I Got Into A Nic Lodge Class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Decorating By chelleb1974 Updated 8 Jun 2007 , 3:59pm by chelleb1974
I am soooo excited!!! I called a couple months ago to register for his Ultimate Gumpaste Flower class which starts Saturday (6/2) and was #5 on the waiting list. Imagine my surprise when they called me yesterday to see if I could make it!!!!! I even was able to use miles to get a free plane ticket!! WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Just wanted to share my excitement with everyone!!
Would love to know if any other CC people will be there!!!
~Chelle
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did the class I took in 2000. He is a wonderful instructor, patient and makes sure you "get it" before he lets you go. And his life partner Scott is the sweetest man, also makes a great free lunch every day as well as a continental breakfast and homemade cookies. Take lots of pictures and be sure and post them!
Thanks Shirley!! I was able to see him demo at the Mid-Atlantic Cake Show and thought he was just great! I will be sure to post pics when I get back! Actually - if I have internet access (and am not too tired) I'll post pics each night!
~Chelle
Now I have to find the books I have to have him sign them.............
Awesome!
I took the French Purse and African Hat Box cake class in April. It was amazing! I was on cloud nine the whole weekend and I didn't want it to end.
Nic is so nice and everyone at the gallery is just lovely. Scott is an amazing chef and I would go over there every day just for lunch. I ate so much of the candy he made that he sent the rest home with me on the second day.
You're going to have a blast. Keep us posted!
I went to that Ultimate Flower class last February. I was so excited and it was so cool. He even comes up to you and calls you by name and takes you on a tour of the place. It was great to see him make all those flowers up close. I was bad though and spent way too much money buying all the supplies to make the same flowers at home....but it is so fun when I have the time to play. His gum paste recipe is great too.
Have fun, I know you will.
jenjenjen
Thanks Jen,
It's great hearing from people who have taken a class with him - especially the same one I'm taking! I'll be sure to post pics as the class goes on!
~Chelle
Oh my!!!!!! I am soooo glad I got into this class! It is so much more than I ever expected......and it's only day 1!!!!!! Well worth each and every penny paid ($550).
We did so much today: carnation (flower and bud), stephanotis (flower and bud), daisy, dendrobium (singapore orchid), freesia (flower and bud), small gardenia buds, gerbera daisy bases, calla lily (yellow center only), and cattaleya orchid center.
The pics I have are of all of these......I didn't think to try and get close up pics of each flower!
Scott made us chicken salad (with cranberries) on croissants, minted pea salad, couscous salad, and grapes for lunch and angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Then home baked choco chip cookies for the afternoon!
Apparently my pics are too big......you can click on my website (www.chellescakes.com) and the pics are in a Nic Lodge folder.
~Chelle
P.S.
I'll post some more pics tomorrow and hopefully some closeups of today's flowers!
Ok - Day 2 is over......it just keeps getting better!
Here's what we did today: Lilly center with brown stamens, lilly petals (not attached yet), finished the Gerbera Daisy, Cattleya Orchid throat, Cattleya Orchid leaves, Cattleya Orchid petals (none attached yet), Calla Lily, finished Gardenia.
The pics of these are on my website in the folder for Nic Lodge - Day 2. I also added more closeup photos of the flowers from yesterday - along with descriptions.
Today Scott made us basil chicken with penne, salad, and garlic herbed bread for lunch and chocolate liquor cheesecake with cherries. YUMMMM!!!!!!!! Then he made us toffee butterscotch cookies for our afternoon break - DOUBLE YUMMMMM!!!!!! They were even hot when we eat them - TRIPLE YUMMMMM!!!! Nothing like hot, fresh cookies!!
~Chelle
How exciting for you to take a class w/ Nic Lodge!! It's something I'd love to do someday 
We finished Day 3! We started assembling sprays of flowers today, so they are actually starting to look like real flowers!!!
Here's what we did today: full rose (going to add the petals to make a full blown rose tomorrow), tight rose bud, Lizianthus buds, Liziantus flower, assembled dendrobium orchid, assembled cattleya orchid, assembled cymbidium orchid, daisy spray, stephanotis spray, lily of the valley spray, freesia spray, and sweet pea spray.
The pics have not been added to my website.....I am having techinical difficulties and can't post them to yahoo! Will keep trying!!
Lunch was great at usual!! Scott made us carribean chicken salad with pineapple bread and a coconut pie/cake with caramel sauce!
~Chelle
Hello All!!! I finally got the pics uploaded late last night!
Today we put the final row of petals on the rose to make a fully blown rose. We also put the calyx's on the Lisianthus, Gardenia, Gerbera Daisy, Rosebud and Fully Blown Rose. We also made Variegated Ivy, Birds Foot Ivy, Eucalyptus Leaves, Rose Leaves, Lilly Leaves, Daisy Leaves and misc Ferns. We wired the rose leaves together, the variegated ivy together, and the birds foot ivy together.
Sadly.....tomorrow is our last day of class 
Tomorrow we are going to put the dusts on all of the flowers and leaves and finish wiring the rest of the flowers and leaves together. We are not putting the Lilly together becuase it is too fragile and will get broken on the way home - I will be putting that one together once I get home.
The pics are up on my website - no problems tonight!!
Today Scott made us chicken tetrazzinni, french-style green beans marinated in a pineappley (sp?) marinade, some kind of baked pineapple with some crunchy stuff on top and olive dill bread. He also made us chocolate turtle bars for dessert.
Forgot to say that we had chocolate chocoloate chip cookies for our break yesterday. Today he made us lemon cookies for our break.
~Chelle
Wow, what a great 5 days. The food sounds delicious!! I was at the MidAtlantic Cake Show and saw one of his demos too. He seemed really nice. I have a few of his instructional videos but I would love to take a class in person with him one day.
Wonderful picturres Chelle, I went through each page as a slideshow. I love everything you learned, but my favorite has always been, and still is, the Sweetpea. Maybe because it's my birth flower, but it is just such a delicate little flower. I love them.
I am SO glad you took this class and that you had such a good time. Told ya so!
If you were anything like me you went back to the motel each night completely exhausted but also so excited about what you had acheived and learned that day.
Yes Shirley....that's exactly what happened!!
Sorry I didn't post Wednesday night....the hotel at the airport didn't have reliable internet The pics got posted, but I didn't get to post here.
We basically dusted all of the flowers and leaves that we made during the week. We used confectioner's glaze on some of the leaves to make them shiny (like the real ones). It's amazing how the flowers come to life when they're dusted!!! They look so real.
My favorite flowers were the rose, sweet pea, and carnation. Nic packed them all up for us in a box with a handle to take them home. I am happy to say the only damage was to a few of the Gerbera Daisy petals....he had said if there was any damage it would most likely be to that one - it was easily fixed with some super glue!!
I took pics last night after unpacking the flowers and will post those tonight.
We had mediterranean (sp?) greek chicken salad with olive bread for lunch and lemon bars for dessert. The lemon bars almost seemed like lemon cheesecake bars, but he said that they weren't. He also made us chocolate chip cookies for our afternoon snack.
He is an awesome cook!!!
Can't wait to take more classes!!
~Michelle
Sweetbaker,
Definitely take a class if you can! It is just amazing. He was just as friendly and informative in class as he was in the demo (I was at the demo at the Mid-Atlantic show also). Some of the other ladies in the class were telling me that the videos/dvds are just like being in class.....except no food!
~Chelle
Gosh I don't know what sounds more exciting -- Nick's flowers or Scotts menues!!! 
Yeah Bob....it was a toss up! We were joking that we went just for the food......pretty expensive lunch!!
I had a couple of classes with Nick recently and Scott was there -- I really liked him. I told him that word of his awesome cooking has spread through the world of the sugar arts -- he smiled and blushed! I haven't had the privilege of enjoying one of his lunches, but who knows -- maybe someday! 
ooooh.. can you see how green I am?? I am so glad you had such a blast. I hope to do the same thing someday. Your flowers are great!
Thank you Jeanne.....it was pretty amazing to open them up at home and know that I made them! I couldn't stop smiling at them!!
I remember when I was talking to Scott about his cooking, he said "When you come down for a class, we like to spoil you!" Sure sounds like it!
They sure do! It's amazing the classes don't cost more with all the stuff they do for you!!
The gumpaste was all made and colored for us, there were muffins and juice/coffe/tea for us in the morning, the wonderful lunches, all the soda/coffee/tea/water we wanted, fresh baked cookies in the afternoon, and everything was packed up for us by Nic to take home.
I was just amazing...I've never taken a class from him before and am already making plans for next year!!
~Chelle
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