How do I describe these?

Delicious, decadent, desirable, definitely not enough to share, breakfast, lunch and dinner, dreamy. Hello, cupcakes. I love you.

I made this batch of cupcakes and I'm going to make them again and again. They are easy and fabulous. The shiny ganache is rich and beautiful, the cake is moist and light.

The cupcake recipe is adapted from the Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor, a fun book my mom gave me a few years ago. I made the Chocolate Midnight Cake. Rather than making a layer cake, I made cupcakes. This recipe made about 18 cupcakes.

1 package plain dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup water
1 cup mayonnaise
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Place the cake mix, water, mayonnaise, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divide batter evenly filling cupcake papers about 3/4 full.

3. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

The ganache recipe is from Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking. Ratio gives you the skeleton of multitudes of recipe basics. Ganache is simply 1 part cream to 1 part chocolate. The real secret behind a fabulous ganache is the chocolate you use. It has to be good, good enough to eat alone, good enough to crave.

8 ounces heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped.

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring the cream just to a simmer

2. Place chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl, pour cream over the chocolate. Wait 5 minutes for the chocolate to soften.

3. Whisk the cream and chocolate until they are completely combined.

4. Allow to cool slightly then pour over cupcakes. Delightful!

Gonna eat a lot of peaches

Because of the recent peach explosion around here, I've been hunting out every peach centered recipe I can find. So far, I've come across Bellini Pops from Fine Cooking. These are peach popsicles with Prosecco, Italian champagne. Yum. I'm making these now and between the recipe and me I've nearly finished the bottle of Prosecco. Oopsie!

I found these five recipes for Peach Salsa. Yum. I'll be making some of those when my tomato plants start producing red ripe fruit. I found Raspberry-Peach Chicken and Chicken with Peach Stuffing. Yum and yum. Then there's Peach Pie with Brie adorably tucked into cupcake foils. Yum.

And now I'm STARVING. Do you have any peachy favorites?

To my sister's chagrin, Peachy lives on

All these flowers and wishes for Valentine kisses paid off. My adorable little peach tree is a hanging-on-the-ground laden with sweet, fuzzy peaches. And to think, my sister didn't want to plant him.

Surface of the moon

I've always been a space enthusiast. I love the sky, the stars and learning about the planets. So I'm really loving all the images coming back from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that is currently circling our moon. I love to stare at them and dream about the silence of space and what it would be like to approach the moon's surface in a lander. I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity to see the moon with anything more than a telescope so I'll just continue to dream about the surface when I pick my lemons.

Impromptu photo shoot

Yesterday I was wandering around the garden pruning this and that and taking photos of pretty flowers and cute dogs when I suddenly realized that I had a little collection of calla lily photos on my camera. I had always thought of calla lilies as exotic and dramatic flowers that seemed to be perfect for the same kind of bride, but I've learned differently. They are strong and stubborn plants that like to rule the roost, like me!