Amazing facts about Shel Silverstein.

He wrote the lyrics and music for most of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show's songs. Andy has always poked fun at me for liking them*. Well, fie on him, I say! Watching Ben Folds cover "Cover of the Rolling Stone" my junior year at Brandeis was thrilling, if shamefully so.

Next order of business for the day: I'd like to point out that I don't mean to bring home medical accoutrements. It's just that every time I go to put in an IV or venipuncture or something, I grab an extra needle. Those extras wallow in my pocket until I get home and shake out my coat. Invariably, they stay at home. And so, armed with a number of 18-gauge angiocaths and a few syringes, I decorate cupcakes. Unfortunately, the Flo-coat that I purchased to make my water-soluble food dyes miscible with chocolate didn't work at all. Even just adding the Flo-coat to my chocolate made it agglutinate. By the time I figured that out, I'd used too much chocolate--and time--to attempt a batch with only the coloring. Either my Flo-coat was defective or the cheapo Nestle chocolate chunks just don't do for candy decorating. So please excuse the grainy-looking decorations. They were supposed to be pretty and glossy.

It's dye, not cyanosis.

The panels, all ready.

Cardamom-orange cupcakes with star anise frosting

Time is tissue!

Everyone's favorite toxic alcohol.

An ED staple.

Gratuitous picture of Malta being cute. Every time I try to
photograph her, she's either blurry or demonic-looking. Hints
on rodent photography, anyone?

Emergently delicious.

 *"Is that even a real band??" "Dude, 'Cover of the Rolling Stone' is a Known Thing." "[shrilly] What? No!"