Cupcake Fanatic

My name is Danielle and I am addicted to cupcakes! I absolutely enjoy how the cupcake has evolved in the last several years. They have become a popular item among the elite instead of just for children's parties. Nowadays bakeries have been putting their own little twist on them and you can too.

Last year I was introduced to a book called, Hello Cupcake. It is the most amazing book I ever bought! The instructions can be difficult and never come out like the professionals but, who cares they're fun to make anyway! Some of the cupcake recipes I have tried from the book tend to be on the dry side so I have been looking for better recipes.

Since I am new to blogging I have been interested in what other blogs are out there and have found some ultimate gold mines! A friend of mine introduced me to Smitten Kitchen and it has been a beautiful love affair ever since. When we get together we will attempt to make anything from this website! So far so good. The recipes are easy to follow and don't take to much time at all. Smitten Kitchen has a delicious cupcake recipe for car bomb inspired cupcakes that I am dying to try:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/car-bomb-cupcakes/

My friends know me as a non beer drinker, but are ultimately excited about this new project I will be undertaking. Luckily I have a friend who has attempted these before so I have good advice in the cooking department.

Another recipe I found was one through Martha Stewart. Another friend suggested the recipe as she has made them the other day and found them deLUSHious! It is a snicker doodle cupcake! My mother makes snicker doodles all the time and they are delicious so the cupcake version must be absolutely out of this world.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/snickerdoodle-cupcakes

For Christmas I recieved some excellent cupcake supplies and tools that I am just itching to use. Depending on which one I dedide to make I think I will put my own unique decorating twist on it.

I will post pictures of the finished product and maybe of the whole process. I will also try and get a post of where you can find Hello Cupcake as soon as I can get a new application up on this blog.

6.1 Aftershock Hits Haiti

Eight days after Port-au-Prince was hit by a devastating earthquake a powerful aftershock hits Haiti. The 6.1 quake caused buildings to shake sending people into the street screaming. The earthquake hit 35 miles Northwest of the capital Port-au-Prince. It struck at a depth of 13.7 miles but was located too far inland to cause any tidal waves.

It is still unclear if there is any additional damage and injuries. Search and rescue teams resume their search with amazing rescue stories. This morning The Today show reported that it is hard to estimate the loss of life as bodies are being buried with out being identified and counted. Estimated totals of the loss have been predicted but we will never know exactly how much.


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There is SO much information about the quake and the totals of people injured and people dead keep pouring in. As I said above it is difficult to ascertain if all of these are accurate.

Many fundraisers around the world are trying to help raise money to get Haiti back on their feet. It is unclear as to how much more damage it has caused.

Reading

In college I never had much time for reading. I was always doing something. When I did I was usually bored or on vacation. During those times I was always reading what someone else had just finished. Never really having the time to pick books out for myself.

Now between recommendations and books I choose I find myself consumed by the amount of books I want to read and unsure of where to begin. Last year I entered a little dry spell of not having any reading material. A friend promptly introduced me to the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig. A wonderful series about spies, with a little romance thrown in, beginning in the late 1700s and into the early 1800's. In the first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation you are introduced to Eloise a Harvard graduate student studying espionage in England in France around the time of Napoleon. During Eloise's thirst for research she stumbles across a Diary that gives that gives her clues as to the identity of the Pink Carnation. In following along with Eloise you fall back in time and are introduced to Amy a young French-English woman desperately trying to join the league of the Purple Gentian (Another Spy on a mission to keep England from Napoleon).

Bouncing between Eloise and Amy among a few others you find yourself wrapped up in mystery and espinoage that it becomes hard to put down. After the Pink Carnation you follow Eloise's journey and are introduced to other members of the Pink Carnation.

If you are interested in something geared more toward romance and woman power then Susan Carroll's Dark Queen Series is for you. I accidentally read the first three books out of order. However, having now read all of them I am still enchanted by the initial characters. You are introduced to a world of Women around the time of Catherine de Medici the Dowager Queen of France. You learn about magic...not the spell casting and broom stick kind but, the healers, artists, and educated women of the period. The first book in the series is The Dark Queen and introduces you to the Lady of Faire Isle, Ariane and her two sisters as they struggle to fight the Dowager Queen of France.

Moving on further into Romance...One series I am ashamed to enjoy is the Twilight series...You all may know about that one. It is full of the things we hopeless romantics find interesting. This just about proves that my friends and family are correct, I like just about everything.

Currently, I am in the middle of three books. One is a classic entitled, Flowers for Algernon, another is a thriller by David Baldacci called, The Whole Truth, and the last one is Dan Browns, The Lost Sign. Having gone through a phase where I needed more literature and thrilling tales I found a combination of the three perfect. The only thing bad about it is that I cannot put any of the three down making it completely impossible to finish a book.

When I am finally finished with all three I will probably head to my mecca of resources to find a new book, Shelfari.com. It is a wonderful resource in which you can look up books on your favorite genre or author, read the summary, and read people's reviews of the book.

Games for a new decade...Banana what?

After a wonderful New Years I thought I would share some of my recently found favorite games:

Bananagrams
I have become addicted to a new game, Bananagrams. Since playing I have tried to seduce any one I could to the alluring tile game. My recent victims include my sister and boyfriends roommates.

Bananagrams is just like scrabble, you make a crossword by connecting and intersecting words. Unlike scrabble each player plays individually and builds his or her own crossword. The object of the game is to complete your crossword before the other players. Once finished a player yells, "peel" and everyone has to take another tile finished or not. You keep going until all the tiles are gone. The winner of the game is the player who finishes their crossword first however, if you have a misspelled word you forfeit and the game continues. Note:If you have a tile you feel you cannot use yell, "dump" and swap your single tile for THREE more. Also you can rearrange your crossword as many times as you want!!

Once you get the hang of the vocabulary and the concept of the game it is addicting!

Quelf
Quelf is a very interesting game that intertwines quizzes, stunts, rules, and things you have to do. It is a fun game for the whole family. It mixes the best about cranium and Kings minus the alcohol(if you don't know what that is ask your closest college student). In order to enjoy the game you need to be easy going and not take anything the game throws at you too seriously. It was made to make a fool out of anyone who dare play it. Whether you have to quack like a duck when someone draws a card, Play leapfrog while holding someones hand, write a love poem and read it to the player on your right, or singing the lollipop guild on your knees. You cannot go wrong with this action packed game.

Mexican Train Dominoes

If you are a member of my family you play this at just about every family gathering. In order to play you need a special set of dominoes to play. The object of the game is get rid of all your dominos. The players left with dominos have to add up the numbers on the tile...thats your score. The winner is the player with the least points.

The most basic one we play with starts with a double 12. Now for those of you who do not play domino's don't panic its really easy. Each player recieves a penny or peso and puts it aside(that comes into play later). The number of players determinds the amount of domino's you have to draw. All spare domino's are put to the side....this is called the bone yard.

This is a fun game that young children enjoy...it is a secret learning game as I like to call it.

These are just a few of my favorite games that I enjoy playing. If you have suggestions or want to know more about the games I mentoned feel free to contact me.