Cupcakes and Cupcake

Book club was lovely last night. We ate my adorable but tedious cupcakes on a stick, and discussed the book for April, which was:

I actually really liked it, and we had a great discussion about it. I do need to learn to shut up though. I think Amy and I chatted the whole time, and it's so hard to get around us. Next month will be better, since I'll shut up, and hopefully more people who talk will have read the book.

I set myself up though..everyone is expecting some kind of themed treat now. I'll have to stress myself out over it for no real reason..when in fact they wouldn't care if I bought something at Safeway..and anyways I don't even think it's my week for food. Not that any of those things has the actual power to save me from myself.

I recommended 'Gone, Baby, Gone.' which is a fantastic new movie. Ties in with some of the themes we discussed last night. And all of you non book clubbers should watch it too!

Hostess cupcake seeds

Hello, hello!

I'm not posting a Sunday Short today, because I spent all day today and half of yesterday on my new project, and I can't wait another minute to share!

I saw these lovely cupcake pops on Bakerella a while ago and decided I needed to copycat.

Aren't they adorable? My biggest problem was..I can't have white chocolate. I used to be allergic as a kid, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I've grown out of that, and now it's just the smell/memory association of all those sicks that gets me. Anyway..hard to work with white chocolate or almond bark if the smell makes you gag.

While eating the chocolate balls I made as a practice, my mom told me they tasted like Ho-Ho's. I should have got a mirror right then and checked for one of those cartoon lightbulbs. What an idea!! I'm going to make Hostess cupcakes on a stick. Being me, they had to be just right. NO faking..they had to have filling, icing , and those little squiggles. So...after many maddening trials, here they are:

The little buggers are pure evil. I had issues with the creme filling, then the chocolate, then trying to make them all stand up in the foam board I got. Now they are happily marching in formation across the counter.

Here's the middle:

They actually taste pretty darn good! I'm bringing them to my book club meeting tonight for all the ladies to enjoy while we discuss 'A Slice of Life' by Cupcake Brown.

Sunday Short

I have noticed that really cool people do cool posts on their blog that have a theme. For example, Quirky Cupcake does a Saturday Confessional. Every Saturday..how novel.
I decided I need to do that. I mean..there's a day of the week right there in my title! What a fantastic setup. Plus, I'm always doing a lot of not much on a Sunday.
But the missing piece to the puzzle is....what to do. I thought 'Sunday Short' was kinda clever, but I haven't found clever content to match.
So, all two dedicated readers of my blog (Sarah and Starla) I will soon be adding this lovely feature. Any ideas are welcome.

Famous!

Hey all-
The fantastic authors of Hello, Cupcake (My new favorite book!) have featured my Puddles cupcakes on their blog! Yeah!!
Puddles is taking her fame is stride, though she thinks it should earn her at least one more belly rub per day, and a treat.
Check it out here:
http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/

You can all say you knew me 'when.'

Sweet Cuppin Cakes

The interest of the moment is cupcakes. I've been reading about them, designing them, inventing flavors, and generally obsessing. You may remember these from myspace:

I made them about a month ago to look like my adorable dog, Puddles. I've just heard that they may be posted on a blog by the authors of a lovely book called Hello Cupcake. I'll be sure to post a link as soon as they show up over there.

For now, the first attempt at Irish Car bomb cupcakes has been made. It's my newest invention of Guinness cupcake with Irish Cream center and a yummy dark chocolate ganache on top.Here they are in all their glory:

I love, love, love their glamorous shiny tops! They look so sophisticated on the plate.

However, they aren't yet ready for all the VIP tasters out there. I decided that the ganache wasn't as thick as I'd like, since I got in a big hurry to dip them and also I think I need to up the chocolate and whiskey in the mix. Second problem, my filling technique. I used this crazy syringe thing I found at the Galley in Chico, and it put out a small amount of yummy filling, considering the monster hole it left me to patch up. See?

So, back to the drawing board. I promise they will be out to you my valued tasters as soon as Miss Perfectionist is satisfied.

Bluebirds

So I found this lovely knitting pattern from Berraco for a little stuffed bluebird of happiness. Here's what he's supposed to look like:

However...maybe my mood is affecting my knitting...because instead of a Bluebird of Happiness, I got a Bluebird of "I'm okay."

You say your a pranksta'....

Happy April Fool's Day!!

As a kid, I would try so hard to come up with something really good to do to someone at school. I'd put real effort into it too..but I'd always spoil it for myself.
I just couldn't stand those moments of anticipation between "Hey I'm prego..." and "April Fools!!!" I mean, what if they really thought I was? And what if they were distressed about it. I just guess I'm not mean enough for that sort of thing.
The two exceptions are from college:
At 18, I had a roommate that worked in a grocery store and was totally anti-social due to the fact that he actually studied. Who does that? Anyway, homeboy would come home every day and throw himself on his bed. I mean...deathdrop. We could hear the crash through the whole apartment. So on AFD, we took all the bedding off and switched the position of his mattress and box spring. Then we remade the bed. He came home, threw himself on the bed and started cussing. It was hard as rocks...I actually have always sort of felt bad about it. I'm sure he's over it...but it makes me feel like the schoolyard bully...you know?
Karmic Lesson: I later worked with his sister and met his superhot brother at a party. I couldn't really look them in the eye over the guilt of being the most horrible person ever. And that brother was hot, too.

Prank #2 happened around the same time, and not actually on AFD. In those days, all the girlfriends of frat guys ended up hanging out together, especially if they weren't affiliated with a sorority. It was one of the nights that we were having a girls night and the guys were out of town on fraternity retreat. The president had given his girlfriend the keys to the frat house...just in case. We felt that a giant prank was a pretty good just in case indeed. One of the girls knew where to find a giant stack of old Playgirl magazines (why didn't I wonder where at the time?..eww.) so we spent the biggest part of the night amassing a giant stack of the male nude. We went to the house, and hid them everywhere...taped up in the shower, under the lid of the toilet, in the coffee, on the outside of the milk jug.
We also did some other stupid crap....like writing dorky things about our boyfriends in sidewalk chalk all over the patio ("hmm, I wonder who did this?") and moving things around in the house so no one could find them.
The best part came when the phone rang, and one of the girls answered it. It was the guys...and of course they wanted to know why the hell we were in the house. Cover=blown.
We got some small satisfaction from the unexpected sounds of disgust that echoed all over the house for months, as one of the guys found yet another naked man in the sugar.

Anyway..if you are hard up for ideas on a prank to pull, Here's a website:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/