Sprinkles

The first week of March I spent in Phoenix for a conference with InterVarsity. Coincidentally Brian's parents live in Phoenix so I got to spend some one on one time with my mom in law. She took me to her favorite cupcake place Sprinkles. http://www.sprinkles.com/ . We got cupcakes to go and also some mix so I could make them at home. Sprinkles is the exactly the kind of place I want to open one day. It is cool and modern but also makes amazing cupcake. One of my friends and I are toying with the idea of opening a bakery when we grow up. We both are really into baking, cupcake specifically and love the idea of baking as a job. Now if only I can think of an original concept for my own cupcake bakery. P.S. when did cupcakes become so in? There are nine cupcake places in Austin alone.

I was in charge of desserts this week at small group and sipped up the Sprinkle red velvet cupcake. First of all, what is red velvet. It is a coco flavored cake with red food coloring. Red velvet as made famous at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1920. Thanks Wikipedia.
I poured the pre-made mix into the bowl and was surprised by just how red it was. The batter was made up of butter, mix, milk and vinegar. The vinegar is used to bring out the red color in the coco.

Now usually when I bake I am really messy and batter gets everywhere. This time was no exception , but the batter was bright red. This turned the kitchen into a set fro a horror flix. The batter was about the color of blood and by the time I was done there was red batter everywhere. The batter was also super thick. I cannot say what was in the mix , obviously a Sprinkles secret but I had the hardest time getting the batter into the cupcake pan. I popped them into the oven and they baked up just fine.

I whipped up a cream cheese frosting as instructed by Sprinkles and topped the cupcake with the Sprinkles signature modern dot. This, as one of the small group members pointed out does indeed make the cupcakes look suggestive.

Dirty Dog

This has nothing to do with a recipe but we wanted to share this with you anyway

Boddington was looking a little dirty and we could not remember the last time we gave him a bath. We do not bath him often because, one he has short hair and two it is an involved process. Usually we bath him in our guests bathroom tub with one of us washing him and using a cuop to pour water over him, since we don't have a detachable shower head. The other one tries to keep him in the tub. Not wanting to repeat this insanity, we set out on a doggie-venture to the Dirty Dog, a self service dog wash. Yes think just like self service car wash but for your dog.

We arrived at the Dirty Dog location near us on Steck and Mesa only to find that they were closed on Mondays. Sigh.Undaunted by this we headed down south to a location by campus. We enter the Dirty dog and saw four pet washing stations that were about three feet off the ground.They were fully stocked with everything we would need; shampoo, conditioner, brushes combs, towels and a pet dryer. The attendant wheeled over large green steps so Boddington could get in the tub, then we strapped him in using a yellow color attached to the chain.



He enjoyed being washed with the shower head. He kept trying to drink He did not mind the shampoo or conditioner. But what he hated was the pet dryer.

The dryer was like a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment only in blew warm air out. Now it is no surprise that Boddington did not like the pet dryer, it joins his lists of hatreds which include my hair dry, the vacuum and the dust buster. As we tried to dry him he would try to attack the air coming out of the hose. He would twist and turn to try to get at the nozzle while we were trying to dry various part of him. It was hilarious to see the air blow back his jowls are he tried ferociously to get it. He did end of drying him but it took both of us, one working the dryer, the other holding the bulldog's head and several towels.

Dirty dog was a great experience and Boddington once again is his proper colors of fawn and white.

Italian Wedding Soup

On a rainy and cold Wednesday I was inspired to make a homemade soup, something chunky and also light. What came to mind, Italian wedding, I love those little meatball.I decided to stick with my streak of good luck and check out Martha Stewart and found her version of the soup.

I first made meatballs out of ground turkey, breadcrumbs,egg, spices, and Parmesan cheese. Hand rolling the meatballs was interactive, messy, and very fun. When I was little I loved helping my mom make meatloaf for the sole reason that I liked to mush up the meat.



I then made the broth out of chicken broth and diced tomatoes, brought to a simmer... lots of liquid... took forever. Then I added the meatballs. They cooked while in the broth and as an indication of when they were done they floated to the top. I could go into the chemistry of the heat exchange between the broth and the meatball and how cooking them changes their density but I will spare you. Lets just stick with it was fun to see the the meatballs float up the the top as they finished cooking :)

Lastly I added the escarole... what is that. Escarole is a form of endive. What is endive, a bitter salad green and they mean bitter. I tried some of the escarole raw and almost had to spit it out it was so nasty, but luckily like most green veggies the bitterness totally disappears as you cook it.
I arrived at Central Market ready to find escarole. I went to the salad green section and saw this. The get a size comparison, it is as big as my head ans very unruly. As I tried to stuff it in a bag I had no success. The bag was way too small, the lettuce was wet and I had a basket in my arms. I am sure it was a sight to see and I wrestled with this lettuce. I finally gave up put the lettuce on the scale printed out a label and stick it to a bag and just put the lettuce loose in my basket.. As the check out I gave them the produce bag and then had them but the escarole in a plastic grocery bag and it barely fit in there.

I chopped up the escarole and added it to the soup. It cooked for about five minutes until it was good and wilted. I served the soup with Italian bread.

YUM.

Check out the recipe at http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/light-italian-wedding-soup