Lovey Cupcakes

OK, so they are not perfect. But the Bleeding Heart Cupcakes were way fun to make!

First, you're supposed to put a marble in the muffin pans right next to the foil liner so that it will press in the top to make a heart-shaped cupcake. Nice in theory. Didn't really work but this did in no way diminish our excitement. Btw, if you are following the Epicurious recipe (which I don't recommend, they are totally blah cupcakes, shhhh don't tell the children!) baking them for about 20 minutes works fine (no, they didn't include a cooking time, sigh).

Then, we cut a "dime-sized" square in the cupcake and hollowed out a tunnel for the blood-jam. Next time I would make a much bigger tunnel. Shoveled blood-jam in with a skinny steak knife. Replaced cap. Next, we made muted pink (beet juice! shhh....) frosting for the background organ. When we frosted the tops of the cupcakes, EGirl announced, "We are not going to tell anyone there is blood inside!!"


Finally, we made bright red (your grocery store generic bad news dye) and bright purple (Sur La Table highbrow frosting tint) for the veins and arteries. We even (gasp) used two small plastic bags to pipe them on the cupcakes, a major concession these days. As you can see, neither of us has a degree in anatomy.

Mwah! Kiss, kiss from our gooey house to yours.
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For My Sweeties

So, just in time for the schmaltziest of the holidays, here are a few palatable antidotes anecdotes from MamaBird.

• True love can be like a first date! Brain scans prove that some people can hang onto that first-kiss rush. Awwwww via the Wall Street Journal, those predictable saps. How cool is this? As the researcher said when she saw the imaging results, "Wow. Just wow." When I was nineteen, a counselor told me that the type of rush-love where you only see the good in your partner (so smart! so thoughtful! unbelievably, howlingly funny! and chose ME?!) was a stunted Stage Two out of, who knows, a million stages leading up to and including quiet desperation and recognition of the pointlessness of really trying to relate. Whatever! Here's to that "new love" feeling.

• Feeling inspired to play around with your clothes? Fashionist, provider of "unadulterated street fashion from San Francisco" takes and shares snapshots of random, put-together folks. She's got a great eye for texture and color, and seems not to give a flying squirrel for cost or trends or brands. My kinda blogger! Anyways, I have really been loving her selections (even the tiny interviews are riveting) and then, today, she showcased a stencil artist named Eclair-a-Cuda dressed entirely in green with custom platforms. I so miss the Bay Area...

• A little bit of my bleeding heart for you, too... these awesome cupcakes, via GoodyBlog and YumSugar (which has the pics to get your blood pumping, heh heh) but really an Epicurious recipe, will be our proud contribution to the EGirl's Valentine's Day Party. She's been pretty fascinated with anatomy and the workings of the human body for years, so when I saw the arteries and veins on these gooey, jam-filled wonders, I had to act. I will even try (gasp) to take pictures (that I upload and share, no less!). Just had to kick it up here today in case someone ELSE wants to make a little something gory for tomorrow.
  

P.S. A green tip to just skip the flowers tomorrow. Flowers are covered with pesticides, aren't local, aren't fair trade, and basically should be an emblem of death instead of sappy love. (The NYTimes delved into the issue a couple weeks ago if you want to read more.)

P.P.S. I can't really leave you on that note, now can I? ZRecs had a contest to give away a keyfinding device in which they asked for Random Stuff Their Readers Have Lost. My total fave response (not, shockingly, the winner)?

Lost: My not-quite-perky-but-certainly-above-my-bellybutton bosom. Appears to have vanished when I wasn't looking somewhere between months 7 and 9 of breastfeeding, and has been replaced by pancakes. YOU AREN'T FOOLING ANYONE, PANCAKES. If found, no, you can't keep them! They're mine, all mine!

xoxo and Happy Early Valentine's Day!

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