Disaster Cupcakes and Yogurt Hedonism

Today's not-so-favorite moments included . . .

. . . making disaster cupcakes. No, that isn't an emergency preparedness recipe; it's what happens when I have a deadline to meet, I'm tweaking a recipe when I've never even made the original, and I involve my kids in the baking process. If that isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is. Before long I was raising both my voice and my blood pressure, and to my dismay most of the cupcakes overflowed all over the pans. What's more, the ones that were still presentable didn't taste that great. Next time I'll just make Crazy Cake, which is easy, tasty, and virtually foolproof (and is actually a great preparedness recipe, assuming your oven works).

. . . finding out that Whole Foods sells soft white wheat, but not the hard white wheat I meant to use in a bread experiment (soft wheat works better for pastries).

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . going to a swim party with lots of friends. It was a nice way to decompress after the cupcake debacle.

. . . finding out that the 99cent Store sells good water wings.

. . . an aunt reading about my ice cream quest, and sending me four recipes to try (thanks!).

. . . writing the title of this post.

And another thing . . .

. . . I seem to be conducting a ton of cooking experiments lately, most of them extraneous (i.e. not producing a meal, and therefore not strictly essential--in fact, most of them would qualify as treats). Lately I've been tinkering with everything from bread to ice cream to cupcakes, and I am currently trying out a homemade yogurt recipe in my crock pot. Perhaps all these superfluous culinary experiments are my last hurrah of mommy hedonism before Baby arrives and I barely have time to cook oatmeal for a while.