cuspcakes.

oh, man!
we're finally out of the sh!ttiest period in western astrology.
uh-huh.
crap-ricorn goatfish skies are no dang good.
ill omens and hard styles and long spans of deepest darkness;
it's no fun waiting for that to run it's course every year...
but,
now we're in the age of aquarius, instead.
all water, all at once, for a few weeks, at least.
or ice, really;
up here, anyway, in this cold mountain valley,
it's frozen solid everywhere.
all of it, all the time, until at least next month.
that's great,
because januray isn't rad,
and it can't end soon enough.
is not capricorn supposed to be a tropic?
i thought so?
that must be latitude, and that doesn't apply up here.
ugh.
anyway,
we're on the cusp of some sort of new hottness,
as such,
i figured i'd flip-flop some treats for the occasion.
oranges are about the only bright orange glowing goodness
that january has on offer for our faces.
i figured i'd make use of what was poppin' off.
y'know?
yup.
check the sweethearted sweet-and-tart-type-teleport:

yum.
y'see,
i needed the oven going,
and the saucepans simmering,
because negative twenty degrees farenheit
is an A*hole temperature.
it makes for numb pink fingers and bluish lips,
even when i'm indoors.
hot ovens and fresh treats help a whole bunch towards fixin' that.
anyway,
right up there?
yeah.
those are orange cupcakes,
and they are expert.
they've got the zest and the pure extract and the juice in 'em,
and that's the way it has to be.
hmmm?
yes.
pastry-creme filling prevails in all instances,
including this one.
pulverized freeze-dried cranberries are basically bitter air-balls,
but when they're added to o.j.
and soymilk and vanilla,
and the zest, and all the secret thickening agents,
you get a pretty magenta pudding for the insides of those cakes.
it's good, and it's sweet, and it's tart,
and that's a perfect balancing point for the crumb of cups.
smart.
orange frosting,
with even more zest, and oils, and a hint of lemon,
and so much sugar and butterificness is good,
for sure,
but adding in some more powdered berry bits is better.
neighbors,
that swirled bi-color two-tone double-flavor frosting?
c'mon.
it goes to eleven all day long.
i got a special double-bag split top activator just for that purpose,
and i broke it a little first try.
i didn't let that stop me much,
and figured it all out fairly fast.
(too big a pastry bag, too little frosting)
that's real.
i mean,
what i lack in initial knowledge,
i usually amend with voracious information assimilation.
my learning curve looks more like a ninety degree angle-
skyrocketing straight up.
hahahaha.
stop it.
but seriously,
a swirled cusp combination segue in sugar?
i doo-doo that cosmic-mysteries-of-the-secret-universe-type sh!t.
and cranberry-orange is flippin' delicious, too.
mmmmmmmhmmmmmmm.
wait......what?
well,
obviously those are color-coordinated sprankles.
jeez.
don't be willfully obtuse-
you CAN see 'em, can'tcha?
***********
yes, friends.
i still keep making treats on my days off.
it's part of what's really happening.
i also document it here,
because that's part of it, too.
but,
blogging, though, y'all.
writing records of really-real-life?
who reads anymore?
i mean, really?
i'm writing for nobody, i think.
i guess it beats telling a boring story,
but only just barely.
i repeat myself when i'm awake,
and i dream about the same things when i'm not.
over and over and over until it's all over.
and there's no end in sight.
i guess maybe there's just a blindspot,
and a sigh,
and then it just eventually dims and disappears,
and eventually someday somebody notices that it's gone.
that's my favorite least favorite thing.
looking back and seeing what's gone.
it always ends the same way,
with the same statement-
whatever happened to that thing that used to happen?
it's a fair question:
what happened?
nobody leaves with the title,
and memories are made for being forgotten;
never quiet, never soft.....