SCRAMBLED MEGS

off my chest

I am really itching to travel again.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking of how great it felt exploring, eating, walking all day, observing life in little places I’d never heard of, soaking up the European sun, sitting on fast trains, watching sports games and eating battered onion rings, finding great places to chill, sleeping in strange beds, looking at thrift shops, going to every farmer’s market I could find, gazing over cliffs, looking up at giant trees in the Californian forest, cutting through the streets of New York at night, smelling exciting new smells and hearing wonderful new sounds. How great it was to sit in a park in the middle of Paris and eat freshly baked baguettes, how amazing driving from LA to Vancouver was and all that I encountered along the way, the burritos I ate and how cold the night was in quiet Pasadena when we ventured out to find late night food. So many very special moments.

I do feel excited back home, as there is always something beautiful that needs attention and exciting things to play with, eat or look at BUT there is something about being away from the idea of stability, draining 9-5 jobs and cutlery sitting  in the top drawer that makes me feel truly excited and very much alive.

I would love to relive it all or just do it again a different way. Train it through Europe. Explore the place my family were born. Hang with one of my best friends at a party in Brooklyn, get irrationally terrified of the possibility of being smashed up by Elk, snuggle in an apartment in Paris in our underpants.

I remember so many moments, how everything felt and sometimes I can recall how moments smell and it feels so real, like I’m right back there again - those thoughts make me feel so calm and happy. 

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

Guinness and Bailey’s Irish Cream Cupcakes
recipe from Annie’s Eats
*makes 24 cupcakes


Ingredients:
For the cupcakes-
-1 cup Guinness
-2 sticks unsalted butter
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-2 cups all-purpose flour
-2 cups sugar
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-3/4 tsp salt
-2 large eggs
-2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey’s ganache filling-
-8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
-2/3 cup heavy cream
-2 tbsp room temperature butter
-2 tsp Bailey’s Irish cream

For the Bailey’s buttercream frosting-
-1 stick butter, room temperature
-3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
-4-8 tbsp Bailey’s Irish cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Fill 2 cupcake tins (24 total) with paper liners. Heat Guinness and 2 sticks of butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Once butter is melted, whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sour cream until well combined. Add the Guinness-butter mixture and mix to combine. Slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing on low until just combined.
3. Divide batter evenly among muffin tins (so each is 3/4 full). Bake for approximately 17 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from tins and cooling completely on a wire rack.
4. To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan until simmering. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour simmering cream over it. Allow to sit for 1 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the butter and Bailey’s until well combined.
5. Once the ganache has cooled (stir occasionally while cooling) and the cupcakes are cooled completely, cut out a small cone from the center of each cupcake using a paring knife. Set cone aside. Using a piping bag with a wide tip, pipe a bit of ganache into the center of each cupcake. Lightly press cone back into cupcake to cover ganache.
6. To make the frosting, beat butter in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth. Add Bailey’s and continue to beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or Bailey’s, depending on preferred taste and texture.
7. Frost cupcakes as desired. Refrigerate finished cupcakes until serving.

Taken from The Sweet’s Life