The Power of Positive Thinking

Have you ever encountered a situation where thing is going down the hill and you feel bad and sad then you start saying to yourself; it will be working out just fine ? 

Well I have the same situation just a few days a go. Although this is not a huge problem but I believe in positive thinking and the power that comes within.

As we all know that I love making vintage cake stand and I am selling them through my Etsy store called MelatiRose. 

Last time I was in Florida for a month and there were lots of purchasing through my store in Etsy during that month coming to Christmas time. One in particular is from Paris who asked about the cost of shipping of one of the cake stand that she interested in purchasing. I literally took a few plates and brought them over to the post office near our home in Florida so that I can provide her with the shipping cost estimation. The actual cake stand was in New York. Long story short we went back and forth and she agreed to put the cake stand on hold. So I did just that. But when I arrived in New York ready to ship it she backed out and decided not to purchase the cake stand because at this point she afraid it will not be arriving on time for Christmas Eve. So that is fine with me. Little disappointed but that's okay !

Then about 5 days a go someone asked if she paid the cake stand {different one} now could she  gets it on time by Dec. 24th. I immediately check usps.com  on the internet and found out that it takes 1 week to get to her zip code and the next day was Saturday.  I told her if she paid now I will ship it tomorrow {which was Saturday} she will get it by Dec. 22. I did not hear from her. At this point I packaged the cake stand ready to go for shipment on Saturday morning. A day past by, 2 days past by. I did not hear from her. So I figured by this time there is no way she could get the cake stand on time unless she is willing to pay for an express overnight package which can cost a lot just for shipping. So another cake stand that did not sale !

3 days a go I opened my Etsy account found that similar plate bought and paid by another person along with 2 of my vintage earrings. Yes, that same cake stand. But saw a note  below the invoice saying that she is collecting vintage cobalt blue and gold accent china and asked if I can change the top smallest plate with the same color; cobalt blue with gold accent. And she added by saying that the cake stand is so pretty !

Now, this is the power of positive thinking comes in. When the first person did not reply I knew somebody else will eventually buy this cake stand. And I was thinking to change the listing by changing the smallest plate to the same cobalt blue with gold accent like the middle plate and the bottom plate so they will be all similar in cobalt blue with gold accent theme. I happened to buy vintage plates everywhere I go if I see something that I liked and something that I can add to my current for sale cake stands to make them prettier. Recently in Florida I bought cobalt blue with gold accent small plate ready to replace the current one. See things comes in full circle as I was about to change it this person could read my mind and asked for a similar one which I happened to have. Because sometimes this request can not be fulfilled simply because I do not have the item.

Immediately I said to her; of course I would be happy too because I was about to change it anyway without additional charge. Not only that she purchased the cake stand she also bought 2 pair of vintage earrings along with the cake stand. So it is a happy ending story for me.

 

You see, it's not always about the money but I am happy when someone appreciates my creation and my choice in making and choosing these one of a kind cake stands. I put a lot of time searching on the internet for these plates so that they will look good together. I have to be extra careful with price also. Because some of them are really pretty but they cost almost a USD 100.00 per plate. If it is too expensive no one will buy them. So I must find the pretty one that is affordable so that I can make an affordable price for people to purchase as well.

They said, it is a lot easier to make a business if you really love doing what you are doing. And I love pretty vintage plates. Not only that I love mix and match them very much ! I love the process of creating it and see them becoming into one pretty cake stand and finally sold to someone who really loves them. I love it !

So back to the topic of this post, in life, thing like this happened to me so many times. I feel blessed and grateful for what I have right now. Sometimes little thing like this makes life so meaningful and so much more beautiful. 

I believe what ever you do; if you do it with 'passion,'' patient', 'hard work' and 'believe'; success eventually will be coming to you. Life is a journey. Everything in your life comes down to these 5 words.

 

Do you see that I changed the smallest top plate to similar theme; cobalt blue rim with gold accent ? It looks so much more beautiful now ! I think she will like them. Now that the smallest plate has similar cobalt blue and gold theme I kind a love this cake stand myself. Hhhhmmmm...!!

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Macaron for Baby Shower

I finally managed to finish all the necessities to create the macarons for Dawn's baby shower on Saturday despite receiving the devastating news that I will have a serious surgery this coming Tuesday just a few days a go.

Looking at these pictures; I was very braved to ask to make these stands and represent them on Dawn's baby shower since I knew not many people knows what 'macaron' is.  I was not sure to go ahead and present them since I do not have any energy to do anything after hearing about the surgery need to be done in a few days . I gathered some courage and try to smile in the party  so with my sweet husband; Steven's help there they were  my little blue macarons on a vintage plates with vintage cups and white flowers. 

I was not sure what people are thinking about it. I am sure it was an unusual presentation but I enjoyed doing it. Yes, macaron does for certain people and not everybody likes it. I completely understand that !

"Christine & Carmella, thank you so much for letting my macaron be a part of Dawn's baby shower celebration and displaying them!"

Thank you for reading !

Pasithya Macaron/Cake Stands

I am delighted to promote my 'macarons for party' at Steven's cousin's Baby Shower in the coming month. 

I enjoy very much making the macarons that the thought of selling them came into my mind one day. But I do not just want to sell only the macarons; I want to serve them on my vintage plates. And the only way to do it is to sell the macarons for "parties", like Baby Shower, Bridal Shower, Sweet Sixteen and other parties that people will request around the area.

Since I have never done it before; to promote the business at Steven's cousin's Baby Shower would be a perfect idea. Of course I do not know if it is going to work; but I am willing to give it a try.

I have always love vintage china. These little plates and cups have been sitting at my kitchen drawer for a view years now. And I have never been using them since the day I bought them. Although they are a little worn out from being used in the past a lot; I just love the aged look of them. That is why they are called "vintage!" These are my personal collection and I love collecting the blue band vintage china. The kind that are dainty with bouquet of flowers in the middle encircling by a blue and gilded band. Occasioanlly I take them out and use them for a guests dinner party at home. They are all different motifs with the same theme of color ; blue and with bouquet of flowers of course ! Surprisingly although each plates is different in motifs and brands they are really look beautiful and elegant on the dining table together.

So this macaron stand is from my own collection; and is perfect for  a Baby Shower especially a Baby Boy Shower ! Since I love collecting beautiful vintage china and I discovered that I enjoy baking the macarons recently so the marriage of the two of them created this lovely "macaron/cake stand."

I made the tag myself made from a blue paper craft. And I drilled the plate and the cup myself to create this macaron/cake stand. 

I think it is so adorable !

Thank you for reading !

Ellya

Lovely Macaron & Cake Stand

So the question is making the macaron really difficult ? The answer is no, if you know the simple science behind making this intimidating 'lovely sweet'.

When I tried making the macarons for the first time; I was so frustrated and dissappointed and told to myself; "I will never be able to make this macaron!"

Not until I found this website www.giverslog.comhttp://www.giverslog.com/?p=1089, it was downed on me the secret of making a successful macaron. so I tried and to my disbelieve, I did it. I was very excited that I made macaron 3 days in a row.

My recipee

Basic ingredients for macaron shells

1 cup convectioners' sugar

3/4 cup almond flour, mine is from nuts.com

2 large egg whites, room temperature over night

Pinch of cream tartar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method; 1. Pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times. 2. Whisk white eggs with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add powdered sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form (about 4 to 5 minutes)If you are going to add color, I added food coloring towards the end of whipping my whites. I used water color based food coloring. 3. Pour sifted flour mixture over whites all at once, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny. I found the amount of folding to be crucial. (Please read my trouble shooting no. 2 FOLDING THE BATTER) 3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a no. 10 plain round tip. 4. Pipe 1-1/4 round on top parchment paper. (Please read trouble shooting no. 3 PIPING and no. 4 AFTER PIPING) 5. Turn on the oven to 350 deg. and lower it to 285 deg. (Please read trouble shooting no. 5 BAKING. 6. Let macarons cool (please read trouble shooting no. 6 AFTER BAKING.

Note:if you want to make ROSE flavor macarons, on method no. 2 after egg whites became stiff peak form add 2 tbsp. rose water available at grocery store or online store Kalustyans and add 1 teaspoon red water base food coloring.

If you want to make CHOCOLATE flavor macarons, on method no. 1, substitute 3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder for 1/4 almond flour. Pulse and sift all together.

~~~~~

 Recipe for Filling

Rose Filling

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoon rose water.

Method: In a bowl beat cream cheese and sugar with a electric m ixer until smooth and add 2 teaspoon rose water and beat again until smooth and spreadable.

Chocolate Filling/Ganache

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate morsels

1/4 cup heavy cream

Method: Place chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a boil in small sauce pan, and pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes whisk until smooth. Let cool, stirring occasionally until thick enough to spread about 30 minutes.

~~~~~~~~

Read the trouble shooting below before making macarons

I categorized my story of making macarons like below;

1. PREPARATION

You must have all the baking tools and ingredients within reach before hand. 2 egg whites per batch making about 40 to 45 shells macarons that is makes about 22 mocarons with filling must be left on the countertop kitchen covered with plastic wrap and touched the egg for at least a night. I cracked them when I make dinner about 7 pm then I will make the macarons around 11 am the next day. If you are beginners try to make one batch first. Or cracked 4 egg if you are ambitious enough and in case you are unsuccessful for the first try.

I baked the macarons on  tray pan with parchment paper on top (you will need 2 tray pans) per batch. I drew a perfect circle (1-1/4" tracing from an art bottle cap). Then flip the parchment paper then I would pipe the batter on top the circle.

2. FOLDING THE BATTER

After you beat the egg whites and powdered sugar until a stiff peak form (about 4 to 5 minutes) then fold in the entire dry ingredients. This is the important part of making these macarons; some recipe said you can not fold more than 50 folds. As for me, I did not count the number of the folds but I fold it carefully and gently until the batter is well mixed and reached the right consistency. Now the question is; how do you know if the batter has the right consistency. When you fold the egg to much, the batter became very thin because the egg whites will loose the air and it will collapse and became watery. You do not want this to happen because you can not fix it. It will be wasted. It is better to have less fold at first. But you do not want the batter to have less folds either because then it is too thick. When it is too thick, when piping and after baking you will not have a nice smooth surface of macarons, it will have a rough top texture which we do not want. So DO A TEST FIRST !. Take a dollop and pipe one round perfect macaron on the prepared parchment paper. And wait for about 1 or 2 minutes. The perfect macarons and after piping, the pointy tail from lifting the piping will collapse and create a smooth and shiny top of macarons. This is the correct batter macarons. If after piping leaves a sharp pointy tail and won't collapse, you need to fold the batter about 5 to 10 folds or more to make the batter slight thinner. Then do a test again. You will get the hang of it and you will know it after a few practices.

3. PIPING

Do not pipe a swirl piping (like a snail) but pipe at one point in the center then squeeze until it all filled the circle drawing. Sweeping the tip of the piping it helps smooth out the surface of macarons.

4. AFTER PIPING

Leave the finished macarons tray in a room temperature for about 40 minutes - 1 hour. By now the top of macarons will form a leathery skin. You can gently touch and it won't stick to your finger. Then it is ready to bake.

5. BAKING

While waiting for the macarons for 40 minutes you can turn on the oven to a 350 deg. F. When the tray is ready to go in, turn the oven to a 285 deg. F. Bake for about 4 to 5 minutes. If this is your first time making the macarons you must stay in front of the oven door to watch it. The truth is there is no same oven temperature; they are all different. My 285 deg oven is not the same as yours. So your best bet is turn on the oven light and watch it for the first 4 minutes. You do not want them to became brown color and start to burn. After about 3 minutes they will start to form a "feet". This is because the air inside the macaron is being  trapped on top and escaped in the bottom that create a rough texture bottom part of macarons which they call "foot" or "feet" If you see this is happening then you are successful in making the macarons. If one or two of the macarons became cracked (like mine does) lower the temperature to 260 deg. or open the oven door slightly ajar. Then rotate the tray; by now your oven is 260 deg. then you will bake for more time instead of 4 to 5 minutes, make it for 6 - 7 minutes.

6. AFTER BAKING

Now they are perfectly cooked. Leave them for about 20 to 30 minutes. Gently pick peel one macarons from the side. They should easily come off. If not leave it for more time. Maybe the center is still wet. Wait for until it is dry. If until later is still wet, you can dab water with a finger on the back of the macarons on the parchment paper and gently peel off the macarons. Believe me; they aren't all perfect. But most of them are ! You will be a master after several practices.

~~~ THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT! YOU ARE NOW CAN MAKE A PERFECT MACARON. IT IS THAT EASY !

NOTE: I found reading what people has commented on a macaron blog topic is very helpful. So my suggestion is do the reading before you make them. Then you will have a better understanding about making macarons. Making macarons is not like making your grandma's chocolate chip cookies. Anybody can follow the recipe and be very good at it instantly! Well, not with this cookie! But once you understand and yes after several failures, you can make the most beautiful and perfect macarons. So don't be afraid of failure because I failed about 6 times before I successfully made this 'oh so cute little macaron'.

Here are some pictures from my own experiences in making the macarons.

Tea stand/cake stand available at Ellya's Etsy store; click below,

Vintage Scroll Dresden Flowers Motifs Tea Stand by Ellya, Vintage Limoges Tea Stand by Ellya, Vintage Rose Pattern Tea Stand by Ellya, Tea stand and cup 'Rose pattern' by Ellya

Have Fun Everyone...!!

~~~~~~