Summer is Going Away...

The new fall TV season starts tonight, and while I'm however stoked for the return of HIMYM, this is not actually very big news in the course of my week. But it means the end of summer is right around the corner. I do live in Florida so we manage to hold on to summertime a little longer than the rest of the country, but eventually fall will roll in in full force. I am equal parts saddened and excited by this. I like summer; the lazy weekends, flip-flops, tanks tops, baseball and oh the summer food: corn, tomatoes, seafood, strawberries, margaritas, YUM-O. I'm sad to see all that go away for another year, but I'm also super stoked for small. I love fall, actually more than I love summer. I love the weather, football, Halloween, the colors, cozy sweaters, reading outside on a gorgeous day, and the food: butternut squash, cranberries, apples, pumpkin everything, cinnamon, root vegetable, homemade soups, So Excited! I know the true first day of fall isn't until later this week and the weather probably won't change here for another month, but fall is already on my mind.
Smiles. =).

Cupcake Baking and The Great Red Spiced Apple Ring Search

Remember yesterday's early start? Today was a slow build. I was actually up very early, but I wasn't feeling very well. And I'm like the world's worst sick person, I'm cranky and whiny and I just want someone to take care of me; which doesn't work out so well when you're older than about 10. After relocating from my bed to the couch at about 5am because I couldn't breathe, stop coughing, and my back hurt I dozed off and on through the morning and multiple episodes of the Rachel Zoe Project (Thank you Bravo for trashy reality TV and not infomercials on Sunday morning).I have been feeling like I need to bake lately. I know I'm feeling stressed, but I'm not sure what about. But when I'm stressed I bake; it's something I learned from my Mom. So I've been thinking all week that I wanted to make cupcakes and today I finally got down to it. I usually make two kinds of cupcakes at a time and my plan for today was a vaguely conceived Oreo/Cookies and Cream and a Caramel Apple that I have a recipe for. Thus I underwent the The Red Spiced Apple Ring Search of 2010.  
My recipe for Caramel Apple cupcakes called for a can/jar or red spiced apple rings. This is actually something I never heard of so I contacted my resource for all things food related, my Mom, who said they should be in with the canned/jarred fruit or possibly pie filling depending on the supermarket. So off BFFMandy and I went to Publix. We searched high and low in the canned fruit aisle without success. A fellow shopper suggested we check the jelly aisle and while this made no sense and there were no red spiced apples we did find a very helpful stock-person. He knew exactly what I was looking for and he and I trotted Bck to canned fruit picking up additional assistance on the way. Eventually the produce manager came out and advised what I was looking for is a "holiday" item and would not be available until October. (Side Note: I'm not sure if I'm more disturbed by the 97 varieties of congealed cranberry sauce they carry year round or the fact that Publix considers October "the holidays.") So I have all the other ingredients and now I have to wait for the apples; I did find several recipes online, but that seems like a ton of work when I have scads of other cupcake recipes.

I did make Oreo/Cookies and Cream Cupcakes. Overall I'd call them a success. .

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

 The cupcakes are frosted with a cookies and cream frosting and topped with crushed of halved Oreos.

Smiles. =)

Successful Saturday

Today was a good day.
Like most fabulous Saturdays, today started with me successfully sleeping past 7:30am. I have this issue with sleeping in on the weekends; during the week I feel like I could easily sleep until 9 or 9:30 every morning, but when Saturday morning rolls around I'm always up at the crack of dawn. Most people would use this time to be productive, I usually just  watch re-runs of Law & Order. Anyway today I was able to sleep in; which I am very grateful for. I did eventually pull myself out of bed to run errands (Barnes & Noble is my favorite place...I know I said it was Target, but today it's Barnes & Noble)
My work friend AB's baby shower was this afternoon. It was a lot of fun. I am not generally a fan of the "shower" as it's usually large groups of strangers starring at each other and the guest of honor, but AB's was quite fun. It was at Macaroni Grill so the food was good and it was a shower thrown by people at work so mostly everyone knew each other.
I had planned on making cupcakes tonight (Caramel Apple and possibly Oreo) but there were loads of dishes and by the time they were finished my ankle was hurting. Maybe tomorrow.
Smiles. =)

September 17

Re-reading my earlier blogs I'm not sure how well this blogs shows "me." Hopefully I'll find my voice soon. Happy Friday!

100 Days till Christmas

I know that today is supposed to be "Things I Love Thursday", but that idea got scrapped this week when I realized that today there are only 100 days till Christmas (I actually counted on my calendar at work a while ago, but just saw my reminder note today). I do have a post planned about Christmas and my love/joy/excitement for the impending fall/winter/holiday season, but I probably won't write it until the weekend.
I still feel like I'm lacking a point of view, I mean I know I'm writing so there is a point of view; I guess I feel I'm lacking something that makes my point of view unique. As in "Why are the things I love/places I go/etc more important than anyone else's?" and doesn't that question sound all self-important/self-pitying. My goal for the  next week is to move my computer downstairs and start working on my blog posts before I'm literally falling asleep at the keyboard. Hopefully more well planned/thought out/written posts will give way to a more clear and unique point of view.
SideNote: Clearly I'm loving the backslash /// tonight. Lol.

Funny Story of the Day:
I was watching The Big Bang Theory this evening (not something I view regularly, but pretty darn hilarious.) Anyway BFFMandy came home and tells me this story, about her dad (Mr.BFFMandy) and how he has a beef with the lyrics of the theme song; because it says something about the autotrophs drooling. Our conversation went like this:
Me: You don't know they don't drool...
BFFMandy: Umm, Yes I do. Because I know they make their own food.
Me: So...they could still drool.
BFFMandy: It's like plants and photosynthesis...Have you ever seen a plant drool?
Me: You don't know they're not drooling on the inside; they could be saying to themselves "Yuuuummm Carbon Dioxide..."
Both of us: (hysterical laughter)

I'm glad tomorrow is Friday.
Smiles. =)

September 15

I am very tired tonight. I'm going to sleep early. No new adventures to report. =).

Brownies

BFFMandy text me today and said she wanted brownies. So I went to my favorite place, Target, and bought a box of brownie mix and a package of Reese's cups (because really what's better that peanut butter brownies) and I used my "Amazing Brownie Pan" for the first time tonight. I'd give the overall experience a B and the brownies a B-. My somewhat OCD side loves the perfectly cut brownies; I mean seriously clean cuts and perfect sides. However the pan is not nonstick (I could tell just by touching the surface) and I had to use so much nonstick spray that the brownies seemed a little oily. Also another note, I had to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper to avoid brownie batter leaking all over my oven. It's a fun gadget and I'll  use it again especially when I want really clean cut brownies (bake sales, work stuff), but I think for the majority of my home brownie making I'll probably use a plain 13x9 coated with nonstickspray/butter.
Plus Side: There are brownies in the fridge. =)

352 Days to go

Pizza is following me. Seriously, for like the past ten days every time I think I'm hungry there's a pizza commercial or print ad saying "pick me, pick me." It's ridiculous. That's all. Good night.

Presents from my Mommy

 I went home this weekend for my Dad's birthday. While I was there my Mom surprised me with a bag full of gifts. She got me replacement straws for my tervis tumbler (Thanks LittleBrother) and two cookbooks. One is all cupcakes; people who know me know I am cupcake obsessed. The other is all sorts of other desserts that start with mixes. I've read the Cupcake one cover to cover twice already, I'll get into the other one later this week. My final gift was the "Perfect Brownie Pan:" (See ad below)

That's right, I am the proud owner of one of these suckers. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's knock-off but I'm still super excited and I will probably make brownies tomorrow just to test it out. =).
I also did a fun paper mache crafting project today. It was a lot of fun and I'll definitely have pictures later.
Smiles. =)

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my Dad's birthday; so HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! We've had a great day celebrating as family. We started with lunch from Panera and the USF/UF. It was a great game even though USF lost in the end. Then we went to dinner at Mama Nem's; which has killer soul food. Then homemade carrot cake, presents, and a movie.

Smiles. =)