Groundhog Rhymes with Dog

Today is a special day. Today is called Groundhog Day. I just learned that! I am learning new things all the time. Like I learned that this year, February has 29 days. But usually, it doesn't. That is strange. And I also learned that I like wine. And coffee! But I am not supposed to drink either one. Because I am a dog. Dog rhymes with groundhog!

Oh, right! That reminds me of why I am writing this today. Because today is Groundhog Day! Every February 2 is Groundhog Day. And it's been that way for a long, long, long time. Diana told me that in a place called Punxsatawney, people have been celebrating Groundhog Day since at least 1886. (I think she is wrong. Because everyone knows that years start with 20, not with 18.) But, anyway, this day has been the day called Groundhog Day for many, many years. I think it is a silly idea. Probably, the groundhog, whose name is Phil, would like to keep sleeping. But some guy wearing a weird hat pulls him out of where he is sleeping, and then Phil has a shadow. Or he doesn't. And then we know if there is more winter. Or if there isn't. And that is that.

Oh, and cupcakes! I'm supposed to tell you about that, even though cupcakes doesn't rhyme with dog. Or with groundhog. Diana thought it would be fun to try ANOTHER new cupcake recipe. When she told me about this baking project, I was not very excited to help her, because I was busy eating an Eli biscuit. (Diana calls them dog biscuits. But that is silly, because of course it is a dog biscuit. I am a dog, and the biscuit is for me. Diana does not call her cookies "people cookies," for goodness' sake. I call what I eat Eli biscuits, because they are biscuits for me!!) This is what I looked like when she came to talk to me about cupcakes and when I was eating my Eli biscuit.

After I finished my biscuit, I went to the kitchen to look at the ingredients Diana had bought at the store.

And here are the ingredients that I saw when I looked.

After I looked at the ingredients, I thought I still didn't really feel like baking cupcakes. But I wasn't quite sure. I had to think it over for a while. This is what I look like when I am thinking.

I think Diana could tell I didn't really want to help her with cupcakes, because she patted me on the head and said, "Hey, buddy, it doesn't look like you really want to help me with cupcakes." Then she said, "If you don't want to, that's okay. But let me show you the recipe before you decide." And she did show me the recipe. And here is what I looked like when she showed me the recipe.

After I saw the recipe, then I realized Diana wanted to make cupcakes for Groundhog Day. That was pretty cool! But I was tired. So I lay down while Diana mixed the cupcake batter. She put in chocolate chips because she didn't know why not to put them in. I knew this when she said, "Hey, Eli, I think I'll add chocolate chips to the cupcake batter. Why not?"

Once Diana mixed in the chocolate chips, she filled the cupcake pans. There are 24 cupcakes. That is six more cupcakes than the number of toes I have! That is A LOT of cupcakes!

While the cupcakes were baking in the oven, Diana got three bowls of stuff ready. I was still sleepy, so I was only paying attention a little bit. I heard the stuff go into the bowls, and it sounded like when Diana puts my food into my dish!! I thought I was going to get more dinner! So I got very excited! But I was wrong. So then I wasn't very excited. Here is what Diana put into the bowls: 48 little chocolate chips, 24 brown m-n-ms, and 48 pieces of almond. I had NO IDEA why she did this. But she told me. And then I had three ideas about why she did this. Here are my three ideas. The 48 little chocolate chips are for 48 eyes for cupcake groundhogs. The 24 brown m-n-ms are for 24 noses for cupcake groundhogs. The 48 pieces of almond are for 48 pointy teeth for cupcake groundhogs. And those are my three ideas about why Diana put this stuff into three bowls. And here is what it looked like.

After 20 minutes went by, Diana took the cupcakes out of the oven. I thought they looked YUMMY! I thought maybe I could have one.

Then Diana said, "Sorry, buddy. You can't eat chocolate, remember?" I had forgotten. I can't eat chocolate. That stinks. I have to tell you the truth. I was very upset when I listened to what Diana told me about how I can't eat chocolate. I threw myself down on the floor in disappointment and despair.

While I was in despair, Diana pulled out that rolling pin that rolls but is not a pin. And she got the Oreos. I had no idea what idea she had in her head about the rolling pin and the Oreos.

I really wanted to know what she was going to do with the rolling pin and the Oreos. So, I stopped feeling despair. And I got up from lying down to take a look.

And this is what I saw. Diana rolled the rolling pin over the Oreos to smush them, and then this is what they looked like.

I had no idea why Diana rolled over the Oreos with the rolling pin. But then she said, "Hey, Eli! I'm going to put these Oreo crumbs on top of the cupcakes." Oh! So then I knew that the smushed up Oreos were for the cupcake tops! Neat! But first, Diana had to make chocolate buttercream frosting to go on top of the cupcakes and underneath the Oreo crumbs. Chocolate buttercream frosting is butter and sugar and milk and cocoa and vanilla and cream all mixed up together. Oh, not vanilla. Diana just told me she forgot the vanilla! Oooops! And not cream. Diana didn't forget that. I just got confused because there is cream in the name of the frosting. But there is no cream in the frosting. That is dumb and confusing. Here is what the frosting looked like after Diana made it.

Next, Diana put frosting on each cupcake. Here is what one of the cupcakes looked like after she put frosting on it.

Then, Diana put the Oreo crumbs onto the frosting on top of each cupcake. And here is what the cupcakes looked like after she put Oreos onto the frosting.

There were SO MANY cupcakes! I thought there were even enough of them that it would be okay for me to eat one. Then Diana told me AGAIN that I can't eat chocolate. Darn it! I forgot again! I felt very distressed that I can't eat chocolate AND that I kept forgetting I can't eat chocolate. I felt so distressed that I just had to turn my back on Diana for a while to calm down and collect myself.

While I was feeling distress, Diana was feeling distress, too. She had to make more frosting, to be the faces of the groundhogs, but it did not go as she had planned. I was pretending not to pay attention to Diana, because I was distressed, but how I knew she was also feeling distress was because she said, "Oh, no! This did not turn out the way I'd planned. I'm so distressed!" Here is what the frosting looked like. Now you can also understand why Diana was distressed. This does not look like normal frosting. It is too crumbly. I know this, because I have supervised frosting making many, many times.

Even though I felt bad Diana was feeling distress, I felt less distress than before, because it meant I wasn't the only one feeling that way. And Diana soon felt less distress, too, because she put some vanilla and milk into the frosting and mixed it up. And then this is what it looked like.

Now, instead of being distressed, I felt puzzled. Because this frosting looks just like the other frosting. Why did Diana make two frostings? Why didn't Diana just make one big frosting? Diana could tell I felt puzzled, because she looked at me and said, "I know, I know. It doesn't make sense. This frosting looks just like the other frosting I made. But the recipe said to do this." I think that's silly. Diana doesn't always have to follow the recipe. One good thing about Diana making two frostings, though, is that when she made the second frosting, a little bit of the sugar went onto the floor. I know this because I ate it! Here I am eating the sugar from the floor.

Next came the part of this baking adventure that Diana really didn't like. She had to use something called a pastry bag. I don't know what that is, but I knew she didn't like it because her face got wrinkles between her eyes and she said, "I hate using the pastry bag!!!" Here is what the pastry bag thing looks like.

I am not quite sure what happened next, because Diana was leaning over the cupcakes, and I couldn't see what she was doing. But somehow, Diana took the pastry bag and used it to make a big sort of circle for a groundhog face and two smaller sort of circles for groundhog ears. And she used two little chocolate chips for groundhog eyes. And one brown m-n-m for a groundhog nose. And two pieces of almond for two pointy groundhog teeth. And when I looked at the cupcake after all of that, here is what I saw.

Wow! That is so cool! I was SO excited that I wanted to get a closer look!!

And when I looked, here is what I saw.

I think the Groundhog Day cupcakes are GREAT! I LOVE THEM!! Maybe we can make them for other holidays, too! That would be SO COOL!

What a fun baking adventure. I wonder what we will bake next time? I think I will lie down and think about it. Happy Groundhog Day!

Annie's Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I have a girlfriend. My girlfriend's name is Annie. She lives right across the street from me, and I love her SO MUCH!! I think she loves me, too. Annie is older than I am. She is TWO! That is GROWN-UP and twice as old as I am!! Diana says this means she is a cougar. But to me, she looks like a yellow lab. She is a dog, just like me, not some kind of big cat. Diana says strange things sometimes. But that's okay. Because I love her SO MUCH!! Here is a picture of Annie. Isn't she SO CUTE??? Diana thinks I should tell you this photo is old, from when Annie was only five months. Now that she is a grown-up dog, she is even more beautiful! I LOVE HER!!!

This weekend, Annie's family was away, and so I was going to get to play with her ALL WEEKEND! That is a LONG time!! But then snow came out of the sky. And then ice came out of the sky. And the ice landed on top of the snow. And then it was very, very slippery. And when I went outside and I walked in the yard, my paws made the ice crack. The noise was VERY loud! (I was a little bit scared.)

Diana had a hard time walking on the ice. So did I. But I have an excuse: I have four paws, and I've only walked on regular ground and snow before. Not ice. That is new for me. And I have a tail!! What is Diana's excuse?!? She only has two paws feet. And she used to live in New England. And Canada! She should know better! And Diana doesn't have a tail!!

Oh, so, anyway. So Annie was supposed to come hang out this weekend, but Diana was worried Annie and I would slip on the ice and hurt ourselves while were playing. I don't think that would have happened. And I'll bet Annie didn't think so either. But Diana did, and she's the boss of me. Most of the time. So that was that.

Instead, Diana went over to visit Annie A LOT and played with her inside. I guess that's okay, but when Diana was with Annie, Diana wasn't with me. And I didn't like that. I didn't like that AT ALL! One time, Diana could hear me crying when she left. I think that made her sad, because when she came back from visiting Annie that time, she gave me even MORE hugs and kisses than usual. Sometimes, Diana gives me lots of hugs. And she loves to kiss me on top of my head. Mostly, that's okay. Sometimes, I'd rather just play.

Anyway, by this afternoon, the ice had stopped falling out of the sky, so I thought maybe FINALLY Annie could come over to play. But Diana said, "No, buddy, I'm sorry. It's still too icy outside." And then she said, "But guess what, Eli? Instead of playing with Annie, we can bake cupcakes for her to give to her family." I thought that was a dumb idea. I would MUCH RATHER play with Annie than bake cupcakes with Diana. I felt sad about not seeing Annie. Here is how my face looked when Diana told me Annie couldn't come over and we were going to bake instead of playing with my girlfriend.

And the more I thought about it, the stupider I thought Diana's plan was! Because it would be FUN to play with Annie! And guess what else? Here's what else: ANNIE KNOWS HOW TO BAKE CUPCAKES VERY WELL! When she was little, she helped Diana bake 96 cupcakes!

And guess what else? Besides choosing recipes from the cupcake cookbook and helping with the baking, Annie is also good at cleaning aprons after the baking is done! So that's why I thought it was dumb Diana wouldn't let Annie come over to help us today. But Diana had made up her mind. And like I told you before: Diana is STUBBORN! Once she's made up her mind, forget trying to make her change it. She was ready to get started, and I decided it would be okay to help. First, I had to look at what she bought at the grocery store.

Then, we looked at the recipe. Diana wants to try out lots of new cupcake recipes this year, and this one sounds like FUN! Because it has cupcakes AND cookies! And chocolate! Oh, wait, I don't eat chocolate. Because I am a dog. But chocolate sounds good anyway!!

First, Diana cut up the cookie dough and put it on a plate to put into the freezer for a while. I thought that was strange. But she told me she didn't want the cookie dough to be warm when she baked it, because then it would bake more quickly than the cupcakes and get burned. Wow! Diana is SMART!

Once the cookie dough was in the freezer, it was time to start working on the cupcakes. I had been playing with my red, white, and blue squeaky ball (I LOVE MY RED, WHITE, AND BLUE SQUEAKY BALL!!!), but I stopped so that Diana could take a picture of me with the mixing bowl.

After Diana put all of the ingredients into the bowl, this is what the ingredients looked like.

Then, she used the mixer that plugs into the holes in the wall to mix up all of the ingredients. That took a few minutes, and I got sleepy, so I decided to lie down and wait to look at the bowl again until Diana was done mixing.

Then, Diana said, "Hey, buddy, I'm done!" So I walked over to look, and this is what I saw. It looks more boring than it did before she mixed it up.

Next, Diana poured the cupcake batter into the cupcake pans. And then she took the frozen cookie dough pieces out of the freezer and put one on top of each cupcake. I think that looks SO COOL!

While the cupcakes were baking in the oven, Diana took some Chips Ahoy cookies and rolled over them with the rolling pin to make crumbled up cookies to put on top of the cupcakes. That is a GREAT idea!

I got tired just watching Diana roll over the cookies with the rolling pin, so I decided to lie down again. I was lying right by the door, and there was snow and ice right on the other side of the door. And Diana thought I was cold. So she covered me with my blanket. But I wasn't cold. And I didn't need the blanket. But I stayed under it anyway, because I didn't want to hurt Diana's feelings. I'm nice like that. But I think rolling pin is a silly name. It is not a pin.

After 20 minutes, Diana took the cupcakes out of the oven. They looked YUMMY, and Diana thought so, too, and I know that because she smiled and said, "Oh, Eli, these look YUMMY!"

Diana started doing the dishes while the cupcakes cooled off. She said she had to let them do that for a while before she took them out of the cupcake pans. When she went to look at the cupcakes again, I think she was surprised, because her mouth was shaped like an O. So I got up and went to look at the cupcakes, and I felt surprised, too. Because now the cupcakes had holes in them! The cookie dough fell through the top of the cupcakes. I don't think that was supposed to happen. Diana didn't think so either, and I know that because she said, "Uh-oh, Eli, this wasn't supposed to happen."

I felt discouraged by this whole thing. I don't think cupcakes are supposed to have holes in them. I had to lie down on my bed to collect myself.

While I rested, Diana made the chocolate buttercream frosting. It has sugar, butter, vanilla, milk, and cocoa powder. Wow, it looks GOOD!! Even though I can't eat chocolate, I can still look at it!

Then, Diana put frosting on the cupcakes. She used a little bit of extra frosting to fill in the hole on the top of each cupcake. While she did that, I was a ghost-writer. That is a FUNNY word, because I don't think ghosts can write. But Diana told me that's what I was, because I wrote a note for Annie to give to her family and pretended I was Annie when I wrote the note. And here is what I wrote. (Diana was a ghost writer, too, because she wrote about what kind of cupcakes we baked.)

After Diana put frosting on all of the cupcakes, then she put cookie crumbs on all of the cupcakes. And then she put a plate under all of the cupcakes. And then she took pictures of all of the cupcakes. And here they are!!

That was a fun cupcake baking adventure! But I still miss Annie. Maybe we can play together after the ice and snow melt. But now I'm going to take a nap. I think I will dream about Annie. And cupcakes. And my red, white, and blue squeaky ball.