How About Some Halloween Cupcakes?

Mini Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes
by The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

1 cup self-rising flour
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 large egg
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Chopped crystallized ginger (optional)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
Orange and black food coloring; orange, black, white, and yellow candies and sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 mini muffin cups with 1 3/4x 1-inch paper liners. Mix flour, golden brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl. Whisk egg, canned pure pumpkin, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Add mixture to dry ingredients; stir to fully combine. Spoon batter into paper liners (batter will almost fill liners). Scatter crystallized ginger over, if desired. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 16 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely on rack. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl to blend. Beat in powdered sugar.
Divide frosting among 3 bowls. Tint frosting in first bowl with orange coloring (or combine red and yellow coloring to make orange) and frosting in second bowl with black coloring, keeping frosting in third bowl white. Chill frosting 2 hours or until firm enough to easily spread. Frost cupcakes; decorate using candy and sugar crystals as desired.

You've Got Personnel-ity!

 Don't forget... You've Got Personnel-ity!

Last week I presented my topic You've Got Personnel-ity! to Equity Engineering Group. I've been a DiSC trainer for 20 years, teaching people how to use this tool in business and personal life.

The Plane Truth

The Plane Truth - I still don't like flying!

After 11 flights this month (but who's counting?) I came to one non startling conclusion. I still don't like flying! Never did, still don't, even 25 years after becoming a professional speaker aka professional flyer.

Herein lies the lesson...when the joy is greater than the fear, we manage to get through it. Or simply put, when the reward is greater than the risk, albeit, a perception, that is the big duh of the century. I think it's a simple yet profound aha that applies to many areas of our lives if we want to be truthful about it. Yes, I know, we don't always want to be but that's the reality of it, the metaphor of life. If I may quote myself as you know I often love to do, lol..."life is about the choices we make, not the chances we take that truly determines the quality of our lives".

Now go fly a kite, I mean a plane!