Gotta start somewhere.

This New Year I have decided that I will not only say that I want to bake 100 new recipes, I will actually do it! And today was the first hack at that goal. Evan, who is so bravely studying for the bar this winter and spring, has requested one treat per week to keep him sane. That means that if I am to keep up with my necessary recipes throughout the year, I will get to keep on average .92 recipes per week all to myself! Hooray.

Anyhow, I decided that I would attempt to make my CakeWars dream come true today...literally, I had a dream that I was called into CakeWars (completely unprepared by the way!) and had to come up with cupcakes on the spot. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with CakeWars, this type of behavior is usually frowned upon! Therefore, I whipped up a few ideas and when I woke up the next day I quickly jotted the ideas down. One of which happened to be an Orange Creamsicle Cupcake...I mean, who doesn't love Creamsicles??

And for those of you who are not familiar with Creamsicles, kindly remove yourselves from under the rock and take a look at this magnificent blend of flavors:


Yes, that does in fact look delicious. And I happen to love Creamsicles. And I also happen to love cupcakes! So, why not put the two together...

I started with a basic white cake, so that I didn't have random yellow colors or whatever other cake you can think of. Creamsicles consist of three things: orange, cream, and deliciousness. Therefore, any added confusion to the blend would have just ruined the entire experience. The recipe was borrowed from a wonderful blogger that I adore, you should all check out her website! http://www.howsweeteats.com



After the cupcake batter was poured into its sassy little lingerie and popped into the oven for toasting, I started onto the orange cream filling. YES, I said filling.



You see, my Grandma Phipps got me this handy-dandy little cake corer for Christmas this year. So now I am able to core cupcakes, taste the center (wait, what?) and then add filling. I'm sure this tool was invented for a housewife who had a curious husband that continually took pieces of the cake before it was ready to be served...only creating more work for the housewife in order to fill in the missing pieces. Well now, I can core the cake, fill it, and then frost over the top without anyone knowing that I really just wanted to taste the cake!



Back to the filling. Orange cream. I was thinking basic buttercream, mostly because the cake batter did not have nearly enough butter, but moreso because I knew I could make it tart like the Orange part of the Creamsicle.



Butter, sugar, vanilla, and orange peel all go into the bowl. With a few drops of yellow and red food dye to really make the Orange stand out. And then of course, as I add the orange juice I simply must taste-test it to ensure ample tartness. Perfect. Tart and delicious. Moving on.



I decided against another buttercream because while I personally love loads of homemade buttercream icing, I know not everybody does. So a lighter, yet decadent frosting was just what I needed. What is light and decadent?

Great answer! Meringue. So that's what I decided on, having no idea how to turn raw eggs into an edible frosting on top of a cake that was already cooked with a non-cookable icing filling in the middle. Google it was! And google taught me that making a hot simple syrup would be just the ticket to making a delicious meringue that did not need cooking. I was sold.

1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar into a pan on medium heat...stir until dissolved and leave on stove until bubbly. Easy enough right?

Blend two egg whites with 1 tsp. vanilla until soft-peaks form. Easy as pie! Then, gradually add in syrup mixture until blended. Then, beat mixture until stiff peaks form. Awesome! I've made lemon meringue pie before, I have patience and can wait for the eggs to stiffen a bit.



What I didn't realize was that because I only have one beater on my hand-mixer, not a whole lot of whipping so much as stirring was going on. The eggs took FOREVER to stiffen and after about twenty minutes of my hands and ears vibrating from the hand-mixer being on full-speed, I decide that moderate peaks were more than enough for me. Plus, the sheen on this frosting was just orgasmic. I mean it looked just like melted marshmallows. Shiny and delicious.

Did I mention that the third component of Creamsicles is deliciousness? In case you didn't know, Oranges, cream, and deliciousness are all musts.

After all that was finished, I got to core my little cakes, fill them up with orange buttercream and then top them all off with a bit of meringue frosting and orange peel. Beautiful so far and each component tastes great by itself-- just waiting for the meringue to stiffen a bit in the fridge before I dive into one (just to make sure I won't be poisoning Evan of course.)



I'll be taking this year One Bite At A Time.
From my house to yours I hope you have a beautiful day!



PS: It took Tache entirely too long to eat this piece of cored-cake for him to TRULY be my son. But I accept him for his faults and will train him to eat table scraps better.



White Cupcakes
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Cream 1/2 cup butter with 1 cup white sugar until smooth
-Add 2 eggs and 1 tbs. vanilla to the mixture.
-In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour with 1 tsp. baking powder.
-Mix 1/2 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture until blended.
-Mix in 1/3 cup of milk.
-Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until just blended.
-Pour batter into cupcake liners 2/3 of the way
-Bake about 20 minutes, the tops should be slightly golden and the center should not jiggle.

Orange Buttercream
-Cream 1/4 cup butter.
-Add 1 cup powdered sugar and beat until combined.
-Mix in some orange peel and 1/2 tsp. vanilla.
-Add 1 more cup powdered sugar and about 1/3 cup orange juice.
-Continue to add orange juice until desired taste and consistency is reached.
-Add red and yellow food coloring if desired.

Meringue Frosting
-Mix 1 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup water, and 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar in a saucepan.
-Stir over medium heat until the mixture is dissolved and becomes bubbly.
-Whip 2 egg whites with 1 tsp. vanilla until soft peaks form (just past when you see bubbles)
-Gradually add the sugar syrup into the eggs until all has been added.
-Continue to beat the mixture until stiff peaks form (should look like little mountains when you try to spoon it)
*Be patient, it can take up to 10 minutes!

Core the cake, dollop the icing in, and frost over. Decorate as desired and enjoy!

Ma première revue d'une pièce: Pour un oui ou pour un non, écrit par Nathalie Sarraute

L’autre côté d’un conte de fées

Typiquement, quand nous parlons des contes de fées, une image d’une princesse enfermée dans un pylône arrive. Et quand nous parlons des mythes, une image d’un héros très fort, qui doit conquérir les Dieux arrive. A propos de Nathalie Sarraute, nous voyons une image si différente dans sa pièce Pour un oui ou pour un non. Deux hommes…deux amis, deux ennemis—ce que vous voulez les appeler. Deux hommes luttent à cause d’une crise dans leur amitié. C’est une crise qui ne peut pas avoir de résolution. Leur amitié est plus forte que le mot semble, c’est presque un vice pour les deux hommes. Ce vice est inévitable et éternel. « Tu penses que je t’ai tendu un piège ? » (35) demande H1 de H2. Ils accusent l’un à l’autre des choses ridicules. Ici, la défense et la jalousie de H1 semble du comportement de la reine dans le conte de fées Blanche Neige. La fonction de la référence qui suivit est de marquer les différences entre les deux amis. H2 parle de Blanche Neige ici : « Et le miroir répond : ‘Oui, tu es belle, très belle, mais il y a là-bas, dans une cabine au fond de la forêt, une petite princesse encore plus belle…’ » (38). H2 essaye de montrer à H1 qu’il existe des autres bonheurs dans le monde. H1 aime beaucoup sa stabilité et ne veut pas que rien la change. Ils cherchent quelque chose de plus dans l’autre, mais c’est impossible. Ils sont complètement différents. Constamment ils cherchent une solution, une raison d’être d’amis, mais elle n’existe pas. A cause de ça cette pièce est plus comme mythe, à cause d’une fin tragique. Les deux ne peuvent pas se réconcilier leurs différences.

Les hommes simulent qu’il existe quelque chose à sauver, à cause des moments où ils se remémorer, mais des accusations inévitables arrivent. A la fin, H2 se réalise un peu qu’il n’existe pas de solution. « Chacun saura de quoi ils sont capable, de quoi ils peuvent se rendre coupables : ils peuvent rompre pour un oui ou pour un non » (50). Il parle en termes généraux pour marquer la leçon universelle…et c’est ici où nous pouvons voir que c’est un peu comme un conte de fées où les personnages peuvent conquérir des problèmes. Mais les deux lignes finales, où le combat recommence encore une fois, nous voyons que c’est absolument impossible de trouver une solution ou une reprise de cette amitié fatale.

écrit le 14 novembre 2011

Just an old soul.

Every once in a while I find myself thinking about the possibility of having a past life. More often than that I picture myself being born in a different decade...which may be because I haven't quite found my place in my generation. But either way, I think about it more often than not. And usually the whole "past life" question comes to mind when I'm reading Vonnegut or Hemingway, something harsh and modern...usually tearing mankind a new one. But today it struck me in the middle of a Philosophy class...which may sound like just another place for ripping mankind a new one. But today was different. I just faded out of our conversation about Moral Luck and into a new world of possibility. Maybe the whole reason I feel estranged from my generation is not because I should have been born in a different time, but maybe it's because I was in fact born in another time.

There are so many things that I don't agree with in this world: war, vengeance, and the general disapproval of carbohydrate-loaded foods. I know that if I had been born in some other time I would have found something to be upset about, something to disagree with. That's human nature in a nutshell. We all want to be right even if it means disagreeing with someone who holds our same opinion with a twist.

But how did I get here? Obviously I understand how the whole process works, but how was my existence chosen for this place, at this point in time? I was born into a wealthy and free society. Bur what about everyone else in the world who was not as fortunate? Was it written in the stars millions of years ago that my ancestry would work down to my birth? Do I have that "twin" soul people believe in, who walks on the Earth but never finds a match? Or was I really somebody else before this time, sent to do something more for this world?

Sometimes it is so overwhelming to think that I have thoughts in my head that are entirely different from the person sitting next to me. And to add to that, I will never fully understand why or how they think differently. I often wonder if there is another person out there with my exact same history, my exact same present, and my exact same manner of thinking. I wonder if there is someone out there (dead or alive) who shares my exact feelings.

And to take this crazy train of thought even further, I wonder if I will one day become somebody else too. I wish I could make a time-capsule that my future self will one day find and understand that they too are an old soul. Maybe I'll find a time-capsule with my name on it. And if I do, I guarantee a heart-attack will follow.

Okay, enough craziness for one day.
Peace, love, and cheers to being an old soul in a 21 year old's body...

When honey and maple syrup meet...

Anytime I have to venture into downtown Miami I find myself moaning a bit, dreading the traffic and the strange one-way roads that appear to stop and start whenever they feel like it. Normally I would opt for the metro method, but I just couldn't be bothered today. So I crossed my fingers and hoped that three hours would be enough time to get downtown, eat lunch at a restaurant, and drive back to campus.

A few months ago I bought a Groupon for ten bucks. I received $20 to First and First Southern Baking Company. The menu seemed like any other southern menu, with a few healthier kicks involved. What I didn't realize was that there was not only a wide variety of baked delicacies, but a pretty good array of meals too. Of course I waited until the last day the Groupon was valid, aka today, to go over there and try out the food.

When I stepped inside, I immediately thought I was in Crowne Candy Ice Cream joint back in St. Louis. The smells were incredible. Empanadas. Cake batter. Fried chicken. The works. And to top it all off, the Cooking Channel was playing in the front window. Julia Child was chirping away, telling the world how to best make a French stock for beef soup. Everything was so bright and inviting. Exactly how I picture my bakery to be one day. The cases held homemade cupcakes of flavors I would never have considered, along with a few others that I've managed to play with. But I had to eat lunch before I could stare at and/or drool over the baked goods.



Obviously I opted for the most Southern meal on the menu. Chicken and waffles. With honey maple syrup. YES, I said....honey maple syrup. The two best liquid forms of sugar out there, and they have been combined to go alongside one of the best breakfast and one of the best dinner time flavors. I skipped out on the side of macaroni and cheese, and chose to get a nice helping of green bean casserole. There really is only one way to make green bean casserole. Oober creamy, with a crunchy top. So that would be the determiner for how good this place really is.

About ten minutes, and two segments of Julia Child later, I am surprised by an incredible plate of food. I'm not sure why restaurants choose to give you a huge helping of main course and a HUGE helping of side, but for some reason, the South has given us the concept of smaller portions for sides. I am greeted by a warm, golden (homemade) buttermilk waffle sitting underneath strips of fried chicken in a secret battered recipe. From what I could tell, there was definitely some paprika and cayenne involved. The green beans were invisible underneath the layer of fried onions sitting on top of the mini casserole dish. Inside, I found each green bean smothered in a white gravy sauce, and bits of (I believe) mushrooms were found every few bites. But I could hardly tell, they may not have even included them...which would be great.

Every bite was great by itself. Chicken, awesome. Waffle, awesome. Green bean casserole, fantastic. But what brought it all together was that amazing medley of honey and maple syrup. They just started a ménage à trois of goodness in my mouth with anything I bit into.

I could have stayed there all day, but I knew the garage fee would cost more than my meal did. So I grabbed some cupcakes to give a try, and I will obviously try to recreate the recipes on my own if they seem worthy. I will return to try to the Mojito Cake on a day they actually have it, and I WILL try everything on that menu before leaving Miami.

Did I almost forget to mention they have gift cards? Well, they have gift cards. ::cough cough::

Now, drool over this picture and envy my adventure. Or, invite me along when you decide to venture over to First and First Southern Baking Company.

Une vraie féministe.

Il me semble que les femmes du 18ème siècle ne sont pas heureuse. (Insert large "DUH" here...) Mais il me semble aussi que les femmes de l'époque présente ne sont plus heureuse. Alors, qu'est-ce qui se passe? Pendant le dix-huitième siècle, les femmes n'ont pas de droits, pas d'argent, et pas d'éducation (si elles n'ont pas d'argent). Et maintenant, nous avons presque les même droits, un rôle plus important dans la société, et nous avons le choix de mariage. Pourquoi sommes-nous si furieuses tout le temps?

Je n'ai pas de talent de converser et de m'instruire avec eux, ni l'activité que je voudrois avoir. Je porterois mes défauts dans les charges publiques, et j'aurois, de plus, le tort de m'y être placé moi-même, au lieu que la Providence m'a placé ici. -Les lettres de Mistriss Henley publiée par son ami

Femme intelligente, très belle, et absolument misérable. Et pourquoi? Elle a toutes les possibilités du monde, mais elle ne le réalise pas. Pendant cet période, elle ne peut pas avoir toutes les possibilités du monde à cause de son sexe. Mais maintenant, nous n'avons pas de raison d'être misérable comme elle. A mon avis, nous aimons râler trop...et puis nous croyons pourquoi les hommes n'aiment pas nous écouter. (Uh, hello...it's because we're annoying!)

Je sent pour les femmes de l'époque des Lumières. Tout le monde est en train de changer, sans elles. Tous les hommes sont en train de changer leur point de vue, de leur manière de penser, d'avoir une voix, mais les femmes n'ont pas d'espace dans ce monde. Aujourd'hui, nous avons une grande place de vivre librement, mais je ne pense pas que les femmes le savent. Elles s'attendent que le monde va être emballé, avec un ruban luisant-- mais ce n'est pas le cas. Si nous avons le droit de faire ce que nous voulons, nous devons le prendre. Nous devons accepter ce défi de l'époque. Parce que à mon avis, les femmes du dix-huitième siècle, elles ont battu nos ânes si elles avaient une moitié des possibilités que nous avons aujourd'hui.

Elles étaient les vrais féministes, avant que le titre a été créé.

Cookie dough bliss.

"Jeez. Is there anything you can't make?"

I'd love to be able to say, "Of course there is...." but I wouldn't have anything to follow-up with after the beginning of that sentence. Ever since I can remember, when I was handed something, (whether it be a homework problem, a sport challenge, or a recipe) I could usually figure out how to make it work in the end. Frustrations would rise, tears may have fallen, but in the end I made it work. And that's how baking has always been for me.

I find a recipe, either slightly challenging from an oldy-but-goody, or extremely new and exciting, and I just have at it. I don't expect perfection, I crave it. When it comes to baking, all bets are off. I feel safe when I work the dough through my hands, adding each ingredient in its perfect amount, at just the right time. All the problems of my own personal world can be solved while the blender is on and I'm scraping the sides of the bowl.

Brown sugar makes me smile. It's sweet and mysterious. But I don't think that's why I love it. I think it's because of how many different ways it can be used. You can toss it on a peanut butter sandwich to make it a dessert. You can throw it on top of a cookie to caramelize in the oven. You can make butterscotch candies in about ten minutes. And who doesn't love butterscotch? It's such a simple ingredient, but it demands the right amount of attention. Too much and you end up getting a crunch on your cookie (is that what she said?), too little and you might as well have never added it in. Brown sugar may be subtle when baked into a recipe, but it'll kick your recipes ass if you don't watch out. Sweet, but fierce. Yeah, that's why I love it.

And cinnamon too. Man I loveeee me some cinnamon. Warm in flavor, it adds just the perfect amount of home we all crave when we bite into a cookie. Sometimes I see the questioning look in a person's eyes just before they bite into one of mine. Slightly skeptical of whether or not the cookie will hold up to their mother's old recipe from way-back-when. But it's usually the cinnamon that brings them home. There's a small change in flavor that takes place, and it starts something new with whoever is chowing down. A little affair never hurt anyone, right? Well, not really...but with finding new cookies I think it's safe to say Moms won't be hurt.

I may bake to bring smiles, but I mostly bake for myself-- for the challenge, for the relaxation, for the time to myself. It's my one time to shine, where I know I won't screw up, where there's no pressure. It's just me, a few sticks of butter and the intuition my grandmothers bestowed upon me. So here I sit, putting off my French literature paper while I dream about the butterscotch cookies I'm about to make. Maybe I'll even figure out a way to find world peace. Wouldn't that be quite the challenge?

Peace, love, and butterscotch morsels in my mouth.

New Favorite Buttercream

The art of icing is actually a lot easier than most people think. There's not much to a great icing-- butter, confectioners' sugar, maybe some milk, a dash of vanilla, a bit of salt, and of course any other flavor you want to incorporate into the mix. For years though, I've only played with the easy flavors...vanilla, chocolate, and lemon. You either make the recipe just how you're supposed to; you add a little mocha powder instead of just confectioners' sugar; or even better, you toss in a little lemon juice. And voila! You have your homemade icing.

But sometimes a girl wants to make strawberry-lemonade cupcakes, right? Right. So here's where the difficulties come into play. The recipe is the same, but now I have to add a high water content fruit. And a sometimes tart one at that. My first attempt at this icing was with chopped strawberries...and it kind of worked? The flavor was right, nice and fluffy with a bit of that syrup-y sweet strawberry taste we all love. But then you chewed a piece of strawberry and got that kick of sour. Sounds like Heaven so far, right? Kind of.

The problems settled in when the icing began to settle to room temperature. The juices in the strawberry were released and that made the icing a little watery in general. So then there were streaks of strawberry sliding down the edge of the cupcake. Not as cute.

So this time around, I was making a decadent chocolate velvet cupcake-- a light and fluffy cake that needs very little to make it any more incredible. But I would never leave a cupcake naked, that would just be cruel. Especially because I just got these awesome cupcake lingerie liners that are peeled off after cooking is complete. And while a piece of chocolate cake is incredible anyway you slice it, I just felt wrong leaving that little cake out there in the cold in it's birthday suit.

Here's what I did:

1 cup (softened) unsalted butter
a pinch of coarse salt
6 tbs. strawberry puree
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

The trick is to mix the butter with the salt right off the bat to get the creamy and salty flavors incorporated. Then I used my smoothie maker to puree about ten strawberries. Before adding in the strawberries, I slowly blended in the confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time. Then came the vanilla. (Thank goodness, because this icing was literally just butter and sugar...amazing, but not very icing-like). Once those were all tossed in, I just added the puree two tablespoons at a time until I got to my chosen flavor. Enough strawberry that covers up the insane amount of confectioners' sugar, without going over the top. And at the end of the six tablespoons, I decided to throw in three drops of red food coloring. Because you can never have too much pink or red on top of your cake, right? Right.

Yes, I just admitted to liking the color pink on my cake. I dare you to laugh at me.

Anyhow, so that's where I ended up. Now I have about twenty chocolate velvet cupcakes smothered in my strawberry puree butter-cream icing sitting on the counter of my apartment. This could end badly.



TGIF? Si.