Practice Practice Practice

One of my favorite quotes from Swimming to Antartica is "Don't get frustrated... get determined!"

I don't even know why I want to learn to make buttercream roses. I don't much care for them and rarely have a need for them. Why bother? I suppose the fact that my first tries were so frustrating made me determined to get them right someday. So every now and then, I use my practice frosting to attempt a few before I scrape it all back into the container to try again another day.

This morning, on a whim, I pulled out my practice frosting. OMG! I did it! A passable rose. I mean, really, that does look like a buttercream rose. No way was I scraping it back into the container. No way in hell. Of course that meant I needed to whip up a batch of cupcakes (I spent a few minutes thinking it deserved a proper cake, but none of this was on my agenda for the day!) and a mini-recipe of RLB's Neoclassic Buttercream (p. 187).

My one rose is for a dear friend who is going through a rough time. It's meant to be a sign that I am thinking of her, and that I value our friendship.