preraphaelitepunk.com

I just thought I’d mention that the Odessa Fallow Deer Reserve people were kind enough to send a thank-you e-mail for the small donation I sent them. That sort of thing doesn’t happen very often, especially with small concerns like this (basically, it’s five people who are sheltering the deer until they can get them into a permanent reserve), so I thought that was rather sweet of them.

(One problem with del.icio.us bookmarking is that it doesn’t let you write voluminous notes, but cuts you off unceremoniously after a certain number of characters — but still lets you keep on typing merrily away. It can be hard to fit everything you want to say in under the limit. Maybe I should try using PressIt more, and just locally bookmarking pages. Hmm.)

In other news, I’ve ordered a new CD: “Drunkard’s Prayer,” by Over the Rhine, primarily on the strength of one song that was highlighted on Fabulist! a few weeks ago. I’m not really sure how to characterize them — the original song I heard, “Hush Now (Stella’s Tarantella),” kind of reminded me vaguely of some of Janis Ian’s less despairing songs; “Moth,” an MP3 of which is available on the OtR site, seemed to evoke the Cocteau Twins, only with more intelligible lyrics. If I can remember, I’ll try to post a little review once I’ve received the CD and had a chance to absorb it.

Finally, the Great Cupcake-Making Day has finally arrived: one full recipe of Fauxstess cupcakes (that’s 12 cupcakes total) to be made this afternoon, for transport to the office tomorrow to mark Alan Rickman’s 60th birthday. Sadly, I haven’t yet decided on the design for the cupcake tops (assuming that I can get the royal icing consistency right this time); I may just wimp out and do random swirls or zigzags or something. My icing skills are too primitive to attempt anything fancy. Please keep your fingers crossed that the icing isn’t too fluid this time.

Addendum: Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s upcoming cookbook, due out this autumn, is going to be all cupcakes, all the time. A copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World would be an ideal present for moi, should any of you (perhaps those of the parental persuasion?) happen to be in the market for such a thing around that time. (Just saying.) Although, on further reflection, I probably won’t want to wait to get my mitts on a copy, so I’ll probably just preorder it as soon as I can. Never mind. I’m bad at delaying gratification anyway.

I’m particularly anticipating the Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcakes, which can be seen here. So pretty. Mine won’t be nearly as pretty, but oh well.