The Last Round of Cupcakes in 2011

I baked way too many cupcakes during the month of December and am totally over it for a little while. The last batches are pictured below. Sorry, no recipes today because it is New Year's Eve and we are in the midst of cooking and cleaning! Peace out 2011, and see you all in 2012.


Red velvet with cream cheese frosting.



Mini dark chocolate cupcakes filled with salted caramel and topped with a dark chocolate frosting.



Dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

Missing My Friend

One year has gone by, and I am still without words. I do know that I always miss you, Leo. Best of all, I remember your inquisitive self, how impressed I was when you wrote your name on a notepad (which I still have), and I loved watching you think when we peppered you with questions. Thank you for being one of my best memories of the Bay Area.

What 2011 Taught Me

At the end of every year there are always a multitude of best and worst lists. This is not one of those. Instead, this is a list of what I learned in 2011 because Life decided this should be a year of lessons.

• If given nine days, I can pack up my life in cardboard boxes and move out. An amazing feat if you have ever been witness to how much stuff I have in my possession.
  
• I had to eat almost the whole plate of humble pie, but I can ask my friends and family for help in a sticky situation. Even better to know? I did not really have to ask because they all offered their assistance immediately.
  
• For some reason (which I don't quite get) my friends are willing to let me come and stay with them for weeks/months at a time. They are so flipping awesome I always wonder how I got to be so lucky to have these people in my life.
  
• Sometimes you just want to be numb.
  
• It is possible to fake it 'till you make it.
  
• Letting go of control was so, so hard to do, but it was pretty amazing to see the chips fall where they may.
  
• I finally get the owning-a-pet-thing. It is nice to know that there is a dog out there who loves you so much that he leaves you surprise piles of poop just to show you how mad he is that you are leaving for China.
  

Two Baby Blankets - Divided Squares Pattern

Both of these blankets were knitted using a pattern called divided boxes. Unfortunately, I do not remember where I found the pattern. It is an easy pattern to follow.

The pattern is done in multiples of five stitches, and I add on additional stitches for the border. I like to make my border in seed stitch. Here is the pattern itself:

Row 1: (Right side) Knit across
Row 2: (K1, P4) across
Rows 3 and 4: (K3, P2) across
Row 5: (K1, P4) across
Rows 6 and 7: Knit across
Repeat Rows 2-7 for pattern


This one was done using a single strand of Bernat Softee Baby in Funny Prints.


This blanket is for one of the two little girls born to my friends this November (there were actually four babies born in November for whom I need blankets). I used two strands of yarn, one is Bernat Softee Baby in Baby Pink Marl, and the other is Red Heart Hunny Yarn in Pink Blush. Two strands are used because the Red Heart yarn is not very stretchy, and I do not care for how it lies on its own. As the Hunny yarn has been discontinued, this is the last of my stash, so lucky Baby A.

I think I have already talked about why I use Softee Baby so much, but in case I have not, it is because the yarn can be washed and dried.

Oh, and if you are wondering about the photo in the background of the picture featuring the pink blanket–it is of the Golden Gate Bridge, and was taken by my sister, Mindy, of Mindy Metivier Photography.

Banana Cupcakes and Honey Cupcakes

When I made the dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, the peanut butter frosting was well-received and a couple of people asked me what other cupcakes might go well with the frosting. I thought about it, and finally settled on a honey cupcake and a banana cupcake. Full disclosure, I love peanut butter toast with honey, and I usually only like bananas with peanut butter.

Today was someone's birthday at work, and since I signed up to make cupcakes, this was the perfect time to experiment. This person at work also happens to be one of the people who really enjoyed the peanut butter frosting.

The honey cupcake recipe came from the Half Baked - The Cake Blog, and the banana cupcake is from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. I used the ATK peanut butter frosting recipe. However, since I was worried about the banana cupcakes with the peanut butter recipe, I also made Martha's honey and cinnamon frosting.

They turned out pretty good, and everyone at worked really liked them. Phew! It was quite a long afternoon in the kitchen, and I was very worried about how they would be received.


Roasted Banana Cupcakes With Honey and Cinnamon Frosting
From Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients
3 ripe bananas, plus 1 to 2 more for garnish
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Place 3 whole, unpeeled banans on a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes (the peels get dark). Sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Remove bananas from oven and let cools before peeling. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

With an electric mixture on medium-high, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs yolks, one at a time, beating until each incorporated. Add roasted bananas, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, and beating until just combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

In another mixing bowl, with electric mixer on medium, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Fold one-third whites into batter to lighten, and gently fold in remaining egg whites in two batches.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool.

Honey-Cinnamon Frosting
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

With electric mixer on medium, beat all ingredients until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate up to five days in airtight container.



Honey Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
From Lauren Kapeluck on the Half Baked - The Cake Blog
Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Combine buttermilk, honey, and vanilla.

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer.

Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well.

Add wet and dry ingredients, starting and ending with dry ingredients.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Let cupcakes cool for five minutes before removing from tins and placing them on a wire rack to cool.

Peanut Butter Frosting
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 sticks, unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup creamy butter (not old-fashioned or natural)

Stir the cream, vanilla, and salt together until the salt dissolves. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high until smooth, about 30 to 60 seconds. Reduce the speed to medium-low, slowly add the confectioner's sugar, and beat until smooth, two to five minutes. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about four to eight minutes. Beat one cup creamy peanut butter.

P Eleven

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In October I attended a This is Teen event because author Maggie Stiefvater was going to be there. Two other authors also participated, and one of them was Jeff Hirsch, author of The Eleventh Plague. Honestly, I decided to read it because The Hunger Games author, Suzanne Collins is quoted on the book jacket as saying, "The Eleventh Plague hits disturbingly close to home...An excellent, taut debut novel."

If you've read The Hungers Games then you know that Collins is no-joke when it comes to the harsh realities of what our world would be like if it was destroyed by disasters of nature and mankind. Based upon my experience with her books, I felt like Hirsch's book would be worth a try. It turns out, Collins was right. While Hirsch's world isn't as disturbing (no televised fights to the death between children), you will find yourself in an America you recognize.

This time, the US has been decimated by a deadly sickness known as "the Eleventh Plague," and the country is a barren wasteland. Following the plague, was "the Collapse" when the government, businesses, hospitals, and the military fell. Our protagonist is a 15-year-old boy, Stephen, who was born after the Collapse. He and his father have just buried Stephen's grandfather, and they are faced with a choice. Stephen's grandfather ran their trio strictly, and the family kept on the move. Others were not to be trusted, and everything was done with one purpose in mind—survival. Eventually, Stephen finds himself in charge of their destiny; and now is when you should go to a library or bookstore and pick this one up.

For those concerned about exposing young readers to graphic elements, I say don't worry. This is far less violent than The Hunger Games series. What amazed me the most was the way this made me think about human nature and the things we regress to and cling to in dire times. I also loved the imagery Hirsch conjured for me with two of my favorite lines from The Eleventh Plague:

"There was nothing at his back but thirty feet of open air and, beyond that, the bared fangs of a raging river."

"I dug my thumbnail into the soft wood at the edges of the table and wondered if it was true, if she really would come back or if there would be a time when that rubber band stretched as far as it could and would snap, releasing her into the world, never to return."

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Minestrone Soup in the Slow Cooker

Yes, I love my slow cooker. The only problem is that it makes so much food. Well, it's a problem for me, but not for my co-workers (who sometimes get a container full).

Since it's getting chilly in Southern California, this is a good time of year to bring the slow cooker out and make one of my go-to meals. This time I made minestrone soup. The recipe was blended from a couple of different sources (which I can't accurately recall) years ago.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cup beef broth
28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 medium carrots
2 zucchini
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 medium potatoes
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 ounce red kidney beans, drained
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
3 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Optional: 2 oz. pasta

Direction
Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 10 to 16 hours (cook time depends on how large or small the vegetables are chopped). If you wish to add pasta, place it in the slow cooker during the last 30 minutes of cooking. Remove the bay leaf before serving. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

My Notes
I use two cans of beef broth, which is about four cups. This makes a very thick and hearty soup, so the extra half ounce of broth doesn't hurt. Because spices tend to lose their flavor in a slow cooking process I add more of the dried spices towards the end of cook time. If I use low-sodium broth, I add salt as well. Yes, it defeats the purpose.