Sweets

Just to prove I haven't been slacking off lately, here's the dessert table I was working on for the LAS Charity ball this year. The Lao American Society is basically a culture group to support and conserve Lao heritage and provides enrichment events and scholarships. My mom and I help out once in awhile for decorations and desserts.

Food can also be art, yes?

One of the plates. Pictured are some hand-dipped chocolate covered pretzel rods, coconut cakes, and mini fruit tarts. The presentation is a mini Lao khan toke and folded banana leaves. The flowers are gumpaste.


Also provided were chocolate dipped strawberries, mousse cups, pudding cups, chocolate dipped marshmallows, mini chocolate cakes, purple rice with coconut topping, and petit fours.



Super secret presentation trick: Use some old cardboard boxes or pails to get the height or shape you want. Then cover liberally with fabric. TADA!!


Simple fondant covered yellow cake. Rolled wafers on the edges, with some gumpaste flowers for decoration. I was going to do some piping on the top edges, but it was 3 am and I wanted to sleep.

The table was refilled three times and then completely gone by midnight.

Here's a recap of the event by another blogger, Boon Vong: http://www.b-vong.com/journal/?p=5463

And LAS's official home page: http://www.lasga.org/

Spotlight: Vagabond (Takehiko Inoue)

Vagabond is a Japanese historical fiction comic about the life and travels of Miyamoto Musashi. I know Japanese comics have a weird connotation of either being super girly (magical girls and talking animals) or for man-children (ninjas vs. pirates), and yeah, I read those too, but Vagabond is really a special work of its own.

The story is superb. It's primarily about Miyamoto Musashi and his journey to become "Invincible under the Sun." Why? Well, that's also part of the journey. As he matures, he realizes what it really means to be such a man. The sword fighting is brutally realistic but balanced with the characters' thoughts on how their lives revolve around it. This isn't a "save the world from evil" kind of plot. It's just people living how they can in a very rough time in history. Every character is genuine with their own history.



The art is wonderful, no exaggeration. It's the sort that makes me both sad with envy and jealously motivated. It's starts off mainly using pen but later moves into more and more brushwork and washes. Words can't do it justice, so you'll have to settle for these pictures or looking up more for yourself.


It's very philosophical for a comic. The funny thing is, I felt like a lot of what was being said about swordsmanship and life also reflected art. Although that may not be a coincidence since Musashi demonstrated great artistry in his later years.

One of my favorite parts like this was Musashi trying to cut through a snowman with a twig. After some reflection, he trusts in the tool rather than his own conceptions. "There... I feel it in my fingertips. The weight of the twig." His movements start to change and at that moment he remarks, "I can't help but smile" as he cuts through the snowman.

I've had that feeling before, probably discovering a new way to hold a brush or such, so seeing it reflected in such a way was a surprise and a joy. I also had to smile.