…BREAKFAST CUPCAKES! They’re butter cupcakes with maple frosting and a sausage link on top.

Next: meatloaf cupcakes!

Juan Romera sent in his finished pages for Frater Mine #8, “And Thro’ the Field the Road Runs By”, part six of “Here, There and Nowhere”. And I have to say they’re brilliant! Click to enlarge:

The pages are going to be sent off to Ed Brisson for lettering. Look for it to be printed by the end of the year!

I LOVE Weird City Theatre, not only because I’m a company member and because next summer they’re doing a superhero play that I’m writing (!!!), but because they put on some innovative shows, and Hallowe’en is our favorite season. Last year, we did “Night of the Living Dead“, and this year WTC has adapted F. W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” for the Austin stage (picture to come soon). Early reviews say it’s a hit, and I’ve been fortunate enough to house manage the show, and to provide concessions, particularly, Elvis cupcakes: banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and candied bacon. So far, people seem to like them.

Since I’ve been asked for the recipe, I’m going to post it here; however, I’m going to start with a disclaimer: these aren’t my recipes. I’m not even sure this is an original idea (I’m actually too scared to google it). The other day I was thinking about what would be a great treat for the show, and this came to mind.

Banana cupcakes:

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
* 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
* 2 large eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

Peanut butter frosting:

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup creamy peanut butter
* 3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
* 2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

Candied bacon:

1. Preheat over to 425.
2. Place bacon on a rack inside a cookie sheet and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar.
3. Bake until shiny and crisp (about 25 minutes)

Assemble all the parts. Try them at your next party and let me know how they go over.

concern troll

fantabulation

Oh. My. Goodness. YES!

Xposted at CPB

At six o’clock the Thursday after Labor Day, I told my students, “It’s new comics day. I love you. Get out.” They probably didn’t believe the “I love you” part, but they knew I meant “Get out.” What could I do? Their young, impressionable, yearning minds were keeping me from getting Absolute New Frontier.

It’s enough to say that I got the ANF (only $75.00 minus an additional 10%, thanks ABC!), but it wasn’t all I got. Of course.

Collecting is a sickness. It is. In order to be a good collector, one needs to feel that unless one has every member of a set, then one is incomplete. One also needs to not care about potential financial ruin or personal relationships (which, contrary to a popular song lyric, do require money to seal the deal; I mean, for anyone with self-esteem) . All that matters is completeness. Completeness is one. If you don’t believe me, go to San Diego for Comic Con one year. You’ll see what I mean.

Having poor impulse control helps, too. It helps a lot.

Here’s what I love about the Absolute editions (besides the annotations): they’re large and heavy, which means they’re important, which means they’re worth having. Seriously, these things have more gravitas than Ian McKellen doing King Lear for the Kennedy family. To further illustrate this, I own the Arkham Horror series of boardgames. All of them. I’ve never played them, but, God help me, together they weigh almost 40 pounds and have over 2,000 playing pieces. That alone is enough for me to have invested close to $300 in them.

Let me say that again: I’ve never played them.

You see where this is going.

Absolute New Frontier is sitting on my shelf. Still in the shrink wrap. Still unread. And going to stay that way. Pristine. My boyfriend expressed dismay about this. And if she knew about it, I’m sure my mother would, too.

Even with a 10% discount (everyday on trade paperback and graphic novels!) $75 seemed a bit steep, but $60 seemed perfectly reasonable and $47 seemed like I was holding a gun to someone’s head, or so I told myself when I saw that’s how much Absolute Crisis on Infinite Earths, Absolute Sandman Volume One and Absolute Kingdom Come cost on Amazon.com respectively. And these weren’t even the New & Used, these were off-the-Amazon-shelves-and-still-shrink-wrapped new. What could I do? I’m a collector what a thing for gravitas and annotations. I got them. And when they arrive they will go to my shelf. Unwrapped. Unread. Pristine.

Billy Mumy’s cornfield was never so wonderfully populated.

In my own defense (sorta), I didn’t buy Seduction of the Innocent as I had originally planned. I researched the book a bit and found that the original publisher cut two pages out of the book (the bibliography) to avoid any possible lawsuit, even if it did destroy the integrity of the book’s research. My goal now is to own a copy with those pages intact. I have some self-control and pride. But only some. And I’m pretty sure even Neil Gaiman doesn’t own this book. So, watch out, Neil; I’m gonna be one up on you yet!

Xposted at CPB

With summer being over, I’m on my own in the evenings more often than not. My boyfriend is back at school, as am I, and living in different counties means casual visits don’t happen on school nights. There is also nothing on TV I have to watch. Yet. This leaves me with the dog and my laptop and my obsessive thoughts. Once I get an idea in my head, it paces from one lobe to another like a caged panther, and though I had more or less dismissed the idea of owning Absolute New Frontier because it was cost prohibitive, well, there’s always Amazon New & Used to check out.

See, the panther finds sneaky ways out of the cage.

The first thing I found out was that Absolute New Frontier was (and still is) OOP. Which meant it was $100. Which meant I needed to get back to ABC before their stock was gone because if there’s one thing that makes me wetter than annotations it’s “OOP”. It’s the bell that undams the drool. Unfortunately, this was late last Tuesday night (like, after midnight late), and I wouldn’t have a real reason to go to ABC until Thursday when the new comics were shelved. But beast had to be fed. Immediately. So, I went back to the beginning: Gaiman’s shelves.

[stage whisper] I have a good word and a bad word for whomever took the pictures of the Gaiman library: the subject matter is rare air, heady and unbelievable; however, the blow-ups are blurry, bad bad quality pics for someone had the pro credentials to get into Neilland. They frustrate the girl with an eye on her own library. Still, before an hour was gone, I had stacked an impressive pile of books in my Amazon cart (my own invisible plane, as it were), including Shadows Over Baker Street, Tonight, Somewhere in New York, The Brand-X Anthology of Poetry, The Brand-X Anthology of Fiction, The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club, The Ten-Cent Plague and Anno-Dracula. I balked at a copy of Seduction of the Innocent, which I’m now reconsidering because, ya know, “OOP”.

Shameless, I know. Actually plagiarizing someone else’s library. There should be a law.

Having successfully spent more money on books than I had on food for the month, I settled on the couch with the dog and considered my spree over with one codicil: I would get Absolute New Frontier the next day, then I could consider the panther at rest.

Right?

To be continued…

Labor Day weekend meant that my local comics shop – Austin Books and Comics – had its annual sale on selected hardcovers, complete series’ sets and trade paperbacks. Being an American and therefore a consumer, I went to see if they had anything I couldn’t live without. At first, there really wasn’t, though I lingered on a complete set of Scurvy Dogs for about twenty minutes longer than was necessary for the staff to come back and check on me several times. Then I saw Absolute New Frontier.

Oh my.


When New Frontier debuted, I looked at the issue, but didn’t really have any abiding interest in the series. It wasn’t until I saw the animated movie that I realized what a work of genius the story was. I got the set on eBay that night. Now, I was confronted with an Absolute edition of this great story, complete with annotations. ooOOOh. Nothing makes me wetter than annotations; they’re like secrets told around the water cooler, historical rumors. And the price of all this deliciousness was $75.00.

And that popped the balloon. There was no way I was gong to spend $75 on this book, no matter how cool. There went my dream of having the Gaiman library. If I wasn’t going to commit the money (my money, at least; should a sugar daddy come along, I’d have no problem spending his money), there was no way I’d be able to fill a single room with books, let alone a whole basement.

That was, until I went to Amazon.com later that week.

To be continued…

Xposted at CPB

badinage

I’m going to blame Neil Gaiman.

A few weeks ago, Shelfari posted pictures of Gaiman’s home library, and I simply had to have it. I have never been more envious of anyone of anything ever. Ever. However, not knowing the guy, I can say with some assuredness that he’s not going to bequeath his Lexical Heaven to me ‘cuz I’m such a swell person. So, I invented a fantasy in which it was totally possible for me to have his library and read it too: a Zombie Apocalypse. There’s me, see, a lonely survivor of the Awakening making my way cross country after Austin is mostly decimated (in all actuality, Austin would probably be one of the few cities in the the US to survive a zombie attack; everyone here knows the best ways to defend against them and it’s Texas, so guns and ammo are readily available at any convenience store (though I see myself more as a samurai sword-and-shillelagh kind of survivor)) to Gaiman’s Minnesota abode. There, I meet my family and a handful of other like-minded (i.e., “well-read”) survivors, and we make our way to Gaiman’s basement. He’s not there, nor is his family. I’m not sure where they are in my fantasy. I know they’re not dead because I’m certain I don’t want to live in a post-apocalyptic Gaiman-less world. I mean, that’s just too bleak. Maybe they’re waiting out the Awakening on an island somewhere. It doesn’t matter. They’re not there, and JOY!! the library is also a panic room. So, we lock ourselves in and spend our days reading and telling stories al la The Decameron. The library is mine. The end.

I know what you’re thinking: On what desert island with no hope of rescue will that be happening? Well, of course, it’s a fantasy, but I still couldn’t stop looking at the pictures of what a real home library could be if one happened to be as wealthy, talented and literate as Neil Gaiman. Being none of those, there was really only one option for me: I had to buy every book in his library for myself. Finances be damned!

And don’t think I won’t do it!

To be continued…

Xposted at CPB