Little Cupcakes (again)

First, a big thanks to Bakerella for linking to my first foray into cupcake pops. Bakerella, being the creative one that she is recently posted a new way to make cupcake bites using a mold.



I made them last week in anticipation of my grandma's (who was a fan of the first batches of these) birthday last weekend. The mold worked really slick. It definitely saved time in not having to form the balls into cupcakes but it was little more difficult to dip the tops, so I'm calling it a draw on difficulty. But I think they are cuter, even if they are a little messier to eat.


Note the imperfection.

I made one with a candle holder in anticipation of the off-tune singing that comes with a family birthday.


Granny approved.

First Harvest

Last Thursday we ate our first morsels from the garden. I let the Leaf Lettuce and Spinach get a little big before thinning, so the thinned lettuce and spinach became our first salad (an ingenious plan that I will likely continue to employ). It was small so we shared, but it was tasty with a bit of locally produced Vidalia Onion dressing. The lettuces (Buttercrunch, Little Caesar, and Salad Bowl) are really getting big, so it will be regular garden fresh salads around here for awhile. I'm searching for a really good Italian dressing recipe as well, so let me know if you have one.

The garden is officially planted, and things are really thriving (knocks on wood). The rest of the seedlings have been sent to my parents to be planted or to find a permanent home. Full garden update to come.

Halfsies

I hate Wal-Mart. I really really do, but on occasion I forget this and end up there. Upon leaving on these occasions, I normally say to myself, "I'm never going back to Wal-Mart." And then I forget. And I go there on a Sunday afternoon when it is worse than usual.

So, I'm not sure what exactly led me to Wal Mart yesterday. Usually there is a justification like it's close to my house or it's convenient. Anyway, I walked in through the garden center and I immediately spied this Gerber Daisy.



Now, I really like gerber daisies, but I don't have a history of keeping them alive. In fact, he first gift that Rykert ever gave me was a gerber daisy plant that I promptly and neglectfully killed. He tried again a few years later and the result was the same. These were my only attempts at keeping something alive prior to having a dog. Luckily, I've become more responsible. At any rate, the plant will likely not last that long, and this may be be the only flowers I ever see from it. I wasn't looking for any plants, and I certainly wouldn't have picked this color if I was. But somehow these things just happen.

I don't think it is long for this world. What, with my track record with gerber daisies and the fact that the dog has already started eating the petals off of the other flower. I think it is appropriate that I would find this genetically mutated, frankenstein-esque flower at Wal-Mart. Don't you think?

Any thoughts on how this happened? It was the only one like it at the store. The other flower is completely the darker color.

Full Moon.

Because we're classy, that's why.

My nieces thoroughly enjoyed his presence in the garden last night, and were torn between naming him Coinslot or Mooney.

The majority of the garden will be going in this weekend, so pictures to follow. Oh, and I have a new knitting project that I'm excited about. Oh, and I have been doing some home improvement sewing.

Covered in Sprinkles

My kitchen is again a mess of candy coating and sprinkles. I made a whole bunch of Cupcake Pops last night. The main reason was to contribute a cake for the Cake Walk at my nieces' school's fun night tonight. Since I was making the mess anyway, I decided to double the recipe and take the extras to my parents' this weekend.

So here's my finished cake.


And I wrapped it up for travel and hygenic reasons.


I think it's really cute, and I'm tempted to walk that cake walk circle until I win it back. But alas, I'll be helping my sister at another game. By the way, I made these for my nieces' birthday a few weeks ago, and they were a hit. I made them using chocolate and red velvet cake. I preferred the chocolate, but Rykert preferred the red velvet. Perhaps my next "on-a-stick" adventure will be cheesecake (thanks to Very Voluble for the link)

P.S. I'm so excited to see that Blogger now allows you to set times for automatic posting in the future.