Cobblestone Streets

This is another traveling marshmallow. I brought this little one with me on my trip a few weeks ago. It is so rainy today, but it was so sunny and beautiful when I went! The main roads downtown are all cobblestones. It makes for such a bumbly ride in the car, and such a quaint walk when you are walking or shopping. It’s a real experience. I didn’t get the best shot or angle for my photo shoot, and the cobblestones that happen to be under my feet at that point were actually squares not the true round cobblestones that the cars drive on. My chocolate covered marshmallow has various colors of brown and mode fondant that I had balled up into tiny ‘rocks’ to place atop my marshmallow treat.

The leaning tower of lighthouse

I love lighthouses, especially when I get to visit them during beautiful crystal clear blue sky days, and I love lighthouses even MORE when I have a marshmallow queued up for a scenic photo shoot. This is an amazing view of Brandt Point. I made the marshmallow in advance of course, and my recollection was it had stripes…wrong was I. The breeze was blowing, the boats were sailing, and it was just an all around gorgeous day. My little marshmallow fared well during the trip although the lighthouse started to tilt just a tad…aaaah, the struggles of traveling marshmallows. I have another traveling marshmallow coming up from the little trip. Thanks for your patience in my delayed postings!

The Chipwich

I attended a big cookout and I knew in advance that the ice cream truck was going to be there…so I made ahead of time this yummy fondant chipwich ice cream to go atop my marshmallow to bring with me to the cookout.  This was a tasty little invention by Richard LaMotta... He took yummy ice cream and sandwiched it between two tasty chocolate chip cookies. I was excited to make a replica and I was so excited to arrive and get a snapshot of it with the ice cream truck behind it. It was beautiful weather…not too hot, not too cool. The tinkly music could barely be heard over the band playing and the hustle and bustle of everyone getting their food, but before I sat to eat I took my little marshmallow out and took a picture in front of the truck. It had been so long since I last had a chipwich, I was caught a bit off guard to see that the chipwich has chips on the ice cream, too. That’s better than I had remembered! Yum!

Elephants Marching

The elephants go marching one by one hurrah, hurrah..the elephants go marching one by one HUUraaaah HUUURAAAAH…….the song goes on…but I think its ants not elephants. Anyway, I love this sweet little scene of four elephants walking along in a line one after the other. I created a 5^th little mini fondant elephant to go on top of my marshmallow. My hand molded fondant elephant is resting carefully atop a chocolate covered marshmallow in line right behind the 4^th (and smallest) wooden elephant. It is mostly resting on the back two legs, as the chocolate marshmallow top was a tad sloped as you can see. I used my appetizer pick and knife to make the elephants folds and wrinkles, I also like how in some of the areas my fondant started to wrinkle like real elephant skin all on it’s on as it was drying out. I forgot the tusks but I there is a tiny pink mouth that I applied with my bamboo tweezers. A real elephant weighs about 12,000 pounds… my marshmallow weights about .5 grams.

Let's go water tubing!

There was no way I could take a picture of this little treat on location. I made it in advance to bring with me on a little boat trip, however, once I got on the boat, there was no way I was going to be able to position my marshmallow safely (no life vests for marshmallows) and take a picture without loosing my camera or the marshmallow over board. Plus, it was SO hot in the sun that the marshmallow and fondant art wouldn’t have lasted long enough for a picture. SO, I’m considering this marshmallow to be an on-site traveling marshmallow, because I DID in fact bring it with me on the boat, I just brought it back and took the picture this evening instead….to SAVE the marshmallow. It was in its best interest.  It is a water tube…where you sit on it and the boat pulls you through the water.  Being on the boat today reminded me when I was growing up we would take turns riding (I think the tube was called the ‘screamer’) and we’d bounce behind the motorboat (which I’m pretty sure was called Big Bertha) while trying not to get thrown off the tube and into the lake. Aaah, being on the boat today reminded me of old times, indeed. It sure was fun, then and now!  I used my food colorants to get the deep rich blue water colors, and I carefully tore each little piece to give the waves and texture of the lake water. The tube is a yellow piece of fondant hand shaped into tube form. It was tricky to get the ‘ropes’ attached. …Hang on tight!

Over the hill

Here is another traveling marshmallow in the wilderness….it bravely road four thousand miles up a gondola to reach the summit with me and take a breath of the crisp air. I like that this marshmallow mountain scene is in bloom with a green hill, sun and lake in the background. If you look closely you can see a little blanket with a picnic basket. This was a little easier to make than the ‘mountain ranges’ of the last couple days.

Who wants some more s’mores?

I’m sure from last nights post one would wonder ‘why isn’t there a S’mores post?’ Well, there is! I took two teeny tiny pieces of brown fondant cut them with my Showtime #15 knife to make the graham crackers and then put dark brown ‘chocolate’ carefully wedged between two white bead fondant marshmallows. I used my appetizer pick to make the lines and dots on top of the cracker. It’s a little thicker than a real graham cracker, but it is also 100 times smaller than a real one too.  Then I perched it on top of the fire pit just before lighting it (the fire pit, not my sweet marshmallow).  Two more marshmallow post on vacation, then back to the grind.

You make me melt

It is no secret I have a passion for marshmallows, and marshmallows make me melt. Sometimes I melt them, I just try not to burn them…and tonight I carefully roasted them over an open fire. Warm, gooey deliciousness toasting over an open fire on my roller roaster stick. Yum!

Get nearer to nature

Get nearer to nature…and take a hike! Well, not literally. Take a hike on one of my sweet trails going up the mountain side of this tasty marshmallow treat. This is the second marshmallow to travel this high above sea level…second only to yesterday’s delectable treat.  I feel proud to have transported and carefully brought these sweet gems to an amazing new level.

A Mountain or a Mole Hill

The weather forecasted cloudy with a 40% chance of rain, and I ended up with 80 degrees and 100% sun. It was a great action packed day! I made several marshmallows yesterday so that I would have them ready for my trip to the mountains. I have them all on ice, and I can tell you that at my first stop today I found the ice was not holding out. I kept the fondant pieces separate from the marshmallows because I though it would help avoid any breakage during transportation and it did help in breakage, however, now the fondant art is kind of hovering over the chocolate covered marshmallow. But that is ok. The marshmallows (which were already a bit wonky) became a little melted and in one area cracked. But that is ok, too.  I think for my purposes of on-location marshmallow viewage you won’t be able to tell the difference. I think this is the first marshmallow to travel approximately 4,400 feet above sea level! I’m teary eyed….!

Bare marshmallows present

I was running out the door to meet some very important people for dinner this evening. I couldn’t resist an onsite marshmallow opportunity at a really fun restaurant, but was uber crunched on time, so I quickly grabbed four naked (i.e. not covered in chocolate or candy coating) marshmallows from the package to take along for an informal photo shoot. After dinner I perched the tasty treats in front of the giant salt water aquarium. I wanted to take a picture of them in front of the giant gorilla that was overlooking our table but it was too dark and even with my flash the picture was not coming out right. As you can tell this restaurant totally rocks….. with gorillas, apes, tigers and every 30 minutes a pretend ‘rainstorm’ hits above. This place is great fun. I ordered a veggie burger with extra pickles and chose french fries instead of chips (who chooses potato chips over greasy hot fries?) The burger was bogus, and I only ate the bread and pickles…but I guess we were paying for atmosphere not food, and that’s a-ok, sometimes, especially when the wait staff yells “CHOCOLATE VOLCANO” every time they walk by with a giant hot brownie sundae (I ordered one of those too…YUM!).  The reef tank was quite impressive and the fish that was most intrigued with the marshmallows by the tank was called a Heniochus Butterfly….its astunning fish, almost as stunning as the marshmallows, hee, hee!

The tide is coming in...

It is much easier to build a sand castle out of sand than it is to build a teeny tiny one out of fondant to go on top of a marshmallow, that’s for sure. Todays marshmallow was also made in advance (and kept on ice until the photo shoot today) and here is a rendition of my sand castle to harmonize with yesterdays post.  Part of the real sand castle is to the right of the marshmallow. I had used my showtime #15 knife to make the crenellation and my appetizer pick to make the windows in my fondant castle.  If I had a macro-lens on my camera I could zoom in to one of the windows and you’d see me waving and saying ‘Its soooooooo relaxing here on the beach!’

Towel? Check. Sunblock? Check. Marshmallows? Check.

I made this marshmallow in advance to take along in my mini-cooler (with lots of ice) on a little beach trip. I was able to indulge in warm sun, calm water and relaxation.   This time I brought along pails and shovels to build some sand castles! This is a real masterpiece and took great skill to get the white fondant handle onto my tiny fondant pail and carve the shape of the shovel. It also took great skill to take the picture…FAST…because it was so hot on the beach and the white chocolate curvature was melting.  These on-site marshmallows aren’t easy to eat afterwards because the poor little things sure take a beating with the transport and weather conditions.

Sailboat

I made this marshmallow in advance to take with me on a day trip. It was close to 100 degrees and I put extra ice in my little cooler to keep my chocolate covered marshmallow creation from melting.  I missed the boat to my original destination so I made the best of it on the main land.  It was a peaceful day with boats of all kinds coasting by and warm breezes all afternoon. It was a perfect scene for an edible sailboat photo shoot.  For my marshmallow I had rolled out the ocean blue fondant and hand molded a little boat, with the finest white sail. The fondant red flag took the hands of a surgeon to place on top with out destroying my sail.

And here is another view at the house:

The Edible Tansu

I took todays marshmallow on location with me for the photo shoot to get a picture of it atop an amazing artistic piece of furniture called a Tansu.  Tansu is the word for chest, chest of drawers or cupboard in Japanese.  It is a finely crafted piece of furniture that combines beauty and functionality.  This particular marshmallow I made earlier is a miniature replica of a master craftsman’s Tansu atop the white curvature. This is a Kaidan-dansu (or step-chest) Tansu. Like a real wooden Tansu my fondant was carefully crafted to get the steps even and attach the silver handles to each drawer. During transportation I lost one of the drawer handles on my piece…but that is the danger that comes with on-site marshmallow photography I guess. To add some color to my piece, I created a fondant potted plant along side my Tansu. 

Not your average cup of Joe

I made this marshmallow in advance in anticipation for a much needed iced coffee and brought the delectable treat on location for the photo shoot. What a great way to kick off the weekend. I rolled the fondant to make a plastic ‘cup,’ twisted the ‘whip cream’ and carefully inserted a green tinted ‘straw’ and glued the sugary treat to a chocolate covered marshmallow using curvature in my piping bag.  I ordered a venti, iced, two pump café, 1 pump de-cafe, non-fat, no whip, no cin, cinnamon dolce latte.  The barista knew exactly what I wanted and she served it up with a smile! THANK YOU!

Mamma Mia

I went to the Italian section of town for dinner to feast at one of the oldest restaurants in the city. A man playing an accordion was down the street so the festive mood was set before we even entered. Built in 1931 and located in the historic section of town we sat at a large table (we were a party of 10) and ate delicious Italian food while talking and laughing. I ordered the Gnocchi al Filetto di Pomodoro.  The restaurant had a charming atmosphere and the food was delish - I would certainly go back.  My sister helped me search for an ideal place to perch my sweet treat which we first took at the bar area while we waited for our table. I had made my chocolate covered marshmallow in advance in anticipation of the cannoli I was planning to order after my meal.   After covering my marshmallow I rolled out the brown fondant for the cookie shell and rolled it so the corners met at the top. Instead of the cream filling I used white fondant that I had fluffed with a hors d'oeuvre pick. When I made the marshmallow I let the curvature dry before putting the cannoli on top and attached it using some melted chocolate in my piping bag.

All the linens at our table were white, so the server offered her black tray so I could get a zoom portrait of my tasty confection. Here is another picture.



Airport Open House

What a fun day! I made this marshmallow in advance so I could take it on location with me to a little airport Open House not to far away. I created a fondant “run-way” on my chocolate covered marshmallow, packaged it up and toted it in my mini-cooler to the airport. It was a gorgeous blue sky day and the airfield was loaded with onlookers and many small planes. The pilots and volunteer staff were so friendly and eager to give me a tour and show me their planes. There were Pipers, Cessnas, Gliders and a hot air balloon basket.  Between several small planes taking off (and two helicopter landings) I was able to get onto the edge of the runway to showcase my little marshmallow delight.

Here is another view of my tasty marshmallow inside the cockpit of a Cessna 172: