THOUGHTS & PRAYERS FOR YOUR SAFETY

Hurricane Irene is coming our way, I hope all who are in the same position are taking every step necessary to be safe.  Will be back no later than Monday.  My prayers are with you all, near and far.

The Darlings...

I was expecting a sunny morning for my photo shoot, but instead it is cloudy.  Oh well, I think I got a couple of good shots of the cupcakes I made last night.

The Splendor of Orange Begins #1

My favorite holiday is Halloween, and that means I like all things orange.  To begin commemorating the wonderfully ghoulish holiday, tonight I made Carrot Cake Cupcakes.  Besides my Devil's Food cupcakes, these are the best batch of cups I've made thus far.  I'm really proud of them.  So here goes....

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 cups carrots, grated
1/2 cup pecans, toasted then chopped
Oven: 325
Bake: 15-18 minutes (no more)

I used a butter creamcheese top, added grated crystallized ginger, and finished them off with powdered ginger.  Nope, the ginger was not overpowering at all.

I count on daylight to take pictures, but by the time the cupcakes were done and decorated it was evening.  I'll take more pics in the morning and post them.  The other photos are pieces from my book of collages.  Last night I tried getting acquainted with watercolors, just try different things while having fun.  I decided to gently add color to a black&white photo of Jizos.

Widening Channels

I believe in all

I believe in all that has never yet been spoken.
I want to free what waits within me
so that what no one has dared to wish for

may for once spring clear
without my contriving.

If this is arrogant, God, forgive me,
but this is what I need to say.
May what I do flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing to you as no one ever has,

streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.

~R.M. Rilke~

Cookies and Black Tie

For the last two weeks I was on the hunt for a dress.  Not just any dress, but a dress that would be appropriate (and comfortable) for a black tie event: a wedding.  I had no time for baking...well barely.  I managed to make cookies, which under the level of stress I was in due to the wedding, they turned out surprisingly good.

Chocolate Peanut Cookies
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate (melted and cooled)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped roasted peanuts (I used salted peanuts)
Oven - 375 degrees
Bake - 8 to 9 minutes no more (seriously)

As for the wedding...

I am a small woman, in height, and could not find a dress to save my life.  Certainly not a simple one, nor one I didn't have to alter.  (I came across one beautiful blue gown, but altering it would've meant cutting two feet of material....ugh.)  Eventually I ran out of time and had to settle for a blouse I already owned.  I did all I could not to compare myself to all the glamorous looking women in the room.  The wedding entailed two very distinct but traditional ceremonies:  Hindu and American.  The bride of course looked beautiful...who happened to be my height, so I was glad to see she was able to find dresses.  I am a friend of the groom: I prayed he cared more about the fact that I was there, than the fact that I was the only woman not wearing a dress.  I felt bad.  And those glamorous women?  By end of night were wearing flip-flops on the dance floor.  Wish I had a photo of that!  So much pressure for nothing sometimes.  My guy looked very handsome in his James Bond-ish tuxedo.  I just loved the way he looked and am very lucky, as he is way more than his tux.  In the end, we both had a great time dancing and laughing.  I am not unlike my Chocolate Peanut Cookies: we may not be the prettiest of them all, but we sure are sweet.

Lastly, as would be expected of me, I bought an extra bow-tie for the other handsome man in my life.

For My Pal

Tomorrow is my pal's birthday, so I sent her a large card made out of a page from my 2011 calendar.
The month of May:

I added a cardboard backing and placed stick-on daisies as a way of framing the back, where I wrote a special note to her.  I also made some paper castings with my Rycraft ceramic stamps and placed them on the front of the card.  I did a paper casting of the letter "R", her first name, and placed it right in the middle of the crown seal.  I also made a duck with a bow and canter of flowers.  Below are my collection of Rycraft ceramic stamps...so far.

I did take a picture of the baked goods I sent along with the card.  The original recipe is called Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes (found on blogs.babble.com/familykitchen, posted by Juliever).  I decided to make them in my heart shaped silicone pan.  As usual I make everything gluten-free, and I've also gotten into the habit of sifting my flour, baking powder, etc.  I find my batters come out better that way, even when the original recipe doesn't call for it.  In the end, I always go with my instincts.  The results were pretty surprising.  Here's the recipe with a couple of my adjustments in parantheticals...

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil (I used canola)
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs (I decided to leave them out for room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sale
1/4 - 1/2 cup Nutella, room temperature (I followed my own instincts when it came to how much Nutella)

I found the batter to be too thick and despite what I used, I was unable to easily swirl in the Nutella.  Baked results...

I wanted the Nutella much more swirled into the batter, so I tried again with leftover batter.  This time I decided to mix the Nutella into the batter with my hands as if it were dough, just work it in a bit.  (FYI: messy.)  They turned out the other extreme, a little too mixed.  Up at the very top of this picture you'll see a couple where the Nutella is much more mixed in.  They almost look like marble hearts.

Either way, I think they turned out to be great little morsels.  Because they were tiny, the consistency turned out to be less of a cupcake and more of a cookie.  Which in the end I was happy with...and I think my pal will be happy too.  Happy 9th Birthday!

When last I wrote I mentioned a project I was going to embark in...I'm still working on it.  It has turned out to be more of an adventure than I expected.  It requires me to do a lot of research and decision making around photos and fabrics: persistance is key.  Eventually it will connect to baking.  I'm grateful for the challenge.  ....I leave you with a quote I recently heard Tavis Smiley from PBS read the other day.  It gave me food for thought.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.  TALENT will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.  GENIUS will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  EDUCATION will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  PERSISTENCE and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."  by Calvin Coolidge