SC - badge malfunction PLUS Marzipan

[L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt]

Howdy!

My e-mail file took a major nose-dive yesterday, and my IN box was wiped
out. The darned computer doesn't like to be turned off in mid-send by a
three year old. Go figure.

At any rate, I have norecord of any NEW requests for badges since yesterday
morning. This means, basically, that if you sent me a request and I didn't
reply, either I didn't get it OR I did get it but it got wiped out.

Additionally, I lost the address of the kind soul who was going to make ME a
badge. Clarissa, I believe? I'm three nights short of sleep, so the grey
matter isn't functioning properly.

And now, a cook related question: has anyone ever burned out a Braun
coffee/spice mill, and if so, can it be fixed? I lost one to grinding barley
for a bannocks recipe experiment last year. My new one (8 mos. old)died last
week from grinding almonds (only 1 lb) for marzipan. It didn't really over
heat. It just quit. 

Here's a hint, folks: when making marzipan, the best grind is either by hand
in a mortar/pestle (but you risk getting almonds that oil before you're
finished, from the  pressing/crushing action of the pestle), and the next
best is the  coffee mill. It's quick---no oiling. I had to resort to a
handblender with a chopper attachment (since a normal blender's or food
processor blades can't get them to grind small enough). The result was
useable, but my marzipan sculpture had a rough quality reminiscent of cheap
play clay. So my St. George was rather Mister Bill-like, and the dragon was
pretty good (he needed to look disreputable). My Damsel was dismal, because
I couldn't get a good texture to simulate hair. Normally I would have
pressed the marzipan through a coarse mesh to get hair-like fine spaghetti
for hair, but the almond paste was too coarse due to the coffee mill failure.

The Bride and Groom, who resembled (roughly) St. George and the Damsel, were
delighted, however, so I guess that's what counted. By the way, Gold leaf
will stick to fresh Marzipan (still damp-ish) with no additional stick-um
needed. If the Marzipan has sat a while, it needs to be misted with water or
painted with sugar syrup (thanks Ras) to get the gold leaf to stick. My St.
George had gold-leaf flecking his blonde hair, since I couldn't figure out
how to make a halo. We did his celtic cross in gold-leaf-flecks on yellow,
too. Plus, silver shot (for cooking---those little silver balls) makes great
dragon-toenails! With the green dragon's spine-ridge and ribs picked out in
gold-leaf, he was a favorite. I had quite a few complaints that he was
slayed though. They didn't like the spear sticking out of his side (complete
with gore)! I guess I've lost all credibility with the Reptilian Brigade. 

Ah well. Back to the pastry-board.

Aoife. 

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