Homemade Love

For Valentine's day I made some gourmet vegan cupcakes.  I wanted to recreate the velvety sweetness of black forest cake and the gooey explosion of custard that can only be discovered in a Boston cream donut, so I grabbed a pad of paper and set out to mix and combine recipes.  
I settled on four different flavours and braced myself for several hours of cooking.  A day and a half later (twelve hours, actually) these little beauties came about.  The results were definitely worth the underestimated effort. 


This Boston Cream cupcake kept bursting from its custard.  The ganache was thick and rich though, so it kept a nice little 'cap' over the filling.

Layers of Kahlua and coffee-soaked cake complete this surprisingly light Tiramisu cupcake.

The cherry filling was very annoying to make- the consistency wouldn't harden for hours! But when it was done, it was well worth it, and I guess I have to say, it was the 'cherry on top' of the entire creation. Behold, the Black Forest cupcake.

This Cookies N' Cream cupcake was actually my personal favorite. Easy to make and very cream and true-to its origins.  Oh, by the way, Oreo cookies are vegan!

Oldies

Lately I've been thinking about the true meaning of the word vintage. Most of the time I hear it used when referring to a dress with slightly scuffed sleeves or a funny looking hat, but I wonder if memories can be considered vintage just as well.  Does a certain thought become vintage after a while? Are all memories essentially vintage ideas? And most importantly, what about people?  I found some of my favorite photographs, some of which include my favorite people, taken many years ago.  Most of these people still make the same jokes they made back then, still laugh the same way, and still pose like this for pictures even now, yet parts of them will always be slightly scuffed, and perhaps even funny looking. Vintage love, vintage happiness, vintage life, really. 


Apparently, holding snakes in photos was considered classy when I was four years old
My mother told me stories that sounded just as dreamy as this photo





This picture summarizes my mother very well. Every second thought is accompanied by laughter.
Shopping trips. I obviously have somewhere very important to be.
Nothing has ever felt the way this monkey did. I only wish we could meet again.


A fabulous day at the beach! In Europe, kids don't wear bathing suits. Kinda pervy.
This is one of my most favourite pictures. I had found a roll of undeveloped film and developed this picture on a whim in the dark room.  There, minutes later, I saw parts of my childhood that I had no recollection of, whatsoever. Sometimes I wonder if it actually was a dream, or if maybe this was just a drawing.
My cousin, now forty. We played a lot in vegetable patches.
I'll admit this photo is slightly creepy due to my eyebrows.





My other cousin is now a dentist. The days of scuba-diving are long gone.
Yes, love grows vintage just as well, but in the kind of way that makes you want to wear it every day.