TWD - French Strawberry Cupcake

I made a cupcake. A boozy cupcake. I hope it makes people giggly when they eat one (especially since I sent them to work with my husband). Drunk and giggly at 8:00 am. I believe every day should start giggly, maybe not drunk, but at least giggly.

European Strawberry Cupcake

This, which looks like your grandma's strawberry shortcake in the south, is in reality a French Strawberry Cake and I feel that I upped the Frenchiness by macerating the strawberries in wine. Well it was a riesling, so maybe I should change it to German Strawberry Cake. But wait genoise is Italian...ok European Strawberry Cake.

No more. Cupcake. Last one.

I think everyone should visit the two hosts for this recipe so they have some vague idea what I'm referring to. Then come back and re-read my second paragraph. It'll be much better.

Host A: http://sophiasbaking.blogspot.com/2012/06/twd-french-strawberry-cake.html

Host 2: http://thinklovesleepdine.blogspot.com/2012/06/twd-french-strawberry-cake.html

They have reprinted the recipe (with permission) although you should get the book. It's by Dorie Greenspan for the love of cookies! My dog smells like cookies right now. That is nice. And no I didn't rub cookies all over her. But that's a thought. Schnauzer Cookies. Now those would be German!

Boy, you would think I had a few of these cupcakes already...

Check out my moose and squirrel sugar cookies. They make me giggly, prairie dogs make me giggly too.

Moose and Squirrel

No more. Giggly. Stop it.

Ok...one more, this cupcake was amazing.

TWD - Oasis Naan

So we moved. Twice. In two weeks. I don't recommend it.

As I previously mentioned in a post long ago (my last post actually, which felt like a long time ago) we were moving to Colorado. Well here we are in Colorado. We did have to move twice, sort of. We moved to temporary housing for two weeks while I found a lovely place to live. And lovely place I did find. Much to my amazement. Thanks awesome landlord for picking us. Us with the sad puppy eyes.

We gave away over half of our belongings to my family and some to friends, packed up the rest in two much smaller than they look shipping containers and wished for the best.

These are the images they use for how to not pack:

Don't use bamboo sticks and cardboard to wedge everything in.

Don't stack really heavy stuff on top of flimsy totes.

Surprisingly nothing broke. Maybe these are the images they use for how to pack.  I doubt it.

Well we are mostly unpacked and mostly settled in. We've been to Ikea, ate the meatballs and now have a partially assembled house. I personally put together 4 Ikea items and broke one. Luckily it was a very inexpensive table that we were able to hide the error. 

I like Ikea. A lot. I plan on going back and buying everyone's gifts there. So what if you have to assemble a bookcase you didn't even want. It's a gift, you have to take it and like it.

Now on to Naan.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

I am supper jazzed about our new kitchen. It's spacious and has good lighting and has working appliances! Oh and it's got a Bosch dishwasher, once you go Bosch you'll never go back. 

Making the naan in the kitchen was a dream. I'm really looking forward to all the Baking with Julia recipes. And I don't know if it was the kitchen or that this was a great recipe, but so far I believe it has been my favorite. We loved it. LOVED IT. The texture was perfect, tasted exceptional and was easy to make.

It turned out a little fluffier than the naan I've had in restaurants, but I can't consider that a negative at all. I plan on making this often and hopefully for my next dinner party. Oh yes, we will be having dinner parties at our new digs. Nice fancy cocktails, delicious aperitifs and  delectable digestifs - oh and I guess some food too.

You should come, it'll be fun.

But until I send out the invites, go here and here for the recipe and make yourself some naan. It'll help you prepare.