Musical musings for June

The month of June 2013 should be referred to by the music artist who dominated it for me, that of Taylor Swift. Obviously reason being is her concert, which I am attending on Saturday night and really excited for. I wanted to listen to her music loads this month to add to the anticipation. Also, I find concerts much more enjoyable when you can sing along to the songs without feeling like you are stumbling through the words. Once more I used the iTunes 'complete my album' feature to purchase the remainder of her Red (Deluxe Edition) album. 

Not content with just adding these fifteen songs of hers, I bought one more as well as a song from one of her support acts Ed Sheeran and two other songs:

1. Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift
2. Give Me Love - Ed Sheeran
3. Clarity (feat. Foxes) - Zedd
4. Ho Hey (feat. Lennon & Maisy) - Nashville Cast

The cover of 'Ho Hey' by the two very talented, young stars of Nashville is fantastic. They are an amazing sister act and I look forward to more of their singing in season two. Until then bring on Saturday evening and what I know is going to be a great concert and the best way to lead into my vacation.

June's music can be found on these albums (both images courtesy of iTunes)

Mini vanilla cupcakes with mango frosting

Using recipes I know work well and searching for new ones to challenge and inspire are both important to me. This is why when I decided to make cupcakes for a colleague's birthday; I chose to scour the web for an untried mini vanilla cupcake recipe as well as some frosting inspiration. Once I had found the cupcake recipe here, it didn't take me long to find the ideal frosting for them courtesy of a link at the bottom of the webpage. The mango frosting appealed to me for two reasons, that of the flavour and also because of what was involved in making it. I was further intrigued by the fact that there was no icing sugar in the recipe. I must admit I had a lot of trouble hunting down mango puree and the thought crossed my mind to purchase mango/pear baby food. Thankfully, I came to my senses, as I couldn't in all good conscience have adults eat that as part of the frosting. By the time I got to the fourth supermarket, I settled on a can of organic mango chunks and proceeded to puree it including some of the juice in my food processor. I made the first part of the frosting recipe, set it aside to cool then made the cupcakes before returning to the frosting. I baked the cupcakes for eighteen minutes and probably could have left them in the oven for another minute or two because this morning I noticed a few of them in small sections had started to come away from their liner.

I believe this is the first time I have frosted cupcakes and not finished them with sprinkles. Don't get me wrong, I have loads of sprinkles, but none seemed appropriate. Instead, I used my Wilton 12 decorating tip to apply the frosting and was content with the result. Overall, it was a good combination and I look forward to trying more fruity options.

2013 summer days

I didn't realise until today that tomorrow is officially the start of summer for 2013 as I am still used to seasons starting on the first of the month as they do back home. Regardless tomorrow heralds the beginning of a new season and one that I hope is full of sunshine and fun times. I thought, as so many other people do, that it would be a good idea to come up with what I hope is an achievable summer to do list. This needs to be a list that I can tick off before summer ends for another year on September 21st to be exact. To kick start my inspiration I took a look back at my list from last year. In doing so I realised there is one thing on the list that needs to be present this year because I haven't ticked it off yet. As such, in no particular order, I want to do the following:

1. Visit Bowen Island as a day trip
2. See one of the shows in this year's Theatre under the Stars
3. Buy an awesome blender so I can make delicious smoothies and summer time treats
4. Go canoeing or kayaking at Deep Cove
5. Make some type of pastry from scratch to form the basis of a recipe
6. Book a short trip for the fall or enroll in a class or do both
7. Attend the Fair at the PNE, for everything except the scary rides
8. Find a new area or place in Vancouver or beyond to explore
9. Pick berries and have fun at Krause Berry Farms, which is where we bought raspberries to make the jam seen here
10. Eat healthily post-New York although I would like to find a tasty fish & chip shop

Ten is the magical number this summer and I can't wait to sink my teeth into this list once I am back from my big sisterly adventure. However, whilst I recognise that having some achievable activities already thought up is great, I definitely wouldn't say no to some spontaneity.

High tea and hiking

Did you ever have one of those weekends where you get to the end of it and realise you did quite a lot, but still had some down time too? I had one of them this past weekend. Not to bore you with a complete play by play, but I managed to watch two movies in the comfort of my lounge room, Skype my family and check out the Canucks sale. However, these things were just the tip of the iceberg for me as the two big activities during my weekend were high tea at The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and hiking at Deep Cove to Quarry Rock. I feel like these two things were quite different, but equally enjoyable. I am a big fan of high tea and I definitely recommend doing it in a fancy setting like the one I was a part of on Saturday.

Everything was very classy and I enjoyed being in this environment plus the food was delightful and surprisingly filling. I am looking forward to a return visit, which I plan on getting more dressed up for.

Sunday was a different day altogether, but a fun active one. I'm not the fittest person in the world and whilst my first impression of our hiking location was that it was gorgeous, I still wasn't quite prepared for what awaited me.

Once I settled into my own rhythm and got into the swing of things it was really awesome to be active and doing so in a new place. We made it to the lookout and spent some time there soaking up the glorious views.

This hike did have another purpose, that of salmonberry picking. I really enjoyed this element of our hike...going off the beaten path and battling thorny bushes to pick these little guys. I ate quite a few whilst picking them and found it was a bit hit and miss as to their sweetness and taste.

I have to say I was super proud of myself for getting through the hike and really liked the location. Kayaking or canoeing here this summer is a definite must. Well, overall I had a fantastic weekend and I look forward to many more just like this one.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but I personally find a lot of it these days on the very addictive Pinterest. This is probably why I have over a hundred pins on my board titled 'words'. However, it is not just words that inspire me especially when it comes to doing something I enjoy and creating a celebratory treat for a special occasion. I feel like I am quite an observant person, which I think helped me in baking some cupcakes yesterday to celebrate my lovely housemate, and fellow Aussie, Corinne's birthday. Last year I whipped up two different kinds of cupcakes for her birthday celebrations as mentioned here and here. This makes me think I should have made three types this year because of last year's effort and the fact that we are now housemates, but I am pretty sure the combination I made yesterday was spot on. I chose a dark chocolate cupcake using the recipe I found here while the frosting was again my own creation.

I have to say I was a bit nervous about making these cupcakes as I was using new ingredients and techniques I hadn't used before. I even made sure to bake at least one extra cupcake so I could try it fresh out of the oven. It was only then that I realised there was nothing to worry about. The peanut butter frosting consisted of the following (some are approximate measures as I added ingredients until I was happy with the flavour):

• 1/2 tsp meringue powder
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 generous tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 6 - 8 tsp milk, to create the required consistency

I combined the above ingredients in my KitchenAid stand mixer initially at a lower speed and then on number four until I had achieved the desired consistency. I used my Wilton 1M decorating tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and finished them off with a sprinkling of chocolate jimmies.

I can't wait for the next reason to celebrate in our house, but nothing really beats a birthday celebration. However, I do know when it comes to my baking sometimes celebrations are optional.

On target in Langley

As a foreigner in a now very familiar city I constantly find myself going through the motions of life inside my own little bubble of work and play. Of course there is nothing wrong with this, but it doesn't hurt to keep reminding myself that boundaries are to be pushed and cities are to be explored because my time here may be limited. It is partly for this reason and also because of one of my favourite baking stores that I headed out to the suburbs yesterday. Scoop-N-Save is worth the bus, skytrain, skytrain, bus that is required for someone who lives where I do and is without a car, but wants to visit this store in Langley. It has an abundance of cake making and decorating supplies, enough to make you want to spend a significant chunk of your wages there. However, I settled for a few different cupcake liners, one of which will be featured in my next baking project...stay tuned.

Scoop-N-Save may have been planned as the first in a two stop outing, but the second destination was never reached. This is because we got waylaid by the unexpected discovery that a Canadian Target store had opened in the mall close by. Of course, I couldn't resist going in and finding out if it was anything like it's US counterpart. Alas, as exciting as it was to be in the store, I was left disappointed by the somewhat empty shelves and the lack of variety that I was used to. This was further evidenced by the fact that I walked out with only two pairs of socks. Whilst I may have felt a bit let down, I am glad I had the opportunity to check it out and I know I will return when one opens closer to my house.

All in all it was a nice Saturday in the suburbs, which finished with a bbq and good company.