Pina Colada Cupcakes

I'm very influenced by the shows I watch on the Food Channel. Watching Cupcake Wars made me want to create new cupcake recipes. So, here's my newest creation:





Pina Colada Cupcakes

2 Cups unbleached white flour

3/4 Cup sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 Cup vegetable oil

1 Cup pineapple juice

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

4 egg whites

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray muffin cups with non-stick baking spray or use muffin liners.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together all of the ingredients except the egg whites. Add egg whites and use an electric mixer to beat it on high speed for about 2 minutes. Pour into muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.

When the cupcakes are cool enough to remove from the baking cups, use a toothpick to poke holes all over the tops of the cupcakes. Then dip each cupcake, topside down, into a bowl of Cream of Coconut. Place the cupcakes, right-side up, on a plate and refrigerate for one hour.



The Frosting

1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) of butter, melted

2 1/2 Cups of powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons of pineapple juice

Mix butter sugar, and juice together until smooth. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Cold Treats

For this week's potluck/dance, I made something cold, because the building is not well air conditioned and everyone overheats while dancing and playing.



I just made melon balls, stuck them on bamboo skewers, and froze them.



They were a big hit!


The all watermelon one was for my picky eater, because that's the only kind of melon he'll eat.

An Explanation of Steampunk

Blaze has informed me ( what is this, 5 months in advance?) that he wants an airship pirate birthday party this year. This was the same theme he chose last year, but last year it was just family here for his birthday. This year he wants a real party with friends invited. I guess I'm brave enough to try that again. The last time we tried that was his 6th birthday. We invited about a dozen children and not a single one showed up. It was so sad, that it's taken me until now to agree to go through that again.

So, anyway, I told the women at the pool that he wanted an airship pirate birthday and no-one was quite sure what an airship pirate was. Saying "steampunk", got equally baffled looks, so I decided this might require a little explanation.

Steampunk is a history that never was. It is a high tech, steam powered, Victorian age, filled with airships, submarines, robots, and ray guns. The name was only coined in the 1980's, but examples of the genre go back much farther than that. Think Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Steampunk began as a literary term for retro-futurist science fiction.

Some examples of this genre include,

For young adults:

His Dark Material Trilogy (The Golden Compass...), by Philip Pullman

Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld

The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick

Larklight, by Philip Reeve

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl


For adults:

The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson

Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest

Soulless, by Gail Carriger

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley




In recent years, steampunk has branched out into other areas; fashion, art, movies, music, on-line communities, video games, and even home decorating ( The Steampunk Home).

Costumes:

The images that most represent steampunk are clocks, keys, gears, goggles, corsets and top hats.

The Live journal Community, Steampunk fashion, is the best place I've found to get costuming inspiration.







Steampunk music:








Steampunk Movies:

The Golden Compass


Chitty Chitty Bang Bang


The Disney version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea



Wild Wild West (the movie and the old t.v. show)

Will Smith Wild Wild West Music Video


Scenes from the movies Steam Boy set to the song "Building Steam", by Abney Park



And What are Airship Pirates?

Airship pirates are a rather popular part of steampunk culture. The band Abney Park sings about being airship pirates, which is how Blaze first became aware of the concept.



Blaze's airship pirate costume from last Halloween can be seen here.



For more information about steampunk, Tor books has a very good article called "Steampunk 101" on their website.

A new addition to this list (12/28/2011), because this song is just too good to leave out:

The New Addition to the Picnic Set

George's Hardware store is a fun place to explore from time to time. It's not very big, but it's packed with tools, cast iron cookware, antiques, and, of course, hardware. Blaze and I went in there last week and found this old Sterno stove for $3.98.



It had quite a bit of rust, but I sanded that all away one night when I couldn't sleep.

I love how quickly a can of spray paint can transform something old into something new. This required some special spray paint, though, because it would have to stand up to direct flame. The "instant chrome" paint specifically talks about stovetop application in the instructions on the back of the can.





It now matches all of the stainless steel dishes in the picnic basket. It also folds up nicely, so it takes up almost no room at all in the basket.





Now I want to find a small, shiny, silver tea kettle to go with it.

Kentucky Wonder Green Beans

It is hot, hot, hot!!!



The heat has meant that we have been spending less time in the garden, but the first green beans are ready to be picked.



Picking beans from among this tangle of vines is a fun job, because it's like a treasure hunt.



This is our first bean harvest of this year, and there will be more ready in a couple more days.

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla

Chore Wars

If you have children who need a little extra motivation to do chores and homework, this site may be a good way to turn those activities into a game:

http://www.chorewars.com/




It's like a roll playing game with the parent in-charge. The parent decides what hidden obstacles the child's character might encounter and how many points are needed to win a prize. The child chooses a fantasy character, gives them a name, and records the chores they've done.

Here are a few samples of the characters from which a player may choose:









This was most effective here, when I had all three children with me, because then they became competitive about who was doing more of the work.

The program has a choice between using a list of pre-programmed chores or creating your own list. I prefer the option where the parent types in all of the chores, because this can be used to encourage individual school subjects or even good manners and hygiene.