Cupcakes with Nutella Icing

Cupcakes with Nutella Icing

INGREDIENTS
For the cupcakes:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup light cream

For the icing:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup nutella

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt and mix well. Add the light cream to the batter and mix again.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, a little at a time. Mix until incorporated evenly.

Line a muffin pan with cupcake wrappers, and fill each to just below the top with batter. Bake for 30 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Set the cupcakes aside until the pan cools, then remove them to a baking rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and vanilla. Sift the confectioners sugar into the mixture and mix until smooth.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost the cupcakes and serve.

Makes 14-16 cupcakes.

The price is never right

When I was a child Bob Barker still hosted The Price is Right every weekday morning. As a boy I tuned in quite a few times during those short summer days and on days when I was at home from school for one reason or another. Mostly I was sick, I used to get annual ear aches and strep throat. Fun times, I assure you! I remember thinking the show was somewhat magical, much in the same way Lucky Charms are magical. They had a similar magical feeling, mostly caused by a sugar induced euphoria that only a child home from school knows.

Last night I dreamt I was working backstage on The Price is Right. I somehow was put in charge of giving tours to fans. I had a small group of people and I was going to show them the warehouse where the prizes were kept. As we approached the door of the warehouse I noticed it was only about 3 feet tall. I punched in the secret code into the pin pad and the door slowly opened. A leprechaun stepped out and started yelling and throwing things. So it seems to me that the prizes on the Price is Right are guarded by Leprechauns. This makes sense, ... right?

Later in my dream, maybe another dream entirely, I was thrown into apocalyptic times when climate change was out of control. In 9 or 10 days, instead of 9 to 10 years, Florida would soon be flooded and I had taken it on myself to secure a boat. It turns out I ended up stealing a restaurant on a boat. A boat stocked with food! What could be better?

What do these dreams have in common? Maybe they link my greatest fears to the magical safety of my childhood. It reminds me that everything happens for a reason and I should just relax. At least that is my interpretation of the information.

my friends are all in my head

I had the rest of my Thyroid removed on the 26th, last Friday. I was released from the hospital on Saturday. I got food poisoning on Sunday.

I have been having colorful dreams since then. In one dream I purchased a 4-wheeler and drove it over a car. He chased me and I fled into the sewer system where I ran into the ninja turtles. I battled them and narrowly escaped. In another dream I met Bobby Flay and posed for a picture with him. In yet another dream I swam in a pool with friends and ate BBQ.

I thought I had more to say... maybe more will come later.

alive and well in the future

Life takes mysterious turns and we never know exactly where the road will lead us. I look back on my past, then look at where I am, and ask myself "How did I get here??" It's really a mystery to me. I am scraping by, no job makes the ship take on water, but I seem to be staying afloat due to weekly miracles that never seem to amaze me. I'd love to say I planned it all out, but I just don't have the imagination for that.

I think sometimes just scraping by is what I need. I think that I am here only for a short time and living any better than I do might just be a crime. I think that living large would have led to the death of me. I know that I don't need any more than I already have and if I ever get more than I need it'll just be pissed away. I don't mind sweating for my living and most of the time I embrace the work more than the wage.

In the year 2525 men will not have feet, nor be alive. Our brains free from cranial boundaries, we will live in clouds. Modern man has no idea where evolution will take us on this mystery ship.

downsizing

He makes a call to headquarters, but the phone just rings.

I cleaned my closet earlier today because we are moving. I actually need to get rid of quite a few items that I won't have room for at the new house. I don't mind selling my unused things, it's actually therapeutic.

I have been sad lately, as sad as I get anymore these days. I went from soaring in the atmosphere to walking on the sidewalk. It's moments like these that I realizeI took so much forgranted in the past and I have a lot to be thankful for.

The rest of my thyroid has to come out, it has become enlarged and is pressing upon my trachea. Unfortunately I can't say "At least I have my health" because my thyroid is trying to kill me.

It's the small things and the truth is.. it's not the things, it's the experience, time and energy. It took me a long time to learn that, but now I do.

I want to be a CEO

I am picky about the beer I drink, or so I like to think anyway. Local liquor stores aren't the best place to get good quality beer, they tend to focus on liquor more than beer. So I hit up the grocery store next door and was equally as dissapointed by their selection. Lastly I found myself at corner gas station staring at their glass cooler doors in disbelief. They were covered in condensation like someone had left them open for a while.

Then to the left of me I heard a young woman's voice in a high whining pitch say "This is what happens when I don't stay in touch with people". I glanced over my shoulder to see a girl and her mother sitting at a table eating lunch. First I must explain the neighborhood I live in is quite well-to-do and they are mostly white middle class in nature. they drive shiny new BMW's and most have two story homes with pools, but there is a large rental community nearby where I live.

I then heard her say "I chose those classes because I wanted to be with my friends". I then reflected on my own time spent in college or primary school for that matter. I never had any friend in my classes. I always had the task of making friends while in the class, but not that I ever did. It seems like the girl hadn't received the class she chose, which can happen if you're not resolute and fail to followup with your counselor.

I scanned the beer cooler hoping to find something palatable, but in the end I was left staring at a twelve pack of Red Dog. it had been years since I had had Red Dog and honestly I didn't think they made it anymore. I had forgotten what it even tasted like, so I grabbed a 12 pack and smiled as I made my way to the cashier. After all, can you really go wrong with 12 beers for $8.99?

The girl then then said "I chose the class because it was challenging". I smiled and felt warmth in the depths of my heart. Then the young girl said "I want to be a CEO or the boss of a company." At this point I erupted into a full on internal giggle as held out my ID to the cashier. The cashier smiled at me and we exchanged glances. We both new that this young girl would never be a CEO. Did she even know what CEO stood for? If she couldn't stand taking a class without her friends or even followup to make sure she was enrolled in the right class, what hopes did she really have?

Why would she would chose to be a CEO? It seems like an odd choice to me, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense in a flawed sense of reality kind of way. I suppose the girl didn't have any athletic ability or hopes of becoming America's next top model. She probably wasn't particularly brilliant and had given up her hopes of winning on Jeopardy long ago. So how else could she make a million dollars? CEO's are millionaires right? Right!

in colors less known

What's my excuse? ... for being so nonchalant about the days as they pass and turn upside down. I don't really have a good answer for you, but I know I have been paying attention to the facts. It doesn't take much for days to turn into weeks and weeks months, but I do know that every day takes me further from the disaster that could have been.

The great exit is how I choose to remember it. I choose. I made it out just before the place imploded and blew into a thousand pieces. I wanted to thank you because I would have never have left on my own, but since I wasn't given the choice I consider it my duty to thank you who pointed me in the right direction. As I reflect on the time spent, it bears plenty of great memories only turning stale and dead in the last 2 to 4 months. And for me to spend any longer of an amount of time would have been the death of me, so I conclude that it were the best of times and the worst of times. It was the life and the death of me waiting the flip of a switch to transform from one into the next. I am only too glad that I made my exit before I actually did something I would really regret or turned into a monster much like yourself. You saved my life and I wanted to thank you.

Kmart is dead to me

I went out to buy more film for my camera experiments and ended up going into the Kmart down the street from the camera shop. Actually it was a Super Kmart, but that doesn't make it any better. I was hoping to find a cheap scanner that I could repurpose into a negative film scanner(no such luck). As soon as I walked into the Kmart I knew that I would just be wasting my time. As I walked the aisles in search of the electronics department I got the feeling I was just dirty and no one loved me. I felt like the undead, everyone around me seemed like a zombie content on staring at bargain priced soda and knockoff cheese crackers. The aisles towered above me narrow like a grave and were crowded with substandard housewares. The tile floor had seen better days, there were pieces missing, pieces replaced but not the right color or size or cracked pieces missing entirely. The space filled with dirt and filth awaiting the next old lady to come bumbling along to be tripped and fall on a bargain bin filled with rakes and shovels.

I finally found the electronics department, but no scanners were to be found. I inquired about film for cameras and was lead to a dismal display with 2 specimens of Kodak, both overpriced. I turned and left wondering why I even came into this place. On the way out I looked at the crap in the aisles and wonder "Who buys this shit?", but I guess somewhere someone needs a set of juice glasses with Betty Boop on them. The whole experience made me depressed, but I was hungry. I remember when Kmart used to be good enough for me. I used to be a Kmart shopper. I used to walk those aisles content with buying the crap they sold. I needed what they had to offer. I used to think the blue light special was kind of cool. I don't feel that way anymore. It wouldn't take much to bring those feelings back... Clean the floors, declutter the aisles, clean the air and make it smell less stale, make your store look like it's not a place where people come to die.

wash my worries away

I woke up this morning for the second day in a row feeling like someone ran me over with a truck. I'm not hungover, but I am tired... exhausted... I stayed up too late and threw off my sleep cycles. I need to go to bed earlier and get up in turn. The problem lies deep in self control and the feeling of need to stay up to lengthen my day. I also am totally into season three of Dexter and must watch as much as I can as soon as I can. I am an addict.

In contrast I have been shooting a fair amount of 35mm film lately. I have an amazing digital camera, but film has so much more depth and character. I never realized that before. I recently purchased an old Rolleicord IV from a local camera shop and have tweaked it to shoot 35mm which allows me to expose the sprocket holes for a neat effect, but in order to develop the film I have to take it to the store, then bring the negatives home and scan them. At the moment my scanner isn't the best at collecting the data it should, in fact it's the worst. I want to experiment a bit with medium format film and maybe buy a different camera to shoot 35. Either way I am going to have to buy another scanner if I want to continue with my own negative scanning.

I also brewed a german pilsner a couple days ago. I believe it will come out very good because I am getting better at the methods involved in brewing and fermenting. The wort was light and clean, the hops finished well and everything went smooth. Though I may have used too much carapils in the grain primary, but only time will tell.

good clean fun

I knew from the first time I met Phil he was nuts. It was my third night working at Target as a night stock boy when I met Phil. I would have met him on the first night except he was away for quality training. Later he revealed that quality training actually meant sitting outside target in a parked car with the day manager discussing their hostile takeover of the payless shoe store next door. I never questioned him, I just assumed he was nuts.

We were both assigned to the sporting goods area and after loading our merchandise tugs we dug into the task of taking care of all of this crap. As I jammed basketball needles onto their respective hooks I heard Phil talking to himself in the aisle over. He was muttering something about how camping was a complete fraud and if anyone really wanted to go camping he's gladly kidnap them and drop them off in the country for the $65 it took to buy a tent. I laughed inside and agreed, but thought about the smores I had eaten years ago.

I was putting golf tees away when i looked up to see Phil staring at me. I said "Do you know where these fuckers go?" Phil replied "Did you check the plan-o-gram". I looked away knowing that the plan-o-gram was bullshit and all I had to do was find the same bar code number on a label as the package. "I've got to take a leak" and before I could argue Phil was down the aisle and around the corner.

It was an hour later and Phil hadn't returned. i had finished the bike and cooler aisle. I glanced sorely down the camping aisle. I closed in on Phil's tug and saw a pack of opened flashlights. He hadn't taken care of anything. I wondered how Phil kept his job as i finished the flashlights and moved on to various other camping gadgets, some of this stuff was pretty ridiculous. I mean, who needs a stainless steel spork?

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the walkie talkie with bent antennae. It was 3:15 and closing in on break time. I put the walkie talkie up to my lips and said "Paging Phil, has anyone seen Phil?" I need him to sign off on the plan-o-gram before I could complete the area. Waiting... Not a word. Phil then walked around the corner "So man, jason had me stocking some endcaps near the checkouts and I forgot about you back here". I replied "That's fine, I just need you to sign off this area with me so I can go to break". He grabbed the clipboard and scribbled his name in my box "Here ya go". I looked at him and said "Thanks".

We took our break in the garden center because