It's peanut butter jelly time!

What's the first theme park you think of - here in Southern California?? Ok. Forget it. What's the second? That's right - Knott's Berry Farm!

Although nowadays I consider Knott's janky-town, back in the day it was great and it really did used to be a farm and they are known for cultivating the Boysenberry, which is a combo of raspberry, blackberry and loganberry. Frankly, I think it tastes like grape - but what do I know I'm no jelly expert. We ate a lot of it as kids and I thought it'd be a nice twist to a peanut butter and jelly cupcake.

I have been working on this cupcake for a long time and I just love the peanut buttery cupcake together with the creamy frosting. Then again - anything peanut butter tastes like heaven to me while I'm standing in the dark corner of the kitchen stuffing it into my mouth. LOOK AWAY KIDS.

My friends remarked on the pure HEFT of them...I don't know if that's good or bad, but I did try to put a lot of jelly in them to get the peanut butter to jelly ratio just right. Again, I'm no jelly expert, I'm also no math expert.

I got the adorable liners at Bake it Pretty and they sure liven up a beige peanut buttery world. I handed these cupcakes out as gifts - now everyone really is Jelly Filled.Peanut Butter and Boysenberry Jelly cupcakes recipe, here.

But ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye

Last week the Baby was full on SICK. It felt like the Aporkalypse but he recovered after three days so I guess I'll never know. How did I know he was well? On the third day I caught him cannonballing off the sofa. Yeah...back to school for you, sucka.

Even though it hasn't been exactly cold, when there is sick - there is soup. And even though the Baby wasn't feeling well, he definitely wasn't feeling clear broth of any kind. That boy wanted meat, stat.Since it's near impossible to leave the house with a sick child, I just pulled from the pantry and came up with a quick but hearty soup. Luckily I had leftover meatballs in the freezer.

I'll probably make this a lot more since it was pretty satisfying and even the meat-hating Kid loved it. I think it will make anyone feel better Hamthrax or no Hamthrax.

Meatball Pastina Soup recipe, here.
Sweet Cornbread Muffins recipe, here.

The waitress said "Well no, we only have it iced," so we jumped up on the table and shouted "anarchy"

This is the last week for the Hello Kitty 3 Apples exhibit at Royal T. Seems like just yesterday I was celebrating the opening. The place is packed as people try to get their kitty fix on before it ends.

This past Sunday a small group of us got together to have the cutest tea ever. Hello Kitty Kawaii Tea! There were Hello Kitty sandwiches, cupcakes, cookies and of course - tea.

Our group just so happened to be filled with food bloggers/people who love food and Hello Kitty. The wait was a little longer than expected but it gave us all time to catch up.

I would love if this exhibit was permanent, but its run has been short and sweet. You have until this Sunday to stop by and check it out and get your waffle on...or you can just make your own. Shh.

More Hello Kitty Kawaii Tea pics, here.

Doin' it, doin' it, doin' it well.

So much to do this weekend. Like R. Kelly I'm cleaning out my closet but not in a gross way. I put a lot of stuff up on ebay - purses I've never used, things I bought for gifts and never gave - Kate Spade, Tokidoki, etc. - if you want the link send me an email.

Now that the closet is cleared the rest of the day consists of: cupcakes and flu shots. If I could somehow marry the two, I'm sure I'd be a millionaire.

Good morning hustlers that's if you're still living

Breakfast for dinner is my go-to around here. The kids just LOVE it and it's pretty much a guarantee that all the food will be eaten. That and it's so darn comforting.

I like big breakfasts so I usually have a lot of things going at once. Waffles, potatoes, eggs - bacon is a must, but frying it? UGH. Not only is it messy but when I have a lot of pans going the last thing I want it to be attacked by popping bacon greaze.

The next best thing is to bake it in the oven. No. Wait. The BEST thing is to bake it in the oven. No popping grease, no mess, and crispy crispy bacon.

I like to use thick Applewood smoked bacon, it has the best flavor and is pretty hearty. My trick? I have two secret tricks...one of them is to drizzle the bacon with a little syrup before you bake it. The other is to twist the bacon so that you don't have to stop in the middle and turn the suckers. I'm a busy woman, no time for turning! It's so good, you can't beat the flavor combo, I promise.

I served up the bacon with some bat-shaped French Toast. What could be more festive for a Halloween dinn...um, I mean breakfast.

Cut-it-out French Toast recipe
Maple Syrup Bacon recipe

Aw, nuts.

I love nuts, haw! In my mind, the kids were just mules for me to get my hands on peanut butter cups on Halloween. But for some reason my plan backfired, and much to the happiness of the Kid, they got one. ONE measly peanut butter cup?! I can't live on that!!

I had to take matters into my own hands. I dug through my pantry and luckily found a bar of chocolate. Then waaaaaay in the back I opened a new jar of peanut butter. I keep it far away from the kids, it's like a secret stash.

Working late at night on this secret operation made me feel very sneaky but boy was it worth it. To me, they were the best peanut butter cups ever. Still, I wouldn't pass up a store bought one wrapped in orange paper if it showed up on my doorstep. Just sayin'.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups recipe, here.

I'm Batman

The Baby is turning 4. I guess I should stop calling him 'The Baby' but I'm sure it will still be relevant when he's 35, don't you? Anyway - I finally broke down and allowed him to have a 'school party'. That is where you invite the WHOLE class to a party at some kid-gym type location. The Kid never had these (thank god) so the idea of inviting 28 kids to an off site location didn't much appeal to me, but I guess I should be thankful it's not in my home.
In any event, it HAS to be a Batman party, so says the Baby. He's obsessed - which is great cause now my theme is easy. I had my friend Kevin help me with the invites, and I've gathered a few things here and there for decorations, favors - I'm trying to not go overboard. I realize we are talking about me, here - the going overboard party Queen.

Still, I went to a party store just to see what they had, and I happened upon this plastic mask. Very old skool, like the kind they sold in the 70s. I thought it was cute so I gave it to the Baby. Um. Big mistake. I was driving the kids to school and was going to change lanes, so I looked behind and saw this:YIKES. I mean really. What were the cars driving next to me thinking, I'm wondering? Suddenly it's like a scene from Point Break - I felt like I was being mugged. The Baby paid no mind. He was perfectly content wearing his freaky mask, just chillin'. If you see us on the freeway, don't worry. He won't mug you, he's only 3.

Venkman: What did you DO Ray?Venkman: "It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

Nothing sounds as warm and toasty as a chocolate marshmallow cupcake on Halloween. Yeah well it was 75 degrees that day and the kids were sweating. Not what I had in mind. I may always be complaining about the weather here, but let me say that an almost full on body smothering Flash costume coupled with the heat, may or may not have contributed to the Baby falling victim to the flu over the weekend. Sad. Poor kid didn't even get to enjoy his Halloween candy. Um...cause I ate it.

I saw these little snack size packs of mini marshmallows and I thought they were the perfect size - for what I have no idea. I just liked the fact that they came in different flavors, chocolate, strawberry and...er, marshmallow? I guess that's what white is.

Anyway, cooking with marshmallows can be explosive in the oven, but I think I got it just right and no one died a la Ghostbusters. (I gotta say, I'm shocked that you can get Ghostbusters 1 AND 2 for just $6.99. Merry Christmas...to me.)

In any case, I like how the cupcakes turned out - maybe I'll make them again with some hot chocolate when the weather finally turns...whenever that is.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cupcake recipe, here.

Jim: Yes, I am the popular networking site known as Book Face.

Halloween was weird this year. It didn't feel like it was a big deal, and I think the neighborhood agreed. No one had their lights on, a lot of houses were up for sale and empty anyway. One house that did have his porchlight on answered and said, "OH. Uh, I don't have anything" as if he had no idea it was Halloween. Oh well.

Despite all that, we spent a nice time at block party playing with friends until the sun went down. Eventually we did hit some houses who were in the spirit. I constantly had to remind the kids to SPEAK UP and say the words 'trick or treat' and 'thank you'. There's nothing ruder than a kid just standing there with a bag open, good lord. We ran into a lot of nice people and I guess the high would be the people who gave out GIANT PIXIE STIX, and the low would be the dude who gave out toothbrushes with the address of his orthodontics office. Come on, man.

Dragging around two kids by myself was exhausting. The Kid didn't want to go anywhere "scary" i.e. dark - hello it's nighttime, sucka. And the Baby, well he was just losing steam. Slowest. Flash. Ever. Eventually I gave up and we made our way to O.G.'s house. I suppose I got the best trick or treat prize cause she gave me an 1/8th of an already eaten sandwich and a pickle....What.

I told the Kid that they couldn't eat the candy til I looked at it and separated it all. No peanuts, you know. So when I came back to the kitchen apparently he took it upon himself to separate it all, complete with signs. I could not stop laughing. "Really bad" was the stuff with peanuts. "Kind of good" was the chocolate (that the Baby could eat) and you can guess the "Good Stuff" according to him, was for him - gummies, tootsie rolls, sweet tarts - anything without chocolate or peanuts.The best part about this weekend was Daylight Saving. For the first time ever, the kids actually SLEPT IN, instead of the reverse and I got to rest until a very late 6:30am!! Which is really 7:30, but who's counting, I'll take all the zzz's I can get.

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