The Birthday and My Adventures Baking Cupcakes

Well, today is my birthday. I am now a whopping 28 years old. How did that happen…I swear I just graduated from high school a couple of years ago…but no, in fact my 10 year high school reunion is coming up this summer (not going to make it to that one).

So what have I done to celebrate on this special day? I made cupcakes. You see, I have tasted the Thai version of the birthday cake and it is HORRIBLE! There is absolutely no flavor and about 2 inches of frosting…so all you taste is sugar and butter. So I decided to treat my coworkers to a “real” cake. My mom was kind enough to send the fixn’s (a box of cake mix, frosting, and a cupcake tray) and I went to work.

Now if you haven’t had the pleasure of baking cupcakes in Thailand, you are missing out. My first challenge came in trying to find vegetable oil…you see, they don’t carry the stuff here. They have coconut oil (too fattening & I didn’t know if it would change the flavor of the cake), sunflower oil (I hate sunflower seeds so that was out), and soy bean oil…so I went with soy bean oil & hoped for the best.

My next challenge came when it came time to do the baking. You see, they don’t have ovens in Thailand either. I don’t know why, but I am guessing it has something to do with the heat (they have gas powered stoves that use little propane tanks of gas but no oven). Luckily I had purchased a toaster oven when I first rented my house, so I was good to go – at least I thought so. You see, my stupid toaster oven kept causing the circuit breaker in my house to flip. The first time it happened, I turned off the lights in my bedroom, unplugged my fan, and turned off the lights in my living room. The second time it happened, I unplugged my laptop (I was using it to listen to music) and turned off the lights in the bathroom (I was also doing laundry while the things were baking (can you say multitasker). The third time it happened, I had to turn off the lights in the kitchen and bake by the light of my flashlight…not as fun as it sounds.

My third challenge came in getting the things to the office. You see, I don’t have a car…I don’t have the luxury of putting a plate of cupcakes on my front seat and driving in to work. I had to somehow fit two dozen of the things in Tupperware containers and then fit the containers into the basket on my bike…which meant that I had to carry the bag that I keep my change of clothes, laptop, dictionary, and other misc stuff in.

But all said and done, I am glad I made them because my coworkers loved them & actually asked if I could teach them how to make them…umm how do you explain that if you go to the States you can buy these little boxes of cake mix & you only have to add water, oil, and eggs?!?

In other news, I had another experience with a critter. I was drying off after taking a shower this morning, and I heard a loud plop…something had dropped from my ceiling. I turned to look around and felt something climbing up my leg. I don’t think that I have ever jumped as high! And I kept “dancing” as I watched the lizard scamper away!