Late post awesomeness!

Okay, this post is about 2 weeks overdue....but better late than never! I went to this amazing anime convention a few weekends ago up in Atlanta and I didn't have much to eat...I was was too busy having fun and geeking out on the manga, music, and cosplay! Well, it was AWA (Anime Weekend Atlanta) and it's been going on for 15 years! I found out about it from the wonderful B-chan of Nippon Music Champ when I was talking to her one week, and I immediately went to look at the website. I decided right then and there that I would be going, come hail or high water! One of my friends, my dad (poor guy!), and I went, and we ran into people we knew there too.

My friend and I went to the Maid Cafe on Saturday morning and stood in line for forever! I think we were standing there for about 45 minutes or so....But it was so worth it! At the cafe, we sat with some other people and we had an adorable maid! It was her first time working for the cafe, and she was so adorable while she was trying to get used to the whole setup! *fangirl squeal* We got a drink, a pastry, and played a Domo-Caption This! game with her for a while. My friend had hot chocolate and a fruit and cheese array, and I had green tea and key lime pie with raspberry sauce. They were delicious! And we were super lucky- a special chorus group cosplaying as some characters from an anime/manga series came and sang anime theme songs for us! Woot!

Here's my tasty piece of pie!

Here's my friends food:

Here's our maid! *squeals*

She was sooo nice!

Here's the maid from the table next to us:

I was so sad when the event was over...But we went back upstairs and hung out in the dealers room and went to do some other things-like hanging out with Peelander-Z, meeting PikaBelleChu, going to a lolita fashion show, a cosplay contest, and an awesome Japanese concert with Omodaka and Peelander-Z! And Yuka-chan from the 6%DokiDoki fashion label came and performed with Omodaka! The next day, we got to hang out with Peelander-Z again (they actually remembered me!) and I got to meet Omodaka and Yuka-chan. YAY! We ran around the artists alley for a while, went to the dealers room for more Pocky and HelloPanda's, made some friends, posed for pictures(I can't believe people wanted my picture...), and went back to the artists alley. When we were walking around here again, I found a table that had cute food inspired stuff. But I was out of money! I managed to scrape some change together-about 27 cents- and got a banana split charm made out of clay and I traded a box of ChocoPocky and some Strawberry HelloPanda's for an uber-cute heart-shaped pastry made out of pink and red felt that I'm going to turn into a hair accessory. Yay for desperate hungry people! Hahaha. We didn't do much after that, and it was so sad when we had to go! *cries buckets in the car*

I must have an apron like this in pink!

Here's Pikachu in an adorable outfit:

We had a great weekend, and we can't wait to go next year! Haha. My friend and I are volunteering for Maid Cafe next year-I want to be a maid, and he wants to be a butler man. Hee-hee. It's less than a year away! Hopefully I'll have enough time to find the perfect maid outfit. Bye!

Here was one of the funniest pictures:

A random ninja!

It's Like I'm in Hawaii!

In my house, we have a borderline-creepy obsession with Psych, an awesome-sauce show

about a fake psychic, Shawn and his best friend/business partner, Gus (who we all know is the

real star). To try to soothe our pain over the lack of a new episode this week, I made these

cupcakes to get some pineapple goodness out of our weekend:Pineapple Macadamia Nut

Cupcakes with Momma's Spoonful Frosting!

These were thought of by my mom, who love-love-loves Hawaii and anything pineapple. I went for a more muffin-ish cupcake (I know, I know, the horror!) and they came out exactly the way I wanted them! Yay! The texture was nice and chewy, and the nuts added just the slightest crunch. These are a diabetic-friendly cupcake, as there is only 2 tablespoons in the entire recipe, but the frosting is what'll get you on the sugar overload! Anywho, here is the brand-spankin'-new recipe:

(Makes 12 regular cupcakes)

1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 TBS granulated sugar(optional)

1 cup pureed pineapple

1/2 cup pineapple juice

2 tsp apple-cider vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

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1- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit; line a 12-cup cupcakes pan with liners.

2- Mix your wet ingredients in a small bowl.

3- Mix your dry ingredients in the mixer bowl. Add the liquid to the dry in two batches, and mix thoroughly. Gently beat in the macadamia-nuts.

4- Fill your cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5- Cool your cupcakes on a rack completely while you make your frosting!

Momma's Spoonful Frosting:

(A warning - this doesn't pipe well so spread,aq so just scoop it on.)

1/3 cup margarine(I used Earth Balance)

2/3 cup butter-flavored Crisco

1-1/3 cups confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tsp soy-milk (optional)

3 TBS malted milk powder (I used Carnations original)

Dash coconut extract (optional, but that's what I did this time)

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1- Cream your margarine and shortening in a mixer.

2- Beat in the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and soy-milk.

3- Add in the malted milk powder(and coconut extract, if you're using it) and beat until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

4- Frost your cupcakes and enjoy!

This is the frosting that I use in my little fake vegan Twinkie-like cream canoes, and it is soooo good. It really sucks if you want to pipe it though....I usually just smear it on a cupcake right before I eat it, or I scoop some on top with a cookie scoop if I want it to look fancy-schmancy. Ha-ha! Okie-dokie then, I think I'm done with the blogging for today because my eyes hurt! Until next time, I hope you enjoy these!

The Lucky Atlanta LIsteners!

Okie-dokie. This post has nothing to do with baking, but oh well!

This weekend, I was listening to my favorite radio show, and I thought "I should tell people about this!". The show is called Nippon Music Champ, WRAS Atlanta 88.5's "weekly rockin' and rollin', jumpin' and jivin' Japanese music show", run by the lovely B-chan. The show has been on the air since 2002, and I've been listening to it since October of last year.

I ran across this amazing show by happenstance one Sunday while driving back from seeing a play in Atlanta, and the channel finder picked up the station during a song by the Emeralds! I've listened to the show nearly every time since then, and I think I've only missed 6 or 7 episodes, which just goes to show my obsession for Japanese music! Hahaha.

I was the lucky winner a few months ago of a detroit7 cd, along with a some cool pins and an 88.5 sticker for my imaginary car. Tee-hee. I had some problems with my cd at first(gasp), but it finally works on my stereo! Yay!

I've talked with B-chan a few times, and she is always funny and nice to me. I love that she remembers people that call her a lot, and she's so sweet! =^.^= If you're around the Atlanta area you should definitely listen to her show if you like Japan, or are curious about music in other languages(she played a song this weekend that was in Swedish, Japanese, and English!). It is on every Sunday from 6 to 8 pm, and there are only short breaks in the music every half-hour or so. So no annoying 2 songs in 45 minutes with all commercials! Yay!

The website for the show lists all of her playlists, as well as info about the show and things of interest in the Atlanta area! There are a few shows coming up, including performances by Omodaka and Peelander-Z at AWA next month! So go on over and check out the awesome-sauce!

Some tasty Martha Stewart cupcakes!

This weekend I made some tasty mini-cupcakes using a Martha Stewart cupcake recipe that my mom found. They were called Brown-sugar Pound Cupcakes with a Brown-Butter Glaze, and they were delicious! I tweaked the glaze recipe a little, and while my results were completely different, it was very good.

Instead of browning the butter, I just melted it over low heat and then proceeded with the recipe directions. I added a dash of vanilla extract and a good squeeze of maple syrup, and it tasted wonderful. These cupcakes were so good, my mom and sister couldn't stop eating the batter right out of the mixing bowl! Hahaha. I would definitely recommend this to anyone, and it is a very easy recipe to make.

My July IronCupcake:Earth Entry!

Okay, this month when I saw that the IronCupcake:Earth challenge for July was herb, I just had to enter.  I've had this idea for curry cupcakes on the brain for a while now, and I was excited to have an excuse to make them.  I also had basil on the brain, so I decided to make basil cornbread cupcakes since my sister had made some cornbread that I couldn't get out of my head.  And so, my cupcakes were born!  Voila!

Here are the first ones that I thought of: coconut curry cupcakes with lemongrass paste, topped with a curry cream cheese frosting.  Since I love curry, I wanted to try making it in cupcake form.  This is a much, much milder version of curry, and my mom(someone who hates curry) actually liked them!  Here's the recipes:

Cupcakes:

1 cup coconut milk

2/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/4 cup sugar

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

4 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 TBS lemongrass paste

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1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12 cup muffin

 pan with liners.

2) Mix the dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer.

3) Mix the wet ingredients in a bowl; add slowly in batches to the dry mixture.  Mix until the batter is a soft brownish-orange color and sticks to itself.

4) Add the lemongrass paste and mix thoroughly. 

5) Using a regular cookie scoop, put two scoops in each liner.

6) Bake cupcakes for 18 minutes; cupcakes should be the color of cinnamon.  Remove pan from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

7) Remove cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack.  Once the cupcakes are cool to the touch, make the frosting.

Frosting:

1 8 oz. block of full-fat cream cheese

2 TBS tomato paste

4 tsp. curry powder

1 TBS coconut milk

1 TBS lemongrass paste

1 tsp. salt

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1) Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat in the tomato paste.

2) Add the curry powder, coconut milk, lemongrass paste, and salt.  Mix very well.

3) Frost your cupcakes!

These cupcakes are good, even without frosting, and they go well with salad.

Next, I made my basil cornbread cupcakes, and those were my favorite.  I filled them with sauteed mushrooms, and then frosted them with a cream cheese frosting that had pizza-reminiscent spices added to it.  Man, they were good!  All right, here are the recipes:

8 large white button mushrooms, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 TBS salted butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. chopped basil

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Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook until the butter is bubbling and the garlic is sizzling.   Add the mushrooms and spices, and stir to distribute them evenly.  Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low.  Cook until the mushrooms are nice and dark.  You will have a lot less than you started with!  Stir, cover, and turn off heat.  Set the pan aide while you make your cupcake batter.

Cupcakes:

1-1/4 cups buttermilk(or regular milk with 1 TBS vinegar or lemon juice added)

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil

1 egg

dash lemon juice

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup sugar or evaporated cane juice

1 TBS baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. salt

1 TBS finely chopped basil

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1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners.  You will have enough batter to make 14 cupcakes, so put the pan on a cookie sheet and put two foil liners on there as well.

2) Mix wet ingredients in a bowl.

3) Mix dry ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer; add the wet ingredients and mix well.

4) Add the basil, and mix completely, scraping down the sides and making sure that the batter is thoroughly mixed.

5) Using a regular cookie scoop, put one scoop in the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Put 1 TBS of the sauteed mushrooms in each liner, and then put one more scoop of cupcake batter on the top of each.

6) Transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove pan from oven, and let cool for 5 minutes.

7) Remove all of the cupcakes to a cooling rack, and once they are cool to the touch, make the frosting.

Frosting:

1 8 oz block full-fat cream cheese

2 TBS tomato paste

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

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1) Beat the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer; beat in the tomato paste.

2) Add all of the spices, and mix thoroughly.

3) Frost the cupcakes and top with a basil leaf, if desired.  Enjoy!

These are a very good flavor combo, and I really enjoyed them.  Thanks for reading this post, and you can vote for me on the IronCupcake:Earth blog if you like my cupcakes that much.

I am competing to win the following fabulous prizes:

A sweet cupcake ID bracelet by INSANEJELLYFISH,http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5021935

A delicious treat from CIRCLEMONKEYhttp://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5335273

A sweet surprise from Sweet Cuppin' Cakes Cupcakery,http://www.acupcakery.com/

PLUS, a piece of artwork form the lovely CakeSpy http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS,http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers,http://www.1800flowers.com . 

Also, if I won, my recipe could be featured in one of their future cookbooks!  How incredibly awesome would that be? Well, I'm off to the good old bed, so have fun and be happy in the meantime!

Twinkie-chan!

Okay everyone, this is short notice, but I was a little(okay, a lot) late to get on the bandwagon for this.  Today, as I was reading the lovely Miss Twinkie-chan's blargh, I happened across a post talking about a craft fair that she was doing.  I looked for an older post that had more info, and I found this one: http://www.twinkiechan.com/blog/2009/07/02/renegade-craft-fair-infos/#comment-1026 .  She will be manning a booth at the Renegade Craft Fair, which is this weekend, the 18-19, in San Fransisco, that is being held at the Fort Mason Center Festival Pavillion.  

                                                                

This craft fair look so darn cool!  Maybe someday I'll enter as a cupcake booth..haha! Twinkie-chan and her friend Manda-chan will be perating booth 92, which she say's is "nearish to the frontish", so I hope that you can find her.  She also says to bring lots of cash, because when she went last year, she ran out.  Will someone please go and bring me back one of her super kawaii cupcake pins and/or scarves?  Pretty please?!  

And if Miss Twinkie-chan looks familiar to you, you may have seen her on the internet in an ad for Shanalogic.com, or you may be super cool and have found her in the Shojo Beat magazine.  Yay manga!

This is one big fan!

Okay.  I love Ellen.  I love cupcakes.  Miss Lyndsey from Kitchen Dough Dough likes them even more!  She made this amazing Ellen logo out of mini cupcakes, and she said it took about 250 of them!  WOW!  In her quest to get on Ellen's show, she is now doing this huge giveaway with all kinds of amazing cute cupcake stuff.  

   

 She is giving away the following adorable items:  A super cute picture from CakeSpy,  a copy of the wonderful Hello, Cupcake! book, some super cute things made by her mom, the owner of Pots and Pins(that include an apron, a bag, a cupcake doily, a cupcake stand, and a tablecloth), a colorful tray with some placemats and napkins from Modern Materials, a circus party pack from Kara's Party Ideas, a cupcake onesie from Kara's Cupcakes that just makes you wanna go "Awww!", a cute handmade journal from Deanworks, and a handmade frame made by her husband Sam.

  

 Holy moly that's a lot of stuff isn't it?  Jeez, my eyes are spinning just imagining the possibility of winning.....Anyways, if you want all of the information on her giveaway and her Ellen love, click on this link: 

 http://kitchendoughdough.blogspot.com/2009/07/dreamin-doughdough-giveaway.html

  She has also entered in the IronCupcake:Earth challenge this month(curses!), so look at her post for those.  Everyone watch out!  I'll post soon about my entry for this month's IronCupcake:Earth challenge!