blue velvet

in retrospect, i'm VERY lucky that the pyrex exploded while it was IN the oven, as opposed to right when i added the sugar/egg/lime juice mixture, which i suspect is what caused the problem. lots of tales online about people picking shards of glass out of their feet, which i'm happy to have avoided. not that it was fun cleaning it out (which i ended up doing last night-- couldn't get to sleep thinking about the mess), but better than the theoretical alternative. today, i realized i'm lacking about $50 worth of connectors to get this schmancy new surround system hooked up, which annoys, as do the components and books full of CDs/DVDs lying around waiting to fit back in/around said components. patience, grasshopper... but what's the point of buying a "home theater in a box" if the box (which i could fit in btw-- so glad i decided to have it delivered, so that the fedex guy was in charge of carrying it up the stairs!) if the box lacks so many necessary cords? grr... new roomie moved in today, and so far (only a few hours, granted), she seems much like the last-- happy to entertain herself mostly in her room, eats a lot of take-out (tho this one is culinary-school trained, but who wants to cook all night at work and then come home and cook for fun?), low maintenance. fingers crossed it stays that way. baking adventures today: vegan cupcakes. i'm a big fan of lower-fat cooking (so that i can indulge in baked goods and still eat my bacon without falling over from a coronary on the spot), but i'm also a big fan of meat and dairy products. it's for charity, tho, and the demand is there (at least from a small coterie of the cafe staff), so i gave it a shot. i made marble cupcakes, on the advice of past favored roomie, and they turned out well, tho the marbling was a hassle. i don't think i've ever dirtied quite so many dishes making anything other than lasagna. two separate batches of dough, scooped into cups simultaneously, plus the curdling of the soymilk (eww) and the "butter"cream icing (which was shockingly delicious), plus the baking pans... oy. topped them with half an oreo, which are apparently vegan now (who knew), and suddenly they looked fancy. forgot to photograph them-- what am i, a food blogger? but then i was warmed up and ready to make the "big" project i'd been looking forward to: blue velvet cupcakes. we had red velvet cake as a dessert special this month, for the ridiculous price of $7.95 a slice. a big slice, yeah, but i've seen the recipe, and relative to the rest of the desserts vs cost, that's ludicrous. however, it stuck in my mind, and i had to make it, with a twist of course. things got a little out of hand when i saw the peppermint extract sitting all alone on the pantry shelf, and i realized i hadn't come up with anything to do with the candy canes i bought, so, voila: peppermint blue velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing sprinkled with crushed candy canes: they looked green on top out of the oven, but lo and behold, the food coloring worked, and they really are blue inside: (brownies w/heath bar topping next to it there.) now, again, i commence the hoping that i somehow miraculously wake up in time to get these goodies to the bake sale... not looking as likely today, given the time stamp, but i remain optimistic...

crash bang

well. despite beginning the day on hold, waiting for the fedex guy, i miraculously managed to get my open house lists done, unpack the new surround system and get it halfway put together (need another set of hands to finish, to be sure i don't drop a second tv this year), AND made serious headway on my bake-sale baking. i had one or two recipes left in mind for tonight, then off to bed so as to wake up in time to get the goodies to the actual bake sale. and then... ugh. already done: brownies, oatmeal butterscotch cookies, pumpkin bread, toffee biscotti... brownie cupcakes (alright, i confess-- these came from a mix)... and then, the key lime squares i've been so excited to try. i swear i followed the recipe to a T up til this point-- i adapted the streusel topping to add coconut, but that part hadn't made it to the oven yet. i was waiting for the first two layers to cook, sitting in the living room taking a smoke break, when i heard a disturbing crash coming from the kitchen. i tiptoed in, saw nothing out of the ordinary, and then i slowly opened the oven to find this: looks like it's time for a drink.

pie, dude.

so much i should've done today, yet all i accomplished, aside from wandering to the corner for smokes, was this apple pie w/crumb topping... not for the bake sale, but for me and my fruit-lacking diet. better than nada, no? maybe http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/2104624021_03e2d05873.jpg?v=0

snow!

dude-- it's snowing! (er, it was earlier when i wrote this and forgot to post it, anyway.) guess it's time to accept the fact that it's that time of year... not my favorite. me & my wacky circadians don't do well with the short sun days, and i'm not a fan of chapped skin, and i hate hate hate driving in potentially icy precipitation... but i'll get over it. i do love *looking* at the snow, as long as i don't have to be anywhere & thus go out and drive in it. yeah, it's time to move farther south. the apartment is shaping up-- been working on it in preparation for new roomie, moving in next week. got a rod from the landlady yesterday for a curtain to cover the broken pane, which will also help keep out the chill that comes in the still-unrenovated french doors. would be nice not to have to wear a sweater when the heat's set on 72-- even nicer not to have to crank it that high in the first place, of course. shame that the place will finally look its best six months before i'm moving out, but better late than never. given all the work i'm putting into it, i really should find an identical apartment wherever i move, so i can recreate it. (not really, but i sure am digging it. have to be careful not to allow that to let me fall back on inertia and thus end up signing another lease here.) somehow got on a super-early wakeup schedule, which has my body confused. would like to stay on it, tho, given the lack of daylight. i've never been able to keep it up for more than a week, but perhaps this will be the week that 35 years of history finally change. not likely, though. got an absolutely unexpected gift in the mail this week-- a $50 kroger gift card, woo hoo! spent it tonight on ingredients... next week is the cafe's annual charity bake sale. i usually take a trip this time of year-- great travel deals, half-empty planes between the holidays, etc-- but since it's not in the cards this year, i'm diving full steam into stocking the bake sale. planned so far: "my" yummy pumpkin spice bread, cashew biscotti, a banana bread to be determined, toffee biscotti, key lime squares (if i can find key lime juice anywhere this time of year), and i've decided to take a foray into the world of cupcakes. not exactly sure when or why cupcakes became so trendy, but the point is to raise $ for charity (the boys & girls club of richmond), which seems like a good enough reason to jump on a baking bandwagon. suggestions and/or recipes welcome! i'm in love with the idea of "faux hos," i.e. vegan versions of ho-hos, but, (a) whoa, labor intensive, and (b), do i really want to spend even more money stocking my kitchen with soy milk and pseudo butter? i'd much rather spend the time and money on bacon brittle!