Cupcakes, FL, Guacamole rules, and Salad wins

What has happened to the rest of Spring? Basically some rain came and washed it all away and left really sticky air, heat typical of August, and a shit-ton of cicadas. I also feel like spring really flew by. All of a sudden I am carving up my summer by events and I already have a sunburn. WTF.

Anyways, here are some cupcakes I made for my mom. They are "chocolate covered cherry cupcakes" so that means they are a chocolate cake filled with a sour cherry puree, chocolate frosting and maraschino cherries with a shower of ganache. I told my mom I was bringing her gift home to her a week or two after mother's day, and she said, "I hope it's cupcakes!"

It's not like I can bring home personalized mother's day cupcakes and nothing for my Dad. Plus it was his birthday. So I made him "Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes" which are chocolate cake filled with caramel, topped with some more caramel and pecans, then chocolate buttercream and a candied pecan. I made some caramel buttercream for these, then accidentally piped on chocolate. I rolled with it.

Alex passed his orals! woo hoo! All that was left to do after that was have a huge party. And eat a cake! And write a dissertation... and get a job... sigh. The cake helped ease the oncoming future workload. I just know it.

Um WHY did no one tell me about this jar of amazing vegan white chocolate peanut butter? I've been sharing this earth with you all for 25 years, the least you all could do was tell me the secret to life, comfort, success, and happiness. I have half a jar left, and have yet to actually spread it on anything. You figure out where the other half went.

Thanks a lot, everybody. I'm the last vegan in the world to find vegan nutella. At the asian market.

I went to Florida for vacation and to visit some family. It was very relaxing. I make soft pretzels to relax, so this is a picture of me relaxing.

Whilst in Florida, we went to a Dale Chihuly exhibit! He's an amazing glass artist that I've been a fan of for a long time. I was so thrilled to see some of his work in person.

Florida's alright...

So after reading Isa's post on her site, I realized I've never made a vegan caesar salad before. I had a very short love affair with caesar salads from the time I first had one, to the time I became vegetarian. It was probably like a 6 month window. But I remember those 5 salads pretty well. SO, I guessed I'd better try to make my own, since it's not like I'm gonna find a vegan caesar dressing on the shelf at stop and shop, so presto. I made some. It took 2 minutes. No blender required.

I put in some browned tofu cubes, some grilled corn, spring mix, and some homemade croutons. And then I ate it all. Shwing!

I also made a pot-o-guac. I put some grilled corn and tomatoes in there too, trying to make it as reminiscent of chili's guacamole as possible. I mean you don't go to chili's and NOT get the guac appetizer. That would be worse than going to a sushi place and not getting sushi. Or like going to bueno y sano and not getting a burrito. Or Stuff Yer Face and not getting a boli. Basically, you don't really have a choice. You should be served this guacamole upon being seated and understand that it is going to be part of your bill.

Many Salad/Smoovie nights have taken place this week. They are a fun June tradition we started a year or two ago. As long as your salad is not bitchy and small, and you have some good stuff in there, a salad can really slam dunk it. A delicious smoovie doesn't hurt it either.