Today in food news...

I apologize for not taking photos of this afternoon's culinary experimentation, but I couldn't possibly compare in food-porny goodness to Vanilla Garlic. VG's blogger posted the recipe for chipotle cinnamon chocolate cupcakes a month ago and I decided I absolutely had to try it. I owe baked goods to one of my co-workers who helped me out in a pinch last month when I needed access to a camcorder, and so I decided to make a bunch for the office. They were extremely easy to make, except for the part where I had to dig chipotle pepper puree out of the bottom of the blender. My roommates K. and M. seemed to like them; K. was especially effusive about the wonders of spicy chocolate. So I suppose it was a success.

The other novel component to the cupcakes was the fact that I used Silicups, or rather the Crate & Barrel equivalent (cheaper than the ones from Williams-Sonoma that Outblush featured). These are basically reusable silicone muffin cups that allow you to 1) cook without a cupcake tray, and 2) not use disposable paper muffin holders that get messy. The catch is cleaning them in between batches, which takes a while. I recommend getting twice as many as you think you need, so that you can alternate.

Then, post-baking, I headed to a networking event at Mixx Lounge, where I was able to hang out with a few people I know and peruse the menu of sketchily-named signature drinks. I settled for the "Fruity Biznitch," which is a concoction of vodka, peach schnapps, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice. Tasty, though very weak -- but I suppose anybody going for something with peach schnapps and pineapple juice isn't exactly looking for a dirty martini.