Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Cupcake Envy
It all started a few years ago. I was in Washington D.C. with Leo. He had a conference and I was exploring the city. One of my favorite places to go was the Smithsonian Museum of American History. After a wonderful day of exploring this amazing place I was going to meet Leo at the cafeteria in the basement at the Smithsonian. I wasn't hungry for dinner, but I thought something sweet would just perfect. Then I saw them. Beautiful fluffy baby blue cupcakes. Quite simple, just buttercream frosting and a vanilla cupcake but it was divine. The best cupcake I have ever had.
Since then I have been on the search for perfect cupcake and I have not found it yet. To my delight I have recently discovered some wonderful blogs dedicated just to cupcakes. One of my favorites is I Heart Cuppycakes. She has a wonderful variety of different flavors such as Creme Brulee and Midori Melon Mojito Cupcakes AND she shows you how to make them. She is also on a quest to figure out the best way to ship a cupcake and I'm thinking of trying that out to see if it works to send to some friends back East. Another fun site is Cupcakes take the Cake, showing wonderful tempting photos of cupcakes from bakeries and kitchens from all over. My favorite are the ABBA cupcakes in honor of Mama Mia! (which I am listening to this very moment. I LOVED the movie it was so much fun and makes me want to run away to Greece!) 52 Cupcakes has great decorating ideas, really clever!! And of course after all that you are going to need Cupcake Rehab..YES, YES, YES!!
While Leo and I were in San Francisco last weekend we came upon Kara's Cupcakes. We tasted the Sweet Vanilla, Java and Banana. They were very good, but not as good as my D.C. cupcakes. I thought they were rather small, especially for the price and I was a little dissapointed with the lack of variety. The fondant flower on the top of the cupcake tasted really weird. I have never tasted fondant before so maybe that is the way it's supposed to be.
So I thought maybe if I can't find the perfect cupcake maybe I'll have to bake them myself. I have always wanted to try a Red Velvet Cake. I think it might be more of a Southern thing because it is something I have never tried. I found this receipe Mom's Red Velvet Cake/Butter Cream Icing and I have to say it turned out pretty wonderful. Of course I made cupcakes instead of the cake. You actually need 2 oz of red food coloring and I only had one so next time I'll have to try 2. I subsituted 1 oz. of milk for the food coloring so it wouldn't be dry. Leo and I ate most of them. The kids didn't like them so much because they were "different" and not the traditional chocolate or vanilla. Next time I'll have to do Chocolate for them. So what do you think? Do you like my pretty cupcake? Still not the perfect cupcake, but I'll find it again if I have to hop on a plane to D.C. to find it!!
Since then I have been on the search for perfect cupcake and I have not found it yet. To my delight I have recently discovered some wonderful blogs dedicated just to cupcakes. One of my favorites is I Heart Cuppycakes. She has a wonderful variety of different flavors such as Creme Brulee and Midori Melon Mojito Cupcakes AND she shows you how to make them. She is also on a quest to figure out the best way to ship a cupcake and I'm thinking of trying that out to see if it works to send to some friends back East. Another fun site is Cupcakes take the Cake, showing wonderful tempting photos of cupcakes from bakeries and kitchens from all over. My favorite are the ABBA cupcakes in honor of Mama Mia! (which I am listening to this very moment. I LOVED the movie it was so much fun and makes me want to run away to Greece!) 52 Cupcakes has great decorating ideas, really clever!! And of course after all that you are going to need Cupcake Rehab..YES, YES, YES!!
While Leo and I were in San Francisco last weekend we came upon Kara's Cupcakes. We tasted the Sweet Vanilla, Java and Banana. They were very good, but not as good as my D.C. cupcakes. I thought they were rather small, especially for the price and I was a little dissapointed with the lack of variety. The fondant flower on the top of the cupcake tasted really weird. I have never tasted fondant before so maybe that is the way it's supposed to be.
So I thought maybe if I can't find the perfect cupcake maybe I'll have to bake them myself. I have always wanted to try a Red Velvet Cake. I think it might be more of a Southern thing because it is something I have never tried. I found this receipe Mom's Red Velvet Cake/Butter Cream Icing and I have to say it turned out pretty wonderful. Of course I made cupcakes instead of the cake. You actually need 2 oz of red food coloring and I only had one so next time I'll have to try 2. I subsituted 1 oz. of milk for the food coloring so it wouldn't be dry. Leo and I ate most of them. The kids didn't like them so much because they were "different" and not the traditional chocolate or vanilla. Next time I'll have to do Chocolate for them. So what do you think? Do you like my pretty cupcake? Still not the perfect cupcake, but I'll find it again if I have to hop on a plane to D.C. to find it!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
MK's Performance
Our little drama queen has been quite busy this summer! She was in a production of a montage of "Annie" and she played Annie and she also is part of Fairytale Troupers at Fairytale town in Sacramento.
Annie was a one time only show and we bought the DVD and are hoping to get that soon so we can post it online. They didn't allow any photography in the theatre so they could sell DVDs..haha. It was a recital from her dance academy. She was amazing. There were over 30 different performances and hers was the only performance where they sang and she was the only one with a solo. There were about 500 people in the theatre and she came out and belted out her solo and didn't look one bit nervous. I was so incredibly proud of her and I just wanted to yell 'THAT'S MY BABY!!". I was blown away. My aunt,mom and in laws came to see her and were equally as proud.
Her role for the Fairytale Troupers is Witch Beth the evil witch of Fairytale town and sister of Queen Elizabeth. The play is Happy Birthday Humpty Dumpty and they do it on a wonderful outdoor stage for the children at the park. It runs every Sunday through August so if you're near Fairytale Town in Sac stop on by to see her. Again I am amazed about her professionalism and seriousness of her playing her part but yet she has lots of fun. I think one of her favorite things is when the children come on the stage afterwards and talk to her and take pictures. Keep watching my little superstar! It's very hard not to be a stage mom, but when you know your kid really loves it and has the talent you don't want to hold her back!
Annie was a one time only show and we bought the DVD and are hoping to get that soon so we can post it online. They didn't allow any photography in the theatre so they could sell DVDs..haha. It was a recital from her dance academy. She was amazing. There were over 30 different performances and hers was the only performance where they sang and she was the only one with a solo. There were about 500 people in the theatre and she came out and belted out her solo and didn't look one bit nervous. I was so incredibly proud of her and I just wanted to yell 'THAT'S MY BABY!!". I was blown away. My aunt,mom and in laws came to see her and were equally as proud.
Her role for the Fairytale Troupers is Witch Beth the evil witch of Fairytale town and sister of Queen Elizabeth. The play is Happy Birthday Humpty Dumpty and they do it on a wonderful outdoor stage for the children at the park. It runs every Sunday through August so if you're near Fairytale Town in Sac stop on by to see her. Again I am amazed about her professionalism and seriousness of her playing her part but yet she has lots of fun. I think one of her favorite things is when the children come on the stage afterwards and talk to her and take pictures. Keep watching my little superstar! It's very hard not to be a stage mom, but when you know your kid really loves it and has the talent you don't want to hold her back!
10 years!
Leo and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary on July 18th in San Francisco. The plan was to go to the Giants game and then to dinner. We HAD TO GO to the Giants game because it was Crazy Crab bobblehead day. After the game we introduced Crazy Crab to some of the wonderful sights in SF. I have never seen Leo so excited about anything. He loves that Crab. You see..Crazy Crab was the official Giants mascot back in the 80's. Crazy was really the anti mascot. Cheering that the Giants SUCK! when indeed they did. It became a tradition to hurl objects at poor Crazy Crab if you went to a game. Crazy Crab was retired in 1985 and this game was one of the first times this legendary crab has been seen. Now there is an underground movement called Rehab the Crab to bring back Crazy and replace the current mascot Lou Seal. After all the fun with our favorite crab, we went to our favorite restaurant in the City, House of Prime Rib, and had the BEST prime rib and dirty martinis. Ahhh..what a great way to spend our 10th anniversary :D. Me, Leo and Crazy Crab.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Back from the Magical Kingdom
We are back from Disneyland and it as always was quite an adventure. I had a few issues with my feet because of terrible blisters (I wore Crocs that were well wore in, I think it was because of the 105 heat) so I got to experience the Magic Kingdom via scooter which was slightly embarrassing, but after a while I got over it and just enjoyed myself. A lovely lady in line for scooters kind of put it all in perspective. She always uses a scooter because it makes her happy and if she didn't have one she would be awfully cranky after walking so much and when mama isn't happy no one else is. She also said that she had a wheelchair and it was all fun and games for the first 15 minutes and after that the kids just abandoned her so the scooter was the way to go!! Now I'm not gonna lie, I enjoyed having the freedom of zipping all over Disneyland and California Adventure! I wouldn't do it again though I think unless absolutly neccessary. It was VERY hard to manuvour through the shops. So I had fun, but my heart wasn't into our Disney adventure as it usually is. I was dissapointed with myself, but my wonderful family bore with me and wouldn't leave me behind!! A couple photos of the kiddos. Of course it's too much to ask for them to sit still and take a decent picture LOL! MK was very adventurous and went on all the rides even the Haunted Mansion! She liked them all EXCEPT Indiana Jones which she thought before we arrived she would be riding 4 or 5 times at least! She was pretty scared poor thing. She did enjoy the Indiana Jones show which was so so but she did get chosen to be in it which was fun. It was funny we pretty much knew she would get chosen because she always does. I'm not sure how she does it!! I think our next Disney adventure will be to Disney World hopefully in the next year or so. I will have better walking shoes for sure!! But as usual I always have a feeling of forgetting all my troubles when I am in the Magic Kingdom. It's a great escape from reality for a few days.
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