mmm.... coffee.....

gasp & swoon, i just caught the vapors!

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World's Margarita Cupcakes:

is this the first time i've posted a photo of this particular recipe?  i've actually made them several times, but the icing is so runny they melt if not kept in the fridge.  this time i started with the vegan buttercream frosting recipe & replaced some of the soymilk with the tequila & fresh lime juice.  it came out perfect - it has the flavor of the margarita icing with the stiffness of the buttercream.  i also made vegan mocha cupcakes with coffee-buttercream frosting, but i haven't frosted them yet.  why am i making all these delicious cupcakes?  because tomorrow is our little neighborhood block party!

(apologies for my sleepiness, photo taken pre-coffee) i shaved my little head last night - it's been 2 years since i stopped buzzing my hair off.  i have both enjoyed & hated having longer hair, but never got comfortable having my hair professionally cut with any frequency... okay, i went once.  once in two years i paid someone* to cut my hair & yes, i loved it!  yet, here i am again, happily cutting it off myself & besides, it will only grow back.

*she's amazing:  Jocelyn at the Trade Secret in the Providence Place Mall

two little kids with a flow you ain't never heard

hmm, this could very easily become another cupcake-blog...

you are ogling a vegan, gluten-free vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.  one of my coworkers finished school & got her MLS so we had a little surprise party for her - it was an all gluten-free affair because she can't eat wheat.  i spotted a couple recipes in the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World cookbook & had to try one.  they smelled very much like corn muffins when i took them out of the oven & i had to replace the almond ingredients, but everyone agreed they tasted pretty damn good.  and, of course, the frosting was delicious - you really can't go wrong with cocoa & sugar.

half a bee, philosophically, must ipso facto half not be

although no vegans are currently eating these, i baked more treats from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World this weekend.  to make your own homemade hostess cupcakes start with the basic chocolate cupcake, pipe in the "butter"cream frosting & ice with rich chocolate ganache.  they're unbelieveably rich & delicious!  the cupcakes came out very dense so they weren't as filled as i'd like them to be, but i have so much extra frosting i might have to bake another batch today...

i had an unusually social weekend: friday whitney & i went to tom's to watch Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, a fun old Russian movie.  saturday was dinner at neighbor susan's & her friend eric came over with his wife & their 10 day old baby.  providence is so small sometimes - i know eric & kristana because they used to live in teresa's house, but susan knows them from work & they had no idea she used to live on our street, too!  it was great to see them & i also enjoyed chatting about art & community with susan's friend jamie.  then yesterday teresa & i drove up to visit tara.  we brought her the cupcakes & other candies & goodies, made a stop at Osgood Textile so i could buy more glitter vinyl, tara treated us to dinner at a diner & then we all just hung out chatting in her cute house until late.  it was wonderful.

after another cup of coffee i'll get back to cleaning since my roommate returns on wednesday.  i should get my crap out of the way so she has room to pack because she's only here for 2 more weeks!  i'm actually not getting another roommate, at least not right away, i'm taking the summer to live on my own & it's going to be sweet...

a ticket-taker's smile at the Ivar theatre on a saturday night

             it's cold out there.



             [more polaroids on flickr]

i'd like to go back to tuesday where there was snow - there wasn't a negative 11 degree windchill on tuesday.  wait, no, tuesday wasn't so great!  i cut my hand that day, not a deep wound just an inconveniently placed cut right down the middle of my palm so i couldn't open my hand or use my thumb without reopening it.  work was rather difficult since it didn't seem wise to bleed on the books...   and then wednesday, ugh, wednesday i started sneezing & spontaneously got sick.  i went home, slept a great deal & luckily felt okay in time for my date.  i accomplished my first vegan baking last night - gingerbread cupcakes.  they remind me of those ginger muffins at seven stars bakery, very strong & very delicious.  they came out excellent, even sans frosting, but definitely did not need the crystallized ginger.  (i didn't put very much in & next time i'll leave it out completely)   i guess i'm rather picky about my recipes, i'm so not interested in boring baking, but this cupcake cookbook is calling me!

oh, also, finally got word back on how much it would cost to fix my digital camera and i'm sorry, mom, but it's not worth it.  when i pick it up i'll ask them what's wrong because doesn't $225 seems crazy?  i'll start camera-shopping this weekend, but it looks like polaroids only for a little while longer...

monkeys with knives on their tails

teresa had her halloween party on saturday.  i dressed as lucille ball because i needed an excuse to wear that emerald green dress again.  it was a ton of fun & teresa cooked up lots of tasty food.  some of these photos i stole from teresa's flickr & the rest of mine are on flickr, too. once again i missed whitney's halloween party, but i sent over some cookies in the shapes of the card suits because the theme was Las Vegas.  last week i had helped whitney sew her fabulous white tiger costume & i hope someone has photos of it!


there was more to this weekend than cookie baking & costume wearing & missing my sister's birthday (sorry, again, lee!)  i made a few small quilts, but i'm going to let you linger on these halloween photos for another day or two...

pretty much as good as two or three cups of that other coffee

my 3-day weekend (mostly) in photos:

only $7 at the farmer's market saturday morning


i finished the hand-work on stacey's quilt & am now tackling the binding


drinks & board games & music with two friends


poppy seed chiffon cake with lemon glaze


it's a shame i didn't take a photo of the finished cake - i baked it in a Williams-Sonoma's bundt pan shaped like a rose. (oh my, when did they come out with that sandcastle pan?!)  it was for our block party which i look forward to all year.  we got rained out on sunday & had to have it on monday when the weather was lovely.  it was a lot quieter this year & ended rather early, but it was still quite fun to reconnect with my neighbors & meet a few new folks, too.

my roommate has gone home for a couple weeks which means i have no excuses to keep me from finally finishing cleaning my studio.  tonight i will pull out everything i hastily shoved in there & make a huge mess of the kitchen, mwhahaha!  then i will have the space to finish the binding on stacey's quilt & then slowly reorganize everything.  how long have i been saying that?  shhh.

i'm in love with your brother

jodie, teresa
tara, patricia
roxanna,
kristen
allison & me

cupcakes, cupcakes,
more cupcakes,
some candy bars,
cupcakes &
banana bread slathered in lemon glaze
with a side of cupcake.

we crafty ladies sure know how to party!  there was an afternoon of crafting & chatting & cupcake eating at my home this weekend. tara came down for the day, kristen recently had a birthday, teresa's was the day before, i think jodie's just passed & mine will be in a few weeks so what better excuse for meeting up?  later on i let their boys join us for some bbq & drinks & more cupcakes.  did i mention there were lots of yummy cupcakes?  sorry to any of you that couldn't join us or that we forgot to invite!  there will definitely be a next time & i will try to be more organized about it & let you know in advance.

i stayed up really late last night making this new generation of zippurses: vinyl clutches.  i'm really excited: they'll coordinate with the vinyl cuffs & maybe, if i have time, there will be wallets!  i'm using the skeleton one today, test-driving it to make sure it doesn't fall apart & so far so good.  they probably won't be ready for the RISD alumni sale, but i'll definitely have them at the Bizarre Bazaar in Boston if we get in...  i can't wait to go home & make some more!

art of the handwritten note

i learned today that you can find this journal when typing relevant searches in google.  such as "good ideas for christmas" or "bizarre bazaar boston."  i also learned that i am "light emo" & i'd rather be painting.

What Type of 'Emo' Are You?

sadly, the present-making isn't going so well. i made another santa string ornament to send to my sister, but i don't think i can get it to her in time.  i'm going to have to give books again.  it seems so predictable since i work in a book store, but the 30% discount this month is so inviting.  i have some secret plans for a present for teresa & i picked up some little things to give her.

i was a cookie faerie myself yesterday, i baked oatmeal craisin cookies for the boys in textbooks who've been helping me out a lot a work even though they don't have to & don't have health insurance.  i followed the recipe this time & they come out better when i don't!  hey, i should be getting dressed for work, not typing & thinking about baking.

cookies!

i was really hoping that the cookie faerie would visit me before flying off to california!  i am lucky to have such a thoughtful & talented friend.  she also gifted me with some appropriate feto soap because i helped sew up tiny pouches last week.  some how tedious work doesn't feel so tedious when it's for someone else, but i also enjoy tiny neurotic sewing.