Today is parent-teacher conferences.

[conuly]

It's also the bake sale that goes with parent teacher conferences :)

I shelled out and made or bought:

1. Chocolate chip cookies. These burned, so I tossed them - they were made with butter, I can't even have the nieces eat them :(

2. Blondie. Yum!

3. Brownies. Probably also yum.

4. THE BESTEST CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES EVER. They were too soft to smear the frosting on (my normal method) so I piped it on with... interesting results. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

5. Juice boxes

6. Funfetti cupcakes in ice cream cups with rainbow frosting (that is, each cupcake was a different color of the rainbow, not "they were frosted rainbowly") and sprinkles.

Well, these were a big hit and the kids all wanted some.

However, they're top-heavy and prone to falling.

If I can figure out how to make them so they won't fall down as soon as I blink funny, I'd love to make them for EVERY bake sale, they were so popular! Any ideas?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, because the cupcakes were so fally downy, and because I had so much STUFF to bring, I put them all in my little red wagon that lives under my porch. I put a sheet in it first to protect the food from the wagon, but now I need to wash the sheet. (And yes, I did lug the kids back home in the wagon as a ONE TIME ONLY offer!)

On my way, like, RIGHT after I left the house, I managed to scratch my hand against a bush or some plywood or I don't know what. And I didn't want to run up a few flights of stairs to tape it up (leaving the food on the street, no less), so I decided to ignore it until I could get a bandaid.

I got to the school, waved my hand in a "wait wait!" way at Evangeline's teacher (I hoped) and popped into the office to ask for a bandaid. Wow, I was bleeding more than I realized! "You'll have to ask the nurse".

Well, as I was pushing my way through little kids to get to the nurse's office, this woman comes up to talk to me. So I'm trying to correct her on the "Eva's mom" point and listen to what she's saying and ALSO get to the nurse when I realize - hey! This IS the nurse! And I'm sure whatever she's saying about Evangeline's apparent affliction is important, but meanwhile could she fix this...? "OH MY GOD THAT'S BAD!"

No, I say, it's just been bleeding for a few blocks, it's not as bad it looks. Well, we go into the office and I wash my hand (I could've squirted on my own soap) and what do you know - it actually IS as bad as it looks! So I get my bandaid (I could've put it on myself, I'm actually a grown-up) and finally take a minute to figure out what's wrong with Evangeline. I didn't want to seem uncaring, I just also didn't want to bleed to death all over the floor. It's a bitch to get up blood, you know. (Connie-Evangeline confidentiality prevents me from disclosing her mystery illness to anybody other than her parents, unless necessary to illustrate a funny story. Which it's not.)

Comments

[marveen.livejournal.com]

I just finished some wheat-free soy-free egg-free chocolate-chunk-walnut cookies for the Captain, and I used coconut oil instead of lard or shortening. (It's solid at room temp, so why not?)

They spread and flattened as though I had used all butter, so coconut oil may be a viable sub for butter (that doesn't involve hydrogenation). Its low melt point seems to be a good feature, and there's a delicate background taste of coconut to the cookies. (It's not overwhelming, but it's definitely there.)

[conuly]

We do have coconut oil, but to tell you the truth, because it gets called in to be used for the hair so often it often has, well, hair in it. I'm *so* not cooking with that one!

I have no doubt that it works as well as butter for the same reasons you explained. I like how butter tastes, though, so mostly I use goat butter if I must, or margarine if I don't must.