  First it was party preparations, then work in the Fall and then what if there is no adoption.  First I was cold, then I was hot and then it was too late for a sleep aid.  If it is too late I can’t wake up gracefully to get S to school.  So today I will have a little extra caffeine and, if I’m really lucky, a nap.  But, I have a long “to do” list today, so I should stop blogging and get to work.  No parties for the lazy.