Cupcake Friday: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Coconut

I'm proud of myself this week.  And you should be too.  I didn't look to Crumbs to come up with these cupcakes as I usually do.  No, this time I came up with the flavor combinations by myself, asking friends and family what they thought would make a good cupcake.  The frostings, fillings and combinations were truly my brain child this week.

I'm obviously making great strides in my cupcake baking.  Accomplishment number one of the summer, sorted.

In all seriousness though, not only were these the most "original" cupcakes I came up with, but they were also the most delicious cupcakes I have made thus far.  Everyone who ate them thought so.  Which is part of the reason that you should make these right now.  Seriously, they are that good.

Plus, I got to use my new cupcake holders from Sur La Table, total win!

The cupcake base was my old standby with whole wheat pastry flour and canola oil.  I used one tbsp of brown sugar.

Peanut Butter Frostingy-glaze
makes enough for one cupcake heavily frosted, or two lightly glazed


1 Tbsp Almond Milk (I'm sure you could use other types of milk, but I only have almond)
1.5 - 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful)
Dash of sweetener

Pour almond milk into a small bowl/large cup and add 1.5 Tbsp of peanut butter.  Stir with a fork until the mixture begins to come together.  Depending on desired thickness, add in more peanut butter.  Stir until the almond milk is totally blended into the peanut butter and has a runny, but slightly firm, consistency.

For the filling of this cupcake, I used some straight-up peanut butter, which contrasted quite nicely with the light-er frosting.  Since I used an already sweet peanut butter, I did not feel the need to add anything to it in order to give it a more traditional frosting flavor, though someone using natural peanut butter may want to.  Try it before you add it!

Chocolate Fuge-Frosting Filling
makes enough to frost one cupcake or fill two


1 Tbsp coco powder
1 tsp Agave
1 tsp vanilla
generous splash of water (~1/4 tsp maybe?)

Mix the first three ingredients together in a small bowl until they are fully blended.  Add in the water slowly, mixing as you go.  Start with less water, the more you add, the softer the frosting will get.  There will be a little hardening afterwards, but not considerable amounts (unless you refrigerate/freeze it!).

Vanilla-Coconut Frosting
makes enough for one cupcake


1 Tbsp Coconut Butter (soft/melted)
1/2 tsp Agave
1 tsp vanilla
splash of water

Mix together coconut butter and agave.  Add in vanilla, mix until it has all been absorbed and looks almost crumbly in texture.  Slowly add in some water and mix while you go.  The final texture should be slightly spreadable and slightly crumbly.  You may need to use your fingers to help mold the frosting on.

To make the coconut cupcake extra pretty (the coconut butter frosting tends to look a wee bit mucky), add some coconut shavings onto the top of the cupcake.

What cupcake flavor would YOU create?

E's Take: Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty

There are hour queues to get into see The Costume Institute's new show Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.  Reviewers seem to love it.  The audiences seem to love it.  But is it worth paying entrance (this means a dollar if you are poor/cheap like me) and actually waiting to see this show?

Yes it is.

You may be disappointed when you leave and you may be annoyed when walking through the exhibit, but the ability to see McQueen's brilliant and inspiring creations will be worth at least a fraction of the effort, if not more.  The reason Alexander McQueen was and is popular has less to do with his unfortunate death and more to do with his brilliant designs.  This exhibit does not only show clothing, it shows garments that are more-like artwork than anything you would find on the shelves of Bloomingdales.

Yet, the presentation does not do the clothing justice.  Instead of presenting the clothing in a cohesive and inspiring manner, one feels that the Costume Institute got carried away with quantity, sorely forgetting quality.  This focus on quantity over quality permeates the show, leaving the museum-goer with a disjointed feeling.  You will be impressed by what you see, but you will most likely fail to see McQueen's unique point-of-view, highlighted only by the tag line, Savage Beauty.

I didn't read the placards going through.  Mainly because it would be impossible.  The show is so saturated with people piled in like a delayed subway during rush hour that you can barely move.  Forget seeing reading the descriptions, getting a proper view of the clothing is distinctly difficult.  This could be excusable if the museum had not anticipated huge crowds; I highly doubt this is the case.  Since McQueen is widely recognized as one of the most creative designers in recent memory—his popularity, unfortunately, bolstered by his death—the MET should have made proper adjustments to create an effective blockbuster show.

Yet, that is exactly it.  After the exhibit one sense that the museum is exploiting McQueen in order to create a high-grossing popular exhibit.  I understand that New York City is cutting funding for cultural institutions, but does that give a museum the right to use whatever method possible to gain money?  No.  There must be a line that gives a cultural institution boundaries for what they can and can't use to draw in crowds and money.  It is not the fact that they are putting up a show about Alexander McQueen, rather it is the manner in which they have chosen to exhibit all the pieces.

Walking through the exhibit I felt like I was in an amusement park.  In one room, they have a sound clip of blowing wind on rotation.  That combined with the decor properly made me feel like I was in the Disney World Haunted Mansion ride.  A museum should never make me think I am in an amusement park.  Where is the line between a brilliant show and pure entertainment?

I want a museum to show me something that encourages me to think, as opposed to bombarding me with sensory overload.  If large cultural institutions begin to present each new show as a spectacle, where does it end?  There needs to be a defined line that allows a dialogue to ensue between the museum and the viewer.  While the McQueen show displays breathtaking garments, it does not encourage the museum-goers to think about what they have seen in a deeper manner than they could by viewing the original runway show.

Ultimately, that is exactly what the McQueen show is, a glorified compilation of a variety of different runway shows.  There is no denying that the MET has gone above and beyond.  There is no arguing that the garments are beautiful.  The show falls short when one leaves, without being truly aware of what they have just seen.

What kind of museum shows do you like?  Have you seen the McQueen show?  What did you think?


top photo source

Ways to Keep Workouts Fun

One of the worst parts of working out is burn out.  It happens to even the toughest/strongest/most determined athletes.  Personally, somedays I'm totally into weight lifting and feel like I could do it all the time, yet other days it is absolutely the last thing I want to do.  Usually my desire to workout correlates with how frequently I've done a certain form of exercise.  In order to prevent burnout and boredom, I try to switch it up!  I'm constantly trying to discover and search out new forms of exercise, but I definitely have my favorites that I return to time and time again.

Emilia's Favorite Type's of Exercise:

Weight Lifting

Running

Yoga

Biking

Gym-ing

Walking (hey, it counts!)

Ice Skating

Even within these different ways to get my move on, I try to mix it up.  I don't always do the same weight lifting routine and challenge myself to continuously lift heavier weights.  When running, I don't always take the same route or run for the same amount of time.  I don't do the same yoga routine, or take the same bike path.  Diversity is the spice of your exercise life ;)

The main thing you need to remember when trying to keep workouts fun is the delicate balance between variation, exertion and rest.  At first, this may seem easy, but often ends up being difficult to put into practice.  No one wants to do the same routine over and over again, it gets boring, we zone out and stop pushing ourselves.  Why would you choose to do something if you didn't enjoy it?  I know I sure wouldn't!  Not only will you stop wanting to work out, but even when you DO choose to exercise, you won't be getting the same quality as if you tried a new harder routine.

Exertion helps us get the most out of our workouts.  I know that it doesn't matter how long or far or fast I run on a given day, as long as I try my hardest and exert myself appropriately on THAT day, I'm good!  The same goes for weight lifting, you want to increase the amount of weight you use in order to exert yourself physically AND mentally.  If you follow a program that says 'Use five pound weights!' you will, inevitably, reach a plateau where all you can lift are five pounders that no longer feel heavy enough.  When I exert myself after a workout, I certainly feel much prouder, and eager to start on the next one!

The last pillar of keeping your workouts fun is, for me, the hardest one: rest!  Everyone needs rest, but sometimes it can be extremely difficult to admit that you need a rest day.  If you have variation and exert yourself in activities that you genuinely enjoy, you most likely won't want to rest.  I used to have a scheduled rest day in my week, but now I just take one when I need it.  Some days I'm just too tired to actually work out.  That is perfectly okay!  Listening to what your body needs and wants will help you to continue having fun as you exercise.

Sometimes, even when you try all of the above tactics, you just get stuck in an exercise rut.  New activities may be fun, but they don't hold your attention.  Sometimes, you just get plain tired of exercising!  If something like this happens, it may be time to take a break longer than just a rest day.  There is nothing wrong, I repeat nothing wrong, with take a rest week or even a rest month.  Most likely after taking a sustained chunk of time "off" you will be excited to start up with your activities again.  There are certain times in our lives where we need space to breathe.  Besides, you never want exercise or workouts to get in the way with living life.

Finally, rewards can be a great way to keep up incentive, motivation and help you push yourself harder.  Maybe you really want to run a 5k, 10k or half-marathon, but you also really want a pair of new sneakers.  Get them!  They'll help you train if you are super excited to go out in your lovely new sneak's!  The same goes with other rewards.  New gym memberships, books, baking time, dinner out, find some kind of reward you really enjoy and use it to help push your workouts and keep them interesting!

What is your favorite workout?  What do you do when you find yourself in a workout rut?