What's Cookin' - Yellow Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

Today I'm saying goodbye to boxed yellow cupcake mix and attempting to make them from scratch. I've got a birthday party tonight for a friend who I don't know well enough to feel obligated to give a present, but I hate going to any kind of fete empty handed. The birthday girl requested yellow cupcakes with vanilla frosting and that's what she's going to get -- unless, of course, something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

I'll be using this recipe for yellow cupcakes from the Food Network and this recipe gleaned from Allrecipes.com to top it off. Judging from the comment threads, it looks like there have been issues with overbaking the cupcakes and not-so-stiff frosting. The solution to the latter problem seems to be warming up the cream cheese on the counter instead of the microwave. I made a recipe for pineapple cupcakes with tropical cream frosting earlier this week that also called for cream and posed some stiffening issues. I suspect this was because I microwaved the cream cheese to soften it. So this time around, I'll let the cream cheese sit out on the counter top for a bit and also chill my bowl and beaters to make sure it whips up nicely.

Update: Well, something did go horribly, horribly wrong. Just as I had feared, the frosting did not set up like it was supposed to. Frosting has officially become my least favorite kitchen task. Ever. I have no idea what went wrong, though I suspect I overworked it. The frosting-to-be had reached a somewhat acceptable consistency (I should mention that this was the second batch, the first one, I don't even know what happened there), but I pushed it and decided to keep whipping, and the whole thing relaxed. I was able to frost the cupcakes with it, but it was nowhere close to the heaping fluffiness I was hoping for. Frosting disaster aside, the cupcakes were a big hit at the party, so I'm not a complete failure.

A few comments on the cupcake recipe. First of all, it is definitely a recipe designed for a stand up mixer. My arms were dying after all the mixing this required. But all of the hard work really does pay off. These are truly delicious, ultra airy, not-to-sweet, gourmet cupcakes, probably the best I've ever made. You get out what you put in, I guess. I'm perfectly happy to stick with quicker recipes for everyday baking, but for special occasions or really special people that I like, this is a go to recipe.

Sorry, no pictures. I was too in a hurry to get out the door after the whole frosting debacle.

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What's Cookin' - Chickpea and Potato Curry

I didn't take any time jumping on my summer goals list by trying a new curry recipe. I was also really hungry and have been nursing a curry craving for a good week. Potatoes and chickpeas are two of my favorite curry ingredients and I happened to have a can of chickpeas in the pantry and a bunch of old potatoes on the verge of sprouting into new potatoes. A quick Google search turned up this recipe.

As was the case with my past forays into cooking curry, this curry turn out spicey but otherwise bland. I didn't add the optional chili since I'm not all that found of super spicey foods -- I like being able to eat something without feeling like my mouth is on fire, I just don't understand what enjoyment there is to be had eating things that make your eyes water. I'm beginning to wonder if the spicey blandness is a result of the curry powder I'm using. Perhaps it's no longer good or wasn't very good in the first place? Either way, I just threw on some extra salt, warmed up some naan I happened to have in the refrigerator and enjoyed my meal while watching the Mariner's miraculously dominate the Angels.

And in keeping with my summer goals list, I'm about to sit down to "Delicatessen." Not a bad night.

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Constructive Summer

My internship ended yesterday and the sun is shining, so I'm declaring that summer (aka watermelon time) is unofficially here. (In case you're wondering, summer starts officially on June 21.) I have 3.5 months, give or take a few weeks, before I surrender my life to law school and I'll be damned if I don't make the most of it. To reference the Hold Steady, I'm going to build something this summer.

By build, I mean do lots of things. And to keep me honest and motivated, I decided to make it a blogging project as well. I've drafted a list of goals for the next few months and you can follow my progress as I try to keep up with them.

10 Summer Goals for a Constructive Summer:

1. Read a Book for an Hour Every Day - I have a TON of unread books on my shelf and I also don't read nearly enough for someone who allegedly loves books. Also, I need to preemptively make up for all the leisure reading I won't be doing once I start law school ~cries~.
2. Study Tagalog for an Hour Every Day - I shelled out $300 for the Rosetta Stone program a year ago and haven't really taken advantage of it. Learning Tagalog has been long been a goal of mine, so I should really stop procrastinating and just do it already.
3. Study for the GREs for an Hour Every Day - I may be applying for a concurrent degree in Public Policy, which means I have to take the GREs (blergh -- but there's no way it's going to kick my ass as bad as the LSATs did). I already ordered study material, so as soon as they get here, I'll get started.
4. Exercise 6 Days a Week - I've already been sticking to my Barry's Bootcamp workout video pretty consistently for the past month and a half or so, so I have high hopes of keeping this up. Yes, I use a workout video and it fucking rocks.
5. Cook Two New Recipes a Week - I want to expand my cooking and baking repertoire and I figure the best way to do this is by trying new recipes. Also, I recently discovered The Kitchn and an assortment of other cooking and baking blogs that are sure to keep me busy.
6. Watch Two Movies a Week - The utilization of my Netflix account is really pathetic. I once had a movie for a good month or so before I watched it. At the same time, my Netflix queue only continues to grow. I like watching movies, so this is really a matter of will rather than interests.
7. Dance Twice a Week - I've been meaning to dance more consistently for a while since that's really the only way to improve. With dance classes and semi-frequent dance dates with a friend, I already have infrastructure for this. I'm hoping to leap into Level 3 at Fat Chance Belly Dance whenever the cycle starts over.
8. Listen to One Album from the RS500 Every Week - For my music blog, I launched a project to blog the top 250 of the RS500. Surprise, surprise, I haven't started yet. But this is a constructive summer, so now would be a good time to start.
9. Develop Photographs Once a Week - I actually don't know how reasonable this goal is, it might end up needing to be every other week. I've been meaning to get back into black and white photography and developing my own photos. I commandeered my dad's beautiful 35 mm and paid for unlimited summer access to a local darkroom. Also, I ordered a decent scanner so I can post the images online.
   
10. Host More Parties - I don't have friends over nearly enough. I'm a big fan of theme parties, which are a good excuse to have people over. This also ties into trying new recipes since I don't like to bake things unless I have people to pawn the baked goods off on lest I undermine my 6 days of exercising and -- self control be damned -- I consume the entire batch. I think a party every other week is reasonable and doable.

I hope to blog about all of these things frequently over the next few months, with the exception of my exercising goal -- I will spare you the completely uninteresting anxious fretting over my self image. Feel free to chime in with ideas, comments and your own goals for the summer.

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