Halloween Revisited

Although both Los & I swore that Halloween would not be as last minute as it was last year (got Miss A's costume the night before Halloween!), it didn't quite work out that way! It did end up being rather last minute, but between a good friend loaning us an adorable costume for Miss M and making a quick trip to Target to find something for Miss A, we ended up with 2 very cute costumed girls!





Since Miss A is now 2 we decided that we would take her trick-or-treating just around our circle of about 12 homes. She understood that she was supposed to knock on the door and say "Treat Please!" - unfortunately she now thinks that works all of the time!



Even though they only went to a handful of houses, she still ended up with a pumpkin full of treats!

Do You See What I See?

My little girl has 4 teeth now... and she's pretty happy about it!



Where oh where does the time go?

And one more photo, just because....





P.S. More photos to come to explain my long absence from blogging!

The Ohio State Fair

A few weeks ago, the family & I drove out to Columbus to go to the Ohio State Fair. Having never been to a State Fair, we weren't really sure what to expect. There were of course all the standards of rides, carnival food, and crowds, but also agriculture displays, art displays (that somehow we missed!) and lots of different performers and commercial displays. It ended up being a long day but also a lot of fun.

It was also the first time that Miss A actually enjoyed a carnival ride! (I still need to post our photos from Miss A's first attempt at a carousel...)




And a few more artsy shots of the fair...







More to come another day!

Rain Rain Go Away

Today our afternoon plans were washed away by a large thunderstorm that rolled through, but as a result I captured a photo of Miss A that is a new favorite of mine.



Maybe the rain wasn't so bad...I think I might have to get this printed on a canvas for the living room!

A New Prop

As I've slowly been starting up EKC Photography, I've been acquiring props here & there for photo shoots. I did a quick shoot with Miss M and I can easily see this becoming one of my favorite items to use during a shoot! Can you tell what the prop is?





Miss A also joined in for a few photos. I can see these 2 playing together in the near future!

Already?!

Hard to believe that it's already been 6 months!

Buttermilk Cupcakes with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Last weekend I felt the urge to bake again so I pulled out a new cupcake book to try a recipe. I recently picked up Martha Stewart's Cupcakes - It's a great cookbook with tons of photos and creative design ideas for cupcakes! The first recipe I decided to try was for Buttermilk cupcakes - a fairly basic cake, but I already had buttermilk in the fridge that I didn't want to waste so this was a perfect use for it.

One downside to the recipes in the Cupcakes is they are written for 36 cupcakes - too many for this household! Because the quantities in the recipe aren't easily spilt, I had to slightly modify the recipe to only make 16.

1.5 cups cake flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/8 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/8 cup sugar
2 whole eggs, plus 2 yolks, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. On medium-high speed, cream butter & sugar until pale & fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until eggs are incorporated. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

3. Divide batter among cups - filling each 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes.


Top the finished cupcake with whatever frosting you'd like - the joy of buttermilk cupcakes is that it's a great base to be creative with! I opted to use a chocolate swiss meringue and also to fill half the cupcakes with melted chocolate.







Enjoy!!