Office Cupcake Wars

One of the managers at work was unfortunately in a car accident. To assist with the family’s financials, we hosted cupcake wars in the office. The cupcakes were baked and donated and sold at $.50 a piece. There were prizes for the Best Decoration, Most Creative, and Best Tasting cupcakes, as voted by someone in another portion of the business who knew no one participating.

I know that there are a few people in the office who decorate cakes as a hobby/side job. For this reason, I did not think it wise to take them on in the best decoration category. Aside from that, I know that taste is completely subjective, and I didn’t care about adding more butter to a recipe to win. Further, I’m all about creating innovating recipes and I already won most original recipe for my red wine cupcake with chocolate balsamic frosting last year.

After some deliberation and kitchen experimentation, I determined to go with a French Toast cupcake with a Maple Glaze and a candied bacon topping. Breakfast in a cupcake. The recipe is as follows.

Cake

Take a standard box of yellow cake mix cake mix

Make as directed except:

The total liquid portion should be half oil and half water (ex. if the recipe calls for 1 cup water and 1/2 cup oil, instead use 3/4 water and 3/4 oil)

Add an egg, spiced rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla

Taste and add more of the above as needed.

Glaze

Maple syrup, butter, and powder sugar, melt all over small flame until desired consistency

Bacon

Cook bacon in pan until about 75% finished (should still be flimsy, but most of the fat is off)

Mix in bowl with brown sugar, bake in lined baking sheet at 350 until crispy

And the winners are…..

Most Creative – Chrissy (whose cupcakes were topped with fondant in the shape of an ice cream cone)

Best Decoration – Chrissy (who submitted two kinds of cupcakes. These were topped with fondant in the shape of flowers)

Best Tasting – Mine

Go figure! I had a ton of fun doing it and have still solidified my baking dominance within the office. Woo Hoo.

AWS Electric City Summer Picnic

Foodies and winoes are often one in the same kind of person. For those who were in attendance at the American Wine Society Picnic on Saturday afternoon, this was no exception. The park next to the cemetery, across from Dunkin Donuts just off the

Davis street

exit from 81 was the local for the 25ish person party that started at 2:00 and ran late into the afternoon.

The $10 attendance charge covered everything. Most people brought additional food and wine, so there were plenty of summer BBQ and picnic items available. Standard fare of burgers and hot dogs, chips and cookies (these were shaped and frosted to look like wine glasses) were of course present. However, the best foods were brought by individual members.

There was a salsa that was composed of cilantro, red, orange, yellow, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. It was crunchy and fresh and I ate it like a salad. A sweet, dill flavored pickle and red onion salad sat next to an Thai/Asian flavored, peanut topped slaw. As expected with any wine engagement, cheese, crackers, and olives were aplenty. My favorite was a pungent horseradish cheese that went well with the spicy sausage.

Of course, the main attraction of the afternoon was the wine. Every variety from sweet to dry, white to red, served in chilled bottles and recycled paint buckets. Yes, you read that right. Two of the wines, rather than being in the standard Franzia box, were being decanted in plastic paint buckets, which was a gimmick that was enjoyed by all.

 As with all potlucks, picnics, and parties, the afternoon was a slew of eating, drinking, talking, drinking, repeat. The festivities left me both full and socially satiated (a rare combination) I can’t wait for the regional picnic in a month!

Arts On Fire First Friday

First Friday is always a great time. You will always find me in attendance for this food, wine, and art walk. Fortunately, with the warm weather, attendance has gone up, and with it, the number of venues who host.

I always start my First Friday jaunts at Backyard Alehouse, a Scranton staple. In the summer, on Friday nights, they break out the grill and offer free burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, and sausage and peppers. Needless to say, this brings in the crowd and even though I may start there on my own, I always meet up with people I know. A great spot to start any weekend.

From there, with the First Friday map torn from the newspaper in my back pocket, I started the gauntlet of downtown locales. As usual, most venues featured hors d’ourves, small snacks, fruits, cheeses, crackers, and crudités platters. However, the cigar shop offers more succulent foods like hoagies, fried chicken, meatballs, and mack and cheese.

Art works and Afa gallery closed early due to the Arts of Fire festival at the historic iron furnaces. NEPA Power was painting white clothing outside the galleries while DJs were spinning beats, jugglers tossed fire-filled batons, and teenage girls twirled batons.

At the furnaces, $15 gave you entrance to another array of cheeses and fruit, along with catered food from Chicanos. They brought all of their meats, a shredded chicken that was heavily spiced, the carnitas was in larger chunks rather than shredded like you might find in Pancheros or other burrito restaurants. The steak, to my personal distaste, was more like steak’ums rather than strips or chunks. The salsas that accompanied the meats were all spicy speaking to the authenticity of the cooks. In all honesty, this is most authentic, though Americanized, Hispanic food that one can find in the area.

The wine and beer was all lowest shelf, and after all of the drinks I had had prior, I stuck with soda. To end the evening, the first 150 customers got free ice cream from Ms. Moo’s ice cream truck that was on site. The scoops were generous and the flavors plentiful, a wonderful and cool ending to the evening.