Awww!

The BF, who I know I keep mentioning (I'm no less intolerable about him in real life either, sorry), has been away on travel for work for over a week now, and won't be back until Saturday. At first we thought he would be gone a week and a half. then we thought it would only be a week, and then he called me in the middle of the night one night to tell me he would be gone another week. I was pretty unhappy about that, especially since we had made some plans that he would be missing.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when I came home yesterday to find flowers on the porch. I literally did a double take - I looked at them, closed the door, opened it, and looked at them again to determine they existed and were for me. There was even a note! I was thrilled.

xkcd cake

Back a month or so ago when I still had time to bake things, I made this. It's three out of four panels of an xkcd comic. I sent it to work with the BF and his coworkers chose which xkcd strip to use. It is far from my best work, but it was good practice with both fondant and piping. I got a little impatient near the end, so some parts are sloppy.

I'm turning into a housewife

For our one-year anniversary, the BF thought up an awesome gift he was so sure I wouldn't guess. After he told me he got me the "next level up" version of whatever it was, I knew immediately. He got me a KitchenAid mixer. He apparently spent some serious time researching them, and got me a shiny new professional series standing mixer that matches our kitchen.


















Creaming the heck out of some butter and sugar.



















This was a definite user error. I wanted to see just how much flour it could handle' I should really have used the splash guard and started it out slowly.















And here is a not-so-great picture of something I made with the mixer - a 12 layer cake! It was tasty.

I'm back! And I've moved

Whoops, there was a SERIOUS absence on my part there. I'm back! I will...probably blog more!

The biggest, most possibly life-changing event that has happened in my life lately has been yet another move. I moved for the third time in maybe 13 months, and this time it was a big deal. I moved in with my boyfriend. I spent a heck of a lot of time and thought and angst, condensed into about a week to make the decision, before I made the move. I'm glad I did.

There are tons of things I could say about the whole shebang, but one thing keeps coming to mind...I live in suburbia now! I have not lived in anything resembling a suburb since I was four, and even then it was more of a small-town neighborhood. Where I live now isn't hard-core suburbia for sure, no housing developments named after trees with cul-de-sacs and dead ends and new trees, but the BF still calls it "lovelyland."

And, despite my usual antipathy towards suburbia, I really like where I live! There is one serious reason: I am close to EVERYTHING. Specifically, a Target, a Joanne's Fabrics, two grocery stores, and a good pizza place. I can walk to church if the urge strikes me, even if the walk is long. I'm pretty close to the smaller mall in the area, which has a movie theater. I could use a closer ice cream shop, but this whole region seems to be bad at ice cream shops. I think it's the winters.

Overall, the move was a really good idea.

Food in NYC

Food is often my favorite thing to pursue no matter where I go, and it might have been the highlight of my trip to NYC (other than being with the BF and hanging with my friends). Overall, I had some pretty enjoyable food, so I thought I might share what and where I ate. Unfortunately, I suck at pics, and have...none.

John's Pizzeria, Times Square: reasonably priced and very tasty brick-oven pizza in what I think used to be a church. Somehow, they made plain cheese pizza taste complex and interesting.

Haakon's Hall, Morningside Heights: The owner and chef showed up at the door, recognized my friend, and kind of talked us into coming in (he was also very friendly). I had a "Grace's Fallen Souffle" which I think was really a flourless chocolate cake, and was delicous whatever it was. Cute little restaurant, reasonable prices, nice atmosphere.

Mysterious pizza-by-the-slice place in the financial district, gotten on the go with the BF, not really worth talking about.

Magnolia Bakery: As previously noted, overcrowded, full of tourists, overpriced. I might have bought other things if I could have gotten to the counter, but it was so packed I just grabbed some cupcakes from the self-serve area. They definitely were tasty, especially the light buttercream, but I hope the ones kept behind glass are moister - these ones were a little dry.

Mi Floridita, Broadway and 125th: According to online reviews this is supposed to be Cuban, but it calls itself a tapas bar and the food I had there I could have ordered in Spain (it would have been better in Spain, but it's been a while since I had anything close). My fried calamari was especially good, and overall it was great to eat things I had been missing. Sadly, the Flamenco dancers the signs promised never showed up.

Cafe Frida: My girlfriends and I tried to go to the Shake Skack for lunch, but it was packed and we ended up next door instead - luckily! This was an adorable little Mexican place, reasonably priced (except the $11 guacamole) and the food was quite tasty. The service was also very good. I had a quesadilla with chorizo, though I kept enviously eying my friend's omlette (they were still serving brunch).

Shake Shack: After Cafe Frida we headed over for ice cream, and I nearly died of pleasure while eating a "concrete" (flurry) with hot fudge and chocolate truffle cookie dough.

The Hungarian Pastry Shop: I bought the best cream puff of my life here, and also something tasty called a pyramid cake. And something tall and chocolatey and kinda mousse-like, and also tasty. Overall, it's a good thing I don't live nearby or I would be bankrupt and obese.

Lyla's Cafe, Morningside Heights: Little French-American cafe - very cute. I had a "croque madam" which had a sunny-side-up egg on top of a ham sandwich. Since I love eggs, that is a great idea, but the sandwich under it was mediocre. I STILL regret not getting the crepes.

Tom's Restaurant: Famous for being the outside view of the Seinfield diner. I was pretty underimpressed. My pancakes tasted like meat, my bacon was undercooked, and the waitress kept grumping at us in what might have been Yiddish (though I'm not sure I've ever heard Yiddish...she would throw in just enough English that we could get the general idea).

NYC

Last weekend the BF and I took a semi-spontaneous trip to visit his brother and two of my former roommates in NYC. Overall, the trip was very good, despite exhaustion, heat, and a 12 hour head cold we both contracted. A list of what we saw:

1. Central park, by bike: hella lot more crowded than I had imagined, though I don't really know why I didn't expect that. Good idea though, to have a park in the middle of a big city like that.

2. Times Square: definitely overrated, and flashy, though I was tired and hungry at this point and might have been less inclined to appreciate things. Lots of tourists.

3. Columbia University: Kind of seen by default, since his brother works there and lives right by it. Exactly what you would expect an Ivy League in a city to look like.

4. Statue of Liberty: Seen from afar, smaller than expected, but still striking. It was neat to think how it's been such a symbol to immigrants.

5. Ellis Island: Interesting, even though we did all the exhibits backwards (accidentally). I was seriously distracted by preservation and display issues in the exhibits, because I am a nerd and just took a preservation class.

6. Financial district: I think the BF was disappointed that we couldn't actually see much, due to security. We almost got in trouble for taking pictures of the Fed. There is a picture somewhere of me grabbing the bull....by the balls.

7. Ground Zero/site of the World Trade Towers: We didn't linger, and I didn't want to. Big construction area.

8. St. Paul's Church: across from Ground Zero. Somehow we missed George Washington's pew. Cool old cemetery.

9. Other Episcopalian church in the financial district whose name I cannot currently remember: pretty!

10. Magnolia Bakery: after I led the BF on a death march to get there. Overcrowded, full of tourists, tiny, overpriced. But tasty!

11. Lots of subway: The BF and I got pretty good at navigating the subway system. This might have been the easiest city to navigate I have ever been in.

12. Metropolitan Museum of Art: Big! I would have liked to spend a lot more time there. I don't think I appreciated anything as much as I would have if I had more time to explore it, relaxed. Also, the Francis Bacon exhibit is NOT about the Sir Francis Bacon, and scared my pants off.

13. Grant's Tomb: because it was so close to the BF's brother's apartment. If I lived in that neighborhood I think I would have picnics there.

14. Cathedral of St. John the Divine: I just love cathedrals. This was nice, though Episcopalians seem prone to mumbling in services. Ok, this one was beautiful.

Next up: the food!

Cake!

I am finally getting around to posting the picture of my final cake for the Wilton level 2 class. I have to say, I LOVED this class. I'm going to seriously miss not having my weekly cake time. If I can, I'm going to take level 3 in December, so stay tuned for more cakes!