15 posts tagged “ciara”
Now that I read the morning paper at the dining room table like a) a normal person b) a person of leisure, Ciara has taken to joining me on a nearby chair. Largely, I sense, because my leftover food sits waiting for the sink and she's hoping to get involved before that happens.
The paws over the edge of the chair kill me.
Am I the only one who thinks my dog's legs, crossed daintily in the back as she gnaws on a rawhide chew up front, are the most adorable/funniest things in the world?
Probably. They won't make it on Cute Overload, I'm sure, but they're just darlin' to me.
Had me a slice o' cupcake tonight.
Now, that's not being overly frugal or diet-conscious. Thanks to Williams-Sonoma's Great Cupcake Pan, the entire world I knew before this weekend has been completely upended.
On the one hand, cupcakes are meant to be small. Portable. Snacky.
On the other, for cupcake freaks like myself, who carry buttons that read "Make Cupcakes Not War," this thing was too good to be missed. Because the only thing better than the shrinking of something from its normal size is the embiggening of something meant to be small into an oversize.
I saw this in WS a few weeks back and it really never left my mind; after a doctor's appointment last week, I just had to go get it. And this weekend, I did two things I'd never done before: I made a giant cupcake, and I made it from scratch (the recipe came with the pan). Here's how it all went down.
The pan itself is described on the Web site thusly: "Our pan creates a cupcake of Dr. Seuss proportions (an impressive 6" high and 7" across) that lends itself to fanciful decorations. The pan consists of top and bottom pieces that can be baked in two different flavors and frosted."
Now, as you can see by the photo on the top, this isn't quite true: The top is meant to be frosted, while the bottom kind of goes naked. (Until WS comes out with Great Cupcake Pan liners, that is.) This makes for a nice picture, but an odd ratio of frosting to cake.
Additionally, the cake pan comes as you see here. There's no lid to keep the insides from getting dusty or what have you; the only "cover" is the cardboard fitted paper that it comes with, which you actually need to keep -- it's got instructions on how to use the pan, as well as the from-scratch recipe I used, and the from-scratch buttercream frosting recipe I didn't use. (I am just not a buttercream fan.) The cardboard has that semi-removable factory glue on it which fits on the widest empty parts of the pan, and is not very reusable -- despite the need to reuse it for many things.
But on to the recipe. Your usual cake recipe: Flour, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt. Not cheap in this economy, but what the hell, I thought if you're going to do a test cake, may as well do what they tell you. I didn't have a sifter, but online told me I could whisk through the salt/sugar/flour combination with the same efficacy, and I didn't have special attachments on my beater. Still, all seemed right and the cake batter tasted fine, if a bit salty, when it was ready for pourin'.
The recipe says fill the containers up to within a half inch, and make the center a little lower than the sides. Since this stuff had the viscosity of, well, cake batter you tell me how you're supposed to do that. Nevertheless, in the oven it went, presenting problem No. 2: The swirly part of the cake ends on a pointed tip. Tips don't balance well on racks in the oven. I tried finding a good cross-joint to rest it on and let it be, but ultimately there was some tippage and the cake overgrew its space a little lopsidedly.
Also, the recipe said bake for up to 80 minutes; I did 70 and here's what it looked like (see side). A little browner and crispier on the exterior than the photo leads you to believe, but that could be attributable to the oven, so next time: 60 minutes and we'll see.
Mistake on my part: Although the recipe says to lop off the extra on the top of the swirly, it does not say you should do so on the bottom half of the cake, but I did it anyway. Reason for leaving the bottom half of the cake alone? Because the swirly top doesn't neatly fit over the bottom. Which is only obvious once you go to frost.
Taste? Dense, but excellent, not too salty at all. And by dense, I mean this is a real Glass of Milk kind of cake; you'll choke if you try to down it without any assistance.
I let it sit for two hours (more really) to cool down, and when I brought it out the next day for the frosting from its Tupperware home, it just smelled amazing. Still moist and lovely and sweet.
And thar she blows.
Presumably if the bottom of the cake hasn't been overcooked, pairing it with chocolate frosting won't make it so uniform looking, but therein lies another hazard: I don't know what kind of frosting they used in the photo, but frosting just does not adhere to the swirls in the top like it does up there. I mean, you still have a nice cupcake shape, but the beautifully smooth swirls get lost in the covering; this isn't even a very deep frosting.
So I put some sprinkles on to liven it up and added a cherry. Leading to a an aerial view of the cake which looks a little ... um ... salacious.
Right.
Needless to say, it was eminently slice-able, leading to my having a big glass of milk along with my slice o' cupcake tonight. And as someone who actually likes the burnt potato chips, the crispier edges of the cake were a bonus.
Overall, it was an easy recipe to make, and the use of the pan was certainly simple, but it's far from perfect. Maybe just a little more practice?
Oh, and wait, the Web site has one other idea:
"The pan can also be used to create an ice cream cake: in one side of the pan, bake the cake's bottom, then freeze ice cream in the other side to create the top."
Oh, my word.
Overall appearance: 9 of 10
Packaging: 4 of 10
Accuracy of instructions: 7 of 10
Milk requirement: Absolutely
Yummy factor: 8 of 10
Arrr, she is a fine tradition we have here in Jackson Heights: The cutting of the hair of the dog.
Just in time for the temps to hit 100, Ciara got herself all shaved off on Friday after almost a year without a groom. (I know, I know, but it's more than I pay for my own haircuts and I've learned to trim her toenails so sue me!) Rainbow Pet Supplies did a nice job, if you're in the market in the Queens area.
Here she is, all fresh and clean and wide-eyed.
For reference, this is Ciara after her first "cut it all off" grooming in June 2003, and I think we've come a long way, baby:
By the way, folks? It's goddamned hot here in New York.
I got to work from home today (snow!) so I ended up having some spare time to oh, you know, make a video.
Please to enjoy Ciara, on her daily morning walk. A la snow.
P.S. Music is "Midnight in Moscow," by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen.
I've been working on a Dia de los Muertos skull pinata for Saturday's party. It's a paper mache thing, and it's still got the balloon inside keeping it filled, so I dangle it upside down while it's drying from the latest coat of gluewater.
Ciara has finally taken notice.
You can't tell it from the video, but she was low-growling at it most of the evening, and making little soft whoofy noises at it. This from a dog that never does that kind of thing.
I call that an effective Halloween device, if it's not even done and it's scaring the pets.
So, the tile guys are here now. I say guys, because although
- Francesco gave me the initial rundown and
- Wayne de-grouted the old grout,
- Derek and Shawn arrived to re-grout the thing.
It takes a village, folks!
Ciara, meanwhile, is fascinated:
There has never been food in the bathroom, there will never be food in the bathroom, so all I can think is that she's entranced by the grout dust, or she really likes it when handymen come in pairs to my place. To wit:
This from when I had several electricity-related jobs around the apartment taken care of last September.
At least she's consistent.
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So, mom went home. I think I nearly broke her; by the time she left she was definitely done with the New York walking thing. And the up and down subway steps thing. And the hot thing. (Mom never fully exited menopause; she only gets to comfortable inside walk-in freezers.) But we had quite the time -- it's nice to be able to share some of the bonuses I get from the job with people I love. That meant we went to a premiere of "The Hunting Party" and attendant after-do at ridiculously crowded Azza, hit the opening night of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Central Park (and attendant after-party, less crowded, at Belvedere Castle - quick review: the play was adorable and funny and anyone who can should see it before it ends), visited (and waved to) Jon Stewart at a "Daily Show" taping, ran up and down Coney Island (well, walked slowly), ate pizza from DiFara's, went shopping (well, she shopped while I waited for Francesco to arrive) on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, home of the $5 shoes (she got 3 pairs), met up with her old friend Mimi for lunch and a bit of shopping around the Upper West Side (Mom was kind of in a Jewish haze; the UWS for Jews who don't live in a part of the world where they really do run things is like being a Mickey Mouse fan and going to Disneyland). She also had never seen "Working Girl," which stunned me, so the one night we really stayed in we watched that. Love that film. I'm not sure what it says about me that I can watch it and go, "Harrison Ford was so young then" except that I'm old.
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Overall, it's been a pretty good week so far, and we're only at Tuesday. In hopefully less than an hour I'll have my shower back, I've got an assignment to write for a Web site whose name reminds me of an 80s band (www.shuzsociety.com), and it's a three-day weekend coming up. Happy days!
Ciara does a happy dance when her food is coming. Her two front paws literally bounce up and down as she pants and worships the coming Science Diet chunks. You can almost hear her wanting to do a Snoopy and sing "Suppertime." And five minutes later, it's as if she hasn't been fed in a week. A week, I tell you! How cruel! I'm so pleased someone has finally generated a translation.Dog: I am starving.
Me: Actually, no. You aren't starving. You get two very good meals a day. And treats. And Best Beloved fed you extra food while I was gone.
Dog: STARVING.
Me: I saw you get fed not four hours ago! You are not starving.
Dog: Pity me, a sad and tragic creature, for I can barely walk, I am so starving. WOE.
Me: I am now ignoring you.
Dog: STARVING.
Dog: Did you hear me? I am starving.
Dog: Are you seriously ignoring me? Fine.
Go to the link and read on, but don't have anything in your mouth when you do. It'll get all over your computer screen.
The slap slap, pat pat of the rain as it is coming down -- as it has been coming down all day -- is comforting, is womb-like. I'm comforted by the enclosed feeling of sopping, sodden, saturated outside and the endless variations of dripping that float in through my screened windows, which give me permission to curl up with pillow and blanket and book and just read until my eyes flutter shut.
Ah, here comes another wave, it approaches and crests and blots out and then retreats into silence. And the bright, sudden strobe flash of lightning, even.
I bought gauzy second-layer curtains specifically for days like this, when the heat makes the apartment too warm I throw open the sash and let the outside breeze waft the curtains, billowing with invisible fingers, poking out but never in and making the cloth ripple like ... like water.
It has been quite an April shower, today has. The dog has to go out and is looking at me balefully: She knows.
But it will smell so nice once I'm there.
