Birthday :)

     This year, my birthday was relatively quiet. I was actually at home (or close to it anyway), which is kind of a rarity as I get older. Usually with my birthday being so close to July 4th, there's always a trip of some kind planned and I'm off somewhere like Key West (that's where I was last year) celebrating from afar. Not that I ever mind going places like Key West for my birthday, haha! This year though I've been gone so much and then so busy when I was here that it was great just to be around home and have a relatively normal day.

     As far as celebrating, my parents, sister, grandparents and I all went out to eat the Friday before my birthday to Craving Catfish, and on Sunday after church we all came to the house and ate barbecued chicken, homemade ice cream, and the cupcakes I found a recipe for on Pinterest I wanted to try. I did have to work the day of my birthday, but the lady who shares an office with me, Angela, surprised me with a deskful of candy and a homemade birthday card. The night of my birthday Molly, Molly's friend Bethany, and Meagan took me out for a lovely evening of dinner, Magic Mike, and late night dessert at Tutti Frutti. We all loved Magic Mike - we're young women, three of us are single, and those gentlemen in the movie are PRETTY, what can we say? - and Meagan and I very much enjoyed our first experience eating at Tutti Frutti. We all do want to go see Magic Mike again properly, once it gets over the initial new movie crowd. The movie sold out early (luckily we had pre-ordered tickets) and we ended up having to split up and getting awful seats, so we either watched it with cricks in our necks in the front row or from the very very back. Not that we didn't still enjoy it! We just think we'd enjoy it more from a good seat :)

     Anyway, I actually do have pictures! I've always been awful about forgetting to take pictures, so I am getting better!

'Testing' the camera...

Attempt #1 to fit everyone into the group shot...

Attempt #2, much better!

Meagan and me with our first Tutti Frutti! Yum-o

     And I have to give a report on the cupcake recipe I tried out, because it is too good to keep to myself. The pin looks like this, and it's on my Good Eats board if you follow me. If you don't follow me, you should!

     The recipe is for Moscato Cupcakes. It is a surprisingly easy recipe, no ingredients you wouldn't already have or hard to handle mixing methods. I made a double recipe, and it made 24 of the biggest cupcakes I've ever seen. I doubled the icing as well, but I probably could have gotten away with a single making. It makes a TON! But they were amazing, definitely worth making again! The cake was a buttery vanilla flavor, and the icing was light and tasted just like the moscato. Really good for summer, not heavy at all. 

     By the way, if you're worried at all about cooking with wine or alcohol, set your fears aside. The cake recipe only has 1/3 cup per batch,, and the alcohol in the wine bakes off leaving just the flavor. The icing only has 3 tablespoons for each huge batch, so there's no way you're going to get any alcoholic effect. The flavor you get from it is well worth using wine in your cooking.

     Here's what they come out looking like:

Un-frosted, they look like huge muffins. I actually ate one for breakfast the other day, and it was great! Light, no strong flavor, kind of like pound cake.

Here's one of the iced ones. I didn't go all out with the icing - my family was practically drooling over my shoulder waiting on me to hurry up and get finished. And I only put a small amount on each cupcake. This icing isn't strong or heavy, but the cake is so good you don't need a ton of it gooped on there. 

     If you think you like cupcakes, you haven't lived until you try these! Go now and get out your mixing bowls! Trust me on these, you won't regret it!