Granddaughter is here!

Our granddaughter was born Monday evening! She is little, but mighty. As I'm not sure how much the kids want me to share, I'll just say that we are thrilled that everyone is healthy. We can't wait to get our hands on that baby!

My Mohs surgery to remove my latest two basal cells has been scheduled for December 1st. I pray that Dr. Mu will be able to get clear margins after the first cuts. When she did my nose three years ago, it took five tries before she finally got it all. Hopefully that will not be the case this time.

The Mount Holly Lantern Parade took place last month, and our community won First Place in the Group Category for the second year in a row. We are two for two now, and that puts a lot of pressure on us for next year's entry. The theme was Written in the Stars, so we decided to up-cycle our minions from last year. We added space helmets, rockets and stars, and created a girl minion. We weren't sure if the judges would approve of us reusing lanterns, but I think we made enough changes that they could tell the amount of work we put into them.

2022 Mount Holly Lantern Parade

The theme for next year's parade is Heroes and Villains. We are already brainstorming on what we might like to do. Due to the large number of children in the audience, it's important to pick something readily recognizable to them, I think. The minions were a huge crowd pleaser, so we need something to generate that kind of enthusiasm from the crowd. We just had a wrap up celebration party with our team of volunteers. I made sure the minions had one last hurrah by bringing minion cupcakes.

minion cupcakes

Heart Day

Jim and I usually do not do anything special for Valentine's Day, but I decided I was going to make the triple chocolate cupcakes that my cousin brought to the family reunion in Cincinnati this summer. She recently sent me the recipe, and it seemed fitting to make them today. You can never have too much chocolate in my opinion. The recipe was easy to follow, and I topped the cupcakes with the buttercream frosting recipe that she included. Oh my! The cupcakes are pretty amazing! I didn't even think about the fact that I would have 24 cupcakes - well, 22 now. I think I will send some of them to the office with Jim tomorrow. It probably would be nice to take a few to my hair stylist as well since he doesn't have a woman to bake for him. I want to save one for Katie, but I am not sure how good it will be by Saturday when she gets home from LA.

On another note, we just learned that the party hearty neighbors now have the idea to put a driveway in front of their house. Since our group of 9 houses is on a private alley, most of us do not have driveways. The garages are in the back, and that is part of the charm of the area. Consequently the front yards are very pretty with no concrete or asphalt blemishing the landscape. Apparently he intends to add two bays to his garage in the back, and then put on a new front porch with rooms above it. I guess the drive would come up to the new porch. It sounds like he is planning on putting it on the south side of their yard, which is good for us since we are to the north of him. He told the neighbor on the other side that city hall has already given him approval for the drive. I find this very hard to believe. First of all, we are in a national historic district, so pretty much anything you want to do has to go before a public hearing. Since a sign goes in your front yard announcing said hearing, I know we didn't miss it. Second, our city is very reluctant to give out new curb cuts, which he would need since there is no existing driveway. What is really sad is that one specimen tree (at least) would have to come down for him to do the driveway. Since Webster Groves is a designated Tree City USA, it is hard to get permission to remove living trees. So I am trying not to get too worked up about any of this yet. Things usually don't move too quickly at city hall. I just wish these people who want to live in houses that look like Chesterfield would just move to Chesterfield. Quit trying to make Webster Groves into something it is not - and doesn't wish to become.

Kim's Cupcakes?

Tonight my niece and I took a cupcake decorating class at the Webster Groves Recreation Center. There were 10 of us in the room, which was about 4 too many for the space. It was crowded and hard to pass the decorating materials around. Added to that was the Zumba class going on in the next room, and that made it hard to hear.

The instructor did her best with the conditions she faced. She had prepared chocolate, vanilla, and spice cupcakes ahead of time. Then she made vanilla, chocolate and caramel frostings as well as several frostings with a more substantive base for making colored additions to our cupcakes. And lastly we worked with fondant, dying it and shaping it into roses.

As I looked at all the tools of the trade she had brought along for us to try, I realized that this would be a fairly expensive hobby to get into. It kind of reminded me of scrapbooking and all the stuff I have in drawers upstairs. And I could also see that cupcake decorating takes a lot of practice if you want to do it well. So I think that this is not something I will jump right into. DC Cupcakes has nothing to worry about. It was fun to be out with my niece for a couple of hours though. We rarely get to do that without either my sister or my great-nieces being along.

The Ulimate Vanilla Cupcake Finale

In an earlier blog post I mentioned that I was one of 50 Explorers chosen by Stef at The Cupcake Project to test vanilla cupcake recipes in her search for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake. After the Explorers tried baking each recipe we completed a survey in an effort to find a cupcake that at least 80% of us deemed good enough to be called the Ultimate. The first recipe, which my husband, daughter and I disliked so much that frosting couldn't even save them, was given the Ultimate approval rating by only 29% of the Explorers. We eagerly awaited the arrival of recipe #2.

The second recipe required the use of a vanilla bean. This was a new experience for me, so I watched a YouTube video to see exactly how one harvests the vanilla from inside of a vanilla bean. It is a bit of a tricky process, with the vanilla sticking more to my knife and my fingers than I was prepared for. Regardless, this recipe was amazing! All three of us loved these cupcakes, and the highest compliment I can pay is to say that they did not even need frosting. And I love my frosting! I was certain that this recipe would be IT. Imagine my surprise when only 36% of my fellow Explorers agreed with me. I wondered how in the world Stef was going to improve on perfection with the next recipe.

For the third recipe we again used a vanilla bean, which was great because I had ordered a package of six beans online and had no idea what I would do with all of them. Katie had already left for South Korea at this point, so only Jim and I did the taste testing. While the cupcakes were very good, we did not feel like they held a candle to recipe #2. Again I was surprised when 66% of the Explorers thought that this recipe was the Ultimate.

At this point Stef had to decide whether she would ever get 80% of us to agree on a recipe. Considering that we all have different pans, ovens and brands of ingredients, not to mention taste preferences, perhaps 80% was an unrealistic goal. In the end she decided that if 2 out of 3 of us thought this recipe was the Ultimate, that was good enough. Recipe number 3 was crowned as king of vanilla cupcakes, and you can find the recipe here. While I am disappointed that my personal favorite was not selected as the best, I am very happy that I participated in this search for a great vanilla cupcake. Cupcakes from scratch no longer intimidate me, and I am eager to try some of the other fantastic recipes out on the Internet.

So for now, Wolter the Explorer signing out.

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe 3

So the second cupcake recipe the Explorers tried was also deemed inferior and, as such, not worthy of the title "Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake". On Sunday I baked the cupcakes from recipe number 3. I am really curious to see the results of this one. Stef provides us with a thorough report at the end of each testing period, going over the results of the survey we each complete after we have baked and tested the cupcakes. She must be wondering if it is possible to have 80% of us agree on a recipe. It is a tough challenge because everyone has different tastes, ovens, mixers, etc.

While we were at the family reunion in Cincinnati, the wife of one of my cousins brought along two different kinds of cupcakes. They looked like they came from a bakery! I did not try the vanilla cupcake as I believe she said she modified a box mix for that one. At any rate it wouldn't have mattered. As soon as I heard triple chocolate on the second cupcake, I made a beeline for that tray of cupcakes. Made from scratch, I can sum up these cupcakes in three words - Oh My God! They were amazing! I got her email address, and I am going to see if she will share her recipe with me. They were to die for, that's all I'm saying.

Will we find a vanilla recipe to die for? Stay tuned...

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe #2

Today I baked cupcakes following the second recipe of the Cupcake Project as Stef searches for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake. I learned some new tips from this recipe, and that was exciting for me. Katie helped in the kitchen by cleaning up the dishes as I dirtied them. It has been quite a while since we have been in the kitchen together, and it was great to have the time together. She leaves in 11 days for South Korea and China, and she'll be gone for four months so today's activities together were especially precious to me.

The three of us had cupcakes, without frosting per Cupcake Project's instructions, for dessert tonight. But you will have to wait until the end of the weekend to hear what we thought about them. This is too fun!

Cupcake Deux

We have been notified that the vanilla cupcakes we made were, in fact, not THE Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes. Only 29% of the 50 bakers thought they were the best, and 80% had to think so in order for the cupcake recipe to be considered a winner. So Stef at the Cupcake Project is busy this week conjuring up a new recipe for us to try. We must bake the new cupcakes between August 1 and August 7 and report our results again via a survey. Since I am still out of town at my in-laws, I will need to bake mine when I get back to St. Louis. I think it is only fair that I use the same oven and pan that I cooked the first batch in. Wolter the Explorer is not finished with her adventures yet.

Cupcake Project Explorers

I was very excited to find out this morning that I was one of 50 people selected by the Cupcake Project to test what she hopes will be the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe. When Stef posted on her blog that she was looking for 50 people to be Cupcake Project Explorers, never did she imagine that she would end up with nearly 700 people throwing their oven mitts into the ring! As she narrowed down the list of hopefuls, she wanted to have a nice mix of novice, intermediate and expert bakers. I admitted in my submission that I have NEVER made a cupcake from scratch. A sad but very true statement. I suspect that is one of the reasons that I was chosen. But whatever the reason, I can't wait to mix things up!

In a nutshell, the rules are that we must follow the recipe exactly, we must make the cupcakes between July 17th and July 23rd, a feedback survey must be completed, and we cannot release the recipe until after Stef gives us the go-ahead. If 80% or more of the Explorers agree that this is the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake, then Stef will declare it as such and let us release the recipe. If not, she will make modifications and the Explorers will try again. The Explorers are allowed to talk about the project however, so I am blogging, tweeting and Google-plusing about my experience.

My first step this morning was to come up with a name for myself during this experience. Kim the Explorer does not have the same ring as Dora the Explorer. Stef suggested Wolter the Explorer, so I shall hence become known as Wolter the Explorer. (At least for today.) Next up was a trip to the store as I did not have all the necessary ingredients on hand. I was chatting with my favorite checker about the test, and he was trying to convince me to bring a cupcake up to him so that he could lend his "expert" opinion. Ha! I told him I would let him know how they turned out next time I see him.

My batch of cupcakes is now in the oven. I will post an update later today.