Cupcakes

I was expecting a couple of Fed Ex packages this morning, including one I thought I would have to sign for, so I was up with pants on before 8 am. I was also running a temperature of 101 so I figured I was going to have to find things to keep me busy to stay awake. An antapocalypse in the kitchen helped--the ants had, after two years of vague wanderings around in the general area, had suddenly found the cat food dish; and there was great rejoicing. To quote the plumber in Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence "The ants were without number"; so I killed an hour and countless ants cleaning them up, and then prying off the molding and applying ant gel. I didn't mix it with potato chips or jam this time, so I am not sure they will want it--they get bored if you keep giving them the same flavor for weeks. Then I spent a couple of enjoyable hours looking at people's Tumblrs, and if I still am not sure what all those icons do, I know where to find neat pictures to look at. But by noon the Fed Ex guy was still not here, and drastic action was needed. I decided to make cupcakes, having admired the ones on Cat's tumblr. I knew no one else was going to eat these, since I was like Typhoid Mary, puttering in my kitchen, but there was no reason not to make a batch--even with the occasional ant coming by to ask "Whatcha doing?" I used some box cake because I was in no mood for measuring out stuff for a scratch cake, and that was a mistake-- because if you want to decorate a cupcake, it needs to be a little stiffer than the soft cake the box makes:

The idea was to have vanilla frosting and then some cute purple roses or something on them.

I also discovered that it helps to let the egg-white and powdered sugar mix cool a bit more after you microwave it (30 seconds to kill anything weird in the egg white) and that the petal tip was maybe a little advanced for my condition--you are supposed to make the flowers on a bit of parchment paper, let them dry and then apply it to the cupcake, but "ain't nobody got time for that", and they would just be eaten in any case. Finally, Le Cupcakes:

Haha, nailed it!

I also discovered that the FedEx person came around noon, and left the package downstairs on the chair. I could have just taken a nap.