I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR THE RECIPE
After not breathing and trying to ignoring Mr. Smells to Good for His Own Good (Damn that's a long name) I gave up. I am such a wimp. Turning my attention to Mr. Greek God that smells oh so good, I saw that he was offering his hand.
"Hello I am Edward Mason uh Cullen I mean." The weird mysterious boy was talking to me. Wait did he just mess up his name? How do you not know your own name?
"I'm Bella Swan-"
"Oh I know who you are. Remember I was at the diner yesterday. You were the server."
"Oh yeah." 'Why oh why did he have to remember that one little meeting;' I shouted in my mind. I wonder why he has the same last name as the vampires I met yesterday. Maybe they have some kind of claim on him.
I hope not.
Oh my blue cheeses, why did I just think that?! Stop with these crazy thoughts already!
We're not crazy, we're thinking with the use of our compassion.
Oh Hell to the French bread no, am I have a mental conversation to myself. I better stop having this weird conversation with myself. He's staring at me. Maybe I should say something to him.
"So what's your favorite color?" Oh my. Could I have more of a re-re?
"Brown is my favorite. It's such a warm color. I always wanted brown eyes when I was younger. That's why it's my favorite color." He said.
"I think your eyes are beautiful just the way they are." Did I just say that out loud? Oh my French bread.
"Thank you." He stuttered as a blush crept up on his cheeks. "But their not nearly as beautiful or breathtaking as yours are." OH if I was human I'd be as red as the inside of armadillo cake
Just then Mr. Roberts came by to study the fondant we put on the cake.
"Ms. Swan don't you think you should have let Edward do some of the work." Mr. Robert accused.
"Edward actually did most of the work seeing as though I can almost never get it right."
"Well carry on then." Mr. Roberts sneered as he walked away.
"Thanks for sticking up for me there with Mr. Roberts I can't get a bad grade in this class."
"Why is that?" I mean this is school and all but we all get bad grades now and then (AN: I for one got my first F when I came to college and folks I was on the honor roll in high school)
"It's pretty complicated and pretty boring."
"I think I can keep up." I think
"Well actually I'm only seventeen and I just got adopted. I know that sounds really weird but Esme and Carlisle wanted older kids. They told me if I wanted to go to school I had to go into something useful and let's just say they didn't think cooking was useful. So when I told them I wanted to be a culinary arts major they said that if this is what I wanted to do I had to keep an A average in this class for them to fund my college education. So now I'm a little freaked out and a little worried about my grades. Not to mention I started in the middle of a semester when people have already learned the basics of cooking." Oh poor Boy
"Wow." Was what I came up with at that moment; marshmallows I'm special. "That's just horrible of your family to expect so much of you when your life basically got turned upside down."
"They're not that horrible, it's just that my family expect great things from me." He said a little like he was sticking up for them.
"I have an idea. Maybe I could tutor you and then you may be able to catch up to the rest of the class." I said hesitantly.
"Would you really? That would be great!" He bellowed; his face brightened and flushed a little as he noticed some of our fellow classmates caught his outburst.
After that we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet soon.
(At work later that night around closing)
"I'll sweep the floor then we can close shop Mrs. Crane." I said happy to be almost done for the night.
"Take your time sweetheart you don't have to tire yourself so much. You look like you haven't slept in weeks" Mrs. Crane said in a worried voice. "Are you sure you haven't overworked yourself? Maybe I should sweep the floor and you can go home."
"Nonsense Mrs. Crane I'll do it and I'm almost done anyway it will only take a minute."
Ding Dong.
The door opened and in came the Cullen's.
"I'm sorry but we were just closing." I told them once they were all inside.
"Actually we wanted to know if Bella would want to come to our house to discuss something's." Carlisle responded.
I didn't really know what to say to that, but I was curious so I agreed, "I could follow you back if you don't mind waiting until I get done with my clean up." I replied warily.
"Hey where's Edward?" I asked worried. Why wouldn't they take him with them?
"Oh Edward was a little offended when we said that we were going to a diner. But how did you know he was with us?" Alice asked a little surprised.
"I have a cooking class with him and we started talking after class and he told me he was adopted." I said as I put the broom away and started cleaning off the tables. I learned the early bird shift workers get mad and might say some chose words to you if their tables aren't completely clean.
"Oh so you're the girl Edward can't stop talking about." Alice said while a smile crossed her face.
If I could have blushed I would have been scarlet by now.
"He talks about me. He only started class today. What could he have said about me? We don't know each other that well." I asked confused with a little bit of awe. He really likes me? I swear if I could (well I can) I'd jump on top of the table and do a victory dance.
"It seems as though he knows quite a bit about you. All the things he has said have been very flattering. I must say he's quite taken with you." Said Esme I believe to be, in a motherly tone.
"And by the looks of it she seems quite taken herself." Emmett said with a laugh.
"Look I can't like him so just get over it." I said defensively. I felt guilty after those words left my lips.
"I mean it's not healthy and I could be going to Rome for six months and not to mention what we are" I whispered.
"Well I hope you change your mind dear and if you're done could we possibly get out of here. Not to be disrespectful but I'd rather talk at our house if you don't mind." Esme said.
"Of course let me get my keys and jacket and I'll meet you outside." I had talked to them so long I forgot about Mrs. Crane. She left me a note, asking to lock up when I was done, so not to disturb my conversation with the Cullen's. The note went on to talk about how she was so glad to see I actually had friends and that I could give them a discount on anything. I almost snickered at that.
"I guess we can go now I could follow you or one of you could ride with me so I don't get lost"
"Oh I will." Alice exclaimed as she lightly bounced on the heels of her feet. "We are going to have so much fun." Ok now I'm scared.
AN: I SO LOVED 'Steel Magnolias' AND YOU HAVEN'T LIVED UNTIL YOU HAD A PIECE OF ONE OF THESE CAKES
R&R
Bleeding Armadillo Cake by
Ingredients and Supplies
9" x 13" cake pan
Wilton Football cake pan
Pound cake recipe, or
Gold Medal cake mix
5 lbs. fondant (ivory colored)
Buttercream icing ~ 5 cupsh
Dowel rods
Covered cake board
Airbrush colors and or or petal dusts
Black piping gel
THE CAKE: The best way to get a really red, red cake as in the Steel Magnolias movie is to add red food coloring
(Americolor Super Red works best) to your white cake batter before baking. Just add the red food coloring until you get a
little bit darker than the final color that you want. Bake as usual and this makes a red colored cake. A true red velvet cake
though is a chocolate cake made with buttermilk, vinegar and red color. A recipe for a cake mix based red velvet cake is
available on our website at .com. Click on the Newsletter Archive section and then the August, 2004
newsletter. Keep in mind that you are going to be carving this cake. It is important that it is a heavy type, small crumb
cake. If using a mix, the Gold Medal mixes that we carry in the store work very well. Be sure to use a "pudding in the mix"
type of cake mix if using another variety of mix or use a pound cake type of recipe if baking from scratch.
DECORATING: At least one day in advance, model a piece for the head and ears, 2 front 4-toed feet (about 2 inches long),
2 back 4-toed feet (about 3 inches long) and tail (about 7 inches long) from the ivory colored fondant. The head should be
about 4 inches long and 3 inches tall at the highest part. The ears should be towards the back part of the head. Place a
dowel rod in the tail and in the head. This is what will be used to attach the head and tail to the body. Be sure to judge the
angle and length of the dowel rods since you will not be able to change the angle once the pieces are hardened. Mark the
head, feet and tail to create the banding and scale look. Refer to the picture of a real armadillo for details.
Bake the cakes one day in advance of decorating. Cool and cut cakes level with the top of the pans. Remove from pans.
Seal well with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.
On decorating day, carve the cakes to make the body shape. Cut about 1.5 inches off of each end of the football cake.
Place the 9" x 13" cake on the covered board. Ice the top of the 9" x 13" cake. Place football cake on top of 9" x 13"
cake. Cut around the 9" x 13" cake to the same size as the football cake.
Remove scraps and cut in just a little more on the 9" x 13" cake creating a
rounded bottom for the body. Once the body carving is complete, ice with
a thin layer of butter cream icing and refrigerate. Roll fondant to a 24"
circle. Place fondant over "armadillo" and smooth. Using a wooden
skewer or similar type of tool,
press bands into fondant for the armadillo shell. There are deep bands
that go around the body and then lighter indentations that go from head
to tail to make a look of scales.
If coloring with an airbrush, attach the head, tail and feet. Airbrush with
light and dark browns, greens, grey and black colors. If using petal dust,
attach head, tail and feet. Dust with a variety of tan, grey, brown, green
and black colors to get the mottled and shaded look of the armadillo armor.
Use a dot of black piping gel for the eyes. Yield: about 35 servings.