Sweet Wise: Life's a Piece of Cake

Torting Cake Layers, Rich Chocolate Buttercream

2009-10-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've had requests for some basic cake structure type things, so I'll start with my methods of torting cake layers, filling so you don't get icing bubbling out between layers, and rich chocolate buttercream.

Question 1 was "How do you get your layers cut evenly across, and get them filled and back on straight?"

First, I'll start with the cake going into the oven. USE QUALITY PANS. Others don't tend to bake evenly. The old method of shortening and flour to help the cake coming out is my old standby. Cake Release works great, too. I like to fill my pans 2/3 full, not halfway. Pans filled halfway tend to shrink into themselves more, leaving a beveled look. So your cake might rise above the pan slightly and you have to trim more off and throw some away. Big deal. Regardless if you are using a box mix or from scratch, if you compare to the portion that you are actually using, you might have thrown away 18 cents worth of cake. Too much for you? Make a trifle cake or cake balls, feed it to the kids. Really. $.18; not enough to fret over. I would much rather have a nice, proud, tall cake. So you bake, then the cake comes out of the oven. I let it rest a few minutes, then use a serrated knife to cut across the top of the pan (see where it rose above the top of the pan now works FOR you). I take a piece of aluminum foil and place it across the top, then a cookie sheet upside down on top of that. Flip the WHOLE THING over. You now have a cookie sheet with foil under your cake, cut side down. PERFECTLY LEVEL. I cool mine in the fridge - traps the moisture well. Some people cover it at this stage to trap even more moisture, but I fear this might lead to some bit of sogginess.

So once cool, you can put your cake board on top of the cake layer (this would be the crust part that was touching the bottom of the pan); you can use a little buttercream to attach it to the board, then flip over. You will now have your cut, leveled part facing up. Again, I use my serrated knife here.

I place the knife halfway down the cake (duh). Here's my trick to getting it level: instead of "sawing" with the knife, which can often leave a trail like a drunk driver, I leave the knife locked into place (picture it as an extension of your arm, wrist and elbow locked into place), and TURN THE CAKE INTO THE KNIFE (turntable is an obvious plus here). Alternatively, you can use one of the Wilton cake levelers. I'm just telling you what works for me.

Next, I use a flat edged cookie sheet (meaning no sides, please) and slide it between the cake layers as seen above. Lift that layer off, as seen below.

It might not have dawned on you yet, but my cake is still cold. Not cooled off, but COLD. It helps you to move the cake around; it makes it more durable. Plus, it stays fresh longer. Now, fill your cake with butttercream, then use the same cookie sheet (I never moved it off the cookie sheet) to place the cake layer back on.

You wanted a nice raspberry filling in there instead, but you're afraid because it always leaks out? Use your piping bag with JUST a coupler in it to pipe a dam of buttercream around the edge of the cake. THEN fill with your filling, as seen below.

So going back to the layered cake, I always bake TWO 2" high layers so I can end up with a nice, 4" tall cake. That means I repeat all the steps above and place torted (meaning split horizontally across the middle) laers #3 and #4 on top of what I started with (layer #3 going on below). Just make sure you line up the far edge with the edge that is already there. Because it's cold, if you miss, you can move it. :)

Next question was "I keep having air bubbles that seep out after I ice my cake. What am I doing wrong?"

I don't mean to state the obvious, but that means you trapped air in the cake layers. Cake is not as delicate as you think it is (at least it shouldn't be). After I get all my cake layers (again, which are cold), I smoosh it a little. That's a technical term used mainly in American baking. The French haven't discovered this technique yet. Light pressure, but firm enough to do what you are trying to do. Help gravity and physics along the way. The second picture below shows all 4 layers, after smooshing, coated with a CRUMB COAT of buttercream.

The crumb coat is thin, and combines with the loose crumbs to make an ugly, crumby looking cake. Some people call this "dirty icing" a cake (Cake Boss). Here, I put it back into the fridge to firm up even more so the next layer of icing goes on even better. Want to see a nice, ugly version of a crumb coat on a chocolate cake?

There you go! Now you don't feel so bad, do you? Don't worry; that will CHILL, then will get another layer of buttercream, and for me, fondant. Finished version below. Love the gumpaste topper? I'll blog about that next; this one is AGAIN getting long!

Last question for today: "Can I add just cocoa in to my buttercream to make chocolate icing? It doesn't ever seem to get rich and dark enough."

You can add cocoa, but chances are you'll end up with a grainy looking buttercream because you added in a dry powder. You would either need to sift the cocoa powder INTO the powdered sugar first (if making an American Buttercream, or decorators buttercream), then mix, or use my method.

What I like to do to get that AWESOME, rich fudgy taste is add ganache (which is a great covering on it's own).

Ganache: Bring 1 cup of cream (cut to 3/4 cup if you want a really stiff buttercream in the end) to a boil (cream boils over easily - be careful!). Place 8 ounces chopped chocolate (or semi sweet chips - the darker the chocolate, the richer your ganache/buttercream will be) into a heatproof bowl. Once the cream boils, pour it over the chocolate and bring together with a whisk until smooth. Let this cool! If you pour it into your buttercream while warm, it will just melt your fat in there and you'll have a big mess.

So once cool, start your mixer on LOW and pour in the ganache (about half of it). Start to whip. Stop mixer, and add some of our incredible DARK cocoa (it's so dark it's black, like an oreo), about a quarter cup. Pour in the rest of the ganache in, incorporate, then stop mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Bring mixer to a medium high speed to make fluffy and light (while at the same time, dark, rich, and fudgy). Yummy! This concoction would most likely be appropriate for 2-3 quarts of buttercream. You know it's hard for me to measure.

Check out this other blog - she's got great pictures and other uses for ganache. http://savorysweetlife.com/?p=1889

So that's all for now. Make sure you FOLLOW my blog - the next one will be about the gumpaste toppers, which might come in handy when you didn't order one in time!

Mrs. Gentry!

2009-09-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

So long since my last post. Most of you know I got married Sept 5. Whew! Thats alot of work - I'm never doing that AGAIN! Make sure you click on th epictures to blow them up.

It was perfect weather - not too hot, a nice breeze on the hill. We kept it small. I have so many close friends out there, and it could have easily gotten to 300 people, which I just couldn't handle (logistically or cost-wise!). So I now share with you some pictures. Those of you following through my website are probably most interested in the CAKE. Yes, we were lucky enough to have our good friend Michelle Bommarito stay with us for the week and make the cake for us. Click on the cake!

Just a heads up - she doesn't stay with people usually for safety and comfort reasons, but if you can talk her into it, she does laundry, dishes, dusting, vaccuming, the whole nine yards. Hee!Hee! We always enjoy her company. She is one of us crazy healthy eaters, so we always enjoy eating together.

She put in SO many hours on the cake. She kept trying to get me to not look at it as she was working on it, but it is totally impossible when it's in your own house and its MICHELLE BOMMARITO, what do you expect? I know your jaws will drop. She is forwarding the picture to Bride's magazine as an entry for a possible shoot in October (for a Spring issue). Go Michelle! Glad I could help (LOL)! Here she is with our good friend Clint Redwine (Mix 92.9 Morning Show host).

The day was great - we used orange as our main color. No, not big UT fans, it's just a happy color. End of summer, beginning of Fall, just happy. We hung paper lanterns in the trees and filled them with battery operated flicker lights so when the sun set, they glowed. Awesome! We love the sunset at our house, and planned the whole ceremony around it. Lindsey (my daughter) said her feet her, can she go barefoot. Sure, why not? Cute! That was just after she dropped the orange cupcake on the front of her dress. You can see the stain if you look close. Our good friend Charlie Degenhart (http://www.charliedegenhart.com/) played a beautiful version of Ben Folds' "The Luckiest". LOVED THAT! It's still in my head. Here's a link to the You Tube video (shows text): www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhZ59cCP-uI. At least I think it will work. If not, go to http://www.youtube.com/ and type in "the luckiest ben folds" and it will take you to it.

After the ceremony, John gave me the biggest hug and popped the clasp on the back of my dress, and Whoops! down the zipper starts to come. Thank God for safety pins! Lindsey decided she didn't want to give my bouquet back. Fine. Just glad to marry John - she can have the flowers. After the ceremony, our awesome friends at chef Christopher's Catering (http://www.chefchristopherscatering.com/) provided the best meal ever. They have great prices - I highly recommend them! Then, sunset. Ahh..... we look forward to so many more sunsets.

Then, cake, of course. We did the cake cutting, which was painful for such a beautiful cake, and no one got smeared. It was a delicious Rich Chocolate cake with REAL Vanilla Buttercream. I made a funny - after John fed me, I kind of shrugged and said, "It's OKAY." Michelle laughed SO hard! She knew I was kidding.

After that, dancing. My awesome friends Mark and Michelle Prentice and their talented family and good friend CiCi Miller (from the Soul Searchers, who you can see at BB King's Blues Bar in Nashville) performed for almost an hour outside on the patio. It was a Saturday night, and we finished up by 8:30, but one of our neighbors called the police! Ha! We didn't plan to go later than that, and when they came it was the last song anyway. How does the saying go? It's not a party until the cops get called!

We put on the Ipod and put it on the outdoor speakers (quieter than before), and the party continued. After guests left, time to turn in. Michelle jokes that she slept with us on our wedding night (of course she was in another room) because she was our house guest. Ha! We will plan on taking a honeymoon around New Years, so no big deal.

My good friends Jim King and Alyssa Pruitt took pictures for us. Don't have pictures from Jim yet, but I have posted a few here from Alyssa. You can see more of them on her website. Hey! She is running an awesome special right now! $50 for a one hour session in Centennial park, you get the full disk (and I think a printed 8x10, but don't hold me to that). Her pictures are great! Her website is http://www.alyssapruittphotography.com/, and feel free to tell her I sent you! Hope you enjoy the pics, and I promise, I'll get back to talking about cake soon. We are almost ready to release the Fall schedule, which is jam packed!!!! Be looking for an email from us.

Mrs. Kathy Wise Gentry

PIZZA!

2009-08-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

Moving....Painting.......Planning Wedding....Kids Starting School....Store Manager away for the month =working alot......Must apologize for lengthy delay since last post!!!!

I was chatting with a customer/blog follower at Sweet Wise the other day, and asked her what she liked so far and wanted to see. I chuckled when it was the one that had nothing to do with cake. She liked the Whole Wheat Pancake story! I told her we also use it to make Pizza Dough, and she asked if I would blog about that, and can I include tips on making a somewhat homemade sauce that doesn't come out of the jar. Okay, I can do that. Besides cake, I love to cook. I even took pictures to include this time!

Pizza night is an almost weekly event in our house. The kids love it, guests love it, it's so good for you, and it is so fun and YUMMY! From my earlier post, you know that we grind our own wheat - really, we do. Grind it right before using it so we can capture the most from the grain. You know, once a wheat kernel is cracked, it starts to break down in substance and nutrition. All foods do, our bodies even do. So that flour you buy at the store? It's nutritional value is leeching out second by second. Don't get me wrong - it won't hurt you, and certainly does have some nutritional value. Everything is relative - do what you can; I don't judge. Do what you can, adding a few fresh ingredients here and there adds a little time onto the ends of our lives and helps us be stronger to enjoy it while we're here. There's not enough time in a day to even get the laundry done most days - adding work in the kitchen isn't on your "to do" list. Just do what you can!

So we grind the wheat - see the kernels whole? When you buy flour processed, that hull has been removed, and the wheat germ inside of it (because when it sits in the bag causes quick deterioration) has also been removed for a longer shelf life. What's left? Not really sure. I know they grind up powdered vitamins to "enrich" it so it's not devoid of nutrition. Hmm....I know when we grind that wheat, ALL of it is getting into my kids' bodies - great fiber, everything they need. And me, too, of course! It crossed my mind once that we should expand Sweet Wise to include a healthy eating side (so we have room in our lives to induldge in Sweet Things), maybe including a grain bar: order the grains to be ground mid afternoon, pick it up on the way home from work, family eats fresh, and you feel good about what goes in to their bodies. I digress.

Make the dough. Sorry, I've never measured, so I don't have a recipe. Maybe I'll do that one day. Whole Wheat flour, hot water, Bread Machine Yeast (works better), salt, Olive Oil, honey. Knead in Kitchen Aid mixer with dough hook, let rise.

While it's rising, we cut up ingredients - onions, green and red peppers, tomatoes, pepperoni (I like getting it cut from the deli, the Boar's Head pepperoni; getting the other off of a shelf and it doesn't need refrigeration until you open it.....that freaks me out a little bit), fun cheeses sometimes like Goat's cheese or feta (Mozzerella or Italian mix for the kids), artichokes, sundried tomatoes, seasoned ground beef, olives, and for me - pineapple! We line up little bowls all down the middle of the counter top, set the kids up on stools. Grind a little dried corn for cornmeal (or out of the bag is fine for that rustic Italian style) to dust the countertop, then everyone rolls out their own dough. Lindsey's often looks like a bunny or a heart. Logan is the king - he rolls his the perfect thickness and shape everytime.

Once it's rolled out, we get it onto the peel (before toppings) with more cornmeal underneath to keep it from sticking. A peel? You can find the wooden ones at restaurant supply stores or specialty shops, or use a flat sided cookie sheet (like the Wilton ones I sell at Sweet Wise - those have lots of uses, which I'll blog about next). Add sauce (holy cow - that was her question in the first place, and I haven't even talked about that yet!!!), then whatever topping you like. Logan and Lindsey stick to pepperoni and cheese. My favorite is all of the above listed except the beef and olives. John likes onion, peppers, beef, olives, and JALAPENOS?! Whatever, his pizza!

The oven has been heating on 500 degrees the whole time. Yes. 500. Pizza stone (you can buy those anywhere, about $10 - Old Time Pottery often has them on sale for $5) heats up in the oven, from the cold stage so it doesn't crack. One pizza at a time (unless you have 2 stones) or the pizzas are small, but it goes fast. They cook in like 5 minutes - ready when it starts to brown on top and looks all bubbly and yummy. You can take it from here - slide the peel back under the pizza and lift it out. Let cool a couple of minutes, cut, eat well!

If you're not bored yet by my healthy pizza rantings, I will FINALLY get to the sauce. We'll call it semi-homemade because I am busy, too. The food processor is my friend. Chop up fresh green peppers, onions, and garlic (again, do what you can; if you don't have the patience or time to peel fresh garlic, resort to the powder - starting with a few fresh vegetables is a great step, and you can build to more later!) If using powder, try to find that granulated kind, not the soft, powdery kind. It's stronger, and truly is garlic, not added stuff. Saute the peppers, onion, and garlic (add powder later when dry spices go in if that's your choice of garlic) in Olive Oil. Add a bay leaf, cook until veggies are soft. If you like, now would be the time to add a splash of red wine for flavor, let it cook down slightly. Here's the "semi" part: add a can each of tomato sauce (large), diced tomatoes, tomatoe puree, and tomato paste (small). Once you find time in your life, you can throw a fresh tomato in the food processor to cook in there as well. Sneaking in an extra fresh vegetable probably won't kill you. Wait - hey that wouldn't take very long, since the food processor is already used - I don't even have to rinse it out before I blend the tomato! Tomatoes are in season, maybe I'll do 2 of them. See? Baby steps on adding fresh vegetables, and it will taste SO fresh. Cook maybe 20 minutes on low simmer. If you have fresh herbs, now is the time: basil, oregano, parsley. If not, use dry. I like alot of basil and parsley (Publix sells fresh herbs for $1.99, and it's alot of herbs - make a big batch of sauce,and it's worth it. Baby steps - maybe just start with fresh basil the first time, although, sice you're there, parsley is like $.99 or less for a huge bunch). I love you, so I'll share my secret ingredients. About a quarter teaspoon of crushed red pepper for a slight kick, and Fennel. Fennel seed can be bought in the spice aisle, and I put it into one of my leftover spice grinders and twist a couple of times when I make sauce. Ooohhhh!!!! Too much trouble? Don't add it. Baby steps. Do what you can. These extra touches just make it taste authentic, rich, lovely. Add salt and pepper to taste, simmer 10 more minutes, then adjust anything you need to - stronger on herbs? Salt? Pepper? Cool it down, use what you need to tonight, then you'll have enough sauce left for spaghetti or lasagna tomorrow. O also use it to make pizza wraps for my kids for lunch - flour tortilla shell, sauce, cheese, pepperoni, roll it up, throw it in a sandwich bag. Better than PB&J! Oh, my gosh. By making a big batch of yummy sauce, you accidentally saved yourself some time in making dinner tomorrow, and lunches several times this week. AND added some extra veggies into your family's diet and they didn't know it because they enjoyed it.

What? You want a recipe? I don't cook like that! I'll make one up, it will work. More or less of this or that will work, too.

Diced Green Pepper: 1/2 cup

Diced Sweet Yellow Onion: 1/2 cup

Chopped Garlic (we like alot): 2 Tbsp

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Bay Leaf

(Save yourself some time and don't measure that - use half of a large green pepper, half a large onion, half a head of garlic, throw it in the machine, and you're good.)

1/4 cup Red Wine if you desire

1 Large can Tomato Sauce

1 Medium Can Diced Tomatoes

1 Medium Can Tomato Puree

1 Small can Tomato Paste

if you have the time, 2 medium fresh tomatoes, blended smooth

(I like Red Gold brand when I can find it - they taste freshest to me)

Chopped fresh herbs:

3 Tbsp Basil

1 Tbsp Oregano

2 Tbsp Parsley

Or dry herbs, about Half that much. If you're using Granulated Garlic, add about 2-3 tsp now.

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1 tsp ground Fennel Seed

Salt and Pepper to taste

I sincerely hope that I haven't bored, confused, agitated, or aliented anyone with my lengthy rant on freshness and health. I sometimes tell myself that everyone really wants to hear it. So again, do what you can if you care to. Have the family help prep - they will have fun!

AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BLOG ABOUT!

COOKIES!! YUMMMMM!!!!!!

2009-07-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

It's hard not to love chocolate chip cookies. John says it's sabatoge to our healthy eating. He talks with his mouth full, though (of cookies), and an undeniable smile that speaks volumes about how glad he is to have them. You know I can't just go with a regular cookie, though. There's no denying the years of success of the Tollhouse recipe, but I also love the recipe Roland Mesnier has in "Dessert University". It has molasses in it, and is baked at a higher temp so it is crispy and caramelized on the outside and incredibly chewy on the inside. Let's say you go with the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips. Ready for my secret? I've got a few, but here's what I ALWAYS do: add several drops of the Butterscotch Lorann flavoring. This time I also added Creme Bouquet, and they were super good. Most times I add some Heath bits, but I was out, so just added walnuts. One of my favorite additions is White chocolate chunks (don't worry; I don't leave out the chocolate!) and pecans. The thing is, once you find a recipe you like, you can add "solid" ingredients at will - Craisins, any nuts or crunches, Peanut Butter chips - ooh- what about Peanut Butter chips with chopped dried bananas? That sounds good! Let me know what you come up with,but I tell you - those Lorann flavorings work great in cookies (and punch, and ice cream, and icing, and filling, and cake, and candy, and even potpourri simmering pots!)

I wanted to post a picture of how good they look, but they're gone already!!!!

Caroline's Cake

2009-07-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

When working on demos in the store the other week, everyone seemed quite interested in a particular cake flavor, so I thought I would blog about it.

My friend Caroline got married the last Saturday of June. It was beautiful week – they rented a cabin at a lake in Kentucky, and there was plenty of room for everyone to sleep, play, eat, etc. It couldn’t have gone better. I did the cake. I baked it at home before I went up there, torted (sliced in half each layer so it looked like 4 layers instead of 2) each layer, and wrapped it tightly and froze it to travel. This is a good method for traveling if you need to do the same and want things fresh. I don’t have a problem freezing a cake for a short time; I don’t think it affects the flavor or the texture in any way. I froze it less than a week, but if it were longer than a month, or the freezer had other “stinky” things in it, then yes, I’d be concerned.

Everyone always asks me for a recipe that stays moist. I use the Vanilla Cake Recipe out of Confetti Cakes, except instead of just mixing in the egg whites, I whip those to stiff peak separately, then fold them in at the end. For Caroline’s cake, I also added some Lorann Almond Oil (just a few drops – it’s strong!), and Crème Bouquet. SERIOUS MAGIC, I’m telling you. This is the best that recipe has ever turned out! I won’t retype it here – copyright issues and all. It is so worth it to have the book, though. I use the chocolate cake recipe there, too – except I add some dark cocoa (you can ask me more about that, or I’ll blog about it later). Lots of cookies, cakes, cupcakes, tons of recipes in that book; definitely one of my favorites.

I decided to fill this fantastic Almond Cake with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. What? Don’t call me crazy! I’ve got the tricks that will make this work, and I’ll share! First, let’s get everything ready. Another trick for making this already fabulous cake extra moist is to drizzle it with simple syrup. It’s an old Pastry Chef’s trick, and it works! There are different recipes, but the basics call for equal parts of granulated sugar and water, bring to a boil on the stove, then let chill. You can then either use as is, add a flavored liquor, add a few drops of flavor (I enhanced Caroline’s flavor with a few drops of Lorann Almond Oil), or even orange juice. Put it in a squeeze bottle, then after torting the cake, drizzle the cake with it. Not soaking, like French toast, but a little moist all over. Then I got my whipped cream ready. Yes, real whipped cream. No dairy whip, no mix, just a quart of heavy cream, then I whipped it. Once it was stiff, I added a little confectioners sugar to sweeten it, just a couple of Tablespoons. Here’s the trick to stabilizing it: ADD 3 Tablespoons of CLEAR PIPING GEL. Yes, I’m serious. That will do the trick. I made plenty of cake because I knew we’d be there several days and the leftovers would be fabulous, and Caroline said that a week later when she threw the rest out, it was still perfectly firm (refrigerated, of course)!!! I got my strawberries ready: Diced small, like peas and carrots size, or barely larger than that. I didn’t want them wet, so I cut them into a bowl with a paper towel at the bottom to absorb the liquid.

Time to assemble: Magical Almond Cake layer (torted), drizzle with Almond Simple Syrup, make a dam with butter cream icing around the edge of the cake layer so the filling doesn’t squish out. Spread stabilized whipped cream in the middle, then sprinkle with plenty of strawberries so each guest gets plenty of sweet, yummy bites of fruit. Continue to use all four cake layers; you should have 3 layers of filling. Crumb coat the whole thing with icing, then cover with Fondant (Okay, that was special, too). I used a blend of Raspberry White Chocolate Fondant and my favorite, Fondx, with just a drop of Ivory color to give a creamy white, yummy taste. TASTE: PERFECT. Design? She said she didn’t care, just plain. WHAT??!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! YOU WON”T LET ME PLAY??!!! She only requested some Orange poppies to represent the national color of Holland for her husband to be, Robert. I ordered those in because they looked so good, but they were RED, so I painted them with Spiced Pumpkin luster dust, which worked great. Still plain, though. I used a lace silicon border to press out a nice border, dusted the whole cake with Super Pearl, and called it a day. She loved it, I was proud. I missed her walking in to see it as I was tending to something else, but she was kind enough to reenact it for me, which is another whole story in itself…….

Congratulations, Robert and Caroline! I wish you all the happiness in the world!!!

Little Girls Giggling

2009-07-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

My 7 year old daughter had a friend over to spend the night last night. There is nothing that makes things more right with the world than to hear little girls giggling. Seriously. To be care free, focused totally on the joy of the moment, just enjoying the company of the person beside you, is what is rewarding about life. We made whole wheat pancakes for breakfast - we mill the flour fresh, to take advantage of 100% of the nutrients within the grain. Are you thinking "eewww"? Or, "that must taste like cardboard"? Well, there is nothing pickier than a 7 year old girl, and we slipped it right on her plate without her knowing. She said, "These are really good! Where did you get them?" Well, we made them. The fresh wheat is SO sweet and nutty! Fitting healthy things in to your diet every day allows you to treat yourself to CAKE when it's time to celebrate life. We will talk more about eating healthy - it gives you POWER, ENERGY, LIFE. It also allows you to have treats without feeling guilty. Back to the giggling!

A New Day

2009-07-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Couldn't sleep this morning. Thought I would start a blog! Part of me feel like it is ahead of the game, the other part realizes that the world moves SO fast, and I have alot of catching up to do!!!! I have gotten to know so many people as the Sweet Wise store has grown; I look forward to getting to know many more! I have alot in my head that I want to accomplish - more growth to the business stays on the forefront. Like my fiance John says - it's like a chess game. If you plan and put the pieces together, you can predict the outcome. It's like a challenge - improve, offer more, get people excited about what they can do. I like to see people excited about the store - some say it's like Disneyland. Some just walk around for hours, looking, discovering. They come to check out with a glossy look in their eye, almost like they don't believe everything they have just seen, and just say, "I love your store." It's exciting for us! We want to do more!