quantumcupcakes | Entries tagged with food & recipes

I love baking. This is not a secret, we all know this. I especially love baking cupcakes, it's right there in my username after all. I'd made some chocolate cupcakes with rainbow icing over the weekend, quite a lot of them actually, with the intention on taking some into work.

I left some in my office, so people could take one when they came in to see me. I left some in the classroom, so people could take one during a lecture. When I spoke to colleagues, I let them know there were cakes. After all, who doesn't like cake?

I also signed up to volunteer with the school mental health team; both as a mentor for students to talk to but also to facilitate/assist in workshops on topics such as self-management, time management, mindfulness and stress management.

Lucy suggested I could look at doing a course of study in the field, maybe focus on counselling or social care or mental health because it's something I'm getting more and more interested in. I don't know if I could manage it on top of working but I keep thinking about taking early retirement to spend more time with Jack and Lucy so maybe I could do it after retirement to keep my mind working

Current Mood: thoughtful

Usually Lucy cooks for us, but this morning I got up before both Jack & Lucy (no mean feat for me on a day off, and Jack is a notoriously early riser) and I made them breakfast in bed. A proper Full English fry up - bacon, fried eggs, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, fried bread, baked beans, and sausages - as well as coffee and orange juice.

We had quite the lazy morning in bed, although 'lazy' isn't necessarily the right term, if you follow my meaning 😉 Relevant icon is relevant!

After a light lunch, we took the dogs out for a long walk before going to see The Rise Of Skywalker for the third time. And that's a movie that gets better with every viewing. I managed not to cry this time around as well.

I got used to days like this while I was off work last year and I really do enjoy spending all my time with Jack and Lucy. Part of me is still very very tempted to retire early so I can spend more time with them while we're all still young enough... but I'd miss my kids, I'd miss teaching.

Current Mood: contemplative

Today has been a really nice day.

Normally on a Sunday, Jack and Lucy take the dogs out and walk down to the shop to buy newspapers and I cook breakfast for us. Today, I went with them and we walked for miles before we had brunch.

We were then... intimate for the first time in a while. Like we've always been on a Sunday although more play than the standard punishments/rewards. We haven't been partaking in the BDSM side of our relationship - hell even the sex side - recently and honestly, it felt good. I know Jack and Lucy have been playing with each other, no need for either of them to be denied just because I've been going through things. I still don't have my whole sex drive back but it's starting to reawaken, and the depth of the groans Jack elicited when I spanked him definitely said it had been too long.

This afternoon, Lucy cooked us a melt-in-the-mouth roast lamb dinner and I baked Easter cupcakes - vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and mini eggs on top. I'm not one for taking photos of food (maybe I should if I'm going to talk about them) but Jack barely let them touch the counter before he pounced on them and the orgasmic noises he made, I think they went down well.

Baking is something else I haven't done much of recently. I missed it and it was nice to take the time to do something for me, for the sheer pleasure of doing it. And there was no lingering sense of guilt for enjoying myself.

I know 'mindfulness' and 'gratitude' are buzzwords right now but I'm realising there's a reason they're so popular - there's a lot too them I'm finding. They're hard work but like anything that's worth it, it's worth the work. I sound a little bit like a walking self-help book but trying to not express all the negativity is helping. Focusing on the positive, trying to spread kindness because you really do never know what other people are going through - and a kind word or a smile can make a real difference to someone else's day, or even their life.

A week without complaining
Day 1, take 4 - my mood has been better, and I have been better able to not whinge and complain. So, I've had a successful Day One... now onto Day Two!

It's been a very relaxed Saturday here. It's felt very Sundayesque, possibly the whole 'long Easter weekend' effect but since we're all off work, all the days are basically fading into one blur. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.

I've mostly spent today bumming around on social media. I've fallen into youtube and some Discord channels and joined in some conversations on Twitter.

Jack's been watching the snooker on TV - I don't get that at all. I love sport but snooker. And watching snooker? Oh well, he's been happy and that's what matters

Lucy locked herself in the kitchen and has been making Easter Eggs. She's made a variety of dark, milk and white chocolate eggs and different fillings and taken over something like 3/4 of the fridge. Jack & I have been banned from looking! I'm excited to see what she's made us tomorrow.

I found a notebook I'd started setting up a 2019 bullet journal in and I've been thinking about continuing with it. I love the idea of it and want to give it a go. One of the things I've written in there - and forgotten about in all the furore - were my 2019 resolutions -
Learn how to eat using chopsticks
Start spending more time together as a family
Stop spending so much time staring idly at a screen
Take a vacation to Italy
Find happiness in the small things
Try to be more patient and understand
Be more present
I actually really like those and have actually been trying to incorporate a lot of these into my life anyway - spending more time together, finding happiness, being more present. I think I chose very well.

Speaking of 'finding happiness in the small things', I've had a few of those moments today
-an afternoon nap with Lucy (I didn't get much sleep (Lucy did) but kissing and cuddling with her is always fun
-in a twitter chat about books/authors, I mentioned loving Cecilia Ahern's books, the sense of whimsey and otherworldliness and sparkle... and she favourited the quote
-Jack fired up the grill this evening and we had steak, baked potatoes, macaroni cheese and steam vegetables sitting on the patio watching the sun go down.

A week without complaining
Day 1, take 3 - I am trying again. I've had some trouble with low mood due to not sleeping very well, and that makes things a bit tougher. But I am going to keep on trying (and re-starting!) this goal until I have done it. It's been very interesting to note what I do complain about.

Current Mood: content

Well, the friending communities are certainly all a frenzy at the moment with the influx of people coming over from Tumblr. Looks like I picked a good time to start attempting the blogging thing again.

Not that I ever used it much, but I deleted my Tumblr earlier this evening. They have every right to manage the content on their service, but I don’t have to agree with ridiculous, arbitrary, sexist, and parochial standards.

Jack won 'best husband' award this afternoon appearing at my office door with flowers and then taking me out to lunch. A naughty glass of wine and pulled pork sub was exactly what my lunchtime needed and seeing him always brightens the day. He's still using the cane but he's moving much better than he was last week. You can definitely tell he's feeling better - he's bored sitting around at home all day!

Pasta is currently simmering away and I've got no plans for this evening. There's a cat trying to get my attention, batting at my hands as I type.

Speaking of cats, I read this article the other day that claims - and I wish I was joking - that owning a cat contributes to people being aroused by sadomasochism because they've contracted toxoplasmosis, which is 'linked to sexual arousal by fear, violence and danger in humans'. Yes, that's right, we're kinky because we have a brain parasite caused by cat faeces.

Please excuse me while I have a moment of hysterical laughter. There was me thinking I got into BDSM because my husband (ok, he wasn't my husband at the time but nevertheless) asked me to spank him, because he knew it turned him on - something he'd known since his teens. Turned out it was something I really enjoyed - although I've always owned cats. And he'd never owned one until we moved in together.

Repeat after me - correlation is not causation.
Although, in the interest of fairness, I haven't clicked through to read the actual study in the Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, only the article that refers to it.

But, of course, there has to be something wrong with us to enjoy kinky sex. (And I wish I had an eye-rolling smiley gif to put here!)

Current Mood: cranky

Lucy and I went to a 'legs, bums & tums' fitness class this morning, lots of lunges, step and squats. The instructor, also called Lucy, promised us our bodies would thank us for this workout. My body is not currently thanking me. My thighs, in fact, are protesting quite severely about it.

After all that vigorous exercise, we then had a much calmer afternoon. I made another batch of ( chocolate raspberry brownies ) (last week's went down very well and more were requested) and we needed to replace the calories we burned off!

We cuddled up on the couch with Jack, who has actually behaved all week and properly rested his back and knees, and ate them while they were still warm and gooey, playing Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens until my sides hurt from laughing, before we watched some Buffy.

I've spent some time futzing around online. I've re-written my mini bio, I'm a little happier with it but it still needs tweaking some. I joined in a friending meme and actually managed to comment and friend people. I found some physics RSS feeds that I've added to my reading page and I've discovered a book that I want to read - What is Real?: The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics Hardcover – 31 May 2018
by Adam Becker... is it too late to ask Santa?

This evening has roast beef in store, as well as Doctor Who. Other than that, I'm thinking a soak in a hot bubble bath to ease my aching legs with my book (currently reading Just For Christmas by Scarlett Bailey) and some music, possibly followed by an early night.

Current Mood: content

My husband is a stupid, stubborn idiot. God knows I love him but he can infuriating!

We are very strong on routine around here, it helps with Lucy's mental health issues and our Sunday routine starts with Jack & Lucy walking the dogs down to the newsagents, buying the Sunday newspapers and walking back again. It's about a two and a half mile round trip and takes them around an hour. I have a slow morning then make us all a full English breakfast which we eat sitting around the breakfast bar, reading the papers. We can be very domestic at times.

Despite having been somewhat less mobile over the last week, Jack was very insistent that he did the walk this morning. He did acquiesce to using a cane at least and I know the dogs will protect him - they're properly trained and he's their alpha.

They'd been gone almost an hour and a half (and I was starting to worry) when I get a phone-call - it had taken them all that time to just GET to the shop and Jack was admitting he couldn't walk back so would I drive down and pick them up.

As tempting as it was to punish him, he was in pain and miserable. So his punishment was to be left alone downstairs while Lucy and I indulged in Sunday playtime. We were nice and loud too, made sure he knew exactly what he was missing out on. I must admit I was annoyed though; I had plans for him but they can wait.

(He will be getting a proper punishment when he's not in so much pain, mark my words. Worrying me like that!)

This afternoon, he was sulky, horny and still in pain so I was gentle on him. We did manage to keep to our usual Sunday afternoon routine though. The three of us played some Trivial Pursuit and I happily won, though it was a close game. Lucy is now cooking us a nice roast beef dinner and that combined with the raspberry chocolate brownies I made this afternoon... the house smells amazing.

I'm cuddled up with Jack who's relaxing after partaking some... shall we say herbal pain relief. I took a hit or two as well so we're nicely relaxed. Lucy will be joining us in a moment, dinner is basically done and it's almost time for Doctor Who.

Current Mood: relaxed

Lazy Sundays with Jack and Lucy are some of my favourites. The funk of mild depression I've been having the last few weeks has lifted and I feel like I've properly enjoyed myself for the first time in... a few months.

The morning was spent in bed, both sleeping and playing (details available upon request), followed by lunch out a local carvery. We ate far too much food before coming home and spending the afternoon in a blanket pile playing Cards Against Humanity. Some beers were drunk, some joints were smoked and the afternoon passed blissfully.

The munchies gave cause to some baking. Rocky Road cupcakes, currently sitting on the counter cooling. Chocolate cupcakes with a little hidden marshmallow centre. I'll wait to decorate them when I'm a little more in control of all my faculties but the plan is chocolate buttercream icing, mini marshmallows and sprinkles.
I'll share the recipe if anyone's interested?

Jack and Lucy are making some dinner - we're being very adult and having cheese omelette, baked beans and sausages because between us, that's what we wanted. Ah the dinners of the old and inebriated!

The plan for this evening is watching some Legends Of Tomorrow ~~and imagining a threesome with Snart & Sara~~ but while I'm waiting for food to apear, I'm going to post a little Geek Girl Meme that I copied from somewhere on the internet but forgot to note down where from. Sorry. If I stole this from you, please let me know!

1. What is your must-have tech gadget? It has to be my phone. I can organise my life from this baby - calendar, emails, notes. I can listen to music, play games, watch tv. What can't I do with my phone? It even makes phone calls!
2. Which house do you belong to in Hogwarts? Slytherin.
3. Who is your favorite Doctor? This is such a hard character. I have three main favourites - Jon Pertween, Tom Baker and David Tennant. I suppose if I had to pick just one, it'd be... um.. Four. Tom Baker.
4. If you could have dinner with any fictional character, who would it be? Trying not to be very shallow and pick someone just because they're pretty. I think General Leia Organa Solo would be an incredible woman to sit down and talk with. She's been through so much, lost so much yet she's still this strong, powerful, FORCE of a woman.
5. What is your gaming system of choice? I'm not a gamer.
6. If you had a super power, what would it be? Teleportation
7. What is your favorite fantasy world? The United Federation Of Planets
8. If you could be any fictional race, what would you be? a Tolkien elf
9. Star Trek or Star Wars? Yes. Don't make me choose, I love both. I grew up with both. I love them.
10. List your top 5 geektastic movies or TV Series.Doctor Who
Star Trek
Star Wars
Marvel Cinematic Universe
DC movies/shows
11. List your top 5 favorite video games. I'm still not a gamer.

Right here's food. Time to rearrange and dig in. Enjoy your evening!

I've never been one for nightmares or bad dreams. I've never even really remembered my dreams, I have fuzzy recollections in the morning but never anything vivid or memorable.

I went through a phase of fairly bad nightmares in my early teens after my mother died but I suppose that's to be expected, all things considered.

Last night though my sleep was haunted by nightmares. I can't recall anything specific other than a feeling of fear and panic, lots of running and being chased. I slept terribly because of it, and am feeling quite sluggish today.

My husband has been teasing me about it - says I'm not allowed to watch any more horror film. We went to see IT last night and I'm not completely convinced the film was to blame. Maybe it was and combined with the stress of the last couple of months.
IT was a bloody brilliant film though, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was delightfully creepy. I'm also left wondering if we have the book. I'm not even sure we have any Stephen King

Then again he was also awake with me at 4 am and cuddling me back to sleep. That was the only time I woke him up, thankfully. And he did let me sleep in this morning while he and our girlfriend went to the supermarket.

They've just got back and I'm enjoying a breakfast of peach slces and yoghurt, with a mug of coffee. It's making me start to feel a little more human, thank god.

Today we are working on turning one of the rooms into a 'library' of sorts. We've decorated it and got carpets in. Today will be mostly about putting up bookshelves and getting the books up. Monday the couch and chairs are due to be delivered.

Current Mood: determined

I always forget how exhausting healing from a non-minor (I'm hesitant to use major because complications aside it was only a broken leg) injury is - throw in an operation and a lack of general mobility and I'm stil tiring really easily. I also have to keep reminding myself that it's only been two months and that there's still a while to go.

I'm being a very lazy Samantha today. I'm stretched out on the couch with a blanket and a cat.
Lucy is upstairs working on a 'Stargate fanfic for an exchange community on Dreamwidth' (I have no idea what that means past Stargate fanfic and Dreamwidth.)
Jack is watching the Huddersfield vs Newcastle game, doing a crossword and talking about cottage pie. Ooh I hope that means that's what's for dinner.

Thank you for all the anniversary wishes. Jack & I had a lovely meal out last nice. We went to one of our favourite restaurants - and probably for the last time since we're moving four hours away next week. Jack had a rib-eye steak. I had a welsh lamb steak. Much fun was had with the other anniversary gifts although I don't think I need to share the details. I mean, I could if you wanted to know about them but that could be TMI.

I do, however, want to at some point write about the BDSM aspect of our relationship and our roles and how it all works because - much like polyamory - it's so very misunderstood. And nothing like Fifty Shades Of Grey. Ugh!

But that's not for today.

I'm now on the second disc of season 1 of CSI: Las Vegas. I really had forgotten how much I love the show, and the characters, and all the inventive ways the writers have for killing people and all the red herrings and twists. Dubious science and investigation aside, it's still very entertaining. And I still have such a thing for Gil Grissom. Having discovered fandom online it makes me feel a little less dorkish for having a crush on a fictional character - apparently this is the norm rather than being as bizarre as my husband thinks it is.

I'm not finding an episode-by-episode chronology for CSI like I have for the MCU, the DC-TV and for Star Trek but I did find ( this lovely little chart ) which tracks where each show spins off so I can try and watch the show in some semblance of order. Because I'm a good little geek like that!

Do any of you use either trakt.tv or letterboxd? I've just signed up for them and I have no friends on them either than Jack and Lucy. I'm quantumcupcakes on Trakt and samanderson on Letterboxd.
And while I'm on the subject of social media - if you've got Twitter, I'm AWelshGeek so feel free to add me there too

Current Mood: geeky

All about ME!

I'm Samantha, I'm 55 and I'm a kinky, bisexual, polyamorous, Welsh geek who loves to bake and read.

I'm a retired physics teacher and am fascinated with astrophysics, space exploration, engineering and mechanics. I'm a rugby fan and an avid supporter of my Cardiff Blues.

I also love floral dresses, biker boots, leather jackets, dancing, yoga, 80s pop music, science-fiction, superheroes and chick lit.

Page Summary

Cakes for everyone
Breakfast In Bed
Woman takes over the world
Small moments of happiness
Cats & Bondage
Sundays are my favourites
Stupid husbands, ruined routines and roast dinners
Do what makes your soul shine
Dream a little dream of me
Snapshots

the universe is in us

the life and times of a welsh geek

Entries tagged with food & recipes

Cakes for everyone

Breakfast In Bed

Woman takes over the world

Small moments of happiness

Cats & Bondage

Sundays are my favourites

Stupid husbands, ruined routines and roast dinners

Do what makes your soul shine

Dream a little dream of me

Snapshots

All about ME!

Page Summary