Thursday, May 05, 2011

Of Mice and Men

Today's plan:

  • drop off the dog at day care
  • get my hair done
  • make sea glass candy for my sister's wedding with my cousin, the other bridesmaid 
  • drop off framing at Strawberry Sampler (sale month!)
  • pick up the dog
  • pick up the dog's giardia medicine (I'm so glad she went to the vet the other day where we picked up two meds for the hot spot and diagnosed giardia, which does not seem to be affecting her in the expected ways.)
Here's where we got stuck: 
Real sea glass. Not our candy!

The first batch burned, which showed us my cousin's candy thermometer wasn't working. Then I ran to Joann's (where they tried to convince me I needed a candy melter, which you will no doubt realize would be totally useless in our endeavor). From there, I went across the street to AC Moore where they had candy thermometers (with the red wooden ball!). Then I had to go to Wegman's to get more sugar and corn syrup. (And dinner because I don't know what we would have eaten otherwise.) So that was an hour wasted. My cousin made one batch by feel while I was gone, and we made two more with the new thermometers. Only one of those was successful. Then came brushing confectioner's sugar onto the shards--and I do mean shards. It was like glass. We thought we should put the candy in a rock tumbler before serving. That took about an hour and a half. So five hours after I got there, we had two successful batches. I think it may be enough--we only need about 20 favors. But wow. If people aren't eating this, I am going to shove it down their throats! Or maybe I'll just attach a note to all the favors, "please eat this; we're not getting this five hours of our lives back."

Of course, I am happy to do it. Next week, my only sister gets hitched on the beach in Grand Cayman and I want every little detail to be absolutely perfect. Including the sea glass candy favors.

Fortunately, I had an opportunity to retrieve the retriever. 

And tomorrow is another day...

Edited: Sorry to have led you all astray with the photo. It's real sea glass. I didn't have a camera with me, and I left the candy with my cousin. Ours looks like pieces you would throw back as "not ready"--the edges are still sharp. From the top, it looks like sea glass so we're only going to look at the top! :)

11 comments:

Andrea said...

"shove it down their throats! Or maybe I'll just attach a note to all the favors, "please eat this; we're not getting this five hours of our lives back."

And that, dear Stitch Bitch, is why we love you ;-)

Those shards are quite lovely and perfect. Good job!

Denise said...

This candy is good. I could see shoving it down their throats.

But, the part that gets me - you are going to Grand Cayman and leaving us to sulk in this weather - grr! Could you at least bring the sun back north with you??

Miriam said...

For all my DIY-ness, I made/got others to make exactly zero things for my wedding. I was convinced something would go terribly wrong or take forever, and I would collapse in a puddle of stress on the floor.

Alice said...

Candy is so tricky. You are a wonderful sister to go through all that!

Annemarie said...

Whew, too much stress, woman! But at least the results look good enough to eat.

Catherine said...

Ditto to what Andrea said! I think the sea glass candy looks great! Never saw such a thing before!

Joy said...

I agree with Andrea...although, I'm sure your sister appreciates all you do.

Anonymous said...

So what color and flavor did you make????

Mary in TN

Anna van Schurman said...

Lime/green and lemon/blue. We had a limited choice for flavoring (lemon, lime, and orange) and blue is the primary "wedding color." When you make it, you are starting with a light amber colored liquid, so all the colors are a little "off". Our green is exactly the color of bottles!

The Queen Bee said...

Ditto to what Lee said. These are the most important memories of a lifetime. And, of course, it won't hurt to remind your sister of all the work in the event she appears to be taking you for granted.

Pam

Jenna said...

I'm sure that the candy turned out beautifully. The activities leading up to a wedding are always crazy hectic. At least you can soon just lay back and enjoy the day!