Cupcake competition, etc.

I am so exhausted I can barely function, but guess what? I won second place at the cupcake competition this morning! Since we had to use garlic, I made a garlic/chocolate gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a garlic/ginger/walnut brittle on top. In my humble opinion, the cupcake turned out delicious! Actually, everyone did a great job. The winner had been practicing her cupcake for over a month, so I think she deserved to win (although I secretly liked mine better). Here are everyone’s cupcakes:

Mine!
Mine! I used this recipe. I added blanched, minced garlic and ginger to the cupcake.  I can’t find the link I used for the brittle, but basically I found a garlic brittle recipe and added some ginger (both powdered and fresh, blanched and minced).
This is a chocolate garlic cupcake with hibiscus icing and an inside surprise of figs soaked in a port wine reduction.
This is a chocolate garlic cupcake with hibiscus icing and an inside surprise of figs soaked in a port wine reduction.
cornmeal cupcakes with saffron icing and avocado garnish.
cornmeal cupcakes with saffron icing and avocado garnish.
an ancho chile chocolate cupcake next to the winner, a basil cupcake soaked in a garlic simple syrup topped with blackberry icing, white chocolate and garlic brittle.
an ancho chile chocolate cupcake next to the winner, a basil cupcake soaked in a garlic simple syrup topped with blackberry icing, white chocolate and garlic brittle.
One of the cupcakes wasn't pictured, but it was a garlic chocolate mousse cupcake with a garlicky ganache. It was really garlicky, but very good!
One of the cupcakes wasn’t pictured, but it was a garlic chocolate mousse cupcake with a garlicky ganache. It was really garlicky, but very good!
The contenders ready for judgment.
The contenders ready for judgment.

Abe and the girls showed up at the end, but they didn’t let them in the kitchen. I gave them cupcakes to go outside and eat:

cupcake mary cupcake mary cupcake2 lydia eating cupcakeI won a James Beard Award winning cookbook on bread baking (can’t remember the title) and a bunch of things that I actually already own. But it was still so fun!

Here are the other activities of the day:

6 am Bikram Yoga; getting my mom’s car serviced/washed; errands at Target, the gas station, sprouts and Smith’s Garden Center; FHE; planting tomatoes as a family (almost all of the plants I planted earlier died from frost and, um, because I forgot to water them); cooking dinner; eating outside; cleaning the kitchen; bathing the girls; paying bills; tidying various parts of the house.

Here are the accompanying pictures:

Abe took a break from paying bills and played with Lydia. It was one of the happiest parts of his day.
Abe took a break from paying bills and played with Lydia. It was one of the happiest parts of his day.

lydia cooking for abe2 lydia playing with abe

Planting tomatoes. Lydia went really nuts with the hose and basically gave the entire exterior of our house a big shower.
Planting tomatoes. Lydia went really nuts with the hose and basically gave the entire exterior of our house a big shower.

Abe and I have been trying to watch a movie for months. We are both so tired–but we’re determined to finally watch one. I think we might to either Saving Mr. Banks or Lincoln. (Whichever’s shorter??)