Spice Muffins and some websites

EUREKA!
I have it: The perfect light, floofy, not too sweet muffin recipe.
I love muffins. (tee hee) They're almost in the cake category for me but not quite. There's a coffee joint I go to sometimes that serves free steroidal muffins with the purchase of a large coffee. AND they're good. Probably because each muffin contains the equivalent of 1 cup of butter but mmm mmm bee-yotch! I've been experimenting with recipe ratios and I think I've found one I like. Now I share it with you.

Wait! Speaking of muffins, brings something to mind. I'm a fan of this website: www.zeldalily.com it's a blog that discusses feminist issues and the political ridiculousness of our great USofA. A lot of the comments are amusing. A few of my friends may not be in agreeance with it's liberal* take on life, however, I am. Consider yourselves warned.

OO! Props to the Sha for pointing this one out to me: www.regretsy.com It highlights some of the more interesting bits of etsy.com -which can be a fantastic place for finding handmade shtuff. But. Anyone can sell their "art" and it gets a little weird from time to time.
(I do love the etsy spelling mistakes, and on regretsy there are categories named Dead Things and Holistic Horseshit. *giggle*)

Let's see what else has been going on

1. Saturday was pretty much perfect weather. I planted a few types of lettuce, spinach, bokchoy and a crap load of herbs. Now my mini patio is covered with cheap plastic containers and dirt. In case you need to know, perlite + eyes = sore eyes for a day.

2. Alice in Wonderland was amusing. I liked the March Hare.

3. Started a small clay figure for an eventual bronze but I might start it again with a more stable armature... it's legs cracked near the ankles. Leave it to me to think half-assed will work. Merf.

4. I still like Vampire Weekend. Because really, who gives a fuck about the Oxford comma?

5. Nephew informed me (quite astutely and with a look of utter contempt) that the Doctor's office hurts. His stitches are out and is healing well.

6. Keep all fingers and sundry crossed that Mister will score some job interviews. Particularly with one that includes international travel. It sounds killer and I know he'd be very good at it.

Ok, on to the goods:

Ingredients
Base for muffins:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil

Added stuff that makes it spiced:
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
dash nutmeg

Ovenstuff
1. preheat oven to 400F
2. grease 12 baking cups or line with muffin papers

Sift
1. Sift flour, powder, soda, spices and salt (optional) into a large bowl
2. set aside

Mix liquids
1. Beat 2 eggs, vanilla, and milk together
2. while beating, slowly drizzle in oil until all of the oil is well combined
3. add sugar and mix it in until it's sort of dissolved (doesn't have to be totally dissolved)

The 1, 2 Combination
1. make a well in the middle of your sifted flour mix
2. dump in all liquid mix
3. stir it around until just combined - you want to see lumps and some unmixed bits of flour stuff
4. fill up your muffin tin (they'll rise over the top and make good crowns)

Bake
1. bake in 400F oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and cake tester comes out dry

Variations
This is a pretty basic muffin recipe, you can fold in random crap- nuts, choco chips, fruit bits when you combine the liquid and dry

Switch buttermilk for regular milk- works fine

I substituted juice and zest of 2 medium lemons and 1 cup of Greek yoghurt for the milk and omitted the spices and made some pretty tasty lemon muffins... play around with it, you can make some killer** combos

*bye bye friends, it was nice knowing you...
** that's the 2nd use of this word in a single post, my apologies