What I've Learned

When you are melting marshmallows in the microwave to put on top of your girlfriend's birthday cupcakes, do not step away to check facebook. Not even for one second.
This was a mistake, clearly. I ended up melting them on the stove with hershey bars and some whipping cream. It was sticky but turned out really good! I put it on top of some very simple devil's food cupcakes I made from a cupcake bakeshop recipe. They turned out really good.
So I made the cupcakes Sunday night, while listening to my new favorite DeeGay Classic Internet Radio. It's a station from Italy that plays "the songs who gay people loves." So cute! There's a lot of international dance music mixed with stuff you might expect (Erasure) and stuff that's a big surprise (Phil Collins?) Anyway, the cupcake project was painless. I even managed to finish the laundry and dishes while they were baking.
Monday was a pretty chill day at work. It was my first Monday of exclusive prep, with Steve opening the line. I spent most of the morning walking him through how to make a good prep list very, very patiently, so hopefully I won't have any more of those Thursday mornings where I just want to kill everybody. The plan was after work I would stop at the farmer's market, then head home to top the cupcakes and wait for my birthdaygirl's return. At which point we would get gussied up and go somewhere nice for dinner and beers.
Unfortunately, as I was getting ready to head out to the farmer's market, I got a text from her that she was delayed in york and probably wouldn't be home till almost 10pm. Bummer! I felt really bad for her, as the delay was due to someone else's techincal oopsies and she had to spend an extra 4 hours working it out.
Our dinner plans squashed, I started walking toward the farmer's market and realized "hey! I haven't eaten since that rye toast at 8am!" And plus, "I had chips and salsa for dinner last night at 9pm!" Clearly, something had to happen. So I changed my course and went to the Sharp Edge. It was the kind of hungry that called out for Guiness and Hop Devil Cheese Soup in a breadbowl. So I shelled out the insane $7 for it, but I gotta say it was super good. I missed it. The Salmon BLT was not as good, and $11. Sharp Edge really is overpriced! I mean, if everything on the menu was locally sourced/organic/sustainable, I would have no problem paying those prices. But for Sysco stuff? Nah. So it has become a really infrequent stop. Anyway, I took a chance and contacted Jennie to see if she had filled her Monday night babyfree dance card yet, and she had not. So I packed up a 6 pack of expensive beer for rebby's later return, and hoofed it over to Kelly's to meet Jen. Bar hopper! That's me! I had two East End Monkey Boys and by the time we left, I was LOOPED! We had a really nice talk though. It felt like summer to me. For some reason going out for drinks is so much more of a summer social activity for me. I guess going out at all is more of a summer activity. As I stumbled to the bus stop, I passed by the progress on what is possibly the most exciting thing happening in walking distance to my home: Paris 66 Bistro. It's gonna be a crepes place/coffee place and they are really putting a lot of love into making it gorgeous. I kinda want to work there. Really, maybe part time evenings? Or maybe it will be enough just to hang out. In any case, they've got spices and plates in there so I am guessing as soon as the last of the fascade work is done it will be good to go. I can't wait!
I finally got home and got the beers in the fridge and got my stinky work/drinking clothes off, and set to work frosting the cupcakes. Which is when the marshmallow explosion happened. I was still drunk enough to nearly pee my panties laughing at myself. I got them done and frosted, though, then settled in to some internet to wait for rebby. She got home around 9:30pm, with pizza. I beered her up and she told me she was only home for one night---had a surprise drive to Washington DC this morning! Poor thing. I gave her a DVD of avant garde films from the 20s and 30s but of course that won't do her any good till she has an evening at home. And here I am alone again, with a bunch of beer and cupcakes. Sigh.
Today's big projects are all cerebral--I have to finalize menus for the mattress factory garden party, the pride brunch, and the father's day prix fixe dinner. Yikes! I just spent an hour and a half going through wikipedia's list of famous GLBT people. I think I've settled on the kitchy punny naming random things after celebrities method of menu creation. Like the Harvey Milkshake, The William S Burrito, and the couldn't be more perfect Genesis P-Orridge. Ha! I've got a huge list to mine for comedy gold. Did you know Johnny Mathis is gay? I didn't.
For father's day dinner, we're going to vegetarian and vegan versions of the "men's favorites" recipes from old betty crocker cookbooks. It should be really fun! But believe it or not, all this creativity is HARD WORK. Better get going.