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...