Better-Than-Sex Cupcakes

So my very good friend Mike Dymond who I've known since I started dancing blues gave me a link to the Best Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Ever. The blog it's from is called Cupcake Project. On perusing the blog, I found this epic recipe for BTS cupcakes. They're very similar to the raspberry chocolate ones I like to make, so I decided to try it.

I adapted the recipe to my own taste and available ingredients. The batter was deadly rich - chocolatey batter with mini semi-sweet chips. I didn't like the recipe provided, so I improvised my own - heavy whipping cream infused with some nutella and cocoa powder, squirted into the center of the cupcake. Then normal dark chocolate ganache and some white chocolate drizzles. They are so adorable, and all three dozen were eaten by the end of the night.

Critique: I don't know how to compensate for the dryness of Utah, so they came out a little dry and crunchy. Best eaten with a sip of milk. But Mike said that it was a nice texture contrast; the inside was moist and fluffy but the outside had a nice crunch. It also probably had to do with the fact that I made mini ones instead of full size ones.

A Day of More Cooking!

When will the foodings stop??

I swear I talk about and do other things than cook and bake. But I have more to share.

So, another thing on the Frister List was a summer meal I like to make called the Tomato Steak and Baked Goat Cheese Salad. I was finally able to make it today since everyone was home for once.

The delectable salad. Everyone saves the cheese for last.

Then I did another baking experiment. We already know I love red velvet cupcakes. But we found that Bread and Chocolate had another cupcake recipe video. Theirs had a bit more cocoa, and added cinnamon and balsamic vinegar. It was simply delightful.

I made a dozen of these enormous delights and gave them to friends

Celtics Cupcakes

I think I'm addicted to making cupcakes. It's so terribly fun! And it's delightful to watch as you make everyone around you happy and fat ^_^

I made these at my friend Zach's house. We knew we wanted to make cupcakes, so we walked into the house and his parents were watching the Celtics game. Then Zach made a suggestion: instead of red velvet cupcakes, how about GREEN velvet cupcakes? And then, in the middle of making them, when the scores were really close, he announced that if they lost, we could not eat the cupcakes and would have to simply stare at them in shame and sorrow. So, we were a little more fervent in our support for the team. Good thing they won, or we wouldn't have been witness to the deliciousness of green velvet.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

So my sisters had their end-of-year bake sale for Boston Ballet this weekend. I made a few dozen red velvet cupcakes for them to sell, and to give to teachers. They are soooo delicious. I used a recipe courtesy of the blog haute from the oven. They're sweet and moist and bright red. It's my favorite cupcake, I think.

AAAH so much sushi.

Okay okay. I kinda went crazy.

Here we have four different types of yumminess. The nigiri around the plate are prosciutto, tofu, and sweet potato. In the middle there are sweet potato and tuna sushi. I shared with the family. The tuna was everyone's favorite.

Dad came home last night! It's so nice to have him back ^_^ He's always going to Saudi every few weeks for work. Here's the blog he sometimes updates about his adventures.

Tonight was a standard ballroom group lesson for waltz. It was great! I haven't done any standard ballroom in like, two months. And I got to wear my new fancy standard shoes. Hee.

All considered though, I'm kinda bummed. It's pretty lonely out here. There aren't many people who are interested in dating socially, and most of my friends from high school are still in school, so they can't play. I've been keeping myself busy, of course; ballroom three hours a night, blues on Thursdays, driving my sisters around to ballet, and making sushi. I still haven't found a job, so I feel a little useless. But soon, friends will be done with finals and come back to Suds, and I will find a way to make some money! And being home is pretty wonderful. I missed the trees and greenery, hanging out and rockin to rad car jamz with my sisters, talking to my dad, and having breakfast every morning with my mom.

Determination!

As one of my friends told me, "If you give up, I'll never dance with you again."

Dance-related threats work on me, I guess.

PS. I really want a Toothless figurine. Maybe I'll make one...

More sushiiiii.

We did another mad-dash sushi dinner today.

tofu nigiri, prosciutto nigiri, sweet potato sticks

I think my favorite was the tofu. But the prosciutto was pretty good too, it didn't need soy sauce at all.

Misomisosambaaa

I made homemade miso soup today! It was ever so tasty ^_^ This is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

4 cups water

1/3 cup miso paste

3 green onions, chopped

1 tbsp shredded nori or wakame (seaweed)

1/2 block firm silken tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes

Dash soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Bring water to a slow simmer and add seaweed. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, or more depending on your preferences. The seaweed will taste less salty/fishy if you simmer it longer. Reduce heat to very low and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir until miso is well dissolved. It is best not to boil the miso, because it will lose some of its nutritional value and the soup will taste different.

It was kinda rainy and cold today, so it was pretty much the perfect thing. Nice and warm and salty asian goodness.

Ballroom tonight was painful but productive. The first hour was a group samba technique class, and we did a full hour of crusado walks. SO much technique in my poor little brain and for my body to pick up. Practice makes near-perfect, I suppose. Then the next latin class was rumba. I had such a hard time with the spin turn to aida(sp?). Good thing I have all summer to practice!

My new favorite quote: "I don't practice until I get it right, I practice until I can't get it wrong!" (stolen from my friend on the BYU ballroom tour team)

Ginger peanut somen noodles dinner

clockwise from top: ginger-lime dressing, soba noodles, scallions,

crushed peanuts, and rice noodles for mom. everyone had coconut juice to drink :3

My sisters have what we call The Frister List. It is a list of places to go, things to eat, things to bake and cook, etc. while I'm home for the summer. One of those was to make the ginger-peanut soba noodle dinner they love so much. We had quite the adventure food shopping, and dancing down the grocery aisles. I love cooking with my sisters. It's like I have a small army doing half the work magically.

Now, this little dinner was supposed to be only part of a enormous feast for my mom for a belated mother's day gift. It was going to be appetizers of various seasoned edamame, then miso soup, the ginger-peanut noodles as a side dish with all sorts of sushi as the main feature, with mango sticky rice for dessert. *sigh* I think it's going to end up being spread out over the week. We'll see how it goes!