Clover all over

Today the rain and wind are going crazy. Friday was beautiful, sunny, and warm. Mark mowed the yard and it smelled LOVELY when you went outside. Just mowed grass is amazing.

Last Sunday we got lots and lots of hail (is that how you spell it? Gads).

What the heck is going on? You never know what you're going to get day by day. Oh well, it's a living.

This Saturday I decided to do some St. Pat's Day baking to take over to the House. I made up some vanilla cake batter, put some green die in half of the batter, swirled it around, and baked it up. And you know what? I didn't use enough green coloring and once it was baked up I couldn't even tell the batter had been dyed. Oh man, you live and learn. BUT the cupcakes taste amazing, and that's what counts, right? I also baked up a batch of lemon. Those were darn good too.

And I decided to bake up some cookies I'd never tried. The one thing is you use peppermint extract in the frosting. That was good, but I think I'll try this recipe again and use vanilla instead. The cookies are very delicate, and buttery, and just enough chocolate. In fact, I might even try a fudge frosting the next time.

Fun to try new things. And since I take the goodies to the House, they don't sit around and tempt me. And trust me: when I have stuff like this in the house, it tempts me. I'll never be the type of person who can have baked goods in the house and not eat my fill. That's just the way it goes. I'm good with it.

I found a great little cake decorating store in Tigard. I love going there and finding special sprinkles (like the shamrock sprinkles above), and fun rings, to go on the cupcakes. I also bought some really large tips to pipe frosting on the cupcakes. I admit it, I need more practice, but I finally got more of the results I've been looking for. Nice and swirly. I think the frosting needs to be a bit stiffer. Learn and learn.

And the lemon cupcake, with cream cheese frosting: GOOD!!! The vanilla is good, but the lemon cakes came out so nice. I do like me a lemon cupcake.

Saturday afternoon Doug had a game. Here they are warming up in the 'sub gym'. Doesn't the lighting look cool? That's Doug in the center.

Doug pointing.

Doug waiting.

I got in trouble for taking this shot. See the ref at the right side of the pic? Well, I was trying hard to ensure I was not using my flash, but this time I didn't take the time, flash happened, and he came over and asked if I was going to turn off my flash. I assured him I was. Bummer dude, getting busted for something like that. At least it wasn't a big ole flash, like in the Buffalo Wild Wings commercials. Now THAT would be something to see. And MAN would he have been mad. Now THAT would be something to see. LOL