Baked: "Making Cupcakes Ain't For Wussies"... WORD!

The Chorus Line.... 5,6,7,8! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

That's a direct quote from my girl Perri except I swapped the P for a W to make it blog friendly. Perri is a Trader by day & a Pole & Pilates Instructor by night... Rwarrrrrrrrr! ♥ She graduated from Johns Hopkins & for a teeny tiny 26 year old I find her to be one of thee most intriguing & empowering women I have ever known.

She followed her heart & moved out here, heart was broken & she stayed. I watch her get by day to day on her journey & wonder how she has the strength to do it all & am SO grateful for our friendship.

As a Trader she found out it's a Man's world.... as an attractive woman in that world she has found her peers of female coworkers to be just as cut throat if not more than the men because they are intimidated by her beauty & her youth. She would NEVER admit to that but it's what I have observed.

Anywho, there's a chick at her job encroaching on her space bringing cupcakes to get a leg up (ha even in the business world a chick needs to get a leg up to get ahead... I made a joke without trying... AWESOME!) She called me frustrated by this & I thought that this chick must be STOPPED at once, hahahahahhahaha.

I started a cupcake food fight with alcohol laddened, whole wheat "heathier" cupcakes in 4 different flavors. We made this our weekend project & by the end of it we had 100 glorious cupcakes... well actually what Perri coined "cuffins" because the whole wheat gave them a muffin texture.

The whole time I was baking I kept thinking of this song... over & over, "A Man's World". So here's a jam from the late great Godfather of soul Mr James Brown sung by the incomparable Leela James. Please play as you look at the pictures. Enjoy! ♥

Car Bombs!
On Sundays after my softball team from Maeve's Re$idual's would ahem... lose, we would meet at the bar & drown our sorrows with SEVERAL shots of Irish Car Bombs.

One of the bars I used to work at didn't have Jameson so whenever someone would order one & say it's not authentic when I used Jack or some other Whiskey I would reply why would you want to drink ANYTHING named after the pain & suffering Irish people still endure? This shut them up REAL quickly, we also didn't have Guinness on tap at the club so they would pay $15 dollars for what I just called car bombs... terrible, Hollywood is such a rip-off.

Anywho... I was checking out We Are Not Martha (♥ LOVE ♥) that site, those girls really are doing a "fabulous thing" & Sue made Guinness cupcakes & someone mentioned they made car bombs in the comments section... I FLIPPED!

Perr & I were just going to make Bellini & Pomegranate Martini cupcakes... FUHGETABOUTIT these HAD to be added to the repertoire! I can't thank that blog enough for the inspiration

I googled the recipe & Smitten Kitchen seemed to be the most popular. It was beautiful but at the same time I just wanted my own version so I used the basics of my Strawberry, Chocolate & Champagne Cupcakes & made a white chocolate truffle with the cream liquer for the center instead of milk chocolate & whiskey.

My friend Juwan left 2 bottles of Guinness in my fridge after one of our late night ragers & I had several different Whiskey's on hand & a FAB bottle of African cream liquer called Amarula, which has a fruitier taste than Bailey's. I chose to use the Phillips Union Whiskey, because of the hint of Vanilla I thought would be perfect & add to the sweetness.

Star Studded Cast:

These WONDERFUL chocolate covered Sunflower Seeds I thought were PERFECT in lieu of sprinkles:
Dark Chocolate instead of Cocoa Powder:
Looks like she's got the right stuff in the kitchen....
LOVE the Yin & Yang of it all... AND mouth for the kitchen!

The recipe requires only one cup of Guinness... WHAT?!?!?!
Oh man I can look at this ALL day she looks like a 4 year old I LOVE it!!!
Oh darn filled one too much & one too little must fix this! HA!

Adding the White Chocolate & Amarula for the truffle center, I added some of the Amarula frosting to thicken the truffle up

Spraying more Whiskey onto the cake

Bellinis

Perri lived in Italy for 6 months so when we were discussing what cupcakes to make & she really loved my Strawberry Champagne ones she said jokingly we should make Bellinis! I thought it was perfect. There's a Strawberries & Cream muffin I make all time & always figured one of these days I'll make one with Peaches.

I didn't like Peaches growing up but Man oh Man do I ♥ a Bellini. I found a fantastic bottle of French Peach Champagne & knew there was no way in hell between the Peaches, Peach Champagne AND Peach nectar would I ever lose that Peach flavor.

The flavor wasn't overpowering, the best way I could describe it was that it was "perfumey" (I love to make up words). Not like you sprayed perfume on & your mouth was open... EW, but this light stick to the roof of your mouth perfumey-like thingy... yeah I won't be getting a job over at Bon Appetit any time soon... yeah right! It was just so fresh & effervescent. It was just beautiful, I look forward to making this again.

My favorite part was listening to Perri speak in perfect Italian... damn this girl has it ALL! ♥

The Star Studded Cast.

Perri gets the joy of cooking with alcohol
Peach Frosting

Pomegranate Martinis

One of my ALL time faves to make at the bar are Pomegranate Martinis! They're just so chic & slick & a great way to convince someone they're doing something so nice to their bodies while doing something so naughty to their liver, hey a Girl's gotta get those Antioxidants somehow. ♥

I added Pom liquer & juice into both the mix & the frosting. I also added some vodka & pureed berries to the frosting. Pomegranates are not in season so I was just tickled pink when I found this Cranberry & Pomegranate seeds mix in the dried fruit section of Trader Joe's.

While Perri was getting increasingly frustrated from having to pick out the sticky, icky seeds one by one I figured how cool would it be to stuff some cranberries in the cupcake also?

I made a basic Vanilla Buttercream base & added all the liquor & juice into the mix. These rose beautifully & very much felt & tasted like a grown up cupcake.

The Star Studded Cast

Sneaking in the cranberries

Acai Caprioska

I met my best friend Angela when I went to Salvador, Brazil (Bahia) for my 30th birthday. She was there to study ethnic dance. Everyday she would hike up 30 mins to Pelourino for dance & capoeira class after she had some Acai for breakfast, she's a very determined little firecracker ♥.

Then on break she'd have another Acai bowl. She'd have another one for lunch before she hiked back down meet us for dinner & guess what she'd have for dessert? MORE Acai hahahahahaha! She started getting all self conscious about it & lie but she'd always get busted... she had a permanent Acai mark on her lip. I miss her! Please check out her blog: Anjela Canalese

Her faves to add to her Acai were bananas, berries, coconuts & granola... YUM! I bought a case of Acai juice at the 99 Cent Only Store AND they also had a granola mix with coconut in it, I never even heard of that before I couldn't believe it! Sometimes I truly believe in my heart of hearts that place along with Trader Joe's & Tarjay (Target) were made just for me!

My friends have their own Vodka brand, Veev which is Acai infused but I ran out of that sooo...

I had some PINK Vodka which is a Guarana based Vodka. Guarana is SO Brazilian. I was stuck between making it a Caiprinha which is a Cachaca drink (Cachaca is very similar to rum & so popular in Brazil) or a Caiproska which is a Vodka drink I fell in love with in Prague & it's their version of the popular Brazilian cocktail, I felt that the mint might screw up with the Acai bowl taste & opted to just use the vodka since I already had it on the counter from the Pom martinis... yeah I'm SO damn lazy!

The Star Studded Cast

Getting the Bananas a little drunk on Haiti's finest.
Mashed Bananas & Berries
Adding the pureed berries, Acai & Vodka into the frosting

Since I was on the Pom Martini kick & loved adding the cranberries to it I decided to add a berry in the center of the cupcake. The berry flavored frosting & berry center kicked some serious Capoeira arse! Can't wait to see my Bestie Ange & make this for her. ♥♥♥

Sending those puppies outta my house before I ate them all in color coordinated Disney character boxes we got at the 99 Cent Only Store... Eat that Martha Stewart on a budget at the trade room! HA! LOVE you Perr Bear

Brain Food/Ab Work: WOW!!!

So the picture uploading capability is down tonight & I'm DYING to show off my cupcakes I made over the weekend with Perri. Oh well, going to have to post it up later but til then let's ALL have a laugh. Man I was really excited too.

I can't buh-LIEVE I was shocked when he came out of the closet when I was a kid... hahahaha

Brain Food/Ab Work: Ooh Baby I Like It Raw...

Is there anything sexier than confidence & raw talent? *Swoon* I ♥ when a guy adds his twist to a Britney cover... but this one is in a whole other stratosphere. Enjoy!

Cooked: Hot Stuff! Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Fruity & Nutty Saffron Quinoa

So I have four major Dan's in my life, 3 Dan B's & 1 Dan O... they're my 4 Dan's of the Apocalypse. These men encourage me, support me, humor me, entertain me & are my lifeline. Dan O' Connor & my 3 B's... Berman, Bennett & the last one I won't say cause he HATES his name being "dropped" *snort* HA! 

They keep me on my toes & I love having the opportunity to cook for them. This time it was finally on for my Ber-Man♥. He's the leader of our Taco Tuesday crew & has really been essential in supporting me & keeping my spirits up during this turbulent fiscal year for me. 

My kitchen was a WRECK & he had been dying to show me his new wood floors he just put in. Let me fill you in on Berman, he works insane hours, drinks like nobody's business whenever he has the chance, is super low key, no frills, laid back, shops online ONLY, science loving Atheist, history buff,  smack talker, loves his cat... is it normal for a dude to love a cat so much?

I'm such a dog person I always flip when I find a guy I know has a cat... maybe it's because I don't like cats except for Hello Kitty, but she doesn't have a mouth & can't do nasty stuff with her genitals with it like other cats... oh & she's not real so she can't act like she's too good for me & she wears a dress so I don't get the hotdog end in my face... sorry rambling again, I don't like cats!

Here's proof of how much he loves the kitty, he commissioned a painting for his cat sitting in on a World War 2 summit with Stalin, FDR & Churchill... HA brilliant! ♥ 

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AND I need to emphasize again, he works very, very hard so he can be able to afford to spend the time with the people he cares about all over the Country... I have a massive amount of respect for him, well except for the fact he's a chronic texter.

I LOATHE text messages! I blog, Facebook, email even freaking Twitter... I'm a single woman that lives with a dog with an unlimited talk plan on my cell... sometimes I can go days without hearing or speaking to another human being therefore I completely oppose text messages & people who love to text can KISS my ass! Word.

The Berman doesn't do 4 legs so I settled to make my infamous stuffed cornish game hens, I wanted a twist so I wrapped mine in bacon... how could ANYONE not eat bacon?!?!?! Remember I said he was low key, I had NO idea what I was walking into. 

First off the floor was... stun-NING dark wood. He didn't tell me he re-did the kitchen countertops... sleek in black. Now mind you, I assumed his pantry would be bare except for a can of tuna, a jar of peanut butter, red bull, jerkey & some muscle fuel garbage... 

I came with bags of crap, even brought my own pots. The boy had a FULLY stocked spice section, I was blown away! All the utensils & rad KitchenAid cookware. I LOVED his spices especially this Johnny's Jamaica Me Crazy stuff, fantastic! 

This is really why I can't stress enough cooking at other people's homes & trying out ingredients you normally wouldn't buy. Of course this too he bought online, it's available on Amazon & Ebay I used both the seasoned salt & seasoned pepper flavors.

I was so comfortable in his kitchen it was really hard for me not to take my pants off... EW you guys! It was because my jeans were too tight & stuffy... you PERVERTS! I like cooking in a dress or just a long shirt... duh! Anywho, so now I was in like Flynn, time to get my cook on. I started with frying some sage & putting them aside. 

I browned the ground turkey & added crimini mushrooms & dressing. He had beautiful Fuji apples literally minutes from eating dust so I decided to add those to the stuffing mix too, I've never done that before again the cooking at other people's homes aspect. Now I will add apples to my stuffing for good. 

Stuffed the bird, added the spices, wrapped mine in bacon & started the quick sear for that golden crispy skin I just adore so much then it was the big finish in the oven. The Quinoa I settled to cook in the microwave so I can keep the heat off my hair that I just got done.. damn Black girls & their hair. 

We drank Vodka & he put on MC Hammer's greatest hits mix tape... it was awesome. We laughed & ate our butts off. 

It felt so good to, in my own way, repay someone for all that they've done for me. Even though it was small, he REALLY enjoyed it... I'm still smiling just thinking about it. Thanks Berman, I will be raiding your kitchen more often, be ready! Please Hammer don't hurt 'em!

The star studded cast Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Cornish Game Hens:

I LOVE this Trader Joe's Trail Mix, loaded with Antioxidants & I usually add it to my Couscous thought it would be fun to add to my Quinoa also... it was, delish!

2 Legit 2 Quit.. HA! 

♥ 

Cooked: Beef Ribs, Potato Salad & Garlic Sweet Corn

My neighbor Matt is the closest to a husband I will ever have he lifts things for me, helps me around the house watches my dog, even cooks for me fantabulous husband material & I swear the closest I will ever have to one, well his sister Keisha is too, that's another story NO ON PROP H8!!!

Anywho, we went to court this morning to fight a greedy developer that wants to build a craptastic 8 story complex on our teeny tiny lovely street.. we lost! Greed wins again, we were famished & broke so it was time for me to defrost something. We settled on having the beef ribs I bought in Little Tokyo a couple weeks back & corn, he offered to make the potato salad...

WOW it was ROCKIN'. It was raining outside so this was a perfect way to spend our day. So here are the pics of our meal & some pics from the Prop 8 march his sister & I went on after the court ruled for it... gosh what kind of world do we live in?

Between the greedy developers & the ignorant voters that voted against Gay marriage I have little faith in our justice system, furthermore I am even more disgusted & embarrassed at how much the Black vote influenced this decision.

How could one oppressed minority group stifle another? And don't get me started on how many Football playing looking brothers I see at the Abbey on a Sunday with their band tans or wedding bands ON cruising for some down low tail... TERRIBLE! Ok now off of my soapbox & on to the pics. Enjoy!

My Keish, my dog Divi's "other Mommy"

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Even Jesus showed up & says NO ON H8!

Keisha stating the obvious
Kathy Griffin's Mom

Yes I know it's him again... nuh duh it's the second coming!