Egg Nog Cupcakes Recipe

If you’re wondering where I’ve been, or why I haven’t finished the holiday tour (Sorry! The decorations are still up, I promise), its because I’ve been baking. And cooking. But mostly baking. Remember how I told you I do the holiday baking? This year was no exception – I did a pound cake, German chocolate cake and a cheesecake. But this year I had to fit it in while catching up with MamaP and before we drove to SC to spend Christmas with the Smiths. Last week became a blur. And I blurred right on into this week, where I opted to do...you guessed it, more baking. And cooking.

But this post is about the baking. Our favorite house guests Dani and Shayne are in town for New Years, and Shayne requested cupcakes, specifically the ones I made for the pumpkin carving party. Problem is I don’t do pumpkin in December. I’m all over it September-October, but by November I want sweet potato and in December I want egg nog...and gingerbread...and red velvet. Mmmm.

So I knew that if I was going to quell his sans-pumpkin cupcake disappointment, I’d need to come correct with something equally interesting and tasty. Since it’s the New Years “season” I opted to make two kinds of drink inspired cupcakes. Boozy cupcakes as I’ve been calling them – lol. The ones I'm going to blog about today are made with egg nog. Egg nog feels right. It feels traditional. It feels like a New Years Eve appropriate cupcake. There’s nog (and dark rum) in both the cake and the icing, and are super easy to pull together.

Bottom line, these cupcakes are baked boozy goodness. And a lovely way to work a little extra liquor into the festivities.

...oh wait, am I the only one who thinks like that? Naaaw, can't be!

♥

Ingredients
¼ cup dark rum or bourbon
1 cup low-fat eggnog
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

for the frosting
¼ cup butter (½ stick), softened
3 tbsp. lowfat eggnog
1 tbsp. rum or bourbon
generous pinch of nutmeg
2 (or more) cups confectioners’ sugar

cinnamon sticks, for garnish (optional)
ground cinnamon, for garnish (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a small bowl, mix together the rum, eggnog, vegetable oil, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract. In a large bowl, mix together the nutmeg, sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined. Divide evenly between prepared muffin wells.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in the pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, cream together the butter, eggnog, rum, nutmeg and confectioners’ sugar. Add in more confectioners’ sugar if needed to make the frosting stiff, but spreadable. Frost the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

WW Wednesday 12/30/09

♥

WW Wednesday 12/23/09

Disaster at the DMV (part 2)

{...and now the conclusion to my name change saga.}

When I left off earlier, I was leaving the DMV to get our lease signed by the property manager of our complex. Once I got back to the DMV, I found out my lady was going to lunch. I didn’t even care when I was sent to the adjacent counter to be helped by someone else. Since I knew my paperwork was okay, I wasn’t worried about the residency part anymore. Sure enough she reviewed my documents quickly. And then she asked me what name needed to go on the license. I told her it needed to be Patti J. Davis-Smith. And she told me I couldn’t do that.

Disaster at the DMV (part 1)

I try not to make too many promises around here but it has taken me FOREVER to finish this name change story. SO I'm promising to do just that - finish it (unless something crazy comes up in the future). But its going to take me 2 posts to do it. Figure you've waited this long for me to finish, whats 2 more posts about it, right? I feel the same way. Lets get it!

Once the clerk from Jasper sent our certified copies of our license (within the week), I was equipped to move forward in the process. I needed to do 2 things above all else: change my name with the Social Security Administration and get a government issued photo ID. Social Security ended up being a cakewalk. The DMV (the most obvious choice for getting a photoID) was not. Since you’ve basically heard about my trip to SSA, we’ll fast forward through that part.

About 1 month later, I finally dragged myself to the DMV to try and get a Georgia license. I wasn’t too happy about this prospect because I’d also be registering to vote and that would basically make me a Georgia resident (ech). [Yes, I’m aware that that if I had claimed residency years ago it would have saved us the marriage license drama. But I was/am concerned with having FL tags and a GA license, so I (happily) held out.] At this point I didn’t have a choice. I have no idea when I’m going to FL, and I need a photoID/drivers license with my new name to deal with the next set of name changes.

So I caved. I had an added hurdle because not only was I changing my name, I was converting my FL license to a GA one, which meant I had to prove that I live here. Yup, doing a LOT...story of my life. Luckily, the main utilities are in my name. Unluckily, we have e-bills. So I decided to use a copy of our lease to prove my residency. Specifically the copy that Hubs used 2 weeks prior to change his license. Easy, peasy right? So so sooo wrong.

Hair Story

On this day 6 years ago I got my last relaxer.

Hubs thinks its pretty weird that I remember the exact date. But what he doesn't understand is that me deciding to grow out my relaxer was a HUGE deal. Generally speaking I am very particular about my hair. At that time, my senior year in college, I got relaxers on a schedule (every 7 weeks), the only cutting was a trim or long layers, it was not colored, and always in my signature "wrap and go style." I'd had a relaxer - with that same level of familiarity - for more than 10 years. I knew how to deal with chemically straightened hair.

What I didn't know how to do was deal with natural hair. In fact, I wasn't even sure what it would look like, after it took x number of months to grow it out. Would it be wavy? Curly? A thick mess? Who knew. But my gut was telling me that my hair was thinning and that its growth was stunted...despite me still having a head full of hair - lol. I gave myself 7 more weeks to think it over. Why 7 weeks? Because at 7 weeks I needed to be sitting in my stylist's chair for a re-touch. If I made it that far, I'd just keep going.

Holiday Tour 2009: Dining Room Table Décor

Since my podmate Dani has already shown you the beginnings of our tree, I figured it was time to get off my blogging arse and show you the finished product. Actually, I’m going to do one better and give you the full-blown Holiday Tour of Casa Smithville. I focused my efforts on 4 areas of our home: the dining room table, the mantle, a tree and a wreath. My goal: to decorate as stylishly-yet-inexpensively as possible.

The dining room table was completed first*. Like, the day before thanksgiving, first (don’t judge). Even though we aren’t hosting dinner, I’m accustomed to decorating the table at MamaPs, so naturally, our table got a little prettified too. Everything was purchased at either Walmart, Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby or Michaels, for around $20.

Actually Getting Our License

Like I said yesterday, we had a lot going on when it came to getting our marriage license. In fact, we had several things working against us:

1. I was a Florida resident.
As you know, that meant I had a 3 day waiting period because we did not do pre-marital counseling (much to my parents-in-law chagrin). Because Hubs arrived in SoFla on October 1st, we could have obtained a license that day that would be viable on October 4th. Too bad we needed it for the 3rd – lol. Too bad we’d have to make a special trip to go get it.

2. You could only get your license 60 days in advance.
Throughout the wedding planning process, from start to finish, I went home 4 times. The most recent time was 62 days before the wedding. Hubs came home with me twice - one of those was when he proposed, and the other was Christmas. Point is, we’d now have to get it in advance.

Marriage Licenses 101

I should have started my first post about changing my name, the one where I was at Social Security, with a huge disclaimer. Everything I’m about to say about this process should have a huge “it depends” written at the top.

With the exception of dealing with the Social Security administration, your name change experience (if you have one) will be largely dependent upon where you decide to get married and where you live. If you don’t live in the state where you’re going to get married, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the rules and guidelines for both states. Since I was a Florida resident, living in Georgia but getting married in Florida, we had a lot going on...right from the very beginning.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I get into my story, I need to pause for a teaching moment. Generally speaking, the first step in the name change process is obtaining your marriage license.

WW Wednesday 12/16/09

Movie Review: 2012

Yesterday Hubs and I both saw 2 movies. He went to see Ninja Assassin by himself, while I went to see The Princess and the Frog with Naima (review coming soon), and then last night we went to see 2012 together. We've both been wanting to see this movie since we saw the trailer for it earlier this year. Idunno what it is, but you can almost guarantee that we want to see it if the world as we know it is going to change/end right before our eyes.

Free Holiday Music Downloads

Idunno about you, but this time of the year I am interested in all things Christmas when it comes to my music. Well it seems that some of our fave music retailers have also caught the holiday spirit and have decided to give away some free Christmas music.

iTunes has a holiday music sampler available for free download on their site. Its an album-only download and there are twenty free songs on the album from some pretty well known artists. I downloaded this immediately but haven't had a chance to listen yet. You can click here to get it.

And while we're talking about free music, Amazon.com is also giving away one christmas song every day until Christmas. Honestly, I haven't downloaded any of these yet - maybe its the selections. But I am intrigued enough to pop by every few days or so to see what the new selections are. Click here to download the song for the day and check out any past songs you miss along the way.

♥

Adventures at Lush

Tonight, while out running some personal and holiday errands, I popped into Macys to get another moisturizer sample at the Lush counter. Per the usual (especially this time of year), it was not 30 seconds before someone came up to assist me.

This place definitely gets points for service.

I went on to explain to the lady that I was looking for a moisturizer (knowing full well what I wanted to sample) and listened to her tell me the merits of the moisturizer I was already interested in. We then got to talking about other products, and she eventually asked me if I used toner. I told her no. She then told me that while she doesn't use toner, I should, AND that it should be a regular part of my skincare regime.

Excuse me? Did you really just suggest a behavior that you don't actually do?

What happened to the days when the sales associates at least faked the funk? And after she did that, I took a closer look at her own complexion. Normally a point of personal pride, my face and I are finally on the other side of a rough patch and are starting to make amends. Her face...um. She should tone. And exfoliate. And do something to deal with that shine.

As I was driving home THRILLED with my sample(s) - in addition to my moisturizer she hooked me up with a toner (lol) and a cleanser sample - I couldn't help but wonder how many skin products she is actually able to sell. Maybe a lot of her customers are like me: they know that the products are all natural, high quality, and feel good on your skin, so they're interested regardless of who is selling it. But I also think that some shoppers consider the the salesperson, in a cant-hear-the-message-because-I'm-too-distracted-by-the-messenger kind of way.

As I wrap this up, I'm really glad she was not pushy. Sometimes beauty sales people try to make you believe that you need to completely overhaul your routine in order to feel/look/glow better. Which we all know is not always true. In this case, I need to overhaul my moisturizer and she is absolutely helping me accomplish that. I didn't ask for the cleaners and toner samples, but she figured it was an excellent way to introduce me to more of the product line without shoving its accolades down my throat.

Mission accomplished. I have already used all 3 products. I already knew I really liked the moisturizer. Its their Celestial moisturizer and it is designed for sensitive skin and has vanilla and cocoa butter in it. Yes, it smells fantastic. This is my second sample of it, and I needed to make sure it was worth the $21 price tag (it might be). The cleanser was eh, but the toner? Fab! Fab enough to buy it and use it daily? To be determined.

♥

WW Wednesday 12/9/09

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

It has been really cold here in Atlanta lately. Yes, I know, its December. And as Dani likes to point out, I've been in Georgia for almost 10 years, and this time of year still seems to sneak up on me. But anyway, when it gets cold out (or worse, cold and rainy), I find that I want to eat comfort food. Hearty soups, warm muffins, and pot pies.

Mmmm...flaky, creamy, crusty pot pie.

MamaP is guaranteed to make at least one turkey pot pie between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I'm not sure I've ever had to make my own. Until tonight that is. So who did I call when I decided I had to have pot pie tonight? MamaP. And together, this is what we came up with. This dish is perfect for a weekday evening when you want to put something warm and satisfying in your belly to compensate for it being cold and hostile outside. And since I used a rotisserie chicken, the whole thing goes from stovetop to stomach in less than an hour. We will definitely be eating more of these from now on.

Ingredients
1/2 T butter
1/2 small onion, diced
1/2 rib of celery, diced
2 cups rotisserie chicken (the meat from approx 2 breasts), diced
2 9-inch refrigerated pie crusts (I used Publix brand)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 T chicken broth
1 T milk (I used half and half)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Unroll crust and place in 9-inch glass pie pan. Press crust firmly against sides and bottom.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and saute onions and celery until tender. Add chicken, mixed vegetables, soup, broth and milk. Stir until the mixture is heated through (it will loosen up as it get hot). Spread evenly over unbaked pie crust.

Cover with second crust. Fold overhang crust under bottom crust; crimp as desired. Cut several slits into top crust. Place pie on a cooking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Let pie set for 10-15 minutes before cutting. Serve warm.

♥

Say My Name, Say My Name

Anyone who has known me for awhile has probably picked up on the fact that I love my name. Monogrammed items? Yes, please! I know that part of the reason for this is that I was blessed with an uncommon common name. Or should I say an uncommon spelling of a common name (I guess).

See, my father named me. He thought that I looked like MamaP and rather than name me Patricia, he thought I should be named Patti. MamaP reserved the right to determine how it was spelled and decided that it would P-a-t-t-i rather than P-a-t-t-y. Both of those decisions eventually proved problematic to other people (lol). For starters, most people think that Patti is short for Patricia. Despite it all over my work stuff (email, badge, cube signage) and personal items. Seriously, I've had to show people my drivers license to shut them up. And lets not count the number of times I've had to say "just Patti" to people. You would think I was named a symbol or something.But even a symbol would probably be more likely to be spelled correctly. As I get older, I have an increasingly lower tolerance for my name being misspelled. Especially at work. I have been there almost 2 years. There is no excuse. Its 5 letters.

I've been dealing with these 2 offenses my whole life. I'm used to people asking me/assuming my name is short for something else, and have gotten in the habit of spelling my name after sharing it with people....everywhere. Over the phone, at Starbucks, everywhere. Still doesn't keep people from jacking it up. The point is that I'm accustomed to this stuff, and have developed mechanisms for dealing with them. However, with this husband thing came a new name, and (you guessed it) new ways for people to mess up my name.

Alot of people ask me Jase's last name and half-erroneously assume that its my last name too. What actually happened is that I tacked the most common last name onto an already common name to have a hyphenated common name - lol. I know people are still getting used to it (I am too), but I'm feeling like this is going to be the source of a new name offense. Today, I received a set of draft meeting minutes with the order of my last names switched. This secretary knows what my name used to be (as she did my payroll for like 4 months), so I'd expect her to default to my old name rather than a remix of my new one.

I didn't have the energy to correct her today, but I'm feeling like I better say something soon before she gets too comfy. I hate having to correct people. Especially on something they should/could have just looked up.

♥

WW Wednesday 12/2/09