FOOD.

My parents gave me an older bread machine.

My parents live a healthier life than I do, I guess. They stopped using this old machine. Yay for me! I am loving it.

Breakfast: bread!

Lunch: bread!

Dinner: bread!!!

I have only had it for a week or so and already I already have said the phrase "My pants are so tight, wait...these are my loose pants!" ARGH. That might have something to do with me cutting fat slabs of it and then slathering them with butter and peanut butter for ever meal.

My breads have been quirky. Dude called them artisan bread. I guess I can blame the machine. Its not like *I* had anything to do with it. The machine is an artisan.

I also was handed down this book from my grandfather, which has more hazardous recipes for me to try. I am going to make a bread from each continent.

I laughed at a particular chapter in the book...

What? You need someone to tell you how to slice bread?? You shouldn't handling a knife then, because you obviously have the brain of some sort of chimp.

Then I tried to cut my bread...Pathetic.

I sucked it up and went and read the chapter. I must have chimp brain. My slices were 2 inches thick at one end, and paper thin at the other and the whole loaf look like wolves tore at it.

But it tasted SO GOOD.

*Explodes*

Sweet!

Ok, important stuff first.

I made sweet lemon poppy seed cakes.

YUM. I used a recipe from The Martha Stewart Livings Cookbook: The Original Classicsbut no one tell Martha that I added poppy seeds to the cake. Like really, lemon cakes are supposed to have poppy seeds in the cake, not just on top. Really!

They are super good, with a blast of lemon syrup that is supposed to seep through the cake but just really stays on top just under the sugar drizzle. Trying hard not to just scarf down both cakes in one day.

Next sweet thing..

Two paintings that I have been slowly finishing for the last few days. I might have to do one hundred more of these, as there are so many cat faces that need representation. They are available in my Etsy shop.

Third super sweet thing is:

Won a trip to Montreal!

Going to Pop Montreal on a TRAIN. Can you tell what part I am excited about? Haha. I lived in a "train town" most of my life and never went on a train. It just sounds fun to me. I don't know any of the bands at this festival, but there are so many i am sure I will like some of them. Never been to Montreal before, it will be *so* interesting.

AND

1500 sales at my Etsy!!!! SWEEEET.

Thanks to all my customers, you guys are big buckets of sweet sugar and stuff. Big thanks to Lynds the Crazy Cat Lady for the purchase that put me over the top. :-) YAY.

Oh yeah, and last sweet thing is that its getting colder and I can wear coats. YES. This is a big deal to me. Coat addiction activate! :-)

FOOD.

So I decided to drown my sorrows in the most stereotypical girl way. EAT FOOD.

But first I had to make food!

I was using my new KitchenAid mixer and Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. The topping recipe made SO much streusel that I was like "Oh crap, I did something wrong!" Each little cupcake was under a mini sandpile of topping!

But I soon learned that the recipe was fine. The cupcakes (muffins?) puffed up and they smelled amazing. Drizzle, drizzle with glaze and TAH-DAH!

YUM. I made a tray of big huge fatty cupcakes and a half tray of teeny little cutey muffins. They were so good, but so freaking messy! There is streusel topping fallout all over the apartment.

Here is the recipe online if you dare make these badboys. I even used my awesome cupcake papers I purchased on Etsy from The LayerCakeShop. On all the ones I DIDN'T photograph. OOPS. Trust me, they were adorable and stripey.

So my mixer is awesome, my cupcakes were awesome, and I even got myself to finish and list the painting I sneak peeked in my last post... Which is awesome if you ignore the general laziness.

Its listed at my blackforestcake shop. Duh.

So its Friday, and miraculously there are TWO cupcakes left. I must avert my eyes, so I can have cupcake and coffee while watching cartoons on Saturday morning.