Festival Participants Learn The Art of Entertaining
By Leslie Rott

Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau employees Heather Bazinau (left), who works in information services, and intern Katie McGaffigan enjoy decorating chili pepper-shaped cookies, which when frosted purple, look like lilacs.

Entertaining is an art that can be learned with a lot of practice, or a good teacher. At the Lilac Festival's "Art of Entertaining" class at Murray Hotel Wednesday, June 14, pastry chef Kim Sperl from Bella e Dolce in Cheboygan and florist Jay Porcaro from Weber's Floral and Gift were back for a second year to teach participants tricks of their trades.

Participants paid $25 to make three decorated sugar cookies, two round and one lilac shaped, and a floral arrangement.

"There are so many fun things you can do with cookies," Mrs. Sperl told participants. She has been making and decorating cakes for seven years and she attended Le Cordon Bleu, a famous culinary school in Paris. She taught cake decorating at the event last year.

Mrs. Sperl taught attendees how to make the "Martha Stewart kind of cookie," which means going beyond slapping butter cream frosting or colored sugar on top of the cookie.

Cookies were decorated with Royal Icing, also known as "bakers glue." An outline was made in Royal Icing and filled in when hardened with the same Royal icing, thinned out with water. The icing took about an hour to harden.

Mrs. Sperl suggested participants flip the cookies on their backs to decorate them, so they could work on a flat surface.

Cookie cutters shaped as chili pepper worked fine for lilacs, when frosted in purple and decorated with buds.

To give a watercolor look to a cookie, add lemon extract to non-toxic chalk, she suggested, and the lighter, more pastel colored the Royal Icing, the faster it will dry.

Mr. Porcaro helped participants to make professional-looking floral arrangements, giving helpful hints as he demonstrated.

Flowers should be cut at an angle right away and put in water to keep from dying. Any foliage that will end up under water should be taken off. Crisscrossing the base of the greens will help keep the flowers in place.

Jan Young of Vermont came to the class for the second time.

"I just love craft stuff," she said. "This is just another avenue down the craft road." Her husband, Jeff, is a member of the International Lilac Society and she attended Lilac Festival with him for the first time last year. She said she enjoyed learning something she could take home with her and duplicate and wanted to have that experience again.

"I like to learn anything I can about decorating," said Mary Ann Osborne, a first time Lilac Festival attendee from Erie, Pennsylvania, who attended with her husband, Greg. She expected the class to be more of a demonstration and was excited to learn that participants were going to have a hands-on experience.

Space for the class was limited to 20 participants and 10 people took part in the class. Tourism Bureau Director Mary Slevin said that the class was meant to be intimate, for a select group of people. The class was added to the Lilac Festival lineup last year, in response to inquiries for lifestyle events.

Kim Sperl's recipe for Royal Icing: Ingredients: Meringue Powder 5 tbsp. Water 3 oz. Powdered Sugar 1 lb.

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. With a whisk attachment, beat until stiff and pure white.

3. Cover immediately.