Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Not much fruit cake is used over here. I wish; that would give me so much more time to work on the decorations! I had three flavors: vanilla butter cake with rum gogo juice soak and a rum buttercream; vanilla butter cake with framboise gogo juice soak, a thin spread of raspberry pastry jam (a kind of hyped-up, super flavorful jam available to the pros), and raspberry buttercream; and chocolate cake with fragelico gogo juice soak and chocolate hazelnut buttercream. I tested all of the scraps--many times over ;-)--and can safely say that they were all delicious. Nothing beats good scratch baking.

Yep, I did all the gumpaste work myself. I spent a good day making about 500 of those little gumpaste cherry blossoms. I spent another good day modeling the bride and groom figurines. All in all, about 5 solid days of labor went into those cakes. And people wonder why elaborate cakes cost thousands of dollars.

[Frances]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Phew! Compared to that, building an oven should be a piece of cake, right?

( ...groan... )

[egalecki]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Nikki, your cakes looked great. I don't know where the mishap with the dowel and tequila happened, but I couldn't see it!

I made our wedding cake 6 years ago- my first experience with rolled fondant- it was kinda fun (or would have been if I hadn't been half crazy from the rest of the wedding stuff). I didn't make any flowers though! I ordered a cake topper from the florist. I don't see myself feeling a need to do it again anytime soon!

Hope your oven is coming along ok.

[Kemo]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

subscribed! looking good so far. I like how you got plenty of room to walk around the stand. How are you mixing the concrete? by hand? Plus, your work area looks WAY TOO CLEAN! Nice...

K

[asudavew]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

subscribed! looking good so far. I like how you got plenty of room to walk around the stand. How are you mixing the concrete? by hand? Plus, your work area looks WAY TOO CLEAN! Nice...

K

Wow!

You're back.

How's the oven doing, and how is your cooking going?

Hopefully soon, we will have cooler temps, hot pizza, and some great football to watch!!


Dave

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

subscribed! looking good so far. I like how you got plenty of room to walk around the stand. How are you mixing the concrete? by hand? Plus, your work area looks WAY TOO CLEAN! Nice...

K

Thanks. I'm definitely making up for any cleanliness on the worksite with the condition of the interior of the house. ;-)

I'm mixing all the concrete by hand (hoe) in the wheelbarrow. Mighty Mod!


I spent another few hours working on the stone veneer for the raised garden bed, and completed it! Now I just need to decide if I want to order the capstones or go with flagstone. I'm going to stop by the landscape supply and see if I find any flagstone colors I like that will compliment my veneer. I'm really excited that I'm so close to having the first element of this project finished!


I'm considering altering my design a bit. I'd still keep the curved seating wall and the patio area in front of it, but I'd eliminate the fire pit. Instead, I'd have a residential splash pad installed. Like this:



They can integrate it with pavers, so it would all look seamless. It would act as a water feature, a play area for the kidlet and her friends, and when the water wasn't running, we could put a copper fire bowl in the center and *still* use it as a fire pit area. It's much more affordable than I thought it would be, but I still need to sit down with DH and see if we can fit it in the budget.

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I made our wedding cake 6 years ago- my first experience with rolled fondant

WOW, I'm impressed. I couldn't even get my mother to make my wedding cake (to be fair, we couldn't find an adequate kitchen for her). I could barely find time to breathe before my wedding, let alone think about making my own cake!

[egalecki]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

well, the person who was supposed to make our cake backed out a week before the wedding. Not cool. I have always done a lot of baking, so I ran out and got pans big enough to do the job and did it myself. I am sure I was a total !@#$% all week, but my husband is a saint.

My house got messy while I was in the midst of the time-consuming part of the build. Trust me, the dirt will wait for you to clean it up.

The splash pool is absolutely the coolest idea ever. I hope it works out!

[aceves]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Hi there!!

Newbie here. This is my very first post, but definitely not my last!! Just getting started on my oven (actually pouring the foundation slab this weekend), and have been doing lots of research all over the net, but specifically here at FB. I want to start off by congratulating everybody who has built their oven and wish lots of luck and a great and speedy construction to all those starting or halfway into theirs!!

This is one helluva forum, and I am genuinely excited to be a part of this community!!

Members, thanks in advance for all your advice (which I know I'll need once I embark on this project!!), and please excuse me for asking some random questions (as I know I will!!).

I came upon this thread and I was SUPER excited to see the photos, as this is exactly how my setup is going to be! Corner install with prep area on both sides. I'll keep you all posted as I progress with mine.

Modthyrth, keep up the great work!!

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Aceves--thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your project! I'll eagerly be watching your build, and at my pace, you might be finished before I am. ;-)


I've had a nasty cold this past week, so didn't get much done. I picked up my firebricks and refractory mortar on Friday. The guy at the brick yard found a comparable high heat mortar product for me for way less than he could get the heatstop 50 for. This is the product I'll be using:

Thermal Ceramics Smoothset (dry, air setting) Mortar

We've decided against the splash pad. Sigh. It was such a lovely idea.

So I got started on the firepit area, at least a bit. I roughed out the seating wall area and dug a shallow foundation for the firepit itself:



I decided to work with the angles in the yard instead of fighting them. Plus, doing the square firepit and straight wall is really easy, and makes it possible to use the exact same stone veneer product. The pieces were large enough that it really wasn't going to work on a curved wall. Now everything will coordinate.

I also sealed the interior concrete surfaces of the raised planting bed, and Drew piped irrigation to it. All I need is dirt and cooler temperatures and I can plant!

I called my local Harbor Freight to ask when the 10" wet saw might go on sale again. It's currently on sale for $229, but they expect it to go back down to $199 in about 3 weeks, if anyone is in the market for one soon.

I accomplished one other thing today: we finally added the flower boxes and shutter details to Ainsley's playhouse.





My mom did the rosnaling and tole painting on the pieces, and I'm completely in love with them. They add such a special, custom touch. As soon as we put them up, Ainsley declared, "I have the cutest house EVER!"

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I put in a good afternoon's work today. Still waiting on the hearth pour--that's scheduled for next saturday. I hope it actually happens; I want to start building that dome! In the meantime...

All structural work done on the firepit. Wow, I'm a sloppy mason. It's a good thing I'm fine with a very rustic look for my dome. I think I need to do some reading on how to trowel the mortar on properly.



I started setting out the dome floor, too:


And introducing the newest addition to the project, Ainsley's Cupcake Oven:


She's been asking and asking for a little pizza oven of her own, so today I took some leftover materials and got started on her miniature version today. It's right next to the porch of her play house. She's already planning her own garden bed to the right, and a prep table to the left... like mother like daughter. ;-)

[David Manchester]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I think Ainsley's oven will be the best contribution to the forum yet ! Very cute! I can't wait until we have our baby.. finding out in three weeks if it's a girl or boy. Everything is looking great so far..what are the temps in Arizona now? I know the heat can take some of your ambition out of you
Dave

[Modthyrth]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

High of 101 today--it felt great compared to the 115 degree temperatures when I started the project!

Congratulations on your little one on the way. We just found out that we're having another, so now I'm in a panic to finish the project before I can't squeeze my belly in the dome to clean it up. ;-)

[David Manchester]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

Nikki,
Thanks! Better hurry..not much room to fit in the opening! It's really a cool time for us and I can see building a little oven too in the not so distant future. Enjoy your build and take your time, it is better than any project I have ever worked on. The rewards are appreciated daily!
Dave

[egalecki]

Re: Nikki's 42" in Phoenix, where it's hot as a...

I don't think the belly has to go in, just the head and shoulders... at least that was the case with mine! Still, it would be uncomfortable!

Congratulations on your addition. And on the good work so far. As far as the mortar goes, I can't do it without slopping and messing either. For the oven, dunk your bricks, mix up the mortar a bit stiff, and slap it on and turn it over quick. Resist the temptation to play with it like it's icing... took me a while to get over the urge to smooth and fiddle with it. Just clean up the inside before it sets hard (I always did it with a wet sponge at the end of each row) and you're great!