Food!

I haven't been on a trip since New Year... I know, tragic. But the weather has been so nasty and gloomy lately that you wouldn't want to kick a dog out of the house. In such circumstances, what is there left to do but resort to the greatest comfort available to mankind... food!

If you know me just a little bit, then you know I would not miss a food exhibition. Especially this one! It was full of revelations of the sort I did not think available in Romania.

Half of it was dedicated to cooking/baking equipment and tools... boring. But the other half, aahh, well, that contained the end result of all those machines and spatulas and spinners and mixers: chocolate, deserts, multi-level cakes, irresistible bread, gingerbread houses and other dreamy sugary and vegetable creations. Here are but a few:

Lady with an Ermine made entirely of spaghetti of various colours, stuck inside some base so that all you see is the ends of the spaghetti:

Floral arrangements made of vegetables:
Radish ducks in a carrot-fenced courtyard:
Sculpted pumpkins:

Traditional Easter table setting, complete with napkin, bible, basket of eggs and candlestick, and made entirely of chocolate:

Chocolate cups, made of chocolate, containing chocolate:
Frilly chocolate cake (as my friend said "I'd totally wear this!")
Easter scene cake with fondant chickens and bunnies and mushrooms and ground hog:
Dough wood and saw, part of a village scene made entirely of dough:
Gingerbread houses (I have such a soft spot for gingerbread...)
(oh yeah, and for bread too!):
Caramel creations:
A sugar prize-winning manuscript:
A sugar prize-winning coat:

And the thing which impressed me the most - miniature sugar tablecloths, "embroidered" with coloured sugar paste, painstakingly, one line at a time:

The tablecloth people also made stained...sugar panels, meant to decorate cakes and completely edible:

Dough shoe:
Sugar gnomes:

Last but not least, my friend's creation, a chocolate spring tree, with each petal modelled and painted by hand. Not to mention bird's nest, snail and Easter bunnies:

If you're still not convinced of her talent, check out her mouthwatering blog here.

That being said, I'll get back to you with some travel pics as soon as we get to see the sun for longer than 2 hours a week. :)