My mom recently commented to me, "I wish I could die and come back as one of your pets." Sadly, I kind of have to agree with her. My furballs enjoy pretty sweet lives. So this week I embarked on some cage renovation for the little sea pigs. Sparked by a fellow pig owner's comment, I found out about using fleece to line the pigs' cage. For the uninitiated, you generally line the cage with a mixture of hardwood chips (something non-aromatic and oil-free, like aspen) and CareFresh which is a crinkly, paper-like absorbent material. The CareFresh is expensive but important because wood shavings are dusty, oily and even the scent-free kind can irritate sensitive piggy noses. This works well to an extent. The cons are that it creates a lot of waste, and cleaning is kind of a hassle (no one likes scooping poop), and it can get expensive though the wood helps cut the cost. Lastly, the pigs tend to choose 'bathroom' spots that get wet and smelly faster than others. Obviously smell is bad, and no one wants to live in a spongey environment.

The first step to the renovation was to expand the cage. The really truly dedicated pig people say that 10.5' sq is ideal for two pigs. The last cage reconfig only gave them 7.5' with a 13"x13" loft and I've been feeling guilty ever since. I have a ton of spare cube pieces so when I couldn't sleep on Monday night I got out the zip ties and went to work.

The new abode (I like to call it Pigwarts) has different rooms. Pictured above is the Apéritif y Antipasti room. Note the two water bottles for multi-pig hydrating. This is also where most of the veggies land. You'll notice that the AyA room has a traditional CareFresh and wood shavings floor. This is because pigs (like most rodents) are multi-taskers and tend to do the input and output of food at the same time. Plus the waters are drippy.

The middle of the cage is now dedicated to living and lounging space. Several layers of cotton towels are topped with soft and plushy polyester fleece. Urine quickly drains through the polyester into the towels, which are laundered 1-2 times a week. A quick daily vacuum keeps the poop under control and the whole thing supposedly will stay drier and cleaner. Ideally the pigs will concentrate their waste activities in the areas with CareFresh. In the meantime everyone seems quite pleased with the velvety soft bedding.

Last but not least, you should notice the second kitchen, the tube tunnel (with viewing ports) and the expanded hay loft. The hay goes in up top and 'Tufo and Ginnie spend a lot of time pulling it down (much easier than just going upstairs). No picture yet, but it's very cute to watch such stubby animals go up on two legs.

The bottom of the cage provides convenient storage space, though I think the next project will be to create a curtain to go around the bottom. It doesn't look that bad, but the cubes just seems so dorm chic to me.

I'm sure this won't be the last change to the environment, but for now the pigs and I are pretty pleased. It really seems like they have a lot more room and I like the look of the space (key since it's in my office.) Several weeks of dedicated socializing have also brought about huge changes and I'm free to pet and pick them up, rub their noses, bellies and cheeks and there is far less terror involved, especially from Ginnie.

Wheek wheek!

PUBLISH OR PERISH
I'm trying not to be bitter that Sarah is having seasons. Cathy and I are going to try and fake it while I'm in DC next week. She's been posting like crazy lately, but seems to have fallen off the bandwagon this week. Heather warned me she would be late, but I think she forgets that the rest of us are on EST, so she still makes the cut in my book.

Over Easter weekend I co-hosted my sister's baby shower. The first lesson I learned from this is not to host 60 person parties from across the country. The second lesson was to ALWAYS get the pre-cut fruit platter, even if it's cheaper to cut your own fruit.

I spent a lot of time running around finalizing things so I had to delegate food shots to someone with a disposable, but here's what I have plus a recipe roundup.

I made 60 plain vanilla cupcakes. I've tried Magnolia and I've tried Martha and neither really wow me, so I tried out Billy's. I still don't have a favorite. The only flavor request I could squeeze out of the Mom-to-be was something with mint, so I visited my (re-opened!!!) favorite for interesting flavors, Cupcake Bakeshop, and followed Chockylit's recipe for Mint Cream Filled Cupcakes with Raspberry Mousse Frosting. Once I reassured everyone that it was really ok to dig in, these were definitately the crowd favorite.

Also from Cupcake Bakeshop I made Lavendar Cream Filled Cupcake with Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting. Someone posited that people were intimidated by the purple frosting, but whatever the reason these came in second best. This often happens when I make two flavors. A cupcake that would have been enjoyed on a different day gets outshone by a really awesome flavor combo.

A little bit of backstory -- on my way out to California, knowing I would bite off more than I could chew (see: 2 recipes worth of homemade brioche, a Tomato & Onion Tart and a giant Jicama-Citrus Salad...also a huge crowd pleaser, plus shopping, decorations, setup etc. all in 36 hours) I baked the cupcakes ahead of time. I showed up in California with a single carry-on roller and a netbook case. The carry-on had all 60 cupcakes, frozen before leaving and wrapped thouroughly in plastic and foil and packed in some giant tupperware I own. I also got insulated grocery bags and wrapped those around the cases. Since it was snowing in Salt Lake as I connected through there, I felt pretty good about the cupcakes staying fresh.

So on the way back, I froze and packed up frosting! I had a huge amount of the raspberry mousse left over (4-5 cups?) and since it's one of the best frostings I'd ever had, I certainly didn't want to toss it. So I put it in a ziploc, froze it, wrapped it in foil, tossed it in the insulated bag and flew it back home. I had to check it because I'm pretty sure frosting counts as a gel, and I really didn't want to fight with TSA over the whole issue.

I attended a Preakness Party this evening. Usually I love events like this with a theme, and of course I volunteered to bring dessert. Smith Island Cake seemed obvious, but it doesn't really seem all the appealing to me and as tired as I am of cupcakes, it's hard to get people to dig into cake during a party setting. Lady Baltimore seemed too fussy for this party, and peaches haven't really come into season yet for a Baltimore Peach Cake. So I decided to go with something classic and easy, using stuff I had on hand...including the fabulous raspberry mousse!

I used Cook's Illustrated's Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling (sorry you'll need a membership to see the recipe, but it is SO worth the money -- I reference them for everything). I love "stuffed" cupcakes and usually follow the "cone" method but giving them ganache centers saves so much time because you just plop in a teaspoon of ganache before baking and it all works itself out in the oven. My only addition to their recipe was that I doubled it to make 24 (no problems) and I simmered some chopped mint in my cream before making the ganache, so that it would be mint chocolate. Oh, and because I'm old-fashioned I made my ganache on the oven instead of the microwave. I know it works (most of the time) but I really don't trust microwaves + chocolate. Then I topped the cupcakes with my raspberry mousse which was slightly less firm after being frozen (or maybe it's just being in 80 degree humid Florida instead of 60 degree dry California) but otherwise none the worse for the wear. These also dissapeared quickly, and I would make all parts of the recipe again - together and seperate.

I also re-used the cupcake stands you can see from the baby shower -- I broke them apart and packed them for the flight home, and then re-assembled them here. You can see a great tutorial on how to make you own here, and I highly recommend it. So much cheaper than traditional cake stands and you can personalize them for your occassion, style and needs.