Cupcake Happiness

You know how last week I posted about things that make me happy?  And I included pictures of the prettiest cupcakes I've ever seen?

So.

Last night, I got a wild hair up my butt to give those cupcakes a try.  I mean, afterall, today is Easter and all things colorful, right?  So why not?

Ingredients:

• Two boxes of white cake mix
• Gel food coloring
• Liquid chickens
• Vegetable oil
• Water
• Patience.  Lots of patience.  Lots and lots of patience.

I made the boxes of cake mix according to directions and split it between four bowls, then I added approximately half a tube (no, I'm not kidding - I wanted bright colors) of gel food coloring.

Oooh...pretty

Looks like a painter's palette, doesn't it?

Mixing up the batter was the easy part.  Next came dolloping (is that a verb?  Well it is now) the batter into the cupcake tins.  This is where I really needed by patience pants on, because I'm generally *over* baking projects at just about this point.  I'd rather eat raw dough/batter of pretty much any kind than have to go through the whole process of baking.  I donned my patience pants and went to work.  It took me an entire half a season (five episodes) of Fringe on Netflix to complete the dolloping and baking.

Three colors done, one to go

And...the first two dozen are ready to go in the oven

While the first batch was baking, I was prepping the asparagus for today's feast.  I couldn't find any of the small, pencil-sized asparagus to wrap in bacon for today, so I had to peel a bunch.

The timer finally dinged eighteen minutes after the cupcakes went in and this is what I got...

Yay!  It looks like it worked!

I'm not very good at dolloping the same amount of batter into the tins apparently, as I ended up with some really big cupcakes and some not-so-big cupcakes.  I couldn't wait to lay them out to cool and get the next batch in.

Aren't they pretty?

It worked!
And tasted good, too.  We had to try one.

The next batch went in and eighteen minutes later, I had a dozen and a half more little pieces of happiness wrapped in cupcake liners ready to be frosted.  Unlike the Bionic Cowgirl, I'm super lazy and bought my frosting in two of those easy-to-use tubs.  I dumped the frosting in a bowl and added the last half of the green gel, which didn't make it very green.  So I added the last half of the blue and yellow gels too, mixed it all up and went to work decorating the cupcakes.

Can we say "sugar high"?

The decoration is pretty run-of-the-mill boring stuff, but I can't wait to see the looks on the kids' faces when they bit into their cupcakes and find all the pretty colors.  It's kind of like a reverse Easter egg, with the colors on the inside.

A Whole Lotta Fun

Or, one of my ideas of fun.

Our family refers to the drive up to the Lodge as "going up the hill" (not to be confused with "going out on the mountain", which means going for a ride).  I'm not sure where that came from, but for the more than thirteen years our parents have owned the Lodge, it's always been "going up the hill".  The phrase is deceptive as there is a 3,145 foot gain in elevation from Lyons to Allenspark in a mere 17 miles (or 16 depending on which road sign you're reading).  Now, Mrs Mom and Mr Mrs Mom have been with me during one of my more sedate runs up the hill, but the fact is I *love* driving the canyon.  Even in my old Honda Accords (there have been a lot of them), we made good time running up the hill.  I've had sports cars pull out of my way when I'm running the canyon.

Ripley does a great job of going up and down the hill and has done an even better job now that she's got her strut tower brace.  RCC videotaped our run up the hill on Saturday as one of his entries to the monthly video contest held by SoulHamsters.  Since I had such a good time driving it, I thought I'd share it with you.  From Hall Ranch, just outside of Lyons, to Allenspark our average speed was 65mph (around the curves), with our low being 55 when I mis-timed a downshift and lost momentum and our high being just over 70.

Small Town Fun

The first Saturday in June is Barbeque Day in RockCrawlinChef's hometown.  It's a town-wide celebration that begins at 4:30 am with the town's volunteer fire department driving through town with sirens wailing.  My first exposure to Barbeque Day encompassed the whole experience, sirens at O'God Thirty and all.  This year, 4:30 came around super early, but I was home snug in my own bed.  The alarm went off and we crawled out of bed.

Yeah, the picture's a little blurry, but so am I at 4:30.

I stabbed my contacts into my eyes, pulled my hair into a ponytail and stumbled into some clothes before heading one town south and one town east for the much-acclaimed Fireman's Pancake Breakfast.

5:00 am and at least it's pretty out (and less blurry).

We passed the fire department on our way to RCC's parents' house and at ten after five, there was already a line of cars parked along the street.  Arriving at his parents' house, we roused everyone (apparently the sirens weren't very close to the house this year) and loaded up to go to breakfast.

The line wasn't too bad when we got there, but by the time we left, it was down the block.

Those firemen do it up right!  Pancakes, eggs to order, hash browns, sausage, and ham.  Even though this is a new tradition to me, I love it.  After breakfast, a nap.  The parade didn't start until 11:00, so there was plenty of time to sleep off the food coma from breakfast.

The parade had a little bit of everything: marching bands, cheerleaders, horses, politicians, churches, high school programs.  Heck, even the Chick-Fil-A herd.

Unfortunately, I had to head home after the parade.  I've got a ton of homework (yes, I know I'm supposed to be doing it right now instead of blogging) that I have to get caught up on.  However, the party's going on without me.  There's the big water fight between the neighboring fire departments.  A big barbeque/craft show in the town park.  A fishing derby.  A homerun hitting contest (in which you can bring your own pitcher.  My question: the kind of pitcher that throws you the ball or the kind of pitcher out of which you drink a frosty beverage?).  And to top it all off, after the sun goes down, a fireworks display.

And here I am, trying to be studious.  Next year, I'm staying for it all.  Period.  Homework be damned.  Of course, if I am a good girl and stay on schedule, I'll be finished with my Master's by then anyway.

Don't forget to hop on over to Think Tank Momma's and join in on the Duck Fest.