What do you do with 2 mushy avocados?

I bought a few avocados last week and forgot about them until the other night. They had become so ripe that they were too soft for a salads and I didn't have the right ingredients for guacamole. These little guys were expensive so I had to figure out how to use them up fast. Here is what I came up with: 

I introduce you to the avocado cupcake....

Before I stirred cocoa into the frosting, it was lime green (well, avocado green, technically). While this could be fun for St. Patty's day or someone who really loves green, I thought it looked more appetizing when it looked like chocolate. 

The cupcake on the bottom right depicts the natural color of avocado icing. 

Avocado cupcakes are brilliant because basically you just sub this nutritious veggie for the butter in both the cake and icing. They also happen to be vegan. I wouldn't say that they were the most amazing cupcakes I've ever had, but they were pretty tasty. I'd probably make them again if I was craving a healthy-ish chocolate cupcake and had some avocados to get rid of. They are not overly sweet and while you can't taste the avocado in the cake, you can definitely taste it in the frosting. It sounds weird, but it tastes fine-unless you dislike avocados. Daryl was a fan (which says something because he is not much of a sweets guy and claims to dislike chocolate). In case you are feeling adventurous, here is the recipe: 

Avocado Cupcakes from Joy the Baker

It's written as a cake recipe. I halved the recipe to make a dozen cupcakes. If anyone decides to make them, let me know what you think!

I Had to Share

This banana bread recipe is amazing. The only modification that I made was to sub 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Enjoy!

Birthdays and Baking

Happy Birthday to Kathy and my Dad! My dad's real birthday was actually on Monday, but this is the day that we've celebrated it for the past few decades and it's on his license and everything. A few years ago, my mom came across his birth certificate and discovered that we've been a few days off...so now we acknowledge birthday #1 and birthday #2.
In their honor, I baked these awesome cookies and made biscotti for the first time (so easy!). I also had a fancy latte for breakfast. I was into the foamy peacock.

I worked this promo over the last few days (I'm the second one from the right) promoting a new store opening.
The awesome thing is that I scored a new raincoat, jeans and sweatshirt and an umbrella. Maybe I will send the sweatshirt to my mom, because when I think of this brand, I think of her 20+ year old esprit sweatshirt. She still wears it all the time. It's the oldest sweatshirt I've ever seen...and the thing has held up. That's quality.

Things That Have Happened Lately

Job/Career Efforts:

-I've been going on meetings and I'm now freelancing with 2 different agencies-- one print and one commercial. What does this mean? Hopefully it means that I will be auditioning for jobs that I did not previously have access to. I haven't been sent out yet but we'll see how it goes. Commercials may not be the most artful form of acting, but they can be very lucrative. And it sure beats most of the craptastic jobs I had last year. On that note,
I randomly got called in to do some background work on a commercial. It was a pretty sweet gig...but being in the foreground is much sweeter. Residuals!!

I also did stand-in work for the first time a few weeks ago, which is where you literally stand in for the actors while the director and crew set up the lights, cameras, etc. So yeah...you literally get paid for standing around all day (or in my case, sitting around, because most of the scenes took place at a diner or restaurant). While this was educational and fun to do for a few days, it would get really old if I did it often. The guy I was working with stands in full time for the lead on the show and he's been doing it for the past 5+ years.

I signed up to take an eleven week class at an acting school that I really like. It starts next month. I took scene study classes there two years ago and I'm really excited about meeting some new folks, working on some scenes, etc. It will be a nice change of pace; lately I've been working on/performing commercial copy, i.e., exuberantly declaring my love for graham crackers to a wall.  

In My Apartment-

I have been in a baking mood lately. The following websites have been particularly inspiring to me: 

joythebaker.com (made the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies and lowfat oatmeal banana bread...yum)
simplyrecipes.com (made the snickerdoodles twice...Daryl's request, personally ate too many)
smittenkitchen.com  (hmm....haven't made anything from here yet, but it's a great site with pretty pics)

I also made oreo bon bons for an Oscar-watching party. Heaven. I want to eat one (or two, or three) right now. I prefer a white chocolate coating. While the ingredients are simple, they do take some time to whip up. This is a good thing. This way, I will not make them every week. In addition to the bon bons, I made a lemon loaf, mainly because I wanted to use my new loaf pan.

I tried to make stir fry, but it was sort of soggy and tasted like oil. This made me sad because it was my second attempt/failure and also because my mother-in-law was in town and that's what she got for dinner one night, and especially because I feel that stir fry making should come more naturally. My dad is Asian. He makes awesome stir fry, which I've eaten all my life. Apparently, I never got a lesson and I lack the stir-fry making instinct. I love Asian food, but come to think of it, I'm generally not good at preparing it. I'll let my dad be the expert.

Husband:
is good. Very busy. Busy Daryl=Happy Daryl.

Larry:
gets to eat more, but still acts like he's starving.  He was looking too scrawny. As documented, this dude eats anything and everything. He's the most food motivated dog I've ever encountered. He even goes for the stuff that is toxic to dogs (grapes, chocolate, onions).  The other day, discovered the one food on the planet that he does not like. Folks, Larry hates spinach. There you go. This week marks our two year anniversary with him.

This was rather long-winded.

Still Here

I can't believe it's March already! What happened to February? Since my last post, I have been working, baking, meeting with agents and hanging out with my mom-in-law, who was in town for the weekend. And we finally have park weather! I also volunteered to be a judge for a young playwrights contest....what was I thinking? I have until tomorrow to read 20ish plays written by elementary students. Must learn to say no...