Remember when I signed up for Run For Your Lives, a 5K Obstacle Course Mud Run in which you’re chased by zombies the entire time? You might also remember, then, when I finished the race (but barely) and lost all my life flags in the process.

Well, last spring I heard about the Tough Mudder - an extreme obstacle course where you complete 10-12 miles (that’s 15-20 km!) and roughly 25 obstacles that test your strength, stamina, and teamwork.

Tough Mudder PA – Electric Eel. Photo by The 621st Contingency Response Wing on Flickr

After doing Run For Your Lives (and having a BLAST) I got the crazy idea to sign up for a Tough Mudder event, with super fun terrifying obstacles like:

• Arctic Enema: swimming – and diving through! – an ice water bath
• Boa Constrictor: worming your way through a series of tubes filled with muddy water
• Funky Monkey: swinging across monkey bars, which sounds fun but they’re greased up AND you fall into an ice bath if you drop. Oh, did I mention they’re also on an incline/decline?
• Everest: somehow sprinting up and over a quarter-pipe covered in mud, grease, and other people
• Walk the Plank: a 15+ foot jump into cold water (and then you swim)
• Fire Walker: running through blazing hot, kerosene soaked hay bales that are lit on fire

and, the very last one before you get your orange headband of triumph and a cold beer:

• Electroshock Therapy: running through a bunch of live electrical wires, some that have 10,000 volts.

Aieeee.

Behold! The bad ass logo I designed for our team.

Somehow, I also convinced seven (possibly crazy) friends to do it with me: so we’ve got a kick ass team of eight ready to torture ourselves over 20 km of ski hills at Mount St. Louis Moonstone on May 11. We’ve even got a fancy team name and logo and are getting fancy technical shirts made so we can look bad ass as we tumble down, off, and over obstacles on our way to the finish line.

Needless to say, even with my former Booty Camp classes, gym membership, synchro practices, and various other physical activities – I need to kick it up a SERIOUS notch.

I designed myself a training plan from now (er, from Feb. 24 actually) until the Mudder, and have been (mostly) sticking to it so far. I’m a little behind these last two days because I nearly wrecked my quads after a treadmill sesh followed by some serious bouldering and a killer lower leg workout – I’ve been waddling (literally, I wish I was kidding) for two days straight.

Basically, it involves some sort of physical activity five days a week for the month of March – working on the Couch to 5K program, doing upper and lower body strength training, rock climbing, and some light yoga to help keep me all bendy and uninjured (hopefully, at least). In April, I plan to take it up a notch. I’ll be done the C25K program by then and will start working on running longer distances (and, if the weather cooperates, beginning to trail run since I’m training on the treadmill right now). I also plan to work in some HITT and Tabata training, hopefully working out in some semblance 6 days a week instead of 5.

If I stick to this, I’m pretty confident I won’t die will make it to the end of the Tough Mudder.

Of course, there will be some modifications as I go: sometimes I might want to put in an impromptu workout with friends, or swap a gym date for the pool, etc… but the goal is really to try and be active five days a week. For instance, I can already tell you right now I did NOT do Wednesday’s scheduled C25K running, as my legs were shot from the previous two days, so I just stuck to Yoga.

Either way, I’m going to be blogging about my progress as I go – the plan is to do a recap of my weekly workouts, etc. It will not only hopefully be interesting to read and follow along, but most importantly it’ll keep ME accountable for my diet and exercise, as I tend to fall off the exercise horse if I don’t have someone to remain accountable to. My couch is just so much comfier than the deadweight bench at Goodlife ;)

Week One

Sunday Feb. 24

• Rest Day

Monday Feb. 25

• C25K 4-2 (1.77 miles in 30 minutes)
• Upper Body (15 x 3): push ups, tricep dips, back rows (10lbs), bicep curls (20lbs), lat raises (15lbs), and assisted chin ups (90lbs assist)

Tuesday Feb. 26

• Boulderz Climbing
• Lower Body (x2): 20 prisioner squats, 15 lunges/leg, 15 elevated to one leg squat/leg, 20 jump squats, 15/leg donkey kicks

Wednesday Feb. 27

• Yoga (1 hour)

Thursday Feb. 28

• Rest Day

Friday March 1

• Synchro practice (2 hours)
• Upper Body (x3): 15 pushups, 15 tricep dips, 15 back rows (10lbs), 30 bicep curls (5lbs), 20 lat raises (5 lbs)

Saturday March 2

• Unintentional day off :(

WARNING: If you luv, love, LURVE Valentine’s Day, you might want to click here and look at photos of adorable puppies instead of reading down.

Still with me?

Okay, good.

Now let me just throw this out there, before you ask or make assumptions: I’m not single and I’m not bitter.

However, I do hate Valentine’s Day. (Attention, Canada: feel free to change my mind on this any time you want by making it a statutory holiday. Wink wink, nudge nudge).

I mean sure, it’s bastardized and overly commercial and the entire universe looked like it puked hearts and pink and red everywhere, but what holiday ISN’T bastardized by now? Personally, I think we SHOULD bastardize (and, uh, celebrate) Dyngus Day here in Canada, because any day that sanctions thowing water on boys is my kind of holiday (equality, yo! ;).

Holidays-I-Wish-Were-Widely-Celebrated aside (sorry, Mad Hatter Day), I feel like this ooey, gooey, holiday of mush is a touch, uh, far off from the initial meaning of the day.

You see, while you were enjoying your fancy dinner and heart-shaped chocolates, exactly 1,743 years ago poor St. Valentine,  Patron of Love, Young People and Happy Marriages was busy getting his head chopped off.

Happy Valentines Day, indeed.

Oh, and this holiday was also allegedly invented as a way for the Catholic Church to circumvent another religion’s holiday. Yep, according to some historians Valentine’s Day was created to take the place of a pagan holiday that fell in mid-Feburary.

Charming.

So no, I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.

In fact, yesterday my boyfriend and I got up, cleaned the kitchen, did some separate work on our computers, he did laundry while I finished up, then we had leftovers for dinner before he went to work and I went rock climbing with my friends… just like many other nights!

Gasp, shock, the horror.

It’s not that we don’t like doing nice things for each other, it’s just that the very notion of the stress (and money) of trying to make this “perfect” evening makes me want to hurl.

Did you know that last year, Americans spent a whopping $17.6 BILLION on Valentine’s Day. Billion! And the average person spends $126.03, but that’s an “average” for both genders. This is where Valentine’s Day gets sexist – most men spend roughly $168.74, while use ladies only spend $85.76.

So yeah, I’d rather he pops a chocolate rabbit into my lunch in the morning when I’m not looking, or brings me home a pack of mini-eggs because he noticed they were out for Easter now and knows they’re my favourite. I’d rather bring him a coffee on my way home, or make him a nice steak dinner just because. I like to do it because I FEEL like it and I WANT to do it… not because my calendar says it’s February 14th and I therefore HAVE to do it.

Oh, and V-Day is also totally sexist. No, seriously, statistics don’t lie (and this one makes me sad). While 45% of men believe BOTH genders should be celebrated by their partners on Feburary 14th, only 19% of women think they should do something for their man. I mean, geez, ladies! Are we all really this high-maintenance?

I guess we are, since I also read that 53% of freakin’ women say they would END A RELATIONSHIP on Valentine’s Day if they didn’t get a gift. Coincidently, there is ALSO a 40% increase in calls to divorce lawyers after Valentine’s Day.

I mean, seriously? Gentlemen, trust me: you’re WAY better off without her if that’s the reason she called it off (besides, you and I both know you were just waiting for my favourite holiday, the ever-holy Discount-Chocolate-Day, to get her something, right? ;)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to Shoppers to clean out the discount candy aisle.

Over the holidays, my boyfriend and I were invited to his sister’s for a turkey dinner – so naturally  I offered to bring a dessert. Because I can’t really make anything else, but at least I do dessert well. I wanted something that was chocolate, gluten-free, and kid friendly.

And I mean – what kid doesn’t love chocolate brownies and marshmallows?

I’m not even going to try and pretend that these aren’t a calorie laden, ooey, gooey, sinful, delicious mess.

Because they are – but you know what?

They’re totally worth it.

They’re also a huge hit with kids: as it turns out, his nieces really loved them – the eldest, who is 5, requested that we “please leave some” so she could have more the next day, and the youngest (who is almost two) apparently has an (adorable) affinity for marshmallows. In fact, her dad told us “We don’t use that word” (in reference to the word “marshmallow”) – we thought he was joking, until we noticed the two-year-old tottering over to the cupboard, which she opened, pulled out a bag of marshmallows, then promptly walked around the room to mom, dad, and her big sister going “Marshmallow?” and trying to get them to open the bag. When that failed, she just put them back.

I died laughing.

Anyway, needless to say – both nieces loved these brownies (insert the kid-stamp-of-approval here). I totally cheated and used my favourite GF Brownie Box Mix (Bob’s Red Mill) when making these – but, since these s’more concoctions are soooo rich, you only need to use half the recipe for a pan. You can really use any recipe or mix you want – just remember to half it.

Caramel S’more Brownies
Makes 9 large brownies (one 9 x 9 pan) 

• 1/2 a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Fudge Brownie Mix (+ 6 tbsp water, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 egg, and 6 tbsp margarine)
• 1 bag of mini marshmallows
• Kraft caramel squares
• chocolate chips

Grease a 9 x 9 brownie pan, and preheat your oven according to the directions on your brownie mix (for me, that meant 350°). Prepare 1/2 the mix according to directions (be sure to half the other ingredients, like oil, water, and eggs as well… or make the full mix and make two pans of brownies ;).

Take your Kraft caramels, and slice them up into tiny little pieces – scissors work great for this. I got 4-8 bits from each individual caramel, depending on how lazy I was. Set those bits aside for now.

Bake the brownies until you only have about 5 minutes left, then remove them from the oven and cover the top of your brownies with the marshmallows, and sprinkle the caramels around as well. Pop them back in for the remaining 5 minutes, or until the marshmallows are golden brown on top (be sure to keep an eye on the oven – they burn fast!).

Once done, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips around. They cut the best once they’re cooled, but not cold – otherwise the marshmallows are either a) too gooey and hot or b) too stiff to cut. I recommend cutting them all and storing them in an airtight container. I also recommend using a REALLY sharp knife to cut them with.

If you haven’t heard, the big media news recently has been Sun News Network asking the CRTC for mandatory distribution, meaning telecom providers would HAVE to offer Sun News as part of their cable packages. Currently, Sun is in roughly 5.1 million homes, where as CBC is found in 11.6 million. If granted, Sun would also be receiving a $0.18 fee for every subscriber, meaning they’d be getting a good chunk of cash – enough, they say, to turn their $17-million loss into a profit by next year.

Here’s my official two cents on the issue: I don’t believe in mandatory distribution, period.

I think we, as consumers, should have the right to pick and choose what we pay for and watch, just like we pick and choose what we pay for and read. But, that’s not the way it is. And  it’s rather unlikely that will change anytime soon (or, er, ever). So if CBC, Global, CTV, etc. all are mandatorly distributed, why shouldn’t Sun News get a chance to play, too?

So, without the option of picking and choosing our own cable packages channel by channel, I think all legitimate news stations that meet the necessary requirements should be given mandatory distribution. And as a sidenote, we as consumers shouldn’t have to pay more out-of-pocket for this (ie. increased monthly bills). This last point is also important – because Sun, a right-winged, Conservative station is basically advocating for a “tax” on cable bills. Typically, Conservatives favour lower taxes.

There’s a ton of discussion, media, and angry people out there lashing out at the idea, and vehemently declaring that they DON’T support Sun News: and I’m pretty sure many of them are just saying that because Sun, which is nicknamed “The Fox News North”, is so right-winged. But isn’t it a good idea to let others voice their opinion, even if you don’t agree with it? Isn’t it a good idea to hear the other side out, and to challenge your own beliefs and perceptions? Why you don’t have to like, or even watch Sun TV – it’s at least nice that we live in a society where that option is there.

However, I also think we need to take what other media outlets – ex. CTV, The Globe and Mail, etc. – are saying about this with a grain of salt, because I’m already seeing highly bias and skewered news come out, and that’s for one main reason… they’re owned (or at least partly owned) by the giant telecoms, who OBVIOUSLY would not be in favour of this as it hurts their business model. The Rogers and Bells of the country don’t want to pay more money for stations or piss off subscribers by making us pay more (when, IMO, they should be eating a larger portion of these costs since they make so much money to begin with and have a monopoly on the market).

If you want to read more, this is a really balanced and fair article I read on the topic, and there’s also this great blog piece fact-checking the entire debate.

Recently, I signed up to get involved with a really cool blog project being run by Sarah Millar: re-reading (and blogging about!) all of the old Baby Sitters Club books. While I was always a bigger fan of Sweet Valley Twins (and SVH/SVU/etc.), the BSC holds a special place in my heart, too - particularly once the TV show and movies came out, as I spent many summers watching (and re-watching) them with my sister.

If you’re a child of the 80s like I am, I’m sure you remember this series… and maybe even this theme song!

Much like Dawn, I also loved scary stories as a kid (in fact, I still do) — even though they get your imagination racing and make you jump to crazy conclusions over the silliest things (ie. an old house making weird noises).

“I was right in the middle of ‘The Hand of the Witch’ when the lights flickered. They dimmed, went out for a second, then came back on. 

My heart began to pound. Weren’t there tricky spirits called poltergeists that could cause things like that?

My window began to rattle. I know the wind was blowing, but I’d never heard such a racket.

As soon as the rattling stopped, I heard a rat-a-tat-a-tat on the wall.

That did it.

‘Eeee-iii!’ I shrieked.”

Yup, that was totally me (right down to the shrieking), and I think that’s part of the reason this book resonated with me as a kid, and was dubbed my favourite.

While I’ve only written once for the project so far, I have a slew of books I’ve signed up to read (and, of course, blog about) coming up later this month – you can follow along with my posts here, or check out the entire project by clicking here.

Now, back to packing for Florida (we leave tomorrow! :)

For last week’s Friday Five, I wrote a list of five goals I made for 2013. This week, I decided stop looking forward and take a look back at 2012 – no, not at my accomplishments, low moments, goals, vacations, or any of that kind of personal stuff. No, this week we’re looking at the five things that annoyed me the most during 2012. You know – the annoying songs that won’t go away, the terrible fashion trends, the memes gone wrong.

I actually had trouble coming up with this list (as I often do on Fridays), only this time it wasn’t because I was struggling to think of five things. No, THIS time I had trouble writing the list because there were too many things that annoyed the shit out of me last year.

I hope all five of these find their way into the depths of hell, and stay there.

1. Gangnam Style. Seriously, what the hell is up with everyone loving this video? Sure, the video is kind of funny and I guess the song is kind of catchy (after all, it DOES get stuck in my head) but… I don’t get it. Sure, I absolutly LOVE the “Mitt Romney Style” parody, but honestly that’s because I love any hilarious song about American politics (and come one, Mitt Romney is just a gold mine of jokes). But back to Gangnam Style. I find the song more annoying than anything else, and I’ve heard it a bajillion times in the last couple months – I am SO. SICK. of hearing it. The next person I hear yell “Opa Gangnam Style” better run. And don’t even get me STARTED on the parodies that keep popping up everywhere. Don’t you people have anything better to do?

2. 50 Shades of Grey. This book should probably be renamed “50 Shades of the Worst Piece of Crap I Ever Made 1/4 of the way Through Before Skimming the Rest and Promptly Throwing Up in My Mouth Just a Bit”. Ladies, I have a newsflash for you: POSSESSIVE GUYS ARE NOT CUTE. I literally only made it a few chapters in before wanting to gorge my eyeballs out (and only 50% of that was because of the atrocious writing – seriously, E.L. James, fire your editor). Cristian Grey is the most misogynistic, abusive, vomit-inducing douchbag I’ve ever seen written into fiction whose purpose is NOT to wind up being the serial killer all along (I read a lot of mysteries). I’m not actually sure how this a) got published, b) made the bestseller list, and c) is getting turned into a movie. Especially that last one, because how you turn something with no plot, that is riddled with yawn-inducing attempts at “kinky” sex scenes, and setting womankind back about 100 years into a movie is BEYOND me. Girls, are we really this damaged? Do we really have such low self esteem that we think it’s OK for men to treat us like this guy treats Ana? Because it’s not. And if you’re still not convinced, allow me to introduce you to your very own, personal, Cristian Grey:

Oh Jack, you take my breath away!

3. Call Me Maybe Jokes. I love this song. I’ve danced to it more than once in my living room at like 2 a.m. (and by “more than once” I mean, literally, I played it like seven times in a row. On more than one occasion.) I still love this song. No matter how many times I hear it, I never seem to get sick of it. But you know what I AM sick of? Really lame Call Me Maybe jokes. Yeah, some were funny. This one—”Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy – but I just did bath salts: your face looks tasty!”—actually made me snort coke out of my nose. It wasn’t a pretty sight. But the majority of them are so, so, SO bad. And there’s so many of them. And so many people make such terrible Facebook status updates about like, their grilled cheese sandwich, and somehow mush it into that damn song. So, people of the internet, I BEG you: stop with the Call Me Maybe jokes. We’ve beaten that horse to death.

4. Shape Ups. Or really, ANY friggin’ shoe claiming that “JUST BY WALKING IN IT!!!1″ you can tone your ass. Sorry, ladies – but keep dreaming. There are two ways you can get an ass like Kim Kardashian’s. Neither involves a pair of shoes. Unless you count the pair of regular shoes you’ll wear to the gym, two hours at a time, twice a day, seven days a week doing donkey kicks. The other way involves a butt implant. Walking is good for you – I’m not denying that. It’s still being active, and it still helps you stay healthy – but thinking walking will give you the perfect butt is like thinking you can lose weight on a cookies-and-ice-cream diet. And while I’m at it – these stupid shoes (which are also really ugly, FYI) can actually do damage to you if you don’t need them for medical reasons (ie. arthritis). You can sprain your ankle, pull a muscle, or get a stress fracture. So can we please stop fooling ourselves?

5. The Gluten-Free Diet. A GLUTEN FREE DIET IS NOT HEALTHY!!! Phew. Now that I got that off my chest, let me elaborate  I’m gluten-free. But I’m gluten-free because I have an intolerance to gluten, which means when I eat it I get really sick and curl up into a little ball in bed and feel like shit for three days. There is nothing wrong, obviously, with being gluten-free for medical reasons (and intolerances and celiacs is on the rise). There’s also nothing wrong cutting back on gluten in your diet: for instance, eating more salads and less sandwichs or pastas. I’m all for healthy eating. But there IS a problem with those people who think eating gluten-free versions of “regular” food is healthy. If you don’t need to be on a gluten-free diet for medical reasons, you SHOULD NOT be eating gluten-free breads, muffins, cakes, etc. In fact, gluten-free products typically are higher in fat and have more sugar and less nutrients than their gluten-y counterparts. If you compare Udi’s Gluten Free Whole Grain bread with Dempster’s 100% Whole Wheat bread (my GF bread of choice and pre-GF bread of choice), you’ll discover that the gluten-free bread has double the amount of fat, nearly the same amount of carbs, less vitamins, less fibre, less iron, and MORE sugar than the regular bread. So if you’re eating gluten-free because you’re jumping on the fad diet bandwagon, stop. Just eat less grains and carbs and replace them with veggies. THAT’S the healthy way to go “gluten-free”.

When I think of a celebration, I think of party dresses, party hats, and of course, party drinks. And there’s no better celebratory party drink than a bottle of champagne.

Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of champagne – but I do love a good champagne based cocktail; so I figured champagne cupcakes were probably also okay. That, and I do have a soft spot for pink champagne – which is what I used when baking these guys.

Originally, I had intended to make ice wine cupcakes for New Years, but then at the last minute I changed my mind and decided champagne cupcakes were the way to go.

But not just any champagne cupcakes.

Champagne cupcakes with champagne buttercream icing, filled with a chocolate champagne ganache (think “champagne truffle in the center of a cupcake”).

Totally delicious, and perfect for any celebration.

Champagne Cupcakes
Makes 20 | 325° for 20 minutes

• 2 3/4 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup margarine
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup champagne
• 6 egg whites

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream margarine and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy, and set aside. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Grab your first bowl, and alternate adding the flour mixture and champagne into the creamed mixture.

In another large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Before placing in the oven, reduce your heat to 325 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes at 325, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Chocolate Champagne Ganache

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 cup room temperature champagne
• 16 oz (450gr) dark chocolate

Warm the cream in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until bubbles are just forming at the edges. Take it off the heat, and pour over the chocolate chips. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and the mixture is smooth. Add the butter and champagne, and mix well. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes before putting it into the cupcakes.

Champagne Buttercream Icing

• 3 1/4 cups icing sugar
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 tbsp meringue powder
• 7 tablespoons room temperature champagne

Cream the shortening, meringue powder, champagne, and vanilla. Add in the icing sugar, continuing to mix well.

Ice your cupcakes, and enjoy!

1. Complete the Tough Mudder in May. Late last year, five friends and I had the brilliant slightly insane idea to register for the Tough Mudder, a crazy hardcore 15-20KM Obstacle Course designed by the British Special Forces, raising money for the Wounded Warrior Project. If you don’t know what it is, check out the website. Obstacles include swimming through a pool of ice cubs, crawling through a tiny pipe buried in the dirt and filled with water, running through fire, swinging across greased up monkey bars, and running through a block of live electrical wires. Yup. Call me crazy, but I’ve already registered and paid with my team, the Mudder F#&%ers! It’s May 11, which means I have just over 4 months to a) learn to run more than 1K without falling over and b) get physically fit enough to complete the majority of the obstacles.

2. Finally launch Souch Creativity Media. I bought this domain name quite a few months ago now, and have been slowly plodding away at getting it up and running. My old computer, with it’s infinite slowness (15 minutes to process one photo in Lightroom) and ability to crash without me even turning it on made doing freelance work near impossible. It also made it hella frustrating, and web designing and creating graphics was just as bad.

3. Finish my Instagram 365 project. In 2010, I tried Project 52, but failed ended up stopping in the Spring. My biggest two problems keeping up with it were a) I tried to do a self-portrait project, and b) well, see above re: my computer and photo processing times.  I’ve always wanted to do a 365, and am finally giving it a whirl this year. I’ve decided to do it on Instagram, though, instead of with my DSLR: my iPhone is always with me, and I use Instagram multiple times a week already. My user name is @laurensouch if you want to follow along, or I also will be doing a monthly round-up here as well as cross posting to my Tumblr and Twitter.

4. Try one new recipe a week. Recently, I haven’t been eating the greatest and one of the biggest reasons is that I’m bored with everything I know how to make, and I hate cooking new recipes because it takes sooo long. So I want to try one new recipe a week – some might be long (aka this week’s mushroom risotto), some might be easy (from my “Just 5 Things” cookbook), and some might end up gross… but I want to try to find some new recipes.

5. Avoid chain restaurants.  I have this really bad habit of always choosing chains to eat at. My go-to right now tends to be the Pickle Barrel – tasty, I know there’s GF options, and it’s close. However, I feel like it’s ridiculous to always go to the same old chains now that I’m living in Toronto, which is filled with amazing, independent restaurants, bakeries, and cafes. There’s so many amazing options here, especially in my area (Yonge/Eglinton) that are at a similar (or better) price point than the chains. I’ve been exploring them more recently, and have been blown away by the food at a number of them (and many of the servers are really knowledgable about gluten intolerances, and so helpful as I work to select appropriate GF options)… so I want to keep this up in 2013, and avoid the chains. Fast food restaurants will be the exception. Also, I’ll still be frequenting Starbucks/Tims/Second Cup because damnit, they’re close to work and I’m addicted – but on the weekends, or when I’m out, I want to try to stick with other, more local options (sidenote: Bulldog’s Toasted Marshmallow Latte is AMAZING)

This post is pretty long overdue. In reality, I got busy and kind of forgot about these cupcakes. I made a huge whack of a batch of them for both my friend Laura’s and my Dad’s birthdays, which are at the end of September and early October, respectivly. Lucky for me we were celebrating both the same weekend, so it was easy for me to bake for both… I just decorated them totally differently.

This recipe was the perfect one to pull together for a joint birthday baking endevour: when I asked Laura what kind of cupcakes she wanted, her reply was something along the lines of “chocolate, cherries, peanut butter, or any combo of those”. Even luckier for me, my dad also loves chocolate, and he loves coke, which lead to the development of these babies: Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes.

And oh man, were they good. Coke was baked straight into the chocolate cupcakes, as were diced marschino cherries and a wee bit of cherry juice. Next, a coke glaze was drizzled overtop of the cupcakes before I put a vanilla buttercream on top. To finish it off, I made a chocolate goo (this was LITERALLY the stuff you find on the top of a Tim Hortons’ Chocolate Dip Doughnut) to drizzle over the icing before ending it all with a cherry on top.

Make these for the chocolate-and-cherry-coke-lover in your life and I PROMISE you won’t be disappointed.

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cupcakes
18 minutes @ 350° | Makes 22-24

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
• scant 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 3 tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 8 tbsp. margarine
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk**
• 3/4 cup full sugar coke
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. maraschino cherry juice
• 3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Coke Glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tbsp. coke

Mix the coke and icing sugar with a fork until a paste begins to form. Poke holes in the top of the cupcake, and drizzle a spoonful of the glaze over each.

Vanilla Buttercream Icing (Medium Consistency)

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 tbsp meringue powder
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 4 tbsp + 3 tsp water**
• 1 tsp clear vanilla extract**

**Note: for a cherry flavoured icing, replace the 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp water with marachino cherry juice!

Cream shortening, flavour, and water together. Add the meringue powder and blend. Add the icing sugar cup by cup, mixing on medium speed until blended. Continue until you’ve added all the icing sugar, and continue to blend until the icing is creamy.

I used a #12 round tip to ice the swirl onto each cupcake.

Chocolate Doughnut Glaze (“Fudge” Topping)

• 3/4 cup  icing sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk together the icing sugar and cocoa powder, then mix in the water and vanilla extract. Mix vigorously until smooth. Drizzle over the iced cupcakes, and let harden. If you want to add “toppings” – like cherries – be sure to do so while the glaze is still sticky.

These are also cherry coke cupcakes – decorated like bunnies for my friend Laura’s birthday party

I love to entertain. Actually, so does The Boy – which is probably why whenever we have a party, there’s an entire dining room table spread of food; activity stations (a few past ones include make-your-own-Christmukkah-ornaments, a button making extravaganza, and full-out photo booth with props).

I also (and this might make me sound like a lush) love a good cocktail, so it should come as no surprise that these get together also usually include some sort of mixed beverage (okay, a lot of the time it’s called “Redneck Sangria” and involves dumping an entire bottle of whatever wine is on my wine rack into a pitcher and adding whatever fruit and/or juice I can find in my fridge into it). On rare occasions, I actually take the time to find an awesome “signature cocktail” recipe and serve it instead. More often than not, however, my “whatever-is-in-the-fridge” recipes actually turn out to be pretty darn tasty.

Here’s five of my favourites.

As a sidenote: I don’t measure these things (unless it involves “dump a whole bottle in” ;) so assume they’re equal parts of each ingredient, unless otherwise mentioned. Or unless you like less booze in your punch than I do.

1. The “This Needs More Booze, So Let’s Dump a Bottle of Wine in While No One is Looking”

• White grape juice from concentrate (follow the instructions to make it – use all of it)
• 26-er of Vodka
• 2L Sprite (or 7-Up)
• Cranberries
• Frozen mint leaves and raspberries (freeze them into the ice cubes in advance)
• 1 bottle of white wine

This one was planned, right up until the white wine (hence the measurements). What really happened was we had a 1.5 L bottle of wine (we used it for cooking) and it wasn’t particularly tasty. Somehow, the punch ended up getting added to a glass of wine (to try and make it taste better), and by god, it was totally delish. So myself and my partner-in-crime that evening decided to dump the rest of the bottle into the punch… without telling anyone else. Things got blurry for many, but I still remember how damn tasty that punch was… which, in hindsight, is probably why other things are a bit blurry.

2. The “I Don’t Have Any Fruit, But I Have Sherbert!”

• White grape juice (if it’s from concentrate, for the love of god make it with water first!)
• Ginger ale
• Vodka
• Orange Sherbert

Mix everything together, dump in scoops of orange sherbet. Declare yourself a culinary cocktail genius, pass out cups, serve, and enjoy. If you’re actually planning this, it would be great to use some sliced oranges as garnish and use frozen green grapes as ice cubes.

3. The “I Stole This Recipe From a Bar in Toronto That Makes the Best Sangria Ever”

• Red Wine
• White Wine
• Orange juice
• Cranberry Juice
• Sprite
• Fruit: Including, but not limited to, oranges, cherries, cranberries, and grapes.

This bar, which shall remain nameless, I really don’t like very much. Or at least I didn’t, until I discovered their pitchers of Sangria (and patio). The bottom floor of the bar ain’t bad, but the upstairs is akin to a hipster hellhole. While it’s still a bit of an effort to convince me to go in the frigid winter months, I’ll gladly lead the troops there (and to their gorgeous, enclosed patio that has cute lights strung up everywhere) for pitchers of Sangria all summer long.

Luckily for me, not so luckily for them, they published the ingredients of their Sangria on their menu, so I took a picture of it. Now I make it in the comfort of my own kitchen. The only problem? This is one of those recipes better for sharing with friends, not drinking alone on your couch. Uh, not that I’ve ever done that.

4. The “I Have No Juice, No Fruit, and No Pop, but Found Some Non-Expired Milk and Cream Liqour”

• 10 cups of brewed coffee
• Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Cream or Milk (Vanilla Almond milk works really well in this)
• Bailey’s (or another cream liqour)

Brew your coffee, add equal parts sugar/brown sugar/cream, and dump in as much (or as little) Bailey’s as you want. Kahlua is also great in this one. I’d recommend letting the coffee cool first, or chilling the entire drink before serving; but that’s my personal preference. I’m sure it’s good hot, too. The best part about this? It’ll also wake you up if you’re feeling sleepy at a party. Unless you brew decaf, of course.

5. The “All I Have Is Beer, But I Don’t Want To Drink Beer”

• 3 – 4 bottles of beer (trust me when I say a clear beer is your friend in this case. Don’t try to make it with a heavy stout)
• A can of frozen raspberry lemonade (don’t make it: use the concentrated form only!)
• Raspberries (frozen work great, that’s what I usually use mainly because I ALWAYS have them on-hand for smoothies)
• Vodka (to taste – I find with 3-4 beers around 1/2 – 3/4 a cup is usually good
• Lemon and lime slices

You know that old saying, “beer before liqour…”? I’m pretty sure it doesn’t apply when you drink them at the same time, right? Either way, take the above ingredients,  pour it all into a jug, mix, stir, serve and don’t blame me for your hangover :)

So, whether or not you decide to try one of my above favs (but you probably should ;): Happy New Year!

And remember, drink responsibly and if you’re drinking, don’t drive (even if that means walking for an hour in the cold because it’s impossible to get a cab and dammit, you missed the last subway and refuse to take the blue line bus).

But if you are in Toronto, as per usual: the TTC will offer free rides from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. and Subway service is extended until that time as well, so get home safely!