Jill’s Place

A life in progress

What the ? May 14, 2008

Filed under: General silliness, Media — jtdarby @ 10:38 pm

I don’t watch a whole lot of television. And when I do, I seem to completely tune out the commercials. But there’s not much going on online tonight, so I was actually watching Food Network. (Have you noticed, I’m sort of a food geek?) Some commercial came on about some bottled water with vitamins or some such.

You’ve probably seen it. This guy is walking down the street drinking his bottle of water, and the entire city has been bubble-wrapped, because man, just drinking this I’m-sure-very-expensive water will protect you from every little thing that could possibly hurt you.

Yeah, right.

Anyway. The denouement of the commercial is this guy riding an elevator to the roof of the tallest building around, and jumping off. Cuz, you know, that bubble wrap is sure going to take care of him even though he’s going off the top of a 30 floor building. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Here’s my favorite part: On screen, at this particular moment, is the warning

DO NOT ATTEMPT

Well.

No shit, Sherlock.

 

Diigo bookmarks 05/14/2008 May 14, 2008

Filed under: Diigo — jtdarby @ 2:30 pm
 

Go! May 14, 2008

Filed under: Books, Kids, Retail Therapy — jtdarby @ 3:13 am

Go here. Buy one.

And that’s an order.

I bought one because the cause is definitely something I want to support, and I am quite sure that L will appreciate the message. I am all about teaching her to help others and making sure she hears messages of empowerment.

 

Diigo bookmarks 05/13/2008 May 13, 2008

Filed under: Diigo — jtdarby @ 2:30 pm

  • swissmiss: Inkjet tattoo paper

    tags: tattoo, kids, children, activities

  • ZOOM . activities . games | PBS Kids

    tags: kids, children, games, activities

  • Red Velvet Cake Balls

    Another one I neglected to bookmark. Use any cake mix flavor. Orange, with orange zest added? Strawberry is good.

    tags: recipes, cake, dessert

  • Chai Latte Cupcakes

    Somehow I didn’t have this bookmarked before!

    I usually add some additional spices, like cardamom and garam masala. Even a bit of black pepper, because I like strong flavors.

    tags: recipes, dessert, cupcakes

  • Chocolate Orange Cupcakes | Baking Bites

    tags: recipes, cupcakes, chocolate, orange

    • Chocolate Orange Cupcakes May 12

      Filed under Recipes, Vegan, Cakes - Cupcakes, Cakes - Frosting by Nicole | 4 comments

      Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

    • Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
      1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
      1/2 cup cocoa powder
      1 cup sugar
      1 tsp baking powder
      1/2 tsp baking soda
      1/4 tsp salt
      3/4 cup orange juice
      1/2 cup vegetable oil
      1 tsp vanilla extract
      1 tbsp orange zest

      Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
      In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
      In a medium bowl, whisk together orange juice, vegetable oil, vanilla and orange zest. Pour into dry ingredients and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
      Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.
      Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
      Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting

      Zesty Orange Frosting
      3 tbsp butter, room temperature
      2-3 tsp orange zest
      1/4 cup milk
      2 cups confectioners’ sugar
      1/2 tsp vanilla extract

      In a medium bowl, cream together butter and orange zest.
      Beat in milk, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Add more confectioners’ sugar if you desire a thicker frosting; consistency should be thick but still somewhat runny.
      Spread onto cooled cupcakes.

      Makes 12.

  • SpongeBob cupcakes

    SpongeBob! Krabby Patties! Must. Make. These. The kids would love.

    Inspiring Ideas For Kid’s Birthdays : Buzz Off : Alpha Mom™

    tags: recipes, cupcakes, dessert, todo

    • krabbypattycake.jpg

      Last night my husband’s, er, my son’s Cub Scout pack held a cake auction. It was our first year so we didn’t know what to expect and arrived with two cakes to put up for auction that seemed quite nice at home and incredibly lame at the event when surrounded by very imaginative cakes. Including this Krabby Patty Cake, pardon the grainy photograph I didn’t have my good camera, my friend Jodi came up with, as she said, “All by herself.” She didn’t snag the idea from a book or magazine, it’s all out of her brain…and even better, it was really simple.

      She made 12 cupcakes with nice rounded tops. She cut the tops off and used them as the top “bun” and the bottom piece as the base for each Patty. She also baked a layer of chocolate cake in a jelly roll pan and cut circles out of it to make the actual “patty” part of the burgers. To finish the look she used red, green and yellow decorator frosting to apply the condiments.

 

Two fun things May 13, 2008

Filed under: General silliness, Media, Tech — jtdarby @ 7:10 am

Ask 500 People and Guess-the-Google.

Fun timewasters for you on this lovely Tuesday. Via MakeUseOf.

 

More cupcakes! May 13, 2008

Filed under: Food and Cooking, Miscellaneous — jtdarby @ 1:02 am

So last night I felt creative, and I decided to make even more cupcakes. My office mates are starting to think I’m fattening them up for the kill. ;-)
These are plain yellow cupcakes, but with chocolate hazelnut filling (courtesy of Nutella), and the salted caramel frosting with some more caramel drizzled on the top. And a few sprinkles of a specialty sea salt on the top, since salted caramel is so the thing these days.

What? Hey, I’m trendy!

I had a ton of frosting left over, so it will be going on a chocolate cake, still to be made. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow night.

 

Diigo bookmarks 05/12/2008 May 12, 2008

Filed under: Diigo — jtdarby @ 2:30 pm

  • Salted Caramel Frosting

    tags: recipes, cupcakes, dessert, frosting

    • Salted Caramel

      4 tablespoons water
      1 cup sugar
      2 tablespoons light corn syrup
      1/2 cup heavy cream
      2 tablespoons butter
      1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
      1/2 teaspoon salt, kosher or sea

      1. Combine the water, sugar, and the corn syrup in a deep saucepan and cook over medium heat.
      2. Stir together with a wooden spoon until the sugar is incorporated.
      3. Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
      4. After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
      5. Do not stir from this point on, but it is important to carefully shake the pan so that one area of the caramel doesn’t burn.
      6. Continue to cook until the caramel turns an even amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds.
      7. *** This is the dangerous part *** Pour the heavy cream into the mixture. Wear oven mitts, stand away from the pan, and be careful. The mixture will bubble up significantly.
      8. Stir the mixture, again being careful. Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.
      9. Measure 1 cup into a Pyrex measuring cup. Stirring occasionally, allow to cool until thick like molasses and warm to the touch, about 20 minutes.

      Note: There was a small bit of extra caramel that I poured onto a small plate that I covered in aluminum foil and greased with vegetable oil. I transferred the plate to the freezer for about 30 minutes. I chopped the caramel quickly into squares (its starts to get soft) and topped each cupcake with a square.

    • Salted Caramel Frosting

      2 sticks butter
      8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
      5 to 6 cups powdered sugar
      1 cup salted caramel

      1. Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
      2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
      3. Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
      4. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine.
      5. Sift 2-3 cups of powder sugar, in 1 cup increments and beating between each, until you arrive at the thickness and sweetness you desire. I used 6 cups. The frosting wasn’t super thick, but it was starting to get pretty sweet.

      Assembly
      1. Frost cooled cupcakes with a generous amount of frosting.
      2. Sprinkle each cupcake with sea or kosher salt. I ground some rock sea salt onto each.
      3. Top with a caramel candy, homemade or otherwise.

  • TasteSpotting

    tags: recipes, food, photography

  • jell-o fruit!

    tags: recipes, dessert

    • jell-o fruit!

      jello fruit on a plate

  • 6PM.com

    To pricematch with Endless!

    tags: shopping, shoes

  • Texter

    tags: lifehacker, software, productivity, tools, utility, free

    • Windows only: Text substitution app Texter saves you countless keystrokes by replacing abbreviations with commonly used phrases you define.

  • Remlap KnowledgeBASE

    tags: knowledge management, freeware, organization

    • REMLAP
      knowledgeBASE 2.21
 

Diigo bookmarks 05/10/2008 May 10, 2008

Filed under: Diigo — jtdarby @ 2:30 pm
 

Diigo bookmarks 05/09/2008 May 9, 2008

Filed under: Diigo — jtdarby @ 2:30 pm
 

More about recipes May 9, 2008

Filed under: Food and Cooking, Media, Miscellaneous — jtdarby @ 2:49 am

So when I posted the other day about all the recipes that are showing up here, someone from Diigo commented on the post. I hadn’t messed around with the lists in Diigo too much, but that was a great idea.

Now you can find all the recipes at my Recipes list, and/or view the Feed Play.

Neat.