Clair has given me the gift of losing myself. Every night. In the world of Harry Potter. She has been a fan for ages and I'm finally reading her well-loved volumes.
Yesterday, someone at work broke her glasses right at the start of the work day. The little screw came out of the joint between the arm and the lens frame and was lost forever, despite the efforts of several coworkers crawling around on their hands and knees looking for it. I arrived on the scene, pointed my finger at the glasses, and said, "Oculus reparo!" It didn't work, but that's just because I didn't have my wand on me.
Yesterday was also Marysusan's birthday. She is such a sweet lady, so I baked her something sweet: Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting using our new mixer and our new Cupcake cookbook (from our lovely cousin Jenn! More to come on its accompanying gift just a little later...)! Yum.
-:- from Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski -:-
Ingredients
1 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. lukewarm water
1/3 c. veggie oil
3/4 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 c. grated semisweet chocolate
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the water, oil, and vinegar. Using your new mixer, beat until combined. Add the 1/2 c. of grated chocolate and beat until just incorporated.
Scoop about a 1/4 c. of batter into each muffin tin. Bake 24-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Frosting recipe:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
3/4 c. sugar
pinch salt
1 c. unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature
Cinnamon
In a large heat proof bowl, combine egg whites and sugar. Set the bowl over, but not touching, simmering water and heat the mixture, whisking constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 160 degrees), about 2 minutes. Using your new mixer, beat the egg whites on high for 6 minutes (or until they are fluffy, cooled to room temperature, and holds stiff peaks).
With the mixer on medium low speed, mix in the salt and butter a few pieces at a time. Mix well after each addition. If the frosting is liquidy at the end, beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes until it is creamy. Add the cinnamon until you like how it looks (I just added this in last minute and didn't measure it).
-:- My Notes -:-
I'm on the lookout for real Mexican chocolate now (instead of mixing cinnamon with semisweet chocolate). But they are heavenly anyway. I didn't grate my chocolate, I finely chopped it. I got too frustrated trying to grate it all up. The frosting was unlike any other buttercream I've made. It has a very delicate, very pure flavor, which means it tastes very buttery instead of very sugary. And working with egg white has never been as easy as it was with our new mixer! I was giddy. At 6 o'clock in the morning. That means something.
On a relatively unrelated note, I listened to a BBC documentary about unemployment in South Africa's Soweto yesterday at work. The unemployment rate there is the highest in all of South Africa and it's higher still among Soweto's young people. This documentary follows a young man named Freddy who is unsuccessfully looking for work. He does not have the experience to do the kind of work he studied for (traffic policy) and needs that experience before he can really move forward.
Freddy goes to visit a local musician/actor/TV host named Zola for some advice...and I'll be paraphrasing here...Zola asked Freddy why he was looking for a job and Freddy said he needed to crawl before he could walk. He needs experience before he could land a job doing what he really wanted to do. Zola asked whether Freddy could cook...local dishes, barbecue, potato salad...and Freddy said yes, he could. Zola asked whether Freddy could talk to people and make them feel comfortable. He said Freddy looked like a blabbermouth. Freddy laughed and said yes, he could do that too. Then Zola gave his advice. That is the gift of the ancestors. Everyone else makes a profit of what they inherit. That is the gift you got from your grandmother and now it can make you money. I'm not saying you have to walk before you crawl, but you can crawl in the opposite direction of the other babies and still be successful.
My situation is obviously not like Freddy's, but that clip struck me and got me wondering what gift my grandmothers gave me and whether I have the courage to crawl in the other direction.
One week and counting...can't wait!!!
Love, T.
No comments:
Post a Comment