Off My Plate

Birthday cake

HeatherGill — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:30:44 +0000

The theme of the sweet 16 birthday was Alice in Wonderland and this cake was very much in keeping with that theme. Two wonderful pastry chef out of Toronto, Alexandria and Jessica did a fantastic job. Here are a few pictures of their cake.

And now for all the lovely details…

Gold leaf and fondant…

Love this little silhouettes!

Sugar clock – why can’t all clocks be made of sugar! Lovely!

Painting the roses red…

No details we’re overlooked on this cake. These we’re cookies hanging from the top of the cake like it was popping out of the top.

More cute little silhouettes!

And last but not least the hat and the rabbit covered in glitter! Coming up next the food! I love the presentation!

Sweet Tooth

HeatherGill — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:30:57 +0000

So I recently had the pleasure of photographing a sweet 16 birthday party and of course the food was my favorite thing! Here are a few pictures from the candy room. I’ll have many more food pictures to post over the next couple weeks but the candy was so much fun I thought I would share with y’all! Enjoy!

Any candy you little heart could ever need!

Those little silver things in the front of the picture have chocolate inside, YUM!

And we all know it wouldn’t be a party without the M&M’s! But no peanut – what the heck?!

Okay next up cake! I think I need to see the dentist after this post! More party pictures to come.

I had to MacGyver my way into the house today!

HeatherGill — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:31:45 +0000

So I had to break into my house today. I know you’re saying what the heck, but really I did. I took my daughter to school this morning with the usual craziness except her teacher tried to run us down with her car. I didn’t know it was her teacher at the time but I do now and I’m keeping my eye on her! Anyway, I thought that would be the extent of the excitement for the day, at least I was hoping for that to be the end of the excitement for the day. But when I got home, little did I know that A: my kid had locked the garage door and the opener on my car AND the key pad on the side of the house would not open it, B: I don’t (for reasons unknown to me) have a key to my house. So at first I thought I would be just fine because I never lock the back door, except this time! So I thought I could just go in through the dog door. Well first, I have very small dogs and second I haven’t lost that much weight! But of course I tried to do it. I got to my shoulders and then got stuck. I felt like I was being birthed again, at least that’s what I think it was like. I’m almost crying because I can’t reach my phone in the back pocket and who do I call that is going to help me out of this mess. The dogs are looking at me like I’m crazy, I am but we don’t need to remove all doubt! So then I think there has to be a window that I haven’t locked somewhere. I find one! But I can’t get the #*@%ing screen off! I have no access to tools because those are in the garage that I can’t get into. But I do have the key to my car on me! So I jimmy that under the screen, 15 times the charm, and pop it out. I open the window and crawl in. Should I be concerned that the neighbors don’t ask or call the cops or anything? And that’s how I had to MacGyver my way into the house. Anyway, I in the house now and getting ready to go meet someone about doing some food styling and photography for her cupcake company! Have a lovely day everyone!

A trip to the farm

HeatherGill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:55:58 +0000

Recently a friend and I took 5 children to Schnepf Farms because they had blossoms on the peach trees. I couldn’t grab my camera fast enough! (I’ll post pictures of the peach blossoms and peaches soon.) When we got there we found out that they had a garden that let us pick our own veggies. Well what a perfect way to show these city kids where food really comes from. We only got radishes and turnips and the kids had so much fun! Here are a few more pictures from the day.

This is one happy kid, don’t ya think?! He thought he had struck gold here with this small turnip but that has to be the best expression! Love it!

Yep, I made him dig a ditch and he didn’t just like it he loved it! He really thought he could get himself some carrots but there we’re none to be found. Perhaps if we had used a spade instead of the snow shovel…

A beautiful salad

HeatherGill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:11:35 +0000

I love fresh basil and tomatoes! The smell of basil – oh WOW! Nothing better! This might be a salad better served during summer but we can get some pretty wonderful tomatoes here in Arizona right now. Now all you need is fresh mozzarella and you’re good to go.

So here’s what you need:

3 large tomatoes – I used heirloom tomatoes and 3 different colors

1 large ball fresh mozzarella

12 large pieces of basil

2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

3 tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella a quarter of an inch thick. Stack the slices of tomatoes and mozzarella, alternating between each. Place basil on top of each. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar and grind some fresh pepper and sea salt on top.

I always have extra basil on the side because I like to have a bite of all three at the same time. Yes, I’m a little crazy but it makes for good times!

I would love to hear if you make this salad now or this summer. Enjoy!

So why the name

HeatherGill — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:10:17 +0000

Well the obvious reason would be because I’m a chef and I’m sharing from my plate but with me its never that simple. So here’s the reason for the name. Yes this blog will be about food and foodish things and so it works great for that but I was talking with a friend one day about what to name this so it could get started once and for all. I was also talking about all the things that needed to get done over the next couple hours and working on cleaning my desk, (I’m forever cleaning my desk off so I can see what color it really is!) and I finished cleaning. So I said ‘well, at least that’s off my plate!’ Then she said that’s it! So that’s where the name comes from. I guess I say that all the time, and I do, so it works and it fits me.

I want to share wonderful things with you on this blog that I’ve put my own spin on to hopefully make it new or at least different. I seem to wear a lot of different hats so I hope to share those with you as well. I hope you enjoy reading as time goes on.