Rice

Yes I am updating twice because I have been absent for a while...from a lot of things, except school.

Anyway this entry is about rice. Why? Because I'm a quarter Japanese. Okay, no that is not the real reason. It is because rice is used in so many different cuisines and it can be used savory or sweet and is just so darn tasty.

There are many types of rice and I like them all. Brown rice, white rice, short grain, long grain; I'll eat it. If it wasn't for rice then I'd be stuck eating quinoa all the time. Don't get me wrong, I like quinoa, but one thing all the time would get old after a while so rice gives me variation.

A few nights ago when I, once again, had gone back home I made dinner for my parents. I wanted something Cajun, and so did they, so I made jambalaya.And it turned out to be really good.

I wanted to keep the rice theme going for that night so I even made a rice dish for dessert. I was something I had seen on the new Cooking Channel. David Rocco has made this chocolate risotto that I had to try because it was easy.

I ran into a few problems, though, while making it. I ran out of milk and creme so I didn't have enough to cook the rice all the way making it slightly undercooked, which was a shame because the rest of it was really good. But now I know my mistakes so next time I make it, it will be perfect.

Anyway, what I'm saying is rice is your friend, enjoy it and go cook with it.

-Charlotte

Sold Out

This past weekend I went back home to my parent's house and used the wonderful oven to make a dozen cupcakes. They were white cupcakes with Key Lime marmalade filling and butter cream frosting. Topped with a gum paste logo of the swim team.

I originally had no clue what was going to be the fate of these cupcakes but apparently my dad's swim coach sold them in a like a bake sale (I guess) so raise money for the team (again, a guess). Sunday morning my dad drops them off and all of them got sold. My dad said not everything got sold, so my cupcakes were a best seller, which is nice.

...Then I got a severe case of stomach flu (that's what we finally decided on) on Sunday which caused a train wreck of events that ends with me here, sitting on the couch where I will sleep tonight.

Here's a picture for you.

The team colour is green and their logo is these three waves and a penguin but I didn't have a patience or the time to paint penguins on every single thing.

-Charlotte

Cupcake Animation

I am a cinema major currently, emphasis on film directing, but I would like experience in everything I can. This summer I started working on an animation about a cupcake and I am working more on it. I am still in the storyboard area of the animation, but once I post it I will be sure to put it on here for you all to watch.

I am working on making a microwave cupcake, I plan to complete it tonight while my roommates are asleep. If I do it while they are awake then they keep coming into the kitchen so after I finish my classes, which are in the morning, I go to sleep and stay up late. If you wish to know how late, let's just say I have dinner at midnight... or is it breakfast...who knows?

I am also working on a script for a short film about pie. The working title is 'Pi Makes the World Go Round'. It is the story of a girl who struggles to celebrate her favourite geek holiday: Pi Day, but other factors keep interfering. I plan to pitch it next Tuesday at my writer's circle. Hopefully all goes well, I will write it anyway.

I will work more on my recipes for my Tim Burton cookbook and post more of my Geek Cookbook recipes sometime soon. My laptop is virus free now so hopefully all goes well.

-Charlotte

Epic Fail

A few weekends ago I went home and I really wanted cookies so I went ahead and made myself some cookies. At first I was going to make chocolate chip cookies, but as I was flipping through the cookbook I saw lemon tea cookies and decided to make those.

I don't really know what happened but they came out as flat as pancakes and could not get them off of the pan (well I did but it took a lot of scraping with a spatula). SO in the end I had a bunch of cookie crumbs left over.

The day before my mum and I could not resist buying form figs at the store that looked really good, so that gave me an ideas.

I took those crumbs and made them into a crust. I mixed the figs with some honey and I put that in the glorious oven. When it came out it smelled amazing but when I tried to cut and serve the pie it didn't turn out so great and looked more like a cobbler.

So I topped it off with some yogurt and am calling it my ancient cobbler, which started off as cookies and then became a pie.

The picture does not make it look good, but it was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself, my mum would agree with me.

Request

So while I was on my big cupcake cooking extravaganza this past summer, we had a lot of cupcakes around the house and my parents, in an effort to get rid of them, brought them to work and all those other places they go (I don't know everywhere they go).

My dad decided to bring one of my Mike Wazowski cupcakes to his swim coach and she loved it. On the 26th on this month they are having a swim meet and she asked me (through my father) if I would make a dozen cupcakes for their team.

I said 'yes', which took me a while to figure out because one of my friends is coming down that weekend and I really wanted to see her (or anybody for that matter), but I decided I will go home and make cupcakes. I might spend Saturday with her, her friends, my brother, and his girlfriend, then go down on Saturday evening and crank out cupcakes... we'll see what happens.

But I will make those cupcakes!

I also plan to start experimenting with microwave cupcakes. I have little silicon cupcake cups that I brought from home, I just need to go to Trader Joe's, yeah.

-Charlotte

Moving In

As you may or may not know I am a college student and I am living in the dorms (apartment...things) and we had a move in day. I had been packing since the beginning of summer (my roommates...not so much), but all summer long I had been making these cupcakes. In my dorms I knew I was going to have a small kitchen but not an oven (even though the horrible floor plan said otherwise) so I had to finish all twenty of my cupcakes beforehand. Towards the end of summer I made so many cupcakes.

As a last push, and a peace offering for my roommates, I made/brought them the last four cupcakes I made (Floating House, Ellie, Barbie & Ken, and Lotso) and placed them on the counter and said 'eat the cupcakes' or something like that.

Well guess what, they didn't eat them, I ended up eating most of them. I had been eating cupcakes all summer so I was kind of tired of them but I didn't want them to go to waste. After telling them to eat the cupcakes and saying my mantra for the summer, 'Have a Cupcake!', after ALL that, not a single one of them was eaten by my roommates.

I had also brought up King cake that was dry and slightly overcooked on the bottom (my first attempt at gluten/soy free King cake) and my dried out doughnut beignets and they ate those. But my delicious, moist cupcakes left untouched (by them). So when I knew it was their time to go and one by one had to throw each of my creations away. I practically cried...honestly. SO much for peace offering.

I tried to be nice, but when they dis my cupcakes I'm not going to be nice.

-Charlotte


[Made crepes the other day and those were gone in a heartbeat. Boring crepes that they just put jam on=all gone. Awesome cupcakes inspired by a studio not far from here= decoration until they rot. I bet you wouldn't do that.]

Lotso Cupcakes

We all love cupcakes, sure there are some that don't like making cupcakes, but we all love to eat them, right? It's like eating a whole cake for ourselves, but it is small enough that people won't look at you like a pig.

Cupcakes have come a long way and today there are an increasing amount of bakeries that sell only cupcakes. Not only that but there is also a Food Network show about cupcakes.

Now I'm not a big fan of cupcakes, I always preferred other pastries, but I love creating cupcakes, and having other people enjoy them.

It was that reason that encouraged me to make my Pixar cupcakes.

Now this blog won't entirely be about cupcakes, there will be a lot of cupcakes, but there will also be other treats, probably cakes, mentioned.

And I will tell you some great places to get cupcakes, besides those boring ones at Safeway.

-Charlotte