wednesday wisdom.

For Elvis: Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I come by my celebrity boyfriend fetish naturally.
My mom called dibs on this handsome devil a LONG time ago.

Today is Elvis' birthday. AND...this weekend I was playing around with a cupcake recipe and realized my final creation was perfect for the occasion.

Behold the Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting:

Pretty.  It's also really tasty, more of a "muffiny" cake than a "cake" cake, but still pretty nummy.  The recipe follows, a combination of my Super Special Vanilla to End All Vanilla Cupcakes cupcake recipe and a Banana Cupcake recipe I found online.  (Well, technically, the banana was the only thing I really took from that recipe.  The rest I ad-libbed.  I fly by the seat of my pants like that. When I wear pants.)

This is what Elvis would look like eating this cupcake.

Banana Cupcakes
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup flour 
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 stick butter, room temperature 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 eggs 
• 1 T vanilla 
• 1/3 cup sour cream 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (approx 3 bananas)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Combine sugars, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Add stick of butter and mix on medium speed.  (I use a hand mixer).  The texture will be "crumbly".
4. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil and vanilla.
5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined. Don't overmix!
6.  Add the mashed banana and stir to combine (you could mix again, but be careful not to overmix. You'll just create air pockets!)
7. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
8. Bake in 350 F oven.  Test at 14 minutes with a toothpick (they are done when the toothpick comes out clean).  Don't overbake!  They should not be a golden brown on top. They'll be too dry (unless you like a dry cupcake).  If the toothpick still has wet batter, test again in 2 minutes.
9. Remove cupcakes to a wire rack to cool. 

Peanut  Butter Frosting
Ingredients: 

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1-1/2 sticks butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1-2 cups  powdered (confectioner's) sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl and mix on medium until creamy.   Add in the heavy cream and beat on high until light and fluffy.

My mom wishes that mirror was her face. Just sayin.

I used a 1M tip to pipe the frosting in a pretty swirl, and sprinkled a little clear sugar glitter over the tops because I like swag, even on my cupcakes.

Keep these babies in the fridge, the icing is butter and cream-laden.  And also totally lickable.

Just like Elvis.

My mom wishes she was on the receiving end of this smolder.

Happy Birthday to the King!

Blouse Envy

In that frustrating way the internet has, I ran across a teeny tiny thumbnail photo of a freakishly adorable top.  Appeared to be red polkadots, neck tie or ruffly jabot, short sleeves with armband.  It appeared to be a screenshot from a tv show or movie.


Did you know you know you can copy the URL of a photo and paste it in the google search box, and it will search the internets for THAT image? 

You can.

Behold the magnificence of red (not polkadot) necktie/ruffly jabot short sleeve blouse:

 

Swoon.  It has a bit of a 40s vibe, don't you think?

 

And it's not polkadots, oh no.  It's LIPS.  

 

Now I must have a red LIP printed ruffly jabot short sleeve blouse. Pattern suggestions?  Seems like there's a Burda Style or HP out there similar.

(By the way, my uber detective googling discovered that the tv show was "Friends with Benefits", a very, VERY short lived series that ran a couple of years ago?  I have never heard of it, and I'm a tv-aholoic.) Alas, I'm not interested enough to finagle the (rather tasteless) screencaps for the other 9 or 10 episodes to look for more gems like this blouse.  Based on this episode, the title actually does indicate the premise of the series.

I had to wade through a ton of screencaps to bring you these pretties (oh, the depths I go for you, dear readers), and on my way I also found a series of scary photos of the above actress in a different scene:

Holy Botox, Batman. 

WHY would such a lovely woman, who is clearly still quite young (early 30s?) do this?

Oh Hollywood, yet again you disappointment with your shallowness. 

If you haven't made a New Year's Resolution yet, might I suggest embracing your wrinkles?  Hopefully you got them from things like SHOWING EMOTION and SMILING and LAUGHING and LIVING LIFE. So they're nothing to be ashamed of. 

Also, more cute feminine blouses.  Yup.

A Letter from China

This article popped up on my twitter feed tonight.  It is both heartbreaking and helplessness-inducing.

In synopsis, a woman, Julie Keith, was unpacking Halloween decorations and found a letter inside; a letter from the Chinese worker who packaged it.

source

Please, go read the full articel (linked above) for the letter's full contents.  Here is a brief snip...

Sir, if you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.

What is the true cost of low prices?  Human suffering?  How much must you "save"?  What is your bottom dollar, your lowest price?

What price?

What price.

Happy New Year!

Welcome, 2013.

I'm so happy to make your acquaintance.