Sugar is Sweet

I've gotten back into the swing of baking. I've discovered some ridiculous blogs with delicious recipes that I MUST try. My nieces and I made yummy strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting for Valentine's, using my former secretary's recipe; I think it's just about as good as it's going to get for a strawberry/strawberry combo. Therein lies the issue: even a fantastic strawberry cupcake cannot compete with chocolate, white chocolate, or peanut butter. To mix it up and try more new stuff, I dipped some of the cupcakes (and some marshmallows and strawberries) in chocolate and white chocolate. My nieces thought that was fun, and it was pretty good to eat too. I also tore up some cupcakes, mixed them with frosting to make a ball, chilled, and then dipped in chocolate to make cake truffles. I didn't measure anything, and they were too moist; but it's a fun idea to try some other time.

I've also recently tried another new frosting recipe--a basic chocolate ganache but with powdered sugar and butter. Unfortunately the sugar wasn't enough to outweigh the bitterness of the Ghiradelli bittersweet (dark) chocolate, so I wasn't a huge fan (although I still managed to eat a few). I paired it with a butter cupcake, which was yummy and straight out of a Betty Crocker box. My friends who are regular dark chocolate eaters really liked them.

Now I'm looking for my next adventure. Oh side note: don't eat frosting, cake mix, and a few cupcakes and then go to the gym to do a high intensity interval workout (read: sprinting as fast as you can). I felt so lucky to get out of the gym without getting sick. It must be my advancing years and/or sprinting because I've always been able to go running after eating most anything. Speaking of working out, if you're into fitness, check out my new favorite blog: Fitness Black Book. I could really do without the scantily clad and tacky model images; otherwise the site has been helpful in giving me some new ideas insofar as my workouts.

My snow day was well used. I spent a few hours at Starbucks, reading Scripture and doing part of a Bible study and praying (I know that sounds weird to do at Starbucks, but sometimes I write my prayers out and somehow often focus better in a coffeehouse than at home). Later I passed on the gym and spent some more time reading the Bible--and not just reading chapter after chapter but instead really spending a lot of time in chapter 5 of Galatians. I'm going to read it every day this week and meditate on it instead of just reading it and moving on.

In short, my winter funk is reminding me of how much I need the Lord and how I need to press in even when I don't want to....

p.s. I'm thankful for my coworker who brought back a dozen cupcakes from my favorite cupcake bakery in Nashville today! Very sweet of her and a lovely surprise. I only ate 2 and a 1/2, and this time it didn't ruin my workout afterward :)