LOVE THIS!

This is exactly what I want to do when I hear this song!

Thanks again for posting this on the Autumn mix Esther, this is officially my new favorite song :)

NPH vs. Neil Gaiman?

so much love right now :)

Cupcakes!

Lately I've been on a quest to make the pefect s'mores cupcake...

My first attempt was very pretty, but the cake was heavy and dense, and the marshmallow frosting hardened quickly, which gave it the wrong consistency. My second attempt was way more successful though!

Instead of baking the graham cracker into the cupcake, I made a separate crust!

Milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet made it more s'mores like.

TONS of cocoa powder in the cake batter

Extra graham cracker crumbs on top

The frosting was much lighter and easier to work with this time (cream of tartar based instead of gelatin) and it stayed gooey instead of hardening up!

Toasting the marshmallow tops made a BIG difference! (I couldn't find a torch the first time)

Here they are, all ready to go in my new cupcake carrier :D Next time I'm going to add milk chocolate ganache (either as icing or as a filling), will make the crust on the bottom a little thicker, and I think that will pretty much do it. Hooray for cupcakes!

And speaking of cupcakes, meet my new bike... Cupcake!

Life is good :)

Rodrigo y Gabriela!

Ryan and I went to a Rodrigo y Gabriela concert at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley this past weekend... and it was AMAZING! Gabriela's fingers go so fast that sometimes I can't even see them anymore! And just in case being super talented wasn't enough, they're both gorgeous (SERIOUSLY) and have fantastic accents. Yep, I'm in love :)

Enjoy!

I have three of their albums so far and will definitely be getting their new one soon! Esther, if you can send me some directions for setting up the downloadable file like you did for Summer Notes, I would be happy to share :)

ModCloth and Cake!

Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for (ok, probably not)! I finally have the long-promised fashion show post! This is my entry for the ModCloth style short contest. I think I should win purely based on how long I spent changing in and out of outfits... it took FOREVER. While it can't quite equal the awesomeness of fire-fighter, hipster Esther, hopefully you will still enjoy :D

Please watch it a bajillion times so that I win! I already have all my clothes picked out ;) I will be ever so sad if I don't get any prize moneys...

Aprons!

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've taken pictures of lots of things that I've made lately (the glorious frittata that some of you got to sample, mushroom risotto, and zucchini with walnuts, chives, garlic, and bread crumbs, just to give a few examples) but somehow my pictures never make them look particularly appetizing. Also I'm lazy and don't remember to put them up. So instead, everyone oogle my new apron!

Is it not AWESOME?!

Right, that's all. I'm making a vanilla buttercream celebration cake today, hopefully pictures of that one will end up surfacing soon so I have material for a real post :)

p.s. It was 75 during my lunch break yesterday. And YOU had the earthquake, not me! Move to San Francisco!

Fated To Pretend: MGMT Cover

The song that came on the radio that almost made me late to work today: A piano cover of MGMT's "Time to Pretend." It's covered by Jonzi, the singer of Sigur Ros. If I could have someone orchestrate my dreams, Sigur Ros' music would be my pick. [Especially Glosoli and Svefn-g-englar before bed]

Bus Stop Jungle!

I had a really happy surprise this morning! When I got to my bus stop, someone had decorated it with giant flowers for absolutely no discernible reason! Everyone stood out in the middle of the street taking pictures while we waited for the bus to arrive :)

It was the only stop decorated on the whole route. Yay for random acts of whimsy :)