Cupcake Fail: Popcorn and Milk Dud attempt

Have you ever gone to the movies and gotten popcorn and milk duds? Maybe your friend got the popcorn and you got the milk duds and shared them? My friends and I used to do that very thing and if you've never had a bite of popcorn (extra butter) and milk dud at the same time you are missing out! Enter Ben, Mr. T and I's friend, and movie night at our house. After narrowing down what movie we wanted to watch he says "you know, we both have seen this movie, let's make cupcakes!"
That's when I got the idea to make a cupcake with the same sensations as my favorite movie treat.
My ideas aren't always the best.

So our basic idea came down to making a chocolate cupcake with caramel frosting and we would sprinkle popcorn over the top for fun. And we had the length of a Disney movie to make them in.

Ben was the only one that had made caramel before, so I put him on that duty.

The end product tasted fine without the popcorn but the caramel was hard, not frosting like and didn't spread well. I don't think the popcorn had enough butter.

30 Day Challenge, Day 30

What I have gained from this blogging exercise.....

I wouldn't say that I really gained much from this if we are looking for enlightenment and soul searching moments. I did, however learn that there are some topics that I would rather not discuss on the blog (for example, my parents separation) and that in a few minutes a day I can slap a post up and hopefully entertain others! I enjoyed the questions, and the opportunity to share a bit of myself with all of you readers. Thanks to Cole and Mrs. A for getting me into it and to everyone that read through.

Now let's see if we can peer pressure the crazy bunny lady into it, c'mon we'd love to hear more about you!

So I will no longer be posting a response to a question every day but I will be adding more cupcakes, cupcake challenges and projects to the blog. And of course the occasional random tidbit.

Happy seventh Birthday to my handsome nephew D! Love you buddy!

30 Day Challenge, Day 29

What is my best feature?

Growing up I got a lot of attention for my blue eyes. Out of 8 kids I'm the only one with Blue ones. All my other siblings either have brown or dark hazel eyes. Both of my Grandfathers had blue eyes, I always felt extra special to share that with them.

But I've always really liked my neck.

30 Day Challenge, DAy

My Most Luxurious Purchase?

My 2006 Manual Ford Escape

That I love. That I would buy all over again. That faithfully takes me from point A to point B, C and sometimes D without so much as a squeak.

That I just smashed the front end on today.

How's that for irony?

More cupcakes are coming soon

I made too many cupcakes last month.
Ha! As if there is such a thing!
But seriously, I got a head of schedule so I took a little break.
Here's a peak at what I've been doing in the mean time:

30 Day Challenge, Day 27

What I am Good At

I'm good at baking. And playing with my dog. And shoulder rubs. 

I think that's it. ;-)

30 Day Challenge, Day 26

My Most Surprising Moment....

I am extremely hard to surprise. I always guess before hand. I would say the most surprising moment for me (in recent memory) was when Mr. T told me that he loved me for the first time. We were lounging together and he just blurted it out. I'm pretty sure the look on my face was super ugly, I raised my eyebrows and pulled away from him, utter shock on my face. Later he told me that he was slightly concerned about my reaction. As soon as I got myself together I told him I loved him to but it was a major shock. We had been "official" for exactly one month at that point and dating for about 6 weeks. 

30 Day Challenge, Day 25

My Dream Home

Are you ready for this?

 picture taken from hasso

This house would pretty much be the perfect looking house to me. In a perfect world I'd love a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with an office, den and big kitchen. Sounds great doesn't it? If that perfect house could be on a shared ranch with my siblings, all the better!

30 Day Challenge, Day 24

My to-do list for the next 7 days:

Today: Wedding dress shopping with my cousin, BBQ for my Aunt's birthday

Tomorrow: Take quilting class, do laundry, clean house, make cupcakes

Monday: Work, gym, dinner and maybe a movie with Mr. T

Tuesday: Work, time with Mr. T, dinner, work on sewing projects

Wednesday: Work, gym, pick up CSA box and work on sewing projects

Thursday: Work, gym, dinner and time with Mr. T

Friday: Work, something fun :)

30 Day Challenge, Day 23

What's in my purse?

- Chapstick
- Lipstick
- Allergy Pills
- Pack of tissues
- Keys
- Sunglasses
- Gum
- Tums
- Pen & Highlighter
- Tea Bags
- Earrings
- Face Blotters
- Notepad
- Wallet
- Receipt Holder
- Face powder
- Mini Mascara
- Lip gloss
- St Teresa of Avila's prayer
- CA Insurance License (lol)
- List of materials for my upcoming quilting class
- Tampon
- Mini bottle of Aleve
- Make-up

Wow! I didn't realize I had so much in there! I guess I just like to be prepared.

Cupcake challenge winner!

Thanks to random.org we now have a winner for my first cupcake challenge!

The winner is commenter #5, Jess! I'm really looking forward to making those sweet slider cupcakes from Bella's blog. Please email me your address for your cupcake shipment.

As for the rest of you, thank you for your submission, you may be seeing some of those recipes appear on the blog in the coming months :)

30 Day Challenge, Day 22

What would I do with millions of dollars?

- Buy that dream ranch my brothers, sisters-in-law, Mr. T and I are always talking about. I would make sure we all had houses and and we were stocked with animals! That would also include new equipment and trucks for my brother S's budding business.

- Pay off my Mom's house and buy my Dad a new one (in his preferred county).

- Donate money to an orphanage and to an animal sanctuary. Better yet, I'd create one that was both combined. People could go on safari in my animal sanctuary (did I mention that it's in Africa?) and the proceeds would fund the orphan's living and schooling expenses. Hopefully some  of our orphans would come back and work on the Safari or in the orphanage.

- Travel to every large land mass on the planet. And to some of the smaller ones. I'd take my Dad back to Vietnam and my Mom to Bali. I'd make Mr. T visit his Swiss family at least once a year.

- Make sure my nieces and nephews had fully funded college educations, if that's what they wanted to do.

- Donate to my Elementary and High Schools. They need it!

- Buy Gram's house and turn it in to a museum of my childhood with her.

- Get my tribe federally recognized.

- And don't worry boss, the rest I would invest with you.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes: Take 2

Back in April I took a crack at Martha Stewart's Carrot Cupcakes. As is obvious from the post, they weren't much to write home about.

A few weeks ago it was my BFF Sarah's birthday and when I asked her what her cupcake request was she said "I love Carrot Cake!" I was a little nervous.

You see, Sarah happens to come from one of the most culinarily-endowed (yes, I just made that up) families that I have ever met. I have never had a mediocre meal at Sarah's Mom's house. I have never had a mediocre meal that Sarah or her sis have made. And I had made mediocre carrot cupcakes in the past.  I took this new challenge on with a determination not to make Sarah sucky birthday cupcakes.

So what did I do you ask? Well, I went to someone else who I've never had a bad meal with. The Pioneer Woman. Sure, I haven't actually shared a meal with her but I've made a few of the recipes that she's blogged about and never had a bad one. As a matter of fact, my last post came from one of her blog posts. Back to the story, I clicked on the search tab on her site and typed in carrot cake which led me over to Tasty Kitchen.

There I found this scrumptious recipe.

It was clear from the beginning that this recipe was going to be a winner:

Batter pre-oven

(sorry guys, I don't know how this one got turned around after I uploaded it...)

Cooked Cupcakes

The Final Product

I've only made a handful of carrot cakes before but I have to say, this is one of the best I've ever tasted. It was nice and moist, not overly greasy and not too heavy. I thought the pineapple was a nice touch, though I'm sure you could safely skip it. The general consensus at the party seemed to be good, but then again, who is going to tell a stranger that their cupcakes suck?

Unfortunately Bretta wasn't a part of the festivities this time so there is no picture of the Birthday Girl and Bretta. This will have to suffice:

If you're wondering what's going on, Bretta is shoving her slobbery buffalo on me in hopes that I will play with her instead of taking pictures of her from the floor. Silly puppy.

Muffins that taste like donuts (they count as cupcakes right?)

While perusing The Pioneer Woman's blog posts I stumbled on to her post where she made Muffins That Taste Like Donuts from the Tasty Kitchen section of her site.
You can see the recipe here

This was the simplest, most delicious-for-the-amount-of-work recipe that I have ever made. Ever. I didn't expect much from these, but everything that I have tried from TPW's website has been delicious, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Plus, I love donuts. Who doesn't? Oh, my easily-irritated stomach you say? You're right, that's why these are a great replacement. Less calories and less "Why the hell did I eat that stupid donut anyway?" moments for me.

Poor Bretta. Her look says it all "You get baked goods and I get... Lemon cucumber?"

30 Day Challenge, Day 21

Time to lighten the mood around here!


3 Celebrity Crushes

Just three?

Okay, fine.

#1: Matthew Fox. I've loved him since I was eight and he was Charlie on Party of Five. Age has only done him well.

Photo from People.com

#2: Should have been Matthew McConaughey. That southern voice, the scruff, the overgrown hair, the naked bongo playing (rumored anyways...) How can you go wrong? Well, another woman had his babies.

Photo from thestarceleb.com

#2 is now Reggie Bush. Even if he did go to USC, he redeemed himself by becoming a Saint.

Photo from chismetime.com

#3 Eric Bana. He had me at his first scene in Munich (okay, honestly, who didn't he have?) My BFF reminds me regularly that I only like him because he looks like my husband. I say, what's wrong with that?

Photo from movie.moldova.org

Now excuse me, I need to wipe the drool from my chin.

30 Day Challenge, Day 20

What is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with?

Umm, can I say Life? I mean, think about it, life is tough for everybody. And certainly more so for some than others. I have to say I've had it pretty easy but this whole process of growing and changing and making good decisions and being a contributing member of society is tough sometimes.


But I guess I would be cheating if I didn't state one thing. So.... I'm going to go with my parents separation. It was a long, ugly, drawn out process that I don't know every detail of (nor would I put it on the internet if I did!) but I can say that it was awful. Just awful. I was 10 when the process started and around 14 when it ended. We went from a family of 14, yes 14, to a family of 4. It was pretty hard to take. Counted in that 14 are my Aunt, cousins, foster kids, older brother, friends that lived with us, my two younger brother and my parents. Then we were my Mom or Dad (basically never in the same room) and the three youngest kids. Parents like to tell you that their struggles don't involve you. I'm sure that's what they're supposed to say but seriously? What the heck does that mean? "We're just splitting your life apart but don't worry, it doesn't involve you." Umm, I don't know how much more involved we could have been. There are a thousand ways it could have been worse of course, but if you've gone through it yourself you know the feeling I have that it could have been a thousand times better as well. Such is life.

Luckily, now my parents have both moved on (so have their kids!) and are content with their lives.
And they spend more time in the same room with us than they used to, which makes their children very happy.

That was a heavy post. Maybe just for me.

Love ya Mom and Dad!

30 Day Challenge, Day 19

20 of My Favorite Things:

1. Cuddle time with Mr. T and Bretta

2. Romantic Comedies

4. A good love story (ex: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Cinderella)

5. Little kids

6. Spending time with my Grandparents

7. Weekends at home with my family

8. Trips (be it by car, train, bus or plane!)

9. When it's just chilly enough at night that I can sleep in Mr. T's arms

10. Baking

11. Feeling productive.

12. Ironing

13. New Socks

14. A fresh hair cut

15. Mr. T getting me flowers

16. MUSIC!

17. Cows

18. Chickens

19. Bretta

20. Getting a "deal" on anything I'm buying

Added 8/10/10: You know, I mentioned Mr. T three times in this post but didn't mention him as my favorite. I felt like people didn't count for this one, that said he is definitely my number one favorite. Love you Mr. T!

30 Day Challenge, Day 18

What I collect....

The only thing that I really "collect" are wine corks. I used to keep them from every bottle of wine we opened but now I just keep them every once in a while. For now I have a glass vase on our dining room table filled halfway for decoration with corks from wine, sparkling wine and champagne. You can catch a small glimpse at the bottom of the picture in this post.

My Grandpa B used to make trivets and bird houses with them, and my Dad has also picked it up as a hobby. A few Christmases ago each of the girls in our family got a trivet with our name burned on the bottom, it's definitely one of my favorite gifts that I have ever received. You just can't beat home made!

30 Day Challenge, Day 17

And for today's post I get to write about Pet Peeves!

Where do I begin? I think I'll go with list mode on this one.

1. People that do not use their blinkers when driving!

2. People with bad food manners such as: chewing with your mouth open, making smacking noises while eating, eating so fast you sound like a dog eating, using your hands instead of utensils when utensils are clearly required (ex: salad), talking with your mouth full.

3. When the back of my pant leg gets tucked in to the heel of my shoe. If I see someone else that has their pant in their heel I will either tell them or cringe and bear it.

4. Rude people.

5. People that always feel the need to "one up" you and compete. The worst is when you have friends that are constantly trying to compete with you (and I'm sure I've been guilty of this one as well.)

6. People that take advantage of others' kindness or generosity in a negative way and don't appreciate the help.

Anyone else have some major pet peeves they'd like to own up to?

Cupcake Challenge!

I decided that I needed to make this cupcake blogging a bit more interesting. So I am giving you readers until Tuesday, August 10 at midnight PST to tell me what you would like me to bake. You can give me the link for a recipe or you can tell me what kind and let me find the recipe.
As a bonus I will also mail/deliver some of the cupcakes I make to you.
There are a few guidelines: please nothing gross or too crazy! I will have until the end of the month to make and blog about these cupcakes.
On Wednesday the 11th I will let random.org pick a winner and will announce here. Good luck everybody!

30 Day Challenge, Day 16

My Worst Habits

Oh boy.

I am a major procrastinator. I have gotten better lately but if there is something that I don't really want to do I will leave it to the absolute last minute.

I'm not very patient. If I want something, I want it now!

I am a jealous person. Not of material things, but of people that "have" what I want as far as relationships, living situations etc. I even get jealous of Mr. T sometimes, its pretty ridiculous. I'm working on it. If you have any tips for me, please let me know!

I am a worrier. It runs in my family and it sucks. I worry about everything.

I am really lazy about my exercise schedule. I would rather blow it off than feel awesome after a great work out. 

Those are the worst. Anyone have any others you'd like to throw in?

30 Day Challenge, Day 15

Bucket List: Top 5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

1. Be a parent to human(s).

2. Visit every large land mass in the world. (5 continents isn't enough!) In other words, include Australia

3. Visit all 50 states in the US.

4. Learn how to make pine needle baskets, like my Mom. The one below looks similar to some of hers.

5. Become more proficient in (Swiss) French.

30 Day Challenge, Day 14

Where do I blog?

Mostly from the middle of my dining table, which normally looks like a messier version of the picture above. Currently it has a vase of calla lillies and peonies (thanks to my thoughtful and very sweet husband, Mr. T), the cordless phone, my cupcake apron, a note from Mr. T to me, Mr. T's reading glasses, 2 video games, salt and pepper shakers, a camera and some mail.
We got a lap top so that we could use it "anywhere" but I have come to the realization that desks are actually pretty smart as my neck or back aches if I use the lap top anywhere other than on a table top of some sort. I guess it makes our dining table more "functional"

30 Day Challenge, Day 13

My ideal age.....


This is a tough one. My whole life, no matter the age, I have wanted to be older than I am at the time. When I was a kid I always thought it would be so great to be a teenager, when I was a teenager I couldn't wait to be in college, when I was in college I couldn't wait to be out in the work force as a "real adult." You get the idea. I've had good times at every age so far and I'm sure I have more to come.

So I guess that would make my answer:

My ideal age is older.

30 Day Challenge, Day 12

My Biggest Regret

I try to live my life without regrets, and if I do have them I definitely don't dwell on them for long, how else are you going to grow? It took me a couple of days to decide on what I was going to write for this one. I feel like our mistakes (in addition to our successes) make us who we are today, without them I wouldn't be the same.
With that said, I think my biggest regret to date is the way I handled college. I went in feeling like I was invincible, met with some hard times and decided that it was too difficult. I may have mentioned before that I don't like failing and I felt like that was what I was doing at school (and a couple times it was literally what I was doing at school) so I quit. I've gone back for a class here and there but 7 years after high school I am only half way to my AA degree, forget the Bachelor's that had always been my plan. I never thought I would say that. I have thought about college since the fourth grade when I got my first straight A report card. Needless to say a lot happened between my ninth year and my eighteenth.
So if I have a regret, it's that I didn't take advantage of where I was at in school, didn't make a new plan and look for new opportunities that would allow me to finish what I was doing instead of changing my whole game plan.
Hopefully someday in the near future I will be able to say that I have my degree, but for now it will just be a regret.