Pumpkin and Chocolate Cupcakes (vegan)

If we were getting married in the Autumn, these are the cupcakes I would make. The recipe follows, but I'm a bit ghetto in the kitchen (I don't even own cup measures) so I'm afraid you'll have bear with me on some of my guesstimations.

Ingredients
1 cup (and a little extra) of pumpkin, cooked and pureed
1/3 cup of oil
3/4 ish (almost a cup) of brown sugar
1/4 cup of soy milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
almost 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 a cup chocolate chips
chilli and cinnamon icing (recipe follows)
super easy ganache (recipe follows)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk and vanilla.
3. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt). Stir with a fork or spoon until well combined. (I usually use the same fork that I used to mash the pumpkin).
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Fill cases two-thirds full. Bake for around 22 minutes.
6. Transfer to a cooling rack and let fully cool before icing.

Chilli and Cinnamon Icing

1/2 a cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon ground chilli

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons melted margarine or butter

splash of soy milk (about a tablespoon)

dash of vanilla extract

Directions

Place spices and sugar in a small bowl. Add the margarine, soy milk and vanilla and stir until smooth (I find it easiest to use a fork). The mixture should be an opaque tan colour and not too runny. If it is too glossy and liquidy, add more icing sugar. Keep at room temp until ready to ice.

Super Easy Ganache

1/3 cup (dark) chocolate chips (or the equivilent amount chopped chocolate

sploosh of soy milk (2-3 tablespoons)

dash of mayple syrup (optional)

Directions

Heat the soy milk over medium heat until just about to simmer. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and mayple syrup (if using) and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Keep stiring until milk and chocolate are fully combined. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before scooping it into an icing bag.

To assemble the cupcakes.

Use a knife to spread an even layer of Chilli and Cinnamon Icing over the cupcakes. I tend to spread it a couple of mm thick, but this is purely up to taste. Then embellish with swirls, zig-zags or writing, using the ganache and a number 2 decorating tip (the tiny round one). Allow the icing to set at room temp or in the fridge before serving. Enjoy with company and coffee.

It's raining outside, but it's warm in the library.

So I can help but sit here and daydream about iced tea. At the moment, I'm loving mine with lemon, thyme and a little honey, but there are plenty of other ways to add excitement to your iced beverage.

Start with this base recipe:

3 cups of boiling water
4 tea bags

Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Strain out tea bags (do not squeeze them! ).

To which you might add...

1/3 cup honey

3 cups apple juice

Stir in the honey, mixing until it is completely dissolved. Add the juice and chill in the fridge. Serve over ice and refresh your winter blues away.

..or maybe..

Ginger root (about 4 cms)

1 cup cold water

Sugar or honey, to taste.

Finely slice the ginger root and crush. You'll need to add this at the start and strain it out with the teabags. Stir in the cold water and your sweetener (if desired) and chill in the fridge. Serve over ice for an energy boost.

..or even..

1 can peach juice

juice of half a lemon

Prepare the tea. Stir in peach juice, lemon juice and chill. Serve over ice for a taste of summer.

As I said, there are many more variations for iced tea (the only real limit is your imagination) but these three are particularly appropriate for winter. Make sure you allow the tea to completely chill before serving. If you pour hot, or even warm, tea over ice it will melt the ice and dilute the tea. Happy drinking!

Waiting by the Phone

Well, by the phone line at least. We're waiting for an email about our potential reception venue.

I have really good feeling about it. Fingers crossed that it comes to fruition.

Yes, I am taking 'his' name.

Dear Feminists,

Yes, I am taking my partner's surname in marriage. No, I don't believe this makes me submissive or a disgrace to the female gender.

To me, marriage is about refinforcing that we are taking on life together - as a team! As such I want to share a last name, a team name, and I don't mind being the one to change. I don't have a particularly strong attatchment to my last name (which, I might remind you, came from my father's side anyway) and would happily swap it. Considering this, it seems crazy and selfish to force him into changing his name just so that we fit a particular feminist criteria. Even more so as it's a stance that I don't see as very progressive.

Another reason for sharing a name is that we do want to have children together. If we don't take on a name together now, we only delay this same decision for them. Do they have my name, his name, or both? My name if it's a boy, his if it's a girl? There are various solutions avaiable, but I'd rather have our children feel like we're all the same than use them to make quasi political statements. Not to mention that, with our surnames being quite simlar (there is in fact only two letters difference), they sound pretty awful hyphenated.

Early on, I suggested that we think of an entirely new last name together, but we haven't thought of one that we like. To be honest, I've really gotten used to the idea of being Mrs R, married to Mr R. I'm not unthinkingly accepting the tradition. We have thought about and talked about it as a couple and made the decision that we see as most fitting to our long term values. This, I think, is the most important point: it is a decision that we made together. So, I'm pretty sick of justifying it to everybody. This wedding is not about me being a woman and him being a man, it's about us being equal parts of a long term and complex organism.

Our decision doesn't have to be the same as your decision as long as it's right for us.

Yours, The Future Mrs R.