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you have not lived until you have made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
and you have subsequently not lived until you have eaten [at least] one.

(btw, the batter is almost more delicious than the final baked product)

zoe found a recipe, and it was pretty much decided without any discussion that they desperately needed to be made.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
2 cups canned pumpkin (its slightly more than a 15 oz. can)
2/3 cup oil
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. each- ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger
1/2 tsp. salt

For the Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 tbs. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions:
For the Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 2 muffin pans with 24 cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, milk, and vanilla.  Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.  Gently whisk by hand until just combined, being careful not to overmix as the texture will become gummy.

Fill liners with 1/4 cup batter (cups should be about 2/3 full).  Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting. 

For the Frosting:
In a bowl mix together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar and cinnamon, mixing until it's all incorporated.  Use immediately or refrigerate.  The frosting will harden in the refrigerator so plan to bring back to room temperature if you need to refrigerate the icing before frosting the cupcakes. 





we used dark chocolate chips.
it is the only way to bake.


recipe from here.


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hello everybody who reads this, (hi mom!)

I am not dead.
just really freaking busy.
like, more busy than I think I've ever been in my entire life.

just wanted to, you know, clear that up.

so what have I been doing?
let's see.

traveling to london.
attempting to find a flat for ben and I.
failing to find a flat for ben and I.
doing a bit of traveling around the south-east of england.
attempting to find a flat for ben and I and three other people.
failing to find a flat for ben and I and three other people.
attempting to enroll at grad school.
almost failing to enroll at grad school.
enrolling at grad school.
attempting to find a flat for ben and I and one other person.
going to grad school orientation.
helping sam and peter pack up their flat before they move.
finally finding a flat for ben and I and one other person (!)
helping sam and peter put all their stuff into storage.
moving all our stuff way the hell down south of the river.
starting grad school proper.
moving all out stuff way the hell north of the river. (into aforementioned flat)
picking up two fluffy cats. (that was a long loud car ride...)
moving all the stuff out of storage and into aforementioned flat.
reading an f$%* lot of stuff for grad school.
unpacking roughly 56,000 boxes of stuff.
picking up our first fruit and veg box scheme allotments. (more on this later)
fighting with the british banking system.
putting together a powerpoint presentation on my hometown.
more (ever so much more) reading.

so.
you know.
just a few things.

but I am having a blast.
grad school is awesome.
and I really did miss this city.
it's good to be back.

and, for a few updates, I actually have read about 8 more books since I last wrote on my quest. (no way in hell am I going to get to 100 this year btw, pretty much all of my reading time is going to be taken up by coursework, but I suppose considering the circumstances, I made a pretty good run at it. we'll have to see what I get to by the end of december.)

also have been keeping track of my nfl picks week to week but won't really have the time to put them up on here.
I can tell you're all heartbroken.
fear not! I will post my record at the end of the regular season.

and now on to the really exciting stuff!
fresh and locally grown fruit and veg.
we signed up for our box scheme again and picked up our first batch last friday. just picked up the send one a couple of hours ago.

we've decided to start a blog (cause that's how these things work. don't have enough time to maintain one blog? start another one!) to document everything that comes in the pick-ups, the awesome recipes they give us with the weekly newsletters, and anything new and exciting we try in the kitchen with our weekly stash.

so go visit us over a a carrot, an apple, and a beetroot walk into a bar.
or, as it's known around the flat, "what's in the box?"

go for the wit, stay for the food.

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