Cinco de Mayo w/ a Hint of Lime... Cupcakes That Is, and a Fiesta!

Happy fifth of May - Glücklich fünften Mai - Feliz Cinco de Mayo!  I figure why not celebrate in every language I know... or, kinda know.

Yesterday, I had a little gathering at my place to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and it was great!  Some friends from Provo came up, some friends from SLC came down, and people from Draper just came on over.  It was great!  I got to release a bit of my creativity cooking (enchiladas, seven-layer dip, margaritas, empanadas and margarita cupcakes) and setting up for the celebration, which was fun for me too... I kinda love parties and events - and oddly, hosting them.  

I took a shot at making some virgin strawberry daiquiri margaritas, and they actually turned out pretty good! I even ran a lime around the rim of each cup and dipped it in sugar (with a pinch of salt for zip)... I know, I'm pretty much a pro - aka: I googled how to do it.

So, Kate used her mad skills and made some obleck, because Brenden had never heard of it (Sidenote:  Either has my sister...).  It was a major asset to the party - he obviously LOVED it... Haha!

The before (above) and after (below) shot... I kinda prefer the before. Haha!

There's that crazy obleck again... it really was a party center-piece. Just ask Karin! Haha...

We had a handful more people there, but I only took pictures for a few minutes... It was a good group! Some people I hadn't since before I left for Germany came too, and I got to see them which was fabulous.  I even made a dinner date with Meghan (finally!) and Amber for next week... Life is good. 

Now, see those beautiful cupcakes above this text - the green ones with pieces of lime on top?  Yea... Those are margarita/lime cupcakes that I created!  BAM!  I swear this is not becoming a food "how-to" blog, but a friend asked how I made them with the statement, "You can just put the recipe on your blog."  To this I thought, "Great idea!"  So, that's that... Here is the SIMPLEST recipe ever for margarita/lime cupcakes:

1 Box of White Cake

Eggs, water and oil (amt. according to what the box states)

Half a package of sugar-free Lime Jello!

That's it.  Really!  I feel a bit embarrassed at how ridiculously easy my discovery was to make... but it worked!  I read a few recipes and they were all asking for tons of extra stuff, and I finally said "To heck with this - I'm using jello to make them green and flavored."  So, I did just that.  Then, I topped each one with homemade cream cheese frosting, green sprinkles, and a tiny slice of lime.  A TIP:  Don't put the lime slice on until right before you serve them... It doesn't make them taste way different, but the acid in the fruit made the frosting melt just a little bit.  Eh!  They were still bomb!

On a final note, a great party + great people = a great night.

*muah*

Song of the Day:  On June 23rd, on of my favorite bands is playing here in Utah for FREE!  I am stoked!  As I have said and promoted before, this boy named Will is the lead singer for the band Parachute, and he also graduated from HS with me.  No, we weren't buddy-buddy.  I think I talked to him only a handful of times, but I went and watched him play downtown with his band from time to time, and love them (Sparky's Flaw).  So, here they are with a song co-written by them and Lady Antebellum - here's Parachute's new song "Kiss Me Slowly."  Enjoy and come see them in concert in June with me and some friends if you desire!