I'm putting a plug for a facebook friend into this blog. Forget the fact that we've only met in person once. I am excited for him. I am so glad he is following his dream, and since I, myself, am a bit of a dreamer I fully support him. And will do what I can to help. And so I am putting a plug for Antony Bitar in here....
I know a few songs about getting butterflies in your stomach but I can honestly say this is one of the best. Yeah, I can go into how much I love his use of staccato with the piano, or the syncopated rhythm (I do so love variety in my music!). I can sigh about the whimsy that enters the song with the strings. I can mention the fact that the melody lends itself nicely to tight harmonies and is perfect for humming along. I can tell you I think it's awesome that he stayed true to himself during the video process - I was pretty stoked to see that prayer rope on his wrist in the video. And I can wax poetic about Antony's voice, itself, with its smooth and, strangely, comforting tone.
But I won't. The reason I think this song is amazing is really because of two lines. See, songs that talk about getting butterflies tend to be cute, and this son is no exception. The difference here is that with all the imagery Antony puts into the song - you can easily put yourself in the singer's place - there are two lines that cut through and strike my heart. It is because these two lines this song is - officially - the top played in my iTunes library...By a lot. They are, "It's the feeling you get when your eyes first meet, a little glimpse of what it feels like to be complete..." and "...lead you to your destiny and really show you all of me..."
As someone who is very single I can attest to the drive of these concepts. I know when I see someone who does, in fact, give me butterflies my imagination soars and I create a future. It's amazing...Suddenly you feel strangely more alive. Or at least more awake. As if, suddenly, you are aware of so much more and can feel so much more. And, let's be honest here, who doesn't long to show all of us to someone? We want so badly to be able to have that intimacy with one person - one person who will see us and accept us and tell us that maybe, just maybe, we aren't so bad after all. Mayhap we do deserve the butterflies they give us. We want to connect - God didn't make us to be alone. He made us to be with others.
It's undeniable: Butterflies are fun.
So, without further ado, please enjoy the song, itself! Here is "Butterflies," by Antony Bitar:
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
In Which I Finally Bake Those Cupcakes...
I've been craving maple-bacon cupcakes lately. I know - strange, huh? I'm not sure where I got the idea for it, but I have been really wanting to try it out. So I thought, and I thought, and I came up with a brilliant plan: I would make them for my dad on Father's Day. I mean, they have bacon in them. They are a suitably masculine cupcake, I think. So I Googled and found recipes for maple cupcakes and maple/bacon buttercream frosting. I had decided earlier that I would actually write down my grocery list so I wouldn't forget anything. And then, being me, I promptly decided to ignore that decision. So, without any list, I headed off to the grocery store.
I made it through the store with no mishaps, and when I got home I decided to get to it. After all, I had a deadline. So I set up my work space and then pondered what music mood I was in. I wanted something whimsical - we all know how I love whimsy - but not particularly girly. After all, I was trying to make a "manly" dessert. After trying a few songs and not feeling that any of them fit my mood I began to be discouraged. What would be right? Not Disney - no, as far from "normal" as it is for me to refuse Disney, I couldn't listen to them while baking for my Dad. Not country - as much as I love it I just didn't feel like it fit the day. Certainly not The Darkness - this was for my Dad, after all.
I finally settled on music from Glee. There's a certain whimsy to the songs, but are also easy to sing along to and can keep me motivated to keep going.
With the music question settled I finally began mixing ingredients. Flour? Check. Baking powder? Got it. Salt? No problem. Butter? Just got it. Brown sugar? Brown sugar? Broooowwwnnn....Suuuuugaaarrrr. Crap. Alright. Granulated it is. What can I add to fix the texture? Eggs...Another egg? Nah. What do I need? Wait a second. Why don't I just find a new recipe? Alright. Back to the computer.
Ah ha! Found a new recipe. And we're good. Eggs? Check. Vanilla? Obviously. Buttermi-Okay. No buttermilk. Maybe regular milk instead? And what else do I have? Ah ha! Pancake mix!! And of course maple syrup.
Mix it together and voila!! Maple cupcakes.
And now for the buttercream. Just a bit of a warning: this is pretty much a heart attack in frosting form. And it's insanely sweet. Just so you know...
This was so simple! Cream the butter with the sugar. No worries. Add the syrup, and the bacon...Is there even any bacon left? It's possible that I ate it all...Ah! There are still a few pieces. Perfect!! I chopped them up and suddenly realized that I was singing along to "Last Christmas." My Glee music had played through the normal songs and into the Christmas album. I hadn't noticed, partly because I love, love, love Christmas music, and partly because the weather had settled into a heavily foggy gloom. It felt like December. I paused. Should I keep it on Christmas music? Or should I change it? After a few seconds I decided to actually change it - so I just started the playlist over again. I'm glad I did: I think they turned out well.
And if you want the recipe, here it is:
Maple Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pancake mix
1/2 cup maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Stir in buttermilk and maple syrup. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, stirring only until batter is just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin.
Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.. Turn cupcakes out on to a wire rack to cool before frosting.
Makes 12 cupcakes.
Maple-Bacon Buttercream
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
To make the frosting, use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer to whip the butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it’s mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and the vanilla and whip for another minute or so to incorporate. Add the bacon and mix to combine. Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting on the cupcakes. Top with additional crumbled bacon if desired.
I made it through the store with no mishaps, and when I got home I decided to get to it. After all, I had a deadline. So I set up my work space and then pondered what music mood I was in. I wanted something whimsical - we all know how I love whimsy - but not particularly girly. After all, I was trying to make a "manly" dessert. After trying a few songs and not feeling that any of them fit my mood I began to be discouraged. What would be right? Not Disney - no, as far from "normal" as it is for me to refuse Disney, I couldn't listen to them while baking for my Dad. Not country - as much as I love it I just didn't feel like it fit the day. Certainly not The Darkness - this was for my Dad, after all.
I finally settled on music from Glee. There's a certain whimsy to the songs, but are also easy to sing along to and can keep me motivated to keep going.
With the music question settled I finally began mixing ingredients. Flour? Check. Baking powder? Got it. Salt? No problem. Butter? Just got it. Brown sugar? Brown sugar? Broooowwwnnn....Suuuuugaaarrrr. Crap. Alright. Granulated it is. What can I add to fix the texture? Eggs...Another egg? Nah. What do I need? Wait a second. Why don't I just find a new recipe? Alright. Back to the computer.
Ah ha! Found a new recipe. And we're good. Eggs? Check. Vanilla? Obviously. Buttermi-Okay. No buttermilk. Maybe regular milk instead? And what else do I have? Ah ha! Pancake mix!! And of course maple syrup.
Mix it together and voila!! Maple cupcakes.
And now for the buttercream. Just a bit of a warning: this is pretty much a heart attack in frosting form. And it's insanely sweet. Just so you know...
This was so simple! Cream the butter with the sugar. No worries. Add the syrup, and the bacon...Is there even any bacon left? It's possible that I ate it all...Ah! There are still a few pieces. Perfect!! I chopped them up and suddenly realized that I was singing along to "Last Christmas." My Glee music had played through the normal songs and into the Christmas album. I hadn't noticed, partly because I love, love, love Christmas music, and partly because the weather had settled into a heavily foggy gloom. It felt like December. I paused. Should I keep it on Christmas music? Or should I change it? After a few seconds I decided to actually change it - so I just started the playlist over again. I'm glad I did: I think they turned out well.
 |
| Although, really, I do need to work on my pastry bag technique. |
Maple Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pancake mix
1/2 cup maple syrup
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Stir in buttermilk and maple syrup. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, stirring only until batter is just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin.
Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.. Turn cupcakes out on to a wire rack to cool before frosting.
Makes 12 cupcakes.
Maple-Bacon Buttercream
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled
To make the frosting, use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer to whip the butter on medium-high speed for about 5 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it’s mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and the vanilla and whip for another minute or so to incorporate. Add the bacon and mix to combine. Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting on the cupcakes. Top with additional crumbled bacon if desired.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Daydreams
Sometimes I wish I was somewhere else.
Don't get me wrong - I love my home and I love my family and friends and the people around me. I know if I really did leave it would be extremely difficult, like transplanting a tree whose roots are intertwined with countless others. Possible, but terribly, terribly painful. But sometimes I just want to leave and explore and maybe stumble upon an adventure. What's so surprising to me is that in one day - in a span of about 3 hours - I can daydream about being in two entirely different places.
One thing I love about my job is the freedom to meet my clients (read: preschoolers I work with) at places other than a house or preschool classroom. As it's October plenty of parents (and I) feel that going to the pumpkin patch would be a fun, seasonally appropriate thing to do. Here in Santa Barbara the only true pumpkin patch is Lane Farms: a smallish family-run farm that has pumpkins, a hay ride, scarecrows, a corn maze, and farm animals.
As I walked around Lane Farms with my 2-year-old client and his mom and aunt I lost myself in the whimsy of the farm. Now I realize true farm life isn't sentimental. I know it means being up before light and down after dark. I know it's a physically demanding life, and that - more than other occupations - farming begs the mercy of the weather.
Yet, even knowing this, the simple beauty of the farm drew my mind away from the chaos of balancing work and home and stress, and into a pleasant, if instantaneous, daydream. For a split second I was miles away, walking in the sunshine and watching a tractor working. I looked up at my client's mother and asked, "Can you imagine what it would be like to live like this?" I gestured to the still tractor. She wrinkled her nose.
"I know, right?" she answered. "It would be terrible."
Not quite what I was thinking.
I nodded and made a non-committal sound and turned back to her son with a small sigh. Thoughts of farm life would have to wait until I was no longer working.
However, as soon as I left Lane Farms I was rushing to get ready for a concert with the girls. At 6 o'clock I pulled into my friend's driveway and within 15 minutes we were on our way to the Santa Barbara Bowl. We arrived at our seats in time to hear the opening act sing her last 3 songs. This was a surprise, because the opener started exactly on time - unheard of in music. I don't have much to say about her...I'm sure I would have enjoyed her songs, but her voice was breaking by the end of her 40 minute set. She also announced to the crowd that this was her first official show. I turned to my friend. "If her voice is this tired after her first show on her first tour I don't think she will last very long." It will be interesting to see what happens with her carreer.
But the opening act (whose name I just can't remember) is not what triggered my next daydream. No...Jason Mraz did that.
If we are focusing on quality of voice, well, Jason Mraz's voice was almost stronger at the end of his set than at the beginning. And he had a way of singing and interacting with the crowd that almost made it seem like he was singing directly to Section G, Row J, Seat 14.
Let's ignore his commanding stage presence and skilled dance moves, the emotion of his singing and lyrics that reach out and grab the heart-strings. The moment that stands out most clearly in my mind is the moment I have come to expect at every concert I attend. Every person in the audience was standing and singing the lyrics back to Jason Mraz. He stopped singing and closed his eyes and listened to the sound of thousands of people serenading him with his own lyrics. It was that moment when I had the wistful thought of, 'I wish I was on that stage right now...'
Suddenly I was gone. I wasn't standing in the audience. I was in another city, standing on a stage, listening to the sound of thousands being touched by my words.
Somehow, not even three hours after wishing to be wearing a sun-hat on a farm I was now dreaming to be living the life of a musician.
But, in all honesty, when the concert ended and I yawned, exhausted from the work week and the excitement of the evening, I was simply happy to be one of the girls. Stumbling from laughter and - for the moment - carefree, I was happy to be me: A child development specialist living a quiet, sometimes stressed, mostly happy life in Santa Barbara.
Don't get me wrong - I love my home and I love my family and friends and the people around me. I know if I really did leave it would be extremely difficult, like transplanting a tree whose roots are intertwined with countless others. Possible, but terribly, terribly painful. But sometimes I just want to leave and explore and maybe stumble upon an adventure. What's so surprising to me is that in one day - in a span of about 3 hours - I can daydream about being in two entirely different places.
One thing I love about my job is the freedom to meet my clients (read: preschoolers I work with) at places other than a house or preschool classroom. As it's October plenty of parents (and I) feel that going to the pumpkin patch would be a fun, seasonally appropriate thing to do. Here in Santa Barbara the only true pumpkin patch is Lane Farms: a smallish family-run farm that has pumpkins, a hay ride, scarecrows, a corn maze, and farm animals.
As I walked around Lane Farms with my 2-year-old client and his mom and aunt I lost myself in the whimsy of the farm. Now I realize true farm life isn't sentimental. I know it means being up before light and down after dark. I know it's a physically demanding life, and that - more than other occupations - farming begs the mercy of the weather.
Yet, even knowing this, the simple beauty of the farm drew my mind away from the chaos of balancing work and home and stress, and into a pleasant, if instantaneous, daydream. For a split second I was miles away, walking in the sunshine and watching a tractor working. I looked up at my client's mother and asked, "Can you imagine what it would be like to live like this?" I gestured to the still tractor. She wrinkled her nose.
"I know, right?" she answered. "It would be terrible."
Not quite what I was thinking.
I nodded and made a non-committal sound and turned back to her son with a small sigh. Thoughts of farm life would have to wait until I was no longer working.
However, as soon as I left Lane Farms I was rushing to get ready for a concert with the girls. At 6 o'clock I pulled into my friend's driveway and within 15 minutes we were on our way to the Santa Barbara Bowl. We arrived at our seats in time to hear the opening act sing her last 3 songs. This was a surprise, because the opener started exactly on time - unheard of in music. I don't have much to say about her...I'm sure I would have enjoyed her songs, but her voice was breaking by the end of her 40 minute set. She also announced to the crowd that this was her first official show. I turned to my friend. "If her voice is this tired after her first show on her first tour I don't think she will last very long." It will be interesting to see what happens with her carreer.
But the opening act (whose name I just can't remember) is not what triggered my next daydream. No...Jason Mraz did that.
If we are focusing on quality of voice, well, Jason Mraz's voice was almost stronger at the end of his set than at the beginning. And he had a way of singing and interacting with the crowd that almost made it seem like he was singing directly to Section G, Row J, Seat 14.
Let's ignore his commanding stage presence and skilled dance moves, the emotion of his singing and lyrics that reach out and grab the heart-strings. The moment that stands out most clearly in my mind is the moment I have come to expect at every concert I attend. Every person in the audience was standing and singing the lyrics back to Jason Mraz. He stopped singing and closed his eyes and listened to the sound of thousands of people serenading him with his own lyrics. It was that moment when I had the wistful thought of, 'I wish I was on that stage right now...'
Suddenly I was gone. I wasn't standing in the audience. I was in another city, standing on a stage, listening to the sound of thousands being touched by my words.
Somehow, not even three hours after wishing to be wearing a sun-hat on a farm I was now dreaming to be living the life of a musician.
But, in all honesty, when the concert ended and I yawned, exhausted from the work week and the excitement of the evening, I was simply happy to be one of the girls. Stumbling from laughter and - for the moment - carefree, I was happy to be me: A child development specialist living a quiet, sometimes stressed, mostly happy life in Santa Barbara.
Psalm 139 :7, 9-10
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