Life and Lollipops

I've been off for a couple of days. It would seem like this big bad thing has really gained some new vigor from the coming of the spring, or from something else altogether. I don't know from what or from where. At times I actually find it quite frightening, the unpredictability and what I feel like the devious nature of this condition. And after all, this whole thing is still so new to me that I don't yet know what will trigger a flare and what won't, and to top it off I'm also having serious problems with accepting the restrictions all this is setting on me. I'm just not that big on restrictions. Today I saw a nurse in the health care center. And we ended up talking about, of all things, blogging. Oh for sure we talked about much more serious issues as well, but she was indeed curious about this blog of mine. And in the end she said she thought it was good that this blog was about more than just 'hospital files' because after all, life is more than 'hospital files'.  Life goes on all around me, all the time, even though on some days it seems to me that all I can think of is ANA titers or anti-Smith antibodies or something along those lines. And that has really been the case for the past few days. I have been so preoccupied with illness related issues that when I baked an angel food cake it came out more like an oven baked vanilla flavored egg white omelet in a cake pan. The sauce I made for the dinner yesterday ended up being inedible since I paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the salt I poured in it, or the pepper, or the mustard for that matter. The house is a mess. Big time. There is so much un-sorted-through laundry waiting to be ironed and put away that it's a wonder there is anything in the clothes cupboards at all. I have not so much given as taken myself a break.

 But I promise, tomorrow I shall bake cupcakes. I have been wanting to make MMF covered cupcakes for a long time. Pale blue with little flowers and something nice for the filling. Hmmm, we'll see. But for now, seeing as I am already talking about MMF, here come the Lollipops. I made a batch of these for the Daughter's birthday and as some managed to survive we ate them even a week later. They keep since they're frozen. So, they act as a sort of ice-cream as well. One multitasking lollipop. First, MMF. Marshmallow fondant. You can find many tutorials online for making it , but it really is very simple. I used one bag of pastel colored marshmallows. When the colors blended the end result was a sort of salmony hue which I made stronger by adding some pink gel paste food coloring. If you want your pops to be a certain color, and are not prepared to do some serious chemical experimenting, use white marshmallows. Put the marshmallow in a microwaveable dish and microwave for about two minutes. The time, however, depends on your oven. Check every minute or so. When the marshmallows are melted, take out and whisk with a spoon. At this point I poured the melted mixture into a 'kitchenaid' machine bowl, simply because my wrists don't allow me to do any heavy hand mixing. Add powdered sugar while you're mixing until you reach a 'doughy' consistency. At this point you can also add the coloring.

After the dough was done I took it out, gave it a bit of hand kneading, wrapped it carefully in cling film and put it overnight in the fridge. Next day took the dough out, made it into little balls and stuck a lollipop stick into each one. Stood them in tea mugs and put in the freezer. The day before the party I took them out and made little holes on a half of an egg carton, and put the pops standing in the holes. Melted some milk chocolate, dipped each pop in the chocolate and after that in a plate of nonpareil candy. Transferring the pops back into the freezer is also relatively easy on their egg-carton stand, even with the chocolate still being all gooey. 

Here are some snippets of the other party munchies. I will be posting how-tos ASAP.