mojito cupcakes

I just made mojito cupcakes for the second time, but this time around I'm going to make the frosting that goes with them. Once they're frosted, I'll photograph them and upload them here.

This happened last time I made them and I forgot, but I made the batter too runny again. I want that much rum in there, but I should use less milk. Right now I'm using a cup. Might knock it down to 3/4cup the next time I make these. They wind up being really fluffy (like the middle of a thick pancake), which tastes great, but makes for a hard time peeling the cupcake paper off without tearing up your delicious treat.

Moving into the realm of "real" cooking (i.e. not just baking), I'll be making Julia Child's Steak au Poivre tonight. Maybe some creamed spinach, too. Undecided on how messy I want my kitchen to get after I just cleaned it this morning.

Up next!

Found the recipe I'll be testing out next. Mint Julep cupcakes.

1 tsp. salt 3 tsp baking powder 2 3/4 cup flour 1 cup butter
2 cups sugar 4 eggs 1 1/2 vanilla extract 1/2 tsp mint extract
1 cup milk 1/2 cup bourbon or whisky 1/2 cup creme de menthe

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare cupcake pans with nonstick liners
combine salt, baking powder and 1 34 cups fo flour in bowl.
Beat butter, sugar,eggs, vanilla and mint until creamy.
Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add milk and liquors, then the remaining flour. Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool

Makes 24 large cupcakes.

Margarita Cupcakes

I made margarita cupcakes today (photos soon), and I loved them! I think they might be even better than the mojito ones from last weekend. I thought I'd toss the recipe up for anyone who was interested. These are very simple, because you just add flavors to a box mix.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a couple cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Mix 9 shots of liquid margarita mix, 3 shots of tequila, and a little under 1 shot of Grand Marnier in a small bowl.
3. In a second, larger bowl, blend a box of white cake mix, 3 large eggs, 2 tbs of vegetable oil, the zest of 1 lime, and 1 1/4 cup of the boozey goodness from the small bowl. While you're blending that until it's almost completely smooth, ice and drink the rest of the margarita you made. Yum!
4. Spoon your batter into your cupcake pans (makes about 24 cupcakes), and toss it in the oven for 18-22 minutes. Until you can prick them with a toothpick and have it come out clean.

When you take these out of the oven, leave them in the pans for 10 minutes or so, and then let them cool more out of the pan. Get them completely cool before you frost them.

The Icing!!!
You need 2 sticks of room temperature butter. Beat them until they're fluffy and pour in 3 cups of powdered sugar. If you want it sweeter, add more sugar, obviously. Then add a tiny pinch of salt, juice from 2 fresh limes, a bit of lime zest, and, if you like, some green food coloring. Mix and spread. Or pipe. I piped the frosting. You'll probably have leftover frosting, but you should eat that with your fingers. Duh.

Enjoy and let me know how yours turn out if you try them. I loved mine!!

Disappointed again

Yesterday I called GM Carl again. It seems the girl they thought was leaving is sticking around, and he's just hired three other girls (they were filling out W4's during my second interview). Looks like I'm not going to be working at Hooters anytime soon. GM Carl said he'd keep my application on hand and call if someone quits, but right now he can't fit me in. What a waste of pushup bras.

I'm not giving up, though. I'll just be persistent and hope for the best. I can use this in between time to whiten those teeth and orange that skin. After all, orange is the new tan.

I promised cupcake photos

hoot
little owls
kitty
made from scratch pina colada cupcakes

Disappointment, cupcakes, and musical theatre

I called GM Carl on Monday, pen in hand, ready to write down the days and time I was to come in for training. The pen dropped sadly as I listened to Carl explain that the schedule was full for that week and he couldn't fit my training in yet. He said to try back next week, and that he was sure once girls started to leave for college they could fit me in. Trying not to sound too disappointed, I said thanks and that I'd be sure to call back. I hung up the phone, but not my hopes. I WILL be a Hooters Girl, no matter how long it takes. Though honestly it would be great if I could be fully trained and working regular shifts by the time my classes start back up after Labor Day.

That said, I still made the owl cupcakes. Photos will be arriving shortly, I promise.

On an entirely different note, Bradley and I are re-evaluating our Hooters-themed musical. We were drawn to writing about Hooters as a way to dispel myths, but also just to say "Lighten up and stop being so P.C." The story we came up with involved a preacher, a wedding, small-town gossip, and a gay teenager. Things got convoluted, and the themes were lost in translation. I'd still love to write a musical about a Hooters Girl, but I'm not sure exactly what the plot should be. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

2nd Interview

Just so everyone knows, the dates on these aren't accurate. I'm not retelling events the day they occur. Moving on...

I walked into the Hooters about five minutes early for my second interview, which was going to be with GM Carl. One of the Hooters Girls at the door directed me to a table over by the bathrooms where three other girls were sitting. I got a little nervous when I noticed that those girls were all filling out W4s. If three new girls had just been hired, would there even be a place for me? GM Carl came out and said hello to the other girls, then he introduced himself to me and led me to a table in the middle of the restaurant. We sat down and discussed my resume and application, and it turns out one of the restaurants I used to work at just happens to be his favorite place to eat in town. We talked about the food there for a bit, and then he told me a little about his experiences working at Hooters for the past seven years. He's been at multiple locations, but likes the current one the most (is he paid to say that?). I noticed his backwards baseball cap (I was already loving the laid-back air before I noticed that the manager walks around in a backwards baseball cap!) had an MLB logo on it, so I asked him who his team was. We chatted a bit about baseball, and I brought up that I'm really excited that the girls are encouraged to watch the games with their tables. I also asked about the bartender training that Hooters offers to the over-21 girls. He seemed impressed that I knew about it, so I'm glad I did my research before going in. At the end of the interview he told me it might be a couple of weeks before they can get me on the floor for training, but that I should call him on Monday in the afternoon, and he'd see if they could schedule me. I shook his hand and took another look around, smiling. As I walked out the door it sunk in... they're going to schedule me in for training. I'm going to be a Hooters Girl. I did a bell kick and called Bradley to tell him the news.

I'm thinking I should make some of these cupcakes to celebrate, no?

Strawberry Cupcakes

I've recently decided that I should make cupcakes. All the time. I think they're the cutest food you can eat, so why shouldn't I make tons of them?

The first ones I made were strawberry cupcakes. I used a box mix of Betty Crocker strawberry cake mix and frosted them with vanilla frosting from a tub. I think it was Pilsbury. I then capped and sliced fresh strawberries and put them on top. The strawberries slid around a bit, so I heaped on more frosting to hold them in place. These cupcakes travelled with me to my office the next day where they were all promptly devoured.

This weekend I want to make mojito cupcakes from scratch. Photos and recipes will be posted if they turn out to be any good.

Cheers,
Nomi

The Application

I can't pinpoint exactly what made me think, "Oh Hooters! That's where I'll work." It was a lot of little things. I visited my local Hooters with my friend Bradley (all names in this blog are totally bogus), and we were amazed by several things. The fried pickles were delicious, the adorable way our waitress signed her name onto a cocktail napkin and flipped her hair at the same time, the ORANGE of everything, and the shocking tameness of the whole place had us under some sort of spell. We immediately decided that we should write a musical about working at Hooters, and Bradley joked that I should get a job there to provide us with foder.

I can't remember if this was before or after I did some online research and stumbled upon The Hooters Girl Blog. HK, of The Hooters Girl has maintained a hilarious and well-written account of her experiences from dropping off her application through the present. She's been working there for quite a while now and has even made her way up the ladder to a bartender position now. Her comparisons of life at a mom and pop restaurant to life at Hooters and her assessing the pros and cons of wearing the orange shorts have been big inspirations to me, and are part of why I am hoping to be squeezing my backside into them soon.

I also stumbled upon the career section of the Hooters official website, which make the benefits sound more appetizing than their nearly world famous wings. Reading these made me rack (pun intended) my brain to see if I actually knew any Hooters Girls. And I remembered Sandy. Sandy had been a camp counselor with me one summer, and I remember her always talking about keeping chapstick in the strap of her white lyrca tank top at Hooters, the best restaurant she'd ever worked for. Sandy had loved the jolly spirit of the place, the lack of sidework, the food, and mostly the amazing tips.

When Bradley and I left that night, I asked the girl at the hostess stand for an application. She looked at my messy hair and my lack of makeup and smiled, probably thinking I'd never be back. The next day I filled out the application the first moment I could find the free time. I was giddy with excitement. Hooters! The nearly world famous Hooters! The delightfully tacky, yet unrefined Hooters!! I could think of nowhere else I would rather work while finishing up my master's degree. Is it cliche? Hell yes it is!

I dropped off my application during the slow post-lunch, pre-dinner hours on a Monday, and since I had the good sense to go at a mellow time, I got to speak with a manager right away. Trisha was very put-together and friendly. We shook hands and she informed me that it didn't matter in the slightest that I'd only worked as a hostess before. She told me she had worked for Hooters for 5 years, first as a Hooters Girl on the floor and then as a manager, and that she loved it. I name dropped the other restaurants I'd worked at, and things went well. We shook hands again (have to admit, her grip was a little scary), and she said to come back on a week from Wednesday to meet with the GM Carl.

Welcome to Hoot Cakes!

Hello!

Of late I have two major obsessions. One is the restaurant chain Hooters and my journey as I become a Hooters Girl. The other is cupcakes. I am an avid blogger and have blogged for years, but in wanting to write more thoroughly about my experiences with something so corporate as Hooters, I've decided it's time for an anonymous blog. So it's nice to meet you! My name is definitely not Nomi, but that's how I'll be referred to from here on out.

Welcome to my blog! If you enjoy, please follow it.