Case Study 112: "The Key Lime Crunch"

Hold up now. Whoever said that March comes in like "lion" and goes out like a "lamb" was surely mistaken.  The golden sunsets I've been watching from high atop my Wall Street office tower every evening have quickly become a memory, as the temperatures plummeted to thirty, and the daffodils are shivering in their stems on this dark and damp day. 

If I haven't made this clear already, I am extremely excited for warm weather. Excited in a way that I've started hiding all of my wool socks and tights and building up my summer skin. Excited in a way that my mind is clouded with daydreams ten o'clock-in-the-morning piña coladas on vacation and my radio is filled with the the likes of UB40 and Inner Circle on irrationally repetitive levels. This dreary weather feels like someone threw has thrown a wrench in the axle of my one-way party bus towards the fairest of solstice, and I do not like one bit at all.

In an effort to remedy this, I decided to take action. And so this evening, tucked in a warm Philadelphia apartment, we'll watch the raddest of 80s and 90s beach movies, and indulge in a Jamaican jerk feast, rum punch and these vanilla cupcakes in a macadamia - graham cracker crust topped with Key Lime buttercream and sugared lime shavings. 
  
Because I am a firm believer that if summer cannot come to me now, I then, must create summer for myself, even if it means dancing to reggae-versions of "Baby, I Love Your Way" in wool socks. 


Summer, I am coming for you!

Case Study 111: "The Luck of the Irish"

 

I will never ever be even the tiniest bit Irish. Today I'm wearing red pants, black heels and a silver sequined top.  And instead of throwing back pints at McSorley's this afternoon, my boyfriend and I will be taking in a film screening somewhere down in Soho. 

But sometimes, everyone, and I mean everyone, could use the luck o' the Irish.  For whatever it means to you, Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Case Study 110: "The Banana Cream Pie"

I come to you on the eighth night of the third month of the two thousand and twelfth year anno domini, exhausted after far too many hard and long work nights, existing only on trail mix,  fluorescent lighting, occasional champagne overloads and filled-up-with-love weekends, standing in a kitchen with bare feet and one spilled glass of Cabernet Sauvignon that hit the floor before my lips, to say that my life right now is utterly bananas.

And so, all I've got for you, to hold you over until God knows when, are these scrumptious little banana cream pie cupcakes.  Because when the going gets tough, you batten down the hatches, top a Nilla wafer crust with banana cake, fill it with vanilla pudding and top it with vanilla buttercream, more wafers and banana slices, and keep moving onward to Friday.   

Here's hoping you've all made it along too.

  

Notes from the Field: Happy Texas Independence Day!

  
As life continues turning out in the most serendipitously magical ways, these sweet little Texan flag cupcakes sort of happened in a both planned and 'by accident' manner. 

But today just so happens to be Texas Independence Day, and I can't think of any better way to celebrate than with some good authentic Texas bbq, a tall strapping seventh generation Texan man and about two-dozen vanilla cupcakes stuffed with pecan-pie filling and topped with a bourbon whiskey buttercream and fondant Lone Star flag. 

So happy 176th year of Independence, Texas.  They say everything is bigger in your state, so tonight we're going to celebrate you in a major way!