day Fourteen.

day 14: a song from your childhood

Granted this song came out when I was like 3? I grew up with 2 older sisters and one older brother (*cough*MIKE*cough*) that I'm sure influenced this one...

day Thirteen.

day 13: whatever tickles your fancy

Today I would like to confess my love for this:

Best $5 impulse buy I've made (ok...maybe not the best, but perrty darn good.)

Not only does it make your lips perfectly light pinky shiny, but it smells amazing.

go get it.

day Twelve.

day 12: we want to see your teeth today / post a self-portrait

Not a self-portrait, but a portrait of me nonetheless.

I think it awfully clever of those Dodgers folk to put their logo RIGHT over my face...so I couldn't use this photo.

I also think this photo makes us look like real sports fans, and I kinda like it. Maybe that's because we just watched the Blindside, and it gave us fantasies of living in the South and living in a community that revolves around one football team. California is not like that to say the least.

aww shucks.

day Eleven.

day 11: share your favorite recipe

Just one all-time favorite recipe? How is this possible?

Instead I'm going to post 2 (one dinner, one dessert - of course) recipes that I have recently fallen in love with.

First are these...

Mushroom-and-Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce

From the lovely, comfort food making Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman

So these little fancies showed up on my Google Reader a month or so ago and bam, Sunday dinner was planned.

So, run, click and make these ASAP.

My tips/thoughts:

• I LOVE spicy things, so globbing on the Spicy Fry Sauce (which contains Cayenne pepper) was a must!
• Do yourself a favor and buy King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for your slider buns. You'll thank me later.
  
• No, I didn't use the wine and yes, they were still delicious.
• I am forever going to add heavy cream to my meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers...you get the idea.

You can print the recipe here.

Now for a dessert, this isn't a recent discovery, but I've been craving them for a while...so they might get made soon.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

Here is the recipe I used:
Cupcakes:
1 cup sugar
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
½ to 2 tablespoons of milk*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two standard muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and mayonnaise until blended. Add the vanilla and blend.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne. Add dry ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk.
4. Divide the batter among the prepared pans, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 18 minutes, or until the tops are firm and spring back when lightly touched. Cool in tins for 10 minutes. Remove from tins and place on wire rack to cool completely.
5. When cupcakes are completely cooled, make frosting: In a medium bowl, sift together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and salt, and beat until combined. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar mixture, and beat until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add milk as necessary to thin out to desired consistency.


Tips: for the "Dutch Process Cocoa" I used the Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, worked perfectly.

These cupcakes are perfectly dense and not just a plain boring chocolate.

day Ten.

day 10: a letter to the person you hate most or caused you a lot of pain

In the words of Cady Herron "I’m trying this new thing… where I don’t talk about people behind their backs"

truth be told I've been trying it my whole life...well since I was 11 (you know, puberty). Girls are vicious and catty, why promote it on my blog?

day Ten is officially skipped.

day Nine.

day 9: list some of your favorite tumblrs

I had a tumblr once for like one month...and I found it pretty, but slow.
Also, there's lots of dirty things on tumblr.

so I can't support day Nine, sorby.

Day Eight.

day 8: a photo of you taken recently

this is me using my phone as a mirror.