Google’s doing it:
Wikipedia is doing it:
(and causing quite the uproar on Twitter, I might add)
Reddit, Craigslist, Boing-Boing, WordPress, and thousands of other smaller sites are also doing it.
And so am I, even though I’m Canadian.
The Stop Online Piracy Act might be an American bill, but it has very, very bad consequences for everyone, everywhere. Essentially, SOPA would allow intellectual property owners (Hollywood, essentially) to more or less destroy any site (homeland or foreign) they have a copyright claim against.
And then there’s PIPA, SOPA’s little sister, which seeks to make websites – not users – responsible for pirated content.
“Internet policy shouldn’t be set by Hollywood.” – Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia Founder
What does this mean, exactly?
It means say goodbye to a free, open internet.
Right now, if I upload copyrighted content to YouTube, I’m held accountable. With PIPA, YouTube becomes accountable for what *I* uploaded. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? And while the big sites – Facebook, YouTube, etc – have the means to deal with these kinds of copyright claims, many smaller sites don’t.
And under SOPA, if a torrent site hosted in a foreign country is offering movie downloads, the production company can (among other things) demand Google remove them from the search index, demand financing to the site in question is pulled, and tell ISP’s to block the site.
Yeah, as in Rogers/AOL/Insert-ISP-Here can decide what YOU, as a consumer, and as an internet user, are ALLOWED TO SEE AND ACCESS.
Sounds pretty big brother-ish, right?
What’s worse is the consequences this can have beyond torrent sites or streaming video content. Those pushing this bill through are claiming it’s only aimed at these sites that are pirating software, movies, and creative content.
What they’re NOT telling you is that the bill can – and very likely will, if passed – extend beyond those boundaries and start affecting us, as internet users, and start affecting “the little guy.” Basically ANY site the powers-that-be decide infringes on a copyright can be pulled – and just because I’m Canadian doesn’t mean I’m untouchable – that’s the problem, actually. This bill would be essentially be granting the American Government control over foreign hosted content, and, according to Google, “turn the internet into a police state”.
I have to agree.
What I am disappointed with, however, is that Google chose to only blackout on the American site. Though we as foreigners don’t have a direct say in this – I mean, I don’t have an American representative I can contact – but if passed it WILL be affecting us (and our daily internet habits). People – all people, whether American or not – need to be aware of how bad this bill really is. It’s going to allow the American government extraordinary – and worse, loosely defined – power to control the content and information available to us online.
It will essentially, and effectively, kill the internet.
Overly dramatic? Maybe, but maybe not.
I’d rather not find out.
I’m only just scraping the surface of this entire issue – for a more in-depth (but still easy to follow) look at the issue, check out this Gizmodo post, visit Wikipedia’s Q&A about why they’re blacked out, or checkout the SOPA Blackout page.
And, of course – consider joining the blackout and showing your support via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
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I love s’mores. In fact, it must be a hereditary thing – my mom, dad, and sister all love them too.
Or it’s because they’re just so damn good. I mean, ooey, gooey, marshmallows with a toasted brown top and melty chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers? Oh my god, yum.
Either way, when I polled my friends to get cupcake suggestions for our New Years’ party (I’m the “cupcake lady”, it’s pretty much expected I show up to parties with cupcakes – I suspect I’d be sent home if I ever came without them ;) a number of them suggested s’more cupcakes.
Okay, I said, sounds interesting!
And delicious.
Interestingly delicious.
The delicious s'more cupcakes in all their glory.
Afterall, how can taking someting like a s’more and turning it into a cupcake be a bad idea? I started thinking about it. Graham cracker crust, chocolate marshmallow cake, and marshmallow icing – sounds delish.
And they were.
I’m not always one to toot my own horn, but OH MY GOD they were so. good. And I think the fact that the 20 s’more cupcakes I brought to the party were eaten in under 30 minutes is a testament to that.
So of course, I have to (and was even asked to!) share the recipe.
There’s three parts to it – the graham cracker crust, the actual cupcake, and the marshmallow icing.
The best part is, it’s a fairly simple recipe to make.
Recipe: S’more Cupcakes
Graham Cracker Crust // 10 minutes at 325° // makes 21 crusts
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1.5 cup graham crumbs
- 1/3 cup melted butter
Mix the sugar and graham crumbs in a bowl, then melt the butter in the microwave (or on the stove!) and add it to the dry mix.
Stir until totally combined.
Next, spoon a heaping tablespoon of the mixture into the cupcake pan (I managed to fill 21), and press it down into the bottom so it’s firm.
I didn’t use cupcake wrappers to bake these in, but you probably could if you really wanted to.
Oh, and I used a shot glass to pack in the crumb mix, which worked pretty well.
Once they’re pressed into cup form, use your fingers to press the crumbs into the edges of the pan.
Pop them into the oven at 325° for ~10 minutes, until they are a little more solid (and a little less crumbly). I heard they’re supposed to be “golden brown” but honestly, I couldn’t see a difference… so about 10 minutes seemed to work for me.
Let them cool completely before filling them.
S’more Cupcakes // 20 minutes at 350° // makes 21 cupcakes with crusts
- The graham cracker crusts from the above step
- Your favourite chocolate cake recipe
- Large marshmallows
I don’t have a “favourite” chocolate cake recipe yet (typically I try new ones most times when I bake – so if you have one you love, let me know! ;) so use whichever recipe you love for the cupcakes. And, I have to be honest – I was lazy and just went with a box mix for these (thanks Betty Crocker!), but they turned out awesome anyway… so you can even go with a box mix if you’re lazy like me.
Spoon a bit of the batter into each graham cracker crust, and then place a large marshmallow into each cup.
Use the remainder of the batter to cover the marshmallows and fill the cups.
Pop them into the oven for ~20 minutes at 350°. Most of the marshmallow will melt away into the cupcake (which makes them really tasty, PS), but some will float all melted to the top and crust over in golden brown toasted marshmallow goodness.
Baking...
To remove, I used a knife to “carve” the edges of the cupcake out of the pan and then gently lifted them out. Flipping the pan (like I did with the first one) only got one cupcake out, and made a MESS with the graham crumbs. Carving them out worked much better – they will stick a little more than usual at the top because of the marshmallow stickyness, so be gentle to avoid ripping the cupcake.
Set them aside to cool, and prep your marshmallow icing.
...baked!
Buttercream & Marshmallow Icing // makes 3.5 (ish) cups
- 1 cup solid white vegetable shortening
- 3 tbsp water (then to thin out to “medium” consistency, I added 3 tsp and 1 tbsp of water after mixing)
- 4 cups icing sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 2 jars of marshmallow fluff (approximately 1 3/4 cups) OR 1 jar and 1 cup (this last one was what I used)
The above recipe is the modified version of the Wilton Butercream Icing recipe I use for decorator icing, only I’ve removed the flavouring and replaced it with a ton of marshmallow fluff instead. I used the second marshmallow part – 1 jar of fluff and 1 cup (ish) of melted marshmallows, but this was largely because I decided I needed more fluff in the recipe (since it didn’t taste enough like marshmallows, and, uh, marshmallow icing should TASTE like marshmallows!) and the stores were closed by this point… so I improvised.
I’d recommend using 2 jars of fluff (approximatly 2 cups), because the melted marshmallow was very challenging to mix into the icing and had small chunks of crystalized marshmallow/icing that kept getting stuck in the icing tip – but it TASTED great. Not overpoweringly marshmallow, but you could tell a hint of the flavour was there.
I actually might even try modifying this recipe to have more marshmallow fluff next time – I’m thinking an equal amount of fluff and icing sugar, so 3/4 cup shortening, 2 1/4 tbsp water, 3 cups icing sugar, 3/4 tbsp meringue powder, and 3 cups of marshmallow fluff (so I really need to find a place that sells larger jars!) to make it even more marshmallow flavoured.
Finally, after icing the cupcakes, I cut a bunch of the large marshmallows in half and dipped one end into melted chocolate and let them harden (in the fridge to speed it up).
Then stuck them into the icing for decoration. Simple, right? But cute!
The final product:
Look pretty good, right?
The combination of chocolate, marshmallows, and the graham cracker crust really made them s’more like.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I did – I’ll be making them again, and likely soon.
Part of Sweets For a Saturday #51 & Sweet Treat Thursday .
I wanted to make a post looking back on the last year – because 2011 has been an important one for me, with new jobs, new friends, new lifestyles, and all sorts of changes (for the better). So, without further ado — my major highlights, accomplishments, and thrills from the past 365 days, in alphabetical format (because I’m a huge nerd like that!)
"Survive a New Year" -- 52 Week Challenge 2011, Week 1
Accepted a freelance blogging position with The Toronto Star for the “Speak Your Mind” site during the 2011 Provincial election
Bought a Kindle, which on its own is not that exciting but it’s meant I’ve started reading a TON again; including (almost every) lunch break.
Curbed my spending habits and have been successfully budgeting (and mostly sticking to it) for three months now
Decorated (and baked!) 100 cupcakes and a bride’s cake – my first wedding order!
Edited, scripted, and shot my first corporate marketing video for a client
Forced into getting a new car (hi Ol’ Red!) when mine died while driving on the 401 – which was terrifying, to say the least
Got my butt moving (literally) by joining Booty Camp Fitness – life changing, and I’m still going! I love it.
Have been successfully budgeting (and mostly sticking to it) for three months and counting
Improved my life in a number of ways (might sound like a cop-out, but it’s true!)
Joined an awesome and empowering women’s group in Toronto
Kissed the Blarney Stone! {Feb 27, 2011} – a bucket list item
Launched a new website design (you’re looking at it!)
Made new friends with similar hobbies thanks to meetup.com :)
Navigated my way through Ireland alone – including very, VERY narrowly making my bus to Dublin
Organized and ran a charity event {Dec 10, 2011: Help-Portrait}
Published a tutorial on photojojo.com
Quality time spent with three generations of ladies during the Royal wedding
Revamped my eating habits and feel healthier and better every day
Started a new full-time writing job
Travelled out onto – and saw up close – the ocean for the first time I can remember
Understood why so many people love traveling along – after doing it myself for the first time {Feb. 26-Mar 2: Cork & Dublin, Ireland}
Visited Stonehenge {Feb 24, 2011} – another bucket list item
Whale Watched in Boston {Oct 9, 2011}
eXplored another country (overseas) for the first time {Feb 17-Mar 3: England, Paris, & Ireland} (x is a hard letter, okay? ;)
Yoga’d my way through my first (and second, and third… etc!) Hot Yoga classes. I’ve always wanted to try it, but was nervous (and for no reason) – Hot Yoga is awesome.
Zapped 12 lbs – 8 more to go to reach my goal weight :)
All in all, 2011 was a good year for me. It started off looking like it might have been otherwise, but in the end – I’d say it was a good one. One of the better years, actually. I have a lot on the go right now and am proud of (and happy to be!) where I am… and am very excited to see what 2012 might hold (you know, besides the end of the world on December 21 ;)
What were your major accomplishments and highlights this year? I’d love to hear them.
Last week, The Boy and I went to Tim Hortons, like we do, uh, a lot (admittedly, likely more than we should) — and we almost always order the exact same coffee: large regular.
Why mess with a good thing?
But this time, we were there with a mission – a messing with a good thing mission (mistake #1) – because you see, Tim Hortons recently released a whack of specialty drinks in an effort to compete with Starbucks, class it up, take more of our money.
We ordered the same thing (yeah, yeah, we’re a lot alike, okay?) – a large earl grey tea latte with a shot of vanilla. Not hard to make, ordered at other coffee joints by me – and others, I’m sure – numerous times without problem. We knew we were rolling the dice a little with the shot of vanilla, but figured hey, we’ll give it a whirl.
What we got was not even a latte.
Three times.
Store #1, Employee #1: We waited a good 5 minutes for our order to be taken – because the person in front of us was telling the employee he made her drink wrong. We both assumed she was being demanding – she was giving him attitude, at least (mistake #2). As it turns out, he just was an idiot who didn’t know a) what he was doing b) how to listen to a customer or c) how to ask for help.
Tea Latte #1 = Tea with french vanilla cappachino dumped in it.
Store #1, Employee #2: We go through the drive-thru, explain the order is wrong, ask them to fix it. The (very friendly) employee explores the problem, tells us the original employee put the french vanilla capp in, apologizes, hands us the “fixed” lattes. Happy, we leave and don’t bother checking our order (mistake #3).
Tea Latte #2 = Tea with a SHOT OF ESPRESSO IN IT.
I wish I was kidding. We both tasted it a few times, yeah, there was DEF a coffee flavour in our… tea.
Did I mention both times, there was no milk?
Last time I checked, steamed milk is the point of a latte.
Already long gone from that store, we stopped at ANOTHER Tim Hortons. Well aware the chances of us getting the drinks replaced at a different location (since they’re franchised) were slim, we resolved to buy another if they could make it correctly.
Store #2, Employee #3: Doesn’t know how to make a latte, doesn’t know how to work the machine, and isn’t even sure the machine is set up yet. Face palm.
We give up. Not huge deal, but $6 and a LOT of time wasted.
Actually, we also gave up and bought a medium hot chocolate and coffee instead at the final location – so in reality we spent almost $10 for something that normally would cost half that.
The worst part is, irritated, I tweeted, Facebooked, and emailed Tim Hortons about it – I wanted to know a) if they make their lattes differently from the rest of the world, and b) if they would please refresh their employees on how to, uh, make their new specialty drinks before launching them.
No reply.
This is not my first attempt at contacting Tim Hortons customer service online – I had an issue with Cold Stone Creamery in the summer and they were less-than-available (and helpful) then too.
Tsk, tsk Tim Hortons.
I love ya, I’ve always supported ya, but this is getting ridiculous. Maybe if you cared about your customers a little more, you wouldn’t have to launch gross lasagnas and unavailable, potentially non-existent speciality coffees to retain and gain customers.
So, on that note… I had originally been planning on reviewing the new lattes and giving away a Tims card so a reader could try ‘em out; but since they can’t seem to get their act together I’m giving away a $10 Starbucks card instead — so you can enjoy a REAL latte.
Here’s how you can win: CONTEST CLOSED! See below for the winner announcement :) Thanks to all who participated!
- {1 entry} Leave me a comment (with your email address in the “email” box – don’t worry, it won’t be public!) telling me what your favorite Starbucks drink is (aka what you’d buy with the Starbucks card! :) and make sure you’re subscribed to my blog via RSS by clicking here and adding my blog to your favourite RSS feed reader (be sure to mention you’re subscribed/if you just subscribed in your comment!).
That’s it! You get one entry for completing the two above steps.
For extra entries (please leave a separate comment for each entry, with a link to where you posted if applicable):
- {1 entry} Tweet the following: “I want to win a $10 @Starbucks Card from @misslau so I can get a delicious drink! You can enter too: http://bit.ly/uy4mRZ” by copy and pasting or by clicking here.
- {1 entry} “Like” The View From Here’s Facebook Page
- {1 entry} Follow me on Twitter (@misslau) – leave your twitter name for this one.
- {2 entries} Post about the giveaway on your blog, tumblr, etc with a link back to my site – leave two comments for this one! :)
- {1 entry} Become a follower of my blog by clicking “Join this site” on the Google Friend Connect to the right - since GFC is most likely being killed soon, I decided this could be an “extra” entry this time.
In order to win via extra entry, you still must complete the basic entry by following me and commenting :)
The contest will close next month on Friday, January 13th at 11:59PM EST. I’ll be announcing the lucky Starbucks card winner shortly after.
WE HAVE A WINNER!
Congrats to Sarah, my fellow news junkie and boot camp enthusiast of sarahmillar.com
Enjoy your extra hot latte, Sarah!
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I recently baked for my very first wedding – 100 cupcakes and a bride’s cake (for cutting) to be exact – scary, I know.
My friend Vikki’s sister was getting married, and in the summer she asked me to make a World of Warcraft themed cake for the engagement party.
"Cake cutting", taken by the ever-talented Laura Dittmann
It was a huge hit: simple flavours (chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing) but some WOW themed decorations, including a giant purple skeleton guy (it was an action figure) – sorry WOW lovers, I forget the guys name.
Anyway, while at the engagement party (I also played photographer), her mom mentioned something about wedding cupcakes to me. I thought nothing of it, until at the end of the event, Vikki approaches me and goes “Oh, by the way — you’re doing the wedding cupcakes too!”.
Of course, I was flattered they thought I was that good – but also terrified. I’d already agreed to do wedding cupcakes for my childhood friend (who is getting married next summer), but like – that was a WHOLE YEAR away. Lots of time to panic, relax, panic, and relax before it had to be done.
Alyson and Josh were getting married on October 29, and it was almost SEPTEMBER.
Insert panic attack.
The next month or so was filled with me fretting over the number of cupcakes to bake (how many do you need for 140 guests when there’s also desert and a chocolate fountain?), flavours (the bride eventually settled on the same chocolate recipe I used for the engagement cake, and red velvet), and most importantly… what they should look like!
In the end, it took me (and my “team” of helpers who pitched in here and there – thanks mom and boyfriend! ;) approximately 15 hours across three days to do them all.
The two different styles of cupcakes I settled on.
I had the foresight to bake some of the cupcakes (namely the red velvet cupcakes, since they’re so time consuming!) a few days in advance and freeze them (thank god), which really helped with the “OH MY GOD I HAVE TO ICE HOW MANY” freak out I had at 7pm on Friday night when I got home from work.
The Boy ever-so-wonderfully was forced into took on the daunting task of making seven batches of Wilton decorator icing.
Yeah, seven. That’s 21 cups of buttercream icing. Made with 84 cups of icing sugar and 7 cups of shortening, as well as other assorted things (like meringue power and vanilla flavour). That’s a LOT of stuff.
I’m glad he likes me.
I discovered he is also WAY BETTER at mixing the buttercream icing than me – it was sooo creamy, perfectly fluffy, and easy to work with… I told him he could be IcingMaker!(TM) from now on, though he didn’t seem to love that idea.
Icing disaster!
He also makes a bigger mess than me, though, so maybe it’s for the best ;)
After much baking, cursing, baking, cursing, and dropping a freshly iced, perfect cupcake on the floor top-down (my dog narrowly missed on mowing down on the mess of chocolate crumbs and icing – I’m just too quick for her ;) – I finally finished them all.
All 105 of them.
All the cupcakes in all their glory.
That’s a lot of wedding cupcakes! They actually only ordered 100 cupcakes, but I had 5 “just in case” extras:
just in case… I drop one when setting up
just in case… a few get unfix-ably damaged en route
just in case… I get hungry on the way to the reception hall
You get the idea.
Now that the cupcakes were finished, it was time for the daunting task of tackling the bride’s cake – a small, 6″ round cake that was strictly for the purpose of cutting for pictures.
The Bride's Cake - love the toppers she chose!
It took forEVER to bake (like, probably almost 2 hours) because I made it super thick (instead of doing two layers, since I only had one 6″ round pan – and it was TALL)
I piped a ton of spirals, swirls, and dots in white overtop of the white icing (I’ve never used fondant to cover a cake – just cupcakes – and wasn’t about to experiment on this one! It’s on my list to play with it before my next wedding in August 2012!). I also added some roses, green leaves, and silver balls as an accent.
Phew.
It was a lot of work, icing the cake – it didn’t help that I seriously smudged part of my icing design at one point and I had to scrape it all off, re-ice/touch up the side, and then repipe the designs – and by this point, it was like 3 a.m. and I was TIRED. And my hand was, like, all iced out from the wedding cupcakes.
But, in the end I got it all done – and they looked awesome (if I do say so myself ;)
According to my friend, aka sister of the bride — they were also a huge “hit” at the wedding – literally.
Smush! Photo by the ever-talented Laura Dittmann
And, of course, I took a bazillion more photos – my favourite of which are here:
Congrats Alyson & Josh!
