living dead cupcakes

I forgot to post about my living dead cupcakes!

Again, I let Halloween come and go without getting a costume together. I got a blonde wig and then had to decide between costume making or cupcake making. Sugar won!

I'll need to do what the rest of my family does- plan one year in advance. They already know the theme of next years party: zombies! grrrr.arrrrg. This year, it was The Adventurer's Club, the year before it was 'Classic Costumes', and before that, 'Night at the Museum'. How fun, right?

My plan for 'Living Dead Cupcakes':

1 box of chocolate cake mix

1 jar cherry preserves

1 tub white frosting ( I know, Danica, I know!!!) + black and green food coloring, plus black writing gel

Cinnamon red hots

I wanted to put a dollop of red jam in the middle of the cupcake for blood. My friend who has made vegan 'jelly donut' cupcakes before walked me through this endeavor. Her advice is as follows:

Fill the cupcake liner 1/2 to 3/4 way full of cake batter (but no higher, we want a flat top)

Spend a minute or two stirring some of your jam in a bowl ( I used a sprinkle of water, as well). This makes a better jelly consistency.

Dollop 1 teaspoon of jam into the center of the batter. More jam will sink.

Bake cupcakes

They should come out not having sunk outside of the cake.

To make the mummies, I originally wanted to try decorating with fondant strips. But, getting tired and not wanting to make another stop after the grocery store, I picked the next best white and edible thing: marshmallows. After the fact, a pastry chef friend of mine suggested microwaving marshmallows for up to 10 seconds to get them more malleable, but I just flattened them (using flour so the sticky bits didn't over complicate it). When they were flat, I cut them into mummy strips and positioned them on the baked and frosted cupcakes, with cinnamon evil eyes and a gel mouth.

The Frankenstein's Monsters and Ghosties were a last minute addition to the batch, because I didn't want to be flattening and cutting marshmallows all morning.

I really liked buying and using black food coloring (not pictured were some gravestone 'RIP' cupcakes). I'll have to try that in another project soon.

apple cider donuts

My first deep fry experience did not end in a kitchen fire.

So, that's a plus.

My donuts were not amazing. Here is where I think I could do better next time with this recipe that looks so pretty in her pictures:

I was very nervous about all the very hot oil on the stove. When it started to heat up too quickly, the oil was splurting and spatting like the bog of eternal stench. I turned down the stove quickly, and the hot (non-hydrogenated) shortening calmed down a bit.

The recipe says fry the donuts at 350 F. I still do not have a candy thermometer, so I hung the oven thermometer on the inside of the pan.. Half-trusting the temperature reading and fearing a grease fire, I started frying when it read about 300. The donuts were supposed to cook 30 - 60 seconds, and I think I let them cook a little too long on each side.

baked on left, fried on the right

The fried one in the picture looks like a donut should look, but coming straight out of the hot oil, they looked overcooked. Because they looked so greasy, I put the second half of the batch in the oven to bake. Although they looked better at first, they were a little dry and under flavored.

In the end, the deep fried ones tasted better (with the cider glaze, definitely, otherwise, too dry).

Happy Autumn

work with the fear

Stumbled upon this Etsy article, which is worth a read!

Then, kept following the links, including Keri Smith's list of encouragements, which contained this:

Feel the fear and do it anyway
...the title of a great book! I've talked to many people who have worked doing what they love for years. THEY STILL HAVE FEAR! They just work with it. It amazed me to find out that success sometimes brings more fear, fear of living up to our name and reputation. Pressure to equal our past successes. So if the fear is always there, you might as well learn to manage it, instead of trying to get rid of it.

ok :)

do you say yes to yourself

“Without sufficient containment for our own temperaments to thrive, without physical & psychic walls to shield us from the demands and dramas of others, we become overstressed.”

Julia Cameron, from "Walking in this World"

I haven't read this book by Julia Cameron, only 'The Artist's Way', but I love this quote.
I feel it to be so true. Even feeling like a closed door is respected helps me feel like I can be quiet and free to think, brainstorm, lay, sift through ideas.

inspiration. the little encouragements.

My blog was originally for sharing my homey crafty projects. It is hard for me to fit regular knitting into a weekly schedule, or even remember to take a picture of a great challah that I baked, But, I like having M & E, and for want of posting subjects, I have taken to writing meanderingly.

Discovering a few new blogs recently, I was inspired to simply keep a positive outlook on the avocation of being a 'creative person'. I don't need to feel the pressure of coming up with something to write about regularly or be disappointed in myself if the absent stretches become longer than I'd like.

I feel in refocusing, that my responsibility, as a creative person, is to simply pay attention. My responsibility is to love the grass because it is green.

old cars

Also on my dad's visit, we looked at some retro cars that were on display at the nearby Chevy dealer.

I wish I had gotten pictures of the insides of the older cars. Some were in excellent condition, and I could easily imagine myself in a well meaning houndstooth jacket, driving to get the scoop for the war effort as a plucky journalist!

weekend with dad

I had an adventure with my dad this weekend. I planned for the Natural History Museum to be our big adventure. But, there really isn't more than a few hours worth of sights there. Even with the spooky spider exhibit in what is usually the 'Butterfly Pavillion', we were wondering what to do. It is a good thing my dad is an adventurer. We made a few excellent discoveries at used bookstore, and I picked out a pumpkin until it was appropriate dinner time.

I liked the gemstone room.

African mammal diorama

I didn't get a picture of it, but in one of the 'North American mammal' dioramas, they have a Californian coyote getting a housecat. Art meets life, people!