Experimental Endeavors

Anyone watch 2 Broke Girls on CBS?

Well, in the episode pictured above, Max tells Caroline that she needs cake mixes to make her cupcakes and her "secret ingredient" is mixing a spoon full of Pillsbury cake mix into Duncan Hines Cake Mix!

That got me thinking a little harder about my hobby of cupcake decorating. The majority of the time, I had been getting cake mixes from my mom from a surplus of them at her work. I had been using them and then creating all my elaborate creations on top of them. But this episode really started the wheels turning - that I need to find a "scratch" recipe to call my own to try, make, tweak and be totally mine. I had made a few attempts at making my own, but I wasn't too focused on that part (very shameful, I know).

Today I made another attempt at creating my own yellow cake cupcake, and I do have to say, I am almost 100% a fan. Let's face it, if it were 100% the first try, it wouldn't be called baking - it would be called perfection, or something...

I thought I might try another kind tomorrow, but this batch made a TON more than what I thought it would make - I need to work on dialing that back somewhat, and getting it to my idea of perfection. 

I told Derick about my cupcake tasting party idea and he suggested we have it in conjunction with our Superbowl Party this year...

Basically, I would take a crack at baking/making about 5-6 different cupcake flavors, giving each person who comes to the party who wants to participate a plate with one of each kind of cupcake flavor on it with toothpicks with numbers on them. I would have them take a bite of each one and write what they think on a piece of paper next to that number. I would then ask them to choose an overall favorite, and an overall similar type favorite. For example, if there were three white cake recipes and two chocolate cake recipes that I tried, I would have them choose a top white cake and a top chocolate cake from the choices in order to better narrow down which recipe my "test group" likes the best. 

Anyone interested in eating a lot of cupcakes in about a month? Anyone? Bueller?

-LD

Bus Happenings: A List

I tweeted the other day about making a list of things that I am anticipating will happen at some point during the duration of time I spend on public transportation. Here is the list:

1. Get asked what time it is
2. Get thrown-up on
3. Get sneezed on
4. Get sat on
5. Get used as a pillow by a sleeping seat-mate
6. Get asked to borrow my phone
7. Be asked to change/move seats
8. Be a witness to a bus/car accident
9. Be on a bus that hits another vehicle or building
10. Miss my stop
11. Fall asleep on the bus

Of that list, the following crossed out items have already happened to me:

1. Get asked what time it is
2. Get thrown-up on
3. Get sneezed on
4. Get sat on
5. Get used as a pillow by a sleeping seat-mate
6. Get asked to borrow my phone
7. Be asked to change/move seats
8. Be a witness to a bus/car accident
9. Be on a bus that hits another vehicle or building
10. Miss my stop
11. Fall asleep on the bus

It really is only a matter of time before they all probably end up happening to me. Two of those things actually happened to me today on the way home from work - the same person too. One guy who was traveling with his 2-year old son asked me what time it was. I told him. He made some comments about how he was going to be late, and he wished his little boy hadn't left his cell phone at home. He then asked me a little while later if he could borrow my phone to call his ride that was supposed to pick him up from the bus stop. I thought about it a minute, and I felt a little uneasy about it, but I asked him what the number was, dialed it in, and handed him my phone. It was my really good Samaritan deed for the day. I figured the chances with him running off with my phone were pretty slim since he had a little kid - who was sleeping on him. He gave it back to me after the person he was calling did not pick up. I put my phone back in my pocket. A couple of minutes later it was ringing in my pocket. I took it out, looked at it, asked the man if the last four numbers were the ones he had dialed. He said yes, I handed him the phone, he talked for a few minutes and then handed the phone back to me. 

My other good deed, was arranging my co-worker's birthday lunch and making her cupcakes last night to bring in today - on the bus. It actually went a lot better than I thought it would. They were going to be kitty cat cupcakes, but they turned out looking like pretty bad kitties, so with a thought from Derick and something I had been considering, I whipped together a new plan. They came out looking like Cream puffs! I might just have to call them Cream Puff Cupcakes! They WERE vanilla cream-filled in the middle after all!

Sweet Dreams!

-LD

Congrats to the Graduating Class of 2011

This is going to be more of a catch-up post...

On Memorial Day, we went to my aunt and uncle's cabin near Amery, WI and enjoyed some chit-chat and some great home-cooked food - YUM. I also had made another installment of cupcake creations and brought them with me to celebrate my cousin, Craig's graduation and my sister's (almost) graduation.

I am proud to present the class of 2011:

I thought they turned out pretty cute! And pretty tasty too! mmm...

Lately the rest of my time has been spent looking for and applying for jobs. There are a few out there, and you can bet that I have applied to them - what almost seems like ALL of them, that I am qualified for in my field and a few "reachers."

Another large task I have started is scanning in all of my "Inspiration" 3-ring binders of magazine and newspaper clippings. I am down two 4" binders and moving onto a 2" binder and then the loose stuff...it feels good to be recycling all of that paper and stuff and getting digital with it all. More productive to look at it all in photo form thumbnail images rather than flipping through the archives as I have been doing for years...

Here's some "breaking news," my little sister is engaged. Yep. Engaged. She has known/been planning her wedding with dating this guy since November-ish (yes, that is only seven months, I know). Right away she inundated and overwhelmed the family with his presence at every family holiday gathering minus one.They are planning a wedding for next June, and that is all that I know, oh, that, and that my sister asked me to be her Maid/Matron of Honor at the family Memorial Day celebration as well. Goody...Don't get me wrong, she's my sister, and by obligation, that means that I have to love and accept the crazy things that she does. It is just that we are SO very different, but she has been known to copy just about everything I have done when we were younger - from getting the same shoes I did then pretending not to know I had them, to now, talking about how she wants to get married outside...by a lake...and have her colors be red and or red and purple (ahem, just exactly like my wedding). Way to think and be original...I mean, it just gets annoying that she chooses not to really think for herself and uses what other people have done or bought before her. It will be interesting to say the least. Stay tuned, maybe on the hit TV show. You know the one.

-LD

Cupcake Creations

Since it is snowing like mad outside, I have been doing what I do "best," baking! Although the pictures below are not of today's creations, I just wanted to make sure that I had most of my cupcake creations in one place, or at least, so far, most of my creations!  I actually made triple-chocolate cookies today and almost snagged a picture of Derick licking the beater, but alas, I was not faster than Derick's desire to devour every square inch of cookie dough left on the beater! So, without further ado, I give you, my cupcakes... (I feel like "Be Our Guest" needs to start playing here, so cue your imagination music!)

The first attempt at making an elaborate cupcake! Sunflowers!

Some other "experimental flowers" that were made that day

Rubber Ducky, You're The One! You Make Baking So Much Fun!!

Green-Eyed String Monster!

August 2010 in memory of my Grandpa Joe

Sept. 2010 Ali's Goodbye Bus Cupcake Cake! 

Cupcakes for our friends' daughter, Ava for her First Birthday!

Ava's Finished Princess Cupcake Tower!

Fishy Cupcakes for our "Fishy" Midwest Cichlid Association Friends

Look! They're schooling!

Packers Superbowl XLV Cupcakes!

GO Pack GO!

Valentine's Day Red Velvet Cupcakes 2011

 Hope that was enough for your sweet-tooth!
-L