T had another barbeque! She oh so kindly asked me to make dessert again. So of course I went to my usual, cupcakes!

She requested chocolate. Happy to oblige, but I wanted to jazz them up a bit. Raspberry chocolate sounded decadent. So I hustled to the store in search of raspberries. Come to find out the little flat they were selling was

four dollars!!!

I was not about to spend that kind of money on something as silly as raspberries, so I switched my idea to strawberry.

I used my go-to chocolate cake recipe and they turned out great!

aren't they darling?

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

3/4 c butter

2 c sugar

3 eggs

2 t vanilla

2 c flour

3/4 c cocoa powder

1 t baking soda

3/4 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 c milk

chopped strawberries

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar in slowly beating after each addition (I usually like to add it in half or even quarter cups). Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Finally, beat in vanilla.

Time to add the dry and wet ingredients. Starting and ending with the flour mixture, add the dry ingredients and milk in alternating additions. Mine usually looks like this

(flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)

Fill lined cupcake tins about one-third full with batter. Sprinkle chopped strawberries, then add remaining batter until the cup is approximately two-thirds full. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18-22 minutes (16-20 for minis).

My trusty recipe yields 24-30 cupcakes. However. I halved the recipe, used mini cupcakes and came just short of 4 dozen. So be prepared to eat a lot of cupcakes.

As for the frosting, I wish I could say I used a recipe. But I don't. I just eyeball it. The ingredients are

butter

vanilla

milk

cocoa powder

powdered sugar

I always start with creaming butter and adding one cup of powdered sugar (and cocoa for this particular recipe). I'll add my liquid next (this time vanilla and milk), then make it to the proper consistency with however much powdered sugar is needed.

Top it with a quartered strawberry and there you have it! Delicious strawberry chocolate cupcakes.

bragging rights

yeah.

that just happened.

i'm blue

in order to keep my house warm yesterday i had to bake.

(shame right?)

i asked the little brother what kind of cupcakes he wanted. the rest of the family had chosen so it was now his turn. 

he chose these cupcakes.

mine turned out slightly darker in colour than the original blog, but that's quite alright. they were also over-baked. so if anyone plans to whip up a batch of smurf-cakes i suggest reducing the time 2 or 3 minutes.

i spent saturday sewing his pajama pants too. the are huge but he loves them. he reassured me "the bigger they are the more comfy they are."

also speaking of cupcakes, last week i was invited to an "estrogen fest" at T's house. grand times were had by all. A was back in the country. S and H showed up later. we feasted on domino's and made vulva cupcakes. T dyed my hair a lovely shade of purple. vodka was drank and hedwig was watched.

i haven't had a sleepover in ages. it was a wonderful way to spend a tuesday night.

that night made me realise, sadly, that when i move to texas i will have no wonderful friends like those lovely ladies. i am quite a sociable person, and have no doubt i'll become friendly with people, but where ever in the world am i going to find another to make vagina cupcakes with?

i'm going to miss those pretty ladies something fierce.

playing with words

i must express how much i need these in my life.

i would make one for every letter. then i could spell all the words.

oh what fun i would have sewing and painting all those letters.

i also believe i need to make these as soon as i can.

how did i ever get along without pinterest?

follow me here

=)

my dearest pal

this little guy loves me no matter how long i've been gone. 

despite me leaving him he always gives me a snuggle.

he loves me regardless of my mood.

he's always happy to see me.

we should all be a little bit more like dogs.

gays and sunburns

time to get that awful last post out of the way.

things got better that night. i stayed in, watched feel good movies (charlie and the chocolate factory anyone?), and crafted

i also received flowers from the boy. they are pretty.

saturday was celebration day (happy birthday to me). didn't do too much. went to lunch with some girls from high school and to dinner with the fam. the restaurant was super! we tried out

 red rock brewing company.

i love trying new restaurants to add to my repertoire. this made the list of ones to come back to.

but the best part of the weekend was definitely today. today was the

pride parade!

 I just had to be obnoxious and do that in rainbow. but today was one big rainbow! met up with five fantastic people in slc and watched the parade. who knew that slc had such a huge LGBT population? it was so much fun to see girlfriends and boyfriends and girl/boyfriends together. the mood was just so happy. all had smiles on their faces.

how can you not smile when everyone is a rainbow?

it was also a great opportunity to show support for equality. i won't go deep into the problems that the LGBT community is faced with, but i love being able to show that i support them. my favourite quote of the day was

i'm straight, not narrow

  

just another crap head

this is a rant for just myself. i thought you could make these fucking posts private?




nothing like a shopping trip to make you realize how fat you really are. its an awful feeling when out of the ten items in your hand nothing fits.
and this is supposed to be fun?

its hurtful to look in the mirror and see a blob. its hard to think that you're doing a good job eating well and getting more exercise just to have nothing fit. it sucks running to the bathroom so you can cry your eyes out because you aren't good enough.

will i ever be good enough for myself?


no
never