Gingerbread.

The valley smells like a campfire and strangely, the Westside smelled like gingerbread this morning. Weird.

There was indeed much baking over the weekend. I made a massive pan of brownies. My new favorite recipe is the one from Nigella Lawson that you can find here. Specifically, this is my new favorite RECIPE not necessarily my favorite brownie. Don’t get me wrong, they are really good, but I like a little more cake-like brownie if I am baking for myself but, this recipe makes a very nice fudgey brownie that’s not too runny. They cut well, mix up quickly and it makes a HUGE pan, so it’s great to take to parties. But these weren’t for parties. They are for mother’s day and my dad’s birthday. So there were the brownies, lemon cranberry bars and chocolate chip bars. All seemed pretty good to me. They were safely sealed and packed and are winging their way across country now.

There were also cupcakes. Vegan “Crimson Velveteen” cupcakes with vegan “velvet” frosting. Generally I am no fan of red velvet cakes. I have seen the recipes and I know how much food dye goes in there and it doesn’t sit right with me. And red velvet recipes are often pretty much a white cake with a few tablespoons of cocoa thrown in. These cupcakes though...they were…good. Really, really good. Mind you, I did not put in all of the two tablespoons of red food dye called for but the cakes were comfortably red. It wasn’t that scary electric red they can sometimes be. The icing was smooth and lovely and I would so make these cupcakes again. In fact, I may make them this weekend!

Things have been a little goofy lately. I’ve been to three parties in the past week and that’s three too many for me. I am feeling the effects of the crappy air quality and the lack of good sleep and I’ve not been getting much done but the basics. Hopefully I’ll catch up with myself soon.

Hmmm…well, I do have a handful of random things to recommend but I am not really prepared for that today. And I do have a bunch of half written posts but they are…half written…

What was that gingerbread smell anyway? Weird.