Picture of the Day: Winter Berries in the Snow

Ann Arbor, Michigan
11.24.2005 

Michigan Tailgate: Block M Drink Table

Sadly, this past Saturday was the last Michigan home football game of the year. I didn't make a cake this week (I was just way too busy with work) so I thought I would share another tailgate project that I made for the tailgate a few weeks ago: a Block M drink table.

Instead of setting up drinks on the tops of coolers I thought this would be a fun addition to the tailgate. I decided to use the Michigan logo and colors (Maize and Blue) to come up with something that could easily travel to our tailgate site.

To make the table I did a little math and scaled up a version of the Michigan Block M logo so that the dimensions would work with using 1x6 lumber. Because the M is a mirror image and I was making it two boards deep I cut four of each of the following lengths from the 1x6: 13" (for the sides of the M), 10-1/2" (for the bottom serifs of the M), 2-1/2" (for the top serifs of the M) and 10" at a 50 degree angle (for the middle of the M). I did a dry fit (please excuse my dirty garage floor) to make sure everything lined up well before I continued on putting it together.

Next I drilled pocket holes in the back of the top pieces using my Kreg Jig (I will forever love Ana White's site for introducing me to the tool!), clamped the pieces together and attached them with 1-1/4" screws.

I then proceeded to make holes in the top of the M for drinks to sit in. I measured and marked the center of each board (yes, that is my quilting ruler - it is handy!) and then traced where I wanted the holes to be, making them as evenly spaced as I could. I then used a 2-1/2" hole saw to drill the holes out where I had marked.

With the holes drilled I attached the back pieces to the rear of the M using glue and brad nails. I clamped everything together and let it sit until the glue was fully dried.

After that I patched the nail holes and seems, sanded it smooth, wiped it down with a tack cloth and spray painted it. I used a coat of white primer followed by two coats of yellow paint.

For the legs I wanted something easy to disassemble for moving around. I decided to use black pipe like I did for my console table. I used an end cap on the bottom and a flange on the top and the legs can easily unscrew from the flange. I assembled the legs before spray painting them (a coat of primer plus two coats of blue) so that I wouldn't get paint in the threads of the pipe which might have made it hard to screw together. Also, to keep spray paint from getting all over my garage I painted them in a large box.

Once everything was dry I screwed the flanges onto the back of the M and my table was complete. I have to say that it has a been pretty popular addition to the tailgate.

Cheers!

Michigan Tailgate Cake: Simple Football Cake

On Saturday Michigan played Northwestern and the tailgate theme was Chicago, since Northwestern is in Chicago. I wasn't really sure how to translate that into a cake and I had some extenuating circumstances so I just made a generic football cake instead of something fancier.

This week's cake was a bit of a cop-out for me. I had some late nights at work so I was planning on whipping something up on Friday night. Unfortunately, there was a huge traffic jam in town as I was trying to get home that night due to some road closures so it ended up taking me nearly an hour and a half to go the last two miles to my house. It was annoying but the real problem is that due to my frugal ways, I drive a little hatchback that happens to be a stick shift. Holding in the clutch for that long was just miserable and since we were creeping almost the whole time I didn't have much chance to put the car in neutral with the parking brake. By the time I got home my left leg was so sore I was having some trouble standing and there was no way I was baking. That was the first time I wished I didn't have a manual car.

So instead I woke up early on Saturday (6:30 am!) and whipped up this simple football cake. I have a Wilton pan that is shaped like a football so I baked a chocolate cake in it, popped it in the freezer to cool it down quickly and iced it with chocolate buttercream frosting. I used a star tip to pipe the laces and then wrote "Hail to the Victors" on the cake. It was super simple, but sometimes you just need to get things done quickly. Plus it still tasted delicious so I don't think anyone really cared. 

For tailgate food Frank made Portillo's style sausage and Italian beef sandwiches which were awesome. He also made waffle fries and a wonderful sausage chowder which I especially loved.

The weather was unseasonably warm (mid-60s in November? I'll take it!) so it was a great day for tailgating and watching the game.

The game was up and down and towards the end it looked like Michigan had really squandered their chance to win. With barely any time left and an unbelievable catch to move the ball down the field, Michigan made a field goal to tie up the game at 31-31 and send it into overtime. In OT Michigan managed to score a touchdown and stop Northwestern making the final score 38-31 for a Michigan win. Looking back I really don't see how Michigan pulled out that game, but we'll take it!

How was your weekend? Did you get up to anything fun?

Picture of the Day: Pumpkin Patch

New Boston, Michigan
9.30.2012

Michigan Tailgate Cake: Bacon Theme

Yesterday Michigan played Michigan State at home and our tailgate theme was bacon. I decided in keeping with the theme that I would make a Maple-Apple-Bacon Cake that I have made a few times before using a wonderful recipe I found on the NPR website. I know that the bacon in the cake sounds a little strange but it really is quite delicious.

I did a few things slightly differently, however. Instead of baking it in an 8" square pan I split the batter between two 8" round pans. Also, instead of the maple glaze I made a maple cream cheese frosting.

To assemble the cake I leveled the top of one of the cakes and placed it onto my cake stand. I used a pastry bag to top the cake with the maple icing, smoothing it out with a knife. I then placed the second layer on top and added my decorations.

To make the Michigan bunting I made a design of yellow letters on a blue background in PowerPoint and then printed it out.  I cut out the flags, folded them over and attached them to a string with a little tape, just like I did with my birthday bunting card. I tied the ends of the string to two 1/4" round dowels and stuck them in the cake.

The "Go Blue!" and "Beat Sparty!" flags were made in the same way (i.e. designed in PowerPoint, printed and then cut out) and then I wrapped them around long skewers and added them to the cake.

The cake got a lot of rave reviews from people, many of whom did not even realize there was bacon in it until I told them. It was polished off and selfishly I was a little disappointed that there was none left over for me to take home.

Continuing on with the bacon theme, Frank made several bacon explosions and a porchetta while other contributions included pea meal Canadian bacon from the Canadian contingent of the tailgate as well as sausage wrapped in bacon and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon. Needless to say it wasn't the healthiest tailgate but everything was delicious.  

The weather also held up. Last week was cold, windy, rainy and miserable but this week it was overcast, but not too chilly and the sun even popped out a few times. The game had a 3:30 p.m. kickoff and Frank likes to be at the tailgate at 7:30 a.m. so decent weather is key to having a good time.

The skies stayed cloudy for most of the game, but luckily there was no wind or rain and I was comfortable bundled up for the game.

The game itself was a nail biter with five lead changes. In the last few minutes it looked like Michigan had blown their chances to win but with five seconds left, Brendan Gibbons kicked a field goal to win the game 12-10. Free yellow pom-poms had been passed out at the game and everyone in the stadium went nuts waving them. Michigan State had won the four previous games between the two schools so it was great to beat them.

The win marked another big milestone for Michigan, namely the program's 900th win making it the first NCAA college football team to do so. Having the win occur at home and over Michigan State made it especially sweet. After the game the scoreboard played a show highlighting the 100th, 200th, and so on victories culminating with the 900th that had happened that day.

On another football front, my alma mater, Duke, beat North Carolina yesterday bringing their record this year to 6-2. Not only is it nice to beat our arch rivals, but this makes the team bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. In recent decades Duke notoriously does not have a strong football program so this is pretty huge.  Frank asked me who I would root for if Michigan and Duke played in a bowl game. I told him that my Michigan fandom comes with a Duke exemption and that I will always cheer for Duke over all others. A girl has to do what a girl has to do. Go Duke Blue Devils! and Go Michigan Wolverines! (when they are not playing Duke!)

Picture of the Day: Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners

Comerica Park
Detroit, Michigan
4.26.2012

I couldn't resist using a Tigers picture for the Picture of the Day today after they clinched the American League Championship (by sweeping the Yankees, no less!) last night and are headed to the World Series. Go Tigers!

Picture of the Day: Autumn Color Reflection

Northern Michigan, United States
10.11.2008 

Picture of the Day: Yellow Leaves Along Torch Lake

Torch Lake, Michigan
10.11.2008 

Michigan Tailgate Cake: Hail To The Victors

This week Michigan played Illinois for homecoming and the tailgate theme was Brazilian Steakhouse. I wasn't really sure how to translate that theme into a tailgate cake so I decided to make a cake with the first line of the chorus of the Michigan fight song across the front.

I started by baking a chocolate cake in two oval pans and then whipped up a double batch of buttercream icing, tinting it blue. Once the cake had completely cooled I leveled the layers by cutting off the crowns. I stacked the layers with some icing in between and then added a thin crumb coat of the blue icing over the whole cake.

After the crumb coat had dried I iced the cake with the blue icing and smoothed it over the cake. With the base of blue icing on the cake it was time for the fun part, decorating. I used marzipan that I tinted yellow to make the word "HAIL" and put that across the front of the cake. I also made a large block M and used skewers to make it stand on top of the cake. I added a little cocoa powder and copper tint to some more marzipan and made a little football to prop up in front of the block M.  

As a final step I made another single batch of buttercream icing, tinting half of it yellow and leaving the rest white. I put both colors in piping bags and piped a star border around the base of the cake in yellow. I used the white to add "to the victors" and add some laces on the football. 

Although the tailgate was a lot of fun, it was cold and toward game time it started raining. At the tailgate we were under tents, but we were completely exposed to the elements in the stadium. Being soaking wet and cold made watching the game a bit miserable but drinking a bunch of hot chocolate definitely helped.

Luckily the Wolverines dominated Illinois and when the score was 31-0 in favor of Michigan we decided that victory was ensured and it was okay to leave, watching the rest of the game back at the tailgate with the satellite TV under the tents. In the end Michigan won 45-0 for a decisive win. Bring on Sparty!

Do you root for any college teams? How did you spend your weekend?

Picture of the Day: Sunset Flying Out of Detroit

Detroit, Michigan
11.30.3011