Fauxstess Cupcakes-a review

Yum?, originally uploaded by Crystl.

Hey there! I'm still alive. really.

I made the Fauxstess cupcakes (seen above) from Vegan with a Vengeance a few weeks ago. This was sort of a trial run to decide if I should buy Isa's other book. These were very good and, had I spent more time, or followed directions, they also would have been nice to look at. The cake portion is nice and dense and has a wonderful not-too-sweet flavor. The ganache was a bit of a challenge but, I'm used to a more traditional version, or was, until I decided to be vegan. The white frosting for piping really does need to be thick like toothpaste before use. I figured it would thicken when set, and applied it when it was still quite thin, only to find it absorbed into the ganache a few minutes later. I think my only issue with the recipe is the filling. It calls for superfine sugar instead of powdered sugar. I didn't like the grainy texture that the sugar gave to the mixture. I'll definitely make these again.

x o x o

x o x o, originally uploaded by Crystl.

I heart the interwebs

Where else can you find things like this:

roses are red
with thorns that are sticky
i like you a lot
cause you are not icky

I may have to steal that for the valentines I'll be making for this

Baby's first abacus

Baby's first abacus, originally uploaded by Crystl.

test

Yin Yang

Dear UPS,
You may want to go over some basics with your drivers. Like, say, the difference between a three and a four. I know the three is all curvy and wonderful, and the three that my neighbors have is much shiner (it's new) than the four on my door, but, that doesn't matter when it comes to actual delivery. Work on it, could ya?

Dear Resolutioners,
Thanks for not sucking as much as last year. That whole wiping off your machine thing? Very cool. Go you!

Dear Water Wheels,
I love you. *LOVE*
(o.k., for those of you that may be thinking that I just professed my love for these , water wheels are actually a thing we did in yoga class on saturday. My abs still hurt. It's a good pain.)

That is all.

3/365

I've joined the 365 day project over at flickr. I'd given it some thought before. I have several contacts that are in the group and every once in a while, I think about doing it. Being the anal, type a person that I am, I decided to put it off until the first of the year. I think it will be good for me. I can be really critical of my photographs in general and pictures of myself specifically. I think it will be good to create a new image every day. In any other project, I would take my time and create a backlog of usable images. Not being able to do that will be a good kick in the pants, methinks. Like, right now, the computer is having USB issues and I can't upload. I've yet to take today's photo and I haven't uploaded yesterday's. Normally, this sort of thing would make me all twitchy. Actually, I'm only three days in, so, I am in fact, all twitchy. But, I can assure you, it will get better. Really, it will. (right after I stop self medicating with commas) So, I give you day one's image with the promise that I will not go completely nuts around day 82 and start doing nudes. I also promise not to criticize myself. I can't tell you how often I cringe at perfectly good photos because they are captioned or tagged with self deprecating words.