Bravo Broadway

Last weekend i went to the Utah Symphony up in Salt Lake. they were performing select songs from the best broadway musicals. they also had three actors singing along with them. one of them was the original elpheba from wicked! she was unreal. the other lady was too into herself and was not as good as she claimed to be. she got a pity standing ovation just because everyone felt bad for standing up for the other two peeps. the one guy played the phantom in Phantom of the Opera. he was amazing. i loved his voice. the whole performance was breathtaking. i did not want it to end. i could have gone the next night if it wasn't sold out. i could listen to them forever and ever! in this picture i am smiling SOOO big because i was SOOO happy after the performance. best idea ever to go to that.

I Miss Xanga

Lindsay came over tonight and we rediscovered our online diaries from high school. remember xanga? and how we would all hang out on the weekends, and then everyone would go home and recap (in each's own words) about what we did?? i loved those days. so lindzyshs and i (superlumie) we back to some of my older posts. what was i thinking those days??

just a few highlights from my senior year of high school:

we kidnapped colin from daniel's house and took him to dancing mary. then we went up and touched her. then we drove around a catholic cemetery looking at the creepy statues. we proceeded to get out of the car to go walk through the scariest part of it... while kelli is in the back seat begging for us not to go, it was the most scared i have seen her... we see a light in the trees so we hap back into the car and turn the car on and drive away.

kelli drove my car... now i know what it is like to be a parent giving their kid driving lessons.. i was literally holding onto the handle on the door

met up with dan and did some fun things with construction stuff... saw the same cop again about an hour later... he was out to get us last night... went to dan's and watched tv...it was one of the best days ever, cause i was ungrounded and i got to see almost all of my friends...

p.s. winter formal was definitely fun! corie actually danced! everything was fun, up until 8 this morning...

my old friends got mad at me for not talking to them at the dance... haha, they were just jealous that i was having fun and they weren't.

i just wanted to apologize to everyone in the van saturday night... i hope it wasn't as scary to you as it was to me...

on the way to church today, my parents informed me that yet again, some drunk driver has crashed into our back fence. they were saying how worried they were, cause the guy gave them a name, but they thought he was lying. cause he didn't have his licsense with him(stupid). they were like, its a teenage boy who said his name was reggi. i was like "i know who that is..." so this morning at 4 am, reggi crashed into our fence/concrete wall, and broke a powerline cord that was holding the pole up with. first one to break that. many people have tried, but failed. good job reggi. mom called the cops. they came, and took him away. took about 2 hours to get the car out of the tree and fence that is was stuck in between. haha. you're so stupid! anyway... that was my excitement for the day!

Emmy, a bibliophile, and i were hanging out with some friends one night. we are all acolytes (not really) of Lindsay, who thinks she is urbane. we were driving around and trying to eschew the cops. we were taking our truncheons, a dolphin and a james brown doll. this isn't germane to the topic, but the james brown doll was palpable. we drove up to a parking lot where some kids were being very acrimonious towards us. they were trying to be cynosure and were yelling pejorative things at us. we decided to capitulate and abscond from the parking lot. we felt very chagrinned, because they said some fallacious things about us. in the midst of all this lampooning, we gave them a monition that if they didn't stop, we would evince our anger towards them. as we absconded, we were unphlegmatic about how we felt, we decided to lampoon them back. we went to a house that was very fetid. we, very redolent people, felt that the house wasn't condign enough for us. the people were watching a video that was full of enmity. i decided not to cant towards the room to occlude to the video. my paradigm, lindsay, decided to stay away from it also. we both felt that it was too bane for our minds.

I love xanga. we had a great group of friends in high school. so many fun times. I don't have any pictures from high school on my computer. so i stole these two from dane and lindsay's facebooks...

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

i have a technology presentation for my comms elective tomorrow and this provided much inspiration. enjoy.

What Not To Wear

I always missed out on the cool people that came into channel 5 when I was interning there. Jimmy Carter came, I was out of town. Conan O'Brien came, I was out of town. :( Although you might think I was out of town a lot during my internship, that was not completely true. Just when the cool people came.

When I read all of my former co-worker's twitter and facebook updates saying Stacy and Clinton from What Not To Wear were in the house. I got depressed once again. I LOVE Stacy and Clinton and What Not To Wear. It's one of those shows that I could watch a full day marathon. They ambushed a guest on Channel 5's Show Me St. Louis show. Man I wish I was there. So this one won't let me post the video on here, so just click here and watch it.

TLR, No I Did Not Just Misspell TRL

I like to frequent a few websites to keep up to date on the news of the Cardinals. A few sources I can trust to have the latest stories are the Post Dispatch and Newschannel 5 (Although I was a little disappointed to see that they were the only local station that was NOT present in L.A. for game 1 and 2 of the NLDS. Apparently budget constraints are getting in the way of being the "Home of the St. Louis Cardinals," which they claim to be.) Anyway, I am a big fan of Tony La Russa. Sometimes I feel like he makes stupid decisions from game to game. But overall, this man is a genius and knows how to use the resources/players he has to win. Not only has he received the best manager award in both leagues, but he has managed both the Oakland A's in the American League, and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League to the World Series titles.

SPOILER ALERT!

In every single movie i saw this summer, this trailer was shown in the previews. and every time i would say there was no way that i was going to see it. it looked too creepy. but after like the 30th time seeing the trailer i thought i would maybe give it a chance. First of all Penn Badgley is hot and i love anything that can relate to gossip girl in even the littlest of ways. and second, i was very interested in seeing what happens when the stepdad takes his foot off cord to the saw as it's hanging over amanda's head. but GUESS WHAT!?!?! That never happens in the movie! That trailer was a big fat lie. and was successful at getting me and my friend to go spend $8.50 on that movie. That is the ONLY reason why we went (well that and i wanted to avoid any halloween activities going on in provo)

For fun i googled it to see if others felt the same way. Here is someone's review: (Ignore his poor grammar.)

This was a major dissapointment! Which yes I'm a big fan of the original(and sequel not so much the second sequel)but still I had big hopes for this and if you ask me the trailer and marketing was a big lie to us all! I mean come on the most exciting part in the trailer is with the saw going toward Amanda's face and him letting it go! ok well the scene never happens he dont even direct it with his foot toward her.It simply falls beside her after she falls through the floor? the scene isn't nothing like the trailer! Just very false things here AND there is a lot more in the trailer that isn't in the movie! stay away! the only thing going for it is the acting!

I actually have to disagree with him on the acting. i didn't think that was stellar either. plus it was only scary for like 5 minutes. the whole rest of the movie was leading up to the 5 minutes of scary. i was just waiting for him to start trying to kill. LAME. anyway. moral of the story: don't go see stepfather. it's a waste of time and money.

BYU Football Needs Help

Last weekend ESPN College Gameday came to Provo. too bad they didn't come on a weekend where Lee Corso would have put on the cougar head. I was considering not going because i didn't like the idea of getting up at 5 am to wait in the cold for 3 hours for it to start. a lot of people slept in tents in the parking lot the night before. and i rained! haha. but my friends and i decided that we would just go around 9 and catch the last hour. it was perfect. and it was so much fun being there. i am glad i didn't miss out on this experience.

plus i even got a chance to go to the game. i am so glad i didn't buy an all sports pass this year. when i have been in town for a game, i have been able to go for frizee. i am glad i didn't pay to go to the tcu game. was a disappointment.

No Pain, No Gain

In my soccer game 2 WEEKS AGO i was playing goalie. and some guy that plays on the men's soccer team for BYU had the ball and dribbled it as close as he could to the goal and then shot it as HARD AS HE COULD. I stopped it with my body, but I felt like it sent me back into the goal... it hurt SOOOOO bad! and that night i had a raised mark of a soccer ball on my leg. This picture doesn't do it justice. then the next day it was just a normal mark that i thought would go away. in fact i was so excited to show it to some people and was worried that i wouldn't get to show them before it faded away. well IT'S STILL THERE! there's no way of getting rid of it. i hope it's not permanent... but hey, at least i stopped the ball, right? this reminds me of when my mom was always so worried watching me in goal. she always was scared i was going to get kicked in the face. i was fearless then. i have loved being back in the goal for some of my games. i love the rush of adrenaline. i miss playing in high school. my freshman year was the most fun i had. those were my glory days.

cupcake update

I realize i haven't posted about cupcakes in a very long time. this is not because i haven't been making them, but i am definitely still going strong! i have found a lot of favorites. but i must make them all before i can remake some of them. here are some pictures of what i have been up to lately in the kitchen.

i absolutely LOVED the peanut butter cookie cupcakes and the frosting that went with them. So i decided to try out the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes. the frosting was different, i didn't like it as much. i wasn't a big fan of these. i think they came out a little too dry. but they were ready for when my mom and carol came to town for education week.

luckily i was able to make up for them right away. i had been planning on making a summery cupcake right before i went to la and san diego so i could share them with my friend and his family that i was staying with. the triple-citrus cupcakes were soooo good! they had a nice citrus glaze over them. lemon, lime and orange zest came together to make these delicious, fruity cupcakes! my friend's dad said the only thing that could make these better was a little rum in them. haha. i'll be sure to try that next time... jk

while in la, i made sure to make a stop at sprinkles cupcakes to get my favorite pumpkin cupcake! and of course i bought a yummy chocolate marshmallow for later! soooo good!

i love snickerdoodle cookies, so i knew i would love the cupcakes. unfortunately this was the first batch of cupcakes i made with an old stand up mixer that grandma gave me. i didn't incorporate the ingredients well enough and the cupcakes came out weird. the frosting required being whisked, but the mixer only had beaters. so it turned out kinda weird too. but i think this process helped me find a good marshmallow filling for the chocolate marshmallow cupcakes i made this summer. these were still pretty good.
i have been eyeing the cookies and cream cheesecakes for a long time. i am not a big fan of straight oreos, but i died every time i took a bite of one of these. luckily this batch made 30, because they definitely were loved by many. these will definitely be made over and over and over again!

I made chocolate malted cupcakes for my friend, jimmy's, birthday. i couldn't find dutch process cocoa powder so i had to substitute regular cocoa for that. i hope that didn't alter the flavor too much.

Before i left for colorado with morty in september, i made some applesauce-spice cupcakes. these are made with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting. basically you just substitute brown sugar for powdered sugar. its delicious! i put them in the fridge so that they would be fresh for when i got back since most of the family would be in utah then also. so monday i brought them over to share with all the family and cousins at grandma's. mom frosted them. she put way more frosting than i usually put on them, but they turned out to be great! they were definitely a crowd pleaser.

I realize that i missed taking pictures of a few of my creations. the peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes. i LOVED these ones. and i made a few batches of them to test out the different times for baking. so i took a batch into work one morning. i dropped them off on my way to class. when i got back to work they were gone. so i guess they liked them. they were so good i just had to show a picture. so here's one i stole from someone else's blog.

last week i made mint-filled brownie cupcakes. i don't remember if i had a specific reason for making these. these cupcakes didn't turn out like i imagined. i cooked the batch at two different times so i could get it just right, but i seemed to over cook both of them. so they were a little hard, and they were not thick like i imagined. i made them before i went down to vegas and la so i took the rest of them to the boy's house to eat. they weren't gone when i got back, so i guess they were no good. good thing i was able to go to sprinkles in beverly hills TWICE while we were down there. we got the chocolate marshmallow, black and white, pb chocolate, pb chocolate chip, red velvet and orange cupcakes. sooooooo good! i also probably gained 500 lbs in those two days. it was well worth it. :)

so there's the update. i still feel like i am missing some. oh well. these were the memorable ones i guess. until next time, happy baking!

This Is Beyond Baseball

New York, New York

I feel like in honor of my Grandpa Bitter passing away last night I should cheer for this team I love to hate. Nothing brings me more happiness than seeing the Yankees lose, especially in the post season when they are up 3 games to one to get to the world series.

Grandpa passed away on Wednesday night. Tuesday night, the Yankees were the first team this season to clinch a place in the playoffs. I can only think that he was living long enough to see that happen. He is a big time Yankees fan. A few weeks ago we were talking about the new stadium and he said he would love to go see it sometime. And of course grandma said, seeing it on tv was enough for them. But now grandpa will be in Yankee Stadium every night they play to cheer for his team.

In other words (i can't believe i am saying this) it wouldn't kill me to see the Yankees win it all this season. Love you Grandpa.

birdie birdie birdie birdie

i am back from a very fun trip to california.  did a lot of fun things, had lots of beach time, went to lots of baseball games, and ate at lots of great places.  

while in temecula, my friend and i went golfing.  in order to make things smoother, i decided to play from the men's tees with him.  i'm a bogey golfer.  i don't play very much, but i can keep up with anybody.  i get pars often, but mostly bogeys.  i rarely get a birdie.  it just never happens for me. i have had multiple birdie putts that probably should have gone in.  but of course i blow it.  

but on this one day of golfing at temeku hills golf course i had a shot for a birdie.  hole #4. Par 5. i hit an okay shot off the tee.  my next shot was not so good. it went off the fairway a bit. my third shot i got it uphill up on the green, but since i was downhill i couldn't see exactly where it landed and where the pin was. i remember my friend getting up to the green first and telling me i was only about 6 feet from the hole.  i got so excited.  this was a chance for a birdie.  well this guy was on our tails and my friend suggested we let him play through and i said no way.  we are finishing this hole right now.  i didn't want to lose my momentum.  so we finished it, my ball went in the hole and i jumped for joy.  my first birdie in temecula.  from the men's tees.  i was beaming for hours after (in between moping because i wasn't playing well on the back 9)

also, this beauty of a swing earned me a free twix on hole #9.  we had a driving contest.  with me still playing from the men's tees. which presented a slight challenge. but i rose to the occasion. it a smooth, solid shot and rocketed that ball up the fairway.  my friend got pretty close to me. in fact we probably hit the same distance, but his went in bushes off the cart path so he was penalized a few yards.

the back 9 = not my best stuff.  a few mental breakdowns happened. but upon finishing i was grateful for a fun day on the golf course. any day i can play 18 holes is a good day.  i love to golf. 

In your love, my salvation lies

i have so much to blog about but i want to write something quickly right now. 

i went to see a movie last month that i just LOVE.  Away We Go.  i saw the previews for it multiple times on tv and at the theaters and wanted to see it so bad. the only problem was the rating.  after finding out a friend wanted to see it as bad i decided to give it a whirl.  and boy am i glad i did.  it is such a good movie about loving the one you're with.  got to give credit to the writers who created such rich, humane characters.  but john kradinski and maya rudolph did a perfect job in bringing the to life.  they were perfect for these roles.  

the story line is about these two people who, a few months after learning they were expecting their first child, find out his parents are moving away to europe.  so they don't feel the need to stay in the town they are in and decide to try new places all over the country.  along their journey they reconnect with family and friends and their love grows stronger for each other as they discover other's relationships.  there is so much to learn from this movie about real love for another human being.  i wish it didn't have the rating that it does so that more people would watch it and learn. i loved the movie so much that i saw it again in the theaters.  and cannot wait for it's release to DVD on September 29th!

anyway, the soundtrack to this movie is also amazing, so i downloaded it right away after seeing it the first time.  and i really didn't get to listen to it that much. but the other day my friend was "dying" to listen to alexi murdoch (a major contributer to the soundtrack) so when i got back home from cali i decided to revisit the music. i have been listening to the 7 songs that i have of his over and over and over tonight.  i am in like.  so you should go to itunes and download some for yourself.  i highly recommend Wait or Song For You or All My Days or Orange Sky.  love them all.  just some quality chill music...

You're The Meaning In My Life, You're The Inspiration

I have been inspired!  I just spent the afternoon watching Julie and Julia and was enraptured all 120 minutes of it! I walked out of the theater debating the pros and cons of going to cooking school.  Two years ago I was very interested in doing it so I went online to check out the ones in Portland.  Western Culinary Institute sent me information and called me a million times.  Finally I had to tell them that I was very interested, but at this time I could not make it work.  They eventually stopped calling me.  But I still get emails from them every once in a while.  I would LOVE to go to cooking school.  And not even to become a chef or professional cook.  I just want to learn for myself.  Isn't that was school is all about anyway?  Gaining knowledge, and in this case experience.  

But alas, I am almost done with my communications degree, which is what I really want to do in the workplace for the rest of my life.  Well as long as I can balance it with the happenings of my life.  So no cooking school for me.  But I wouldn't be surprised to find myself enrolling in a cooking school when I am older and all my children have gone off to college.  I think I would enjoy it more then also because hopefully I will have much more mature taste buds by then.  This will help in me actually enjoying cooking all different sorts of foods.  Currently I avoid any kind of seafood.  I, just a couple of years ago made myself a ham sandwich with leftovers from dinner, because there was no more turkey and I loved it!  I used to remember having ham and potato casserole for dinner and in order for me to have more potatoes I was supposed to eat some ham.  This just killed me.  Well at the time I thought it was killing me.  But now I enjoy eating ham.  So one day I do believe that I will actually like seafood.  One day...

Like Julie, I have already started to blog about my baking.  I LOVE my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.  I have yet to find one that I love just as much.  I did spend a good 30 minutes looking through the recipe books at TJ Maxx yesterday and came away with three new books, 2 being cupcake books. I am returning one after looking closer and seeing that most recipes use cake mixes.  It's all or nothing for me.  As for now, all my recipes will be made from scratch.  I have however fallen behind on my updates.  I haven't talked about four cupcakes that I have made!  So here's a quick update.

Two weeks ago I drove with a friend to Fresno.  It was a surprise to everyone.  Except my aunt Carla. and Laura, because Carla told her... We drove through the night so we arrived around 6/6:30 in the morning.  Laura let me in the house, and when Reshea woke up she called for Laura's help and I walked in with her.  I loved her reaction. She said at first she didn't think anything of it because I am basically there all the time...  That is too true.  It was fun to surprise everyone and see newborn baby JJ.  And I brought treats!  I decided to make Martha's Cookie Monogram Cupcakes in honor of Joseph Jack's arrival! I spent the day before going to Michael's and other stores looking for tiny J cookie cutters, but could not find any.  So then I looked for cowboy cookie cutters.  Didn't find those either.  I need to find a specialty store in the area.  I settled for little tiny animals. Which actually turned out to be pretty cute!  

The day we left I took too much time walking to the grocery store to get the buttercream (it was a nice day and I didn't feel like driving), so I was pretty rushed in making them. The cupcake part was yellow buttermilk. mmm. :) My cousin was over and suggested that I put food coloring in the sugar cookie mix so that I didn't have to frost them.  I remembered a little too late so it wasn't completely mixed right with the dough and the color came out a little lighter than I had hoped.  Since I was changing the recipe so much, I decided to go with a quick and easy cream cheese frosting.  I picked up some blue sprinkles at the store and decided to cover the cupcakes in sprinkles and then set the animals in.  They came out alright.  I don't feel I can completely cross this one off the list, since I didn't do everything exact the same.  How am I ever going to learn if I do that?!?! But this day, desperate times called for desperate measures.  

After my mediocre performance I was itching to prove myself in the kitchen.  I was dying to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookie cupcakes.  And I thought for sure Reshea would want me to make them too, because she practically yelled at me for not picking occ cookies at Hungry Bear last time I was in Fresno.  I even found special liners for the cupcakes for the girls.  Spiderman and Hannah Montana!  We had a plan to make cupcakes one day and I was really excited... until Reshea pulled out the box to make strawberry cupcakes! WHAT?!? you have me there. Someone who loves to make real cupcakes, and you are going to have me make them from a box!?! She claimed they were good.  I reluctantly made them.  They were not good.  Oh well, it's what she wanted.  

When I got home from Fresno, I was anxious to make the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes.  They actually are Oatmeal Raisin, but I don't care too much for them, so I substituted chocolate chips. They turned out good!  I thought they were a little too dry at first, but then I realized its the cookie consistency... The next day another cousin was over and she helped herself to two of them.  That means that they're good.  Anyone can say they are good, but I don't really think that until they go for a second one!  It was fun to share these ones with my peeps. 

Then I went on a cupcake hiatus. My aunt and uncle were in town and staying at the grandparents and I didn't want to get in the way of what they were doing. Plus I was spending every evening up in Salt Lake watching baseball games.  Will blog later about my love.

Finally on Sunday I couldn't take it anymore and I had to make some more cupcakes. Unfortunately I didn't have any butter. Do you know how much unsalted butter I go through on a weekly basis??? You don't want to know...  So on my way home from Saturday nights game, I did the dreaded Saturday evening trip to Walmart.  I wonder if they have their best business that night?  It is always packed with people picking up stuff before the sabbath.  I got my items and left as fast as I could.  

Sunday after church I made Streusel Cupcakes.  mmm.  Reminds me of the coffee cake muffins from Costco that I loved.  I was so sad when they stopped making them.  The recipe book says, "All the features of a traditional coffee cake - tender cake base, crumbly, streusel top, and simple milk-and-sugar glaze - are packed into portable, single-size portions." Does that sound delicious??  And then the best part, "Try serving them for brunch." That makes them sound not as bad as a regular cupcake.  When eating these ones I didn't feel as guilty!  I like that. Like this lady, I felt that something more should have been in the actual batter. They were just too plain. I felt like i had to always get a bite of the topping in order to enjoy it.  But I have plenty left over and will be delivering some to my peeps tonight. They have one more day until the book says they go bad.  I don't really listen to that though... 

There's my "quick" update.  I hope to be more consistent with this now.  I can't wait to try another recipe!

Zucchini Spice Delight

when i was home i took advantage of a vegetable in the garden.  ZUCCHINI!  i wish i had a garden all the time.  it would be so much more fun to cook when i am using fresh fruits and veggies.  i decided to make the zucchini spice cupcakes since we had too many ripe zucchinis in the garden.  they were soooo good. and just like the blueberry ones, i felt like i was eating healthy when i ate them!  haha. well if i at them without the cream cheese frosting on top.  

the best part was i had plenty to take back to utah with me so i was able to enjoy them for days.  :)  i even brought two to fresno this weekend to share with everyone out here. i think they were skeptical of them being so old. but they were still moist and yummy. 

my favorite frosting in the world is cream cheese frosting.  that's why i love sprinkles so much. they use cream cheese frosting.  mmm... :) when i went to sweet tooth fairy cupcakes i was so disappointed. there frosting was nasty.  there oreo cupcake tasted too much like coconut. sick.

i remember having a birthday cake covered with coconut shavings when i was little and i cried because i didn't like it.  the only thing coconut i like is ocean water from sonic.  love that blue tongue goodness. :)

Enjoy!!

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes
Yields: 24 cupcakes 

3 cups all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (about 3 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use an offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.

blueberries and cream

i went home to beaverton for a few days last weekend.  it was so much fun. probably one of my favorite trips there because i feel like there was always something to do.  of course right when i got in we went to the nordstrom sale and my mom bought the nicest jacket ever.  totally an sjp jacket. i CANNOT wait for the fall. THANK YOU MOM!!!  i also got a few necklaces.  i love my juicy locket necklace that my grandma got me.  this weekend i put a picture of emma and ava in it until i find one that i want to keep in there forever.  

i also got my hair done.  LOVE IT!  part of my loves to go blonde. but then once fall hits i go back to brunette.  this time i will keep it for a while. i really like both the cut and color. best part of the cut was the hand massage afterward.  

among all the other things i did while in beaverton, i shared my cupcake making skills. :)

i chose to make blueberry cupcakes because we have blueberries in our garden.  nothing better than fresh berries! :)  these ones were by far the best batter i have ever had!  grandma and i loved it!  sometimes when the batter is that good, the cake doesn't turn out well. but that was not the case this time. 

these cupcakes were bomb!  they came out of the oven looking so good.  i cooked the second batch just a few minutes longer, but i couldn't really taste the difference in the two.  

fresh blueberries. 2 cups go into the batter.  then another cup for decorating the tops.  howard picked lots of them.  plenty for eating while baking too! 

fresh whipped cream tops the cupcakes. i don't do cool whip from the store, so i whipped up my own.  

don't they look delicious!!?!?  they almost look like they are a healthy snack too!  it was hard not to eat all of them!  i am glad there were plenty of people around that wanted to try them.  plus we took them to my friend allison and her family.  kelli got to taste them too!  lucky peeps :) 

overall. these cupcakes were delicious.  i would say the best ones i have made so far, but i LOVE peanut butter more than most things in this world. :)  but they were definitely good enough to share the recipe.  enjoy!  

Makes 30 standard or 60 mini

For the cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature

2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

Whipped cream

For the whipped cream

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Method

Make the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each. Fold in blueberries by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until pale golden, about 25 minutes for standard and 15 for mini.

5. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Make the whipped cream

1. Whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners’ sugar, and whisk until combined. If not using immediately, whipped cream can be refrigerated, covered tightly, up to 3 hours in an airtight container.

2. To finish, dollop cupcakes with whipped cream, and garnish with berries. Serve immediately.

A Peanut Butter Lover's Dream

aka my dream.

i love peanut butter

i just found lauren's blog and read her ode to the red chair. 

i am tempted to write one for my peanut butter cupcakes now. but i will spare myself. and you.

pb cookies are my favorite.  so when i saw martha's recipe for pb cookie cupcakes i thought wow. combine my 2 favorite things. this oughta be good! and they were!

I had one right after i made them.  and i planned on that being enough for the day. which i was able to do.  but the next day... a whole other story. what made it worse was that i was reading out of my history textbook all day to catch up on missed reading.  so of course i am not paying attention to what i am reading, but rather the pb cupcakes upstairs.  so i had to give myself goals.  30 pages= another cupcake.  :) thank goodness i only got to 30 pages that day!

I went home last weekend and was able to take the remaining dozen to people that would actually eat them.  everyone enjoyed them.  except grandma didn't like the pb frosting on top...

i definitely recommend anyone that likes peanut butter to try these. i used a WHOLE 16 oz jar of pb for them.  :)

PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES

1. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5. 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
6. 1 1/3 cups sugar
7. 2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
8. 3 large eggs
9. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
10. 1/2 cup sour cream
11. 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
12. 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for decorating
13. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
14. 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Make the cupcakes: Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Mix in sour cream.
3. Spoon scant 3 tablespoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake until pale golden and a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely.
4. Make the frosting: Put cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and butter into the clean bowl of a mixer fitted with the clean paddle attachment; mix on medium- high speed until pale and fluffy. Stir in peanut butter with a rubber spatula.
5. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons frosting onto each cupcake. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Using tines of a fork dipped in confectioners' sugar, score each top in a crosshatch pattern. Cupcakes can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Katie's Cupcakes

Currently I am jobless.  While it is not fun to have no income right now, it is kind of fun to have time to do whatever I want, whenever I want.  So one day while strolling through Costco -for some free samples :) - i saw a book that i just needed to get. 

i am OBSESSED with cupcakes. and i always will be. this obsession will not go away when the popularity of them decreases. i think they are the perfect treat.  just enough to satisfy the craving.   mmmm.... 

so i have made it a goal this summer to use this free time to prefect my baking skills.  lots of friends have already volunteered to test the cupcakes.  of course.   i will post each time i make a new batch of cupcakes and share the recipes of the ones that were my favorites.

my favorite cupcake from sprinkles is their chocolate marshmallow.  

i could have one of those a day.  the marshmallow creme inside is just to die for.  so when i got the book i looked through it for a similar recipe. they were the first cupcakes to try out.  i was unhappy with them.  the marshmallow creme was too buttery tasting so i tried just adding a little bit of butter instead of how much the recipe called for. still the buttery taste. then i tried just doing straight marshmallow creme and the consistency was not good.  so i have searched for a new recipe for just the marshmallow filling and will retry them again another time.  

Baby JJ Is Here!

Joseph Jack Vincent Greene

7lbs 4oz  20 3/4 in long

I CANNOT wait to meet him!  

I spent the morning looking at flights to Fresno for later this year.

what is a reservation, anyway??

today i turned the tv on and thought, i could go for a good Seinfeld episode right now. so i flipped the channels and viola... anyway, not only was there seinfeld, but it was about something i just recently experienced... i totally knew what jerry was feeling (even though i know he really wasn't "feeling")

my last week in st louis i had to rent a car. i drove my parents old car out to the lou and they wanted me to sell it instead of driving it back home. plus i had a very important baby shower to get to only 2 days after my last day of the internship, so it would have been cutting it close to drive out to california. so i sold the car. (easily i might add) but they needed it before i was done so i rented a car.

i went online. made a few calls. found the best deal. made my reservation. but when the day came to get picked up by enterprise, i received a phone call saying that they were busy and would be there a little bit later. she told me 30 minutes. then an hour goes by and a i give them a call. now they are telling me there are no rental cars on their lot and they are trying to ask another enterprise in the area for an extra car. this time she told me she would call me in a just a little bit to let me know. another hour goes by. still no phone call. i call them again now, i am getting picked up in 15 minutes. another hour later they come to get me.

the whole point of the story was that the reason why i got a car was for the convienence. and them being late, and lying to me about when they would come was not convienent. and i had planned to write a letter to the company letting them know, but then i went to california and forgot about everything. but then 2 weeks later, while in cali i get a call from them. they wanted to go over the charges. like they were just checking in the car right then. 2 weeks later! they are crazy.

anyway watching seinfeld today made me laugh so hard because they were my exact same thoughts. so enjoy peeps. i will now draft my wonderful letter to enterprise about my amazing customer service experience.

i just couldn't do it...

with the passing of Michael Jackson, I have one thought:

what if you were the one in the ambulance or the hospital when he arrived, trying to get his heart to start beating again... but you couldn't... how would you feel knowing that billions of people are counting on you to make magic?

do you think the paramedics knew it was michael jackson they were racing through L.A. to save?

ok maybe that was two thoughts. but it's my blog. so i do what i want.

i for one never really got into the michael jackson fan club scene.  although i LOVE jackson 5.  but the solo stuff, not really. i mean i do like his songs, but not as much as this girl. or this girl. 

oh and as a fellow journalist, i just loved it when, i think it was, abc stated something and then used tmz as their source.  

help i need someone...

i am in a slump.  

They are a punch to the gut, a blow to the psyche. They are humiliating, humbling and hurtful.  

A player in a slump is a sad sight to behold, equal parts wild-eyed desperation and puppy-dog bewilderment....

now i know what the cardinals felt last month when they were not performing offensively...

i wish i could always have the sleep schedule that i have whenever i am in fresno.  living out in the country is wonderful, you wake up naturally with the sun... no matter what time i wake up, if it's natural, i still feel great.  i would usually wake up no later than 7:30 every morning, sometimes as early at 6 am.  boy it feels good to wake up early and do things all day.  

now my life consists of waking up, then falling back to sleep.  and officially waking up/getting out of bed around 10 or 11 (sometimes as late as noon!)  yes i am taking a class this summer, but it is not until 4 pm on mondays and wednesdays.  so that leaves basically the whole day, everyday for me to do nothing.  i find myself watching reruns of shows i have seen before. which by the way, it has made me realize that since the jon and kate divorce, tlc has been replaying episodes of the show that ironically show kate being the most rude to jon.  like barking at him in public places and humiliating him... is that just a coincidence? 

i need to get a job. but where do i look?  am i supposed to just drive around and look for places with a now hiring sign?  i have applied to a few places online, so we will see.  if anyone knows any place that is hiring right now that would be really helpful.  i am willing to work full time this summer, since i could really use the money/something productive to do all day...

so, so far my summer is off to a nice relaxing start, but i would really like that to change.  i like being busy and having things to do all the time.  i just feel lazy.  especially compared to my last 5 months in st louis, that i spent working 40 hours a week... now would be the best time to be living near a baseball team, because i have PLENTY of time to go to games now...

i want i want gimme gimme gimme i need i need

i have a really cool friend. her name is emma jade. and she wanted to be JUST LIKE ME.  so after years of playing with my iphone every second she got, she finally got one of her own.  but now i am envious of her because she has the new one. and i want it.  i want to do all the cool things that it can do.  so if someone is feeling generous this june, i could use a few hundred dollars... 

if you buy me the phone, i promise i will send you messages like this all the time. (minus the beautiful picture of ejb)

end of an era

i am done with my internship.  i can't believe it. when it started, i thought it would never end. and i wanted it to. until the last 2 months. that's when i started opening up and started loving the people there. i will miss that place. really.  but it still feels like i will be going back in a few days. unfortunately after this vaca, i will be going back to provo instead. 

the last week i was in stl i had to get a rental car because i sold the parentals car.  unfortunately enterprise gave me a pt loser. but it sure came in handy when parking is so expensive and free street spots are hard to come by for the cardinals game.  i saw a tiny spot that i would have passed up in the taurus, but was able to comfortably squeeze into in the cruiser.

i am going to MISS busch stadium.  but i got out at just the right time. the cardinals haven't won a game since i have left. maybe they NEED me. :)  i need them too. the last night i was in st louis i went to the cardinals game.  a lot of people from the station got free tickets from mcdonalds, and i stole some from frank who was on furlough anyway.  so i sat up in big mac land. except i only was there for the last 3 innings, because i had to go to the doctor and finish cleaning my room so that i could hang out with my friends after the game.  

we went to mcgurks with a few people from the station. it was fun, but sad at the same time. once again, i am going to miss these peeps. kayla and i were planning on staying up all night since i had to be at the airport at 5 am anyway, but we were pretty tired and i wanted to get a nap. but we did go to steak n shake one last time.  we were the only ones there at 2 am. go figure. one thing i love about steak n shake is that it is open 24 hours AND the dining area is open 24 hours.  every fast food place needs to have their dining area open all the time. 

i almost missed my flight to vegas. haha. i guess part of me just didn't want to leave. i spent the day in vegas with morty and adrianne and aaron. nate was working. since i had been up for 7 hours already, i wanted to go to in n out when i landed. but it as only 9 am in vegas.  so we went right when it opened. and then we went to serendipity 3 on the strip. it wasn't good! 

 i will always like the serendipity in new york the best!  then morty and i took off for fresno! first stop. DOGHOUSE!  tri-tip sandwich=devoured...  loved it.

and now i am in fresno. having fun with everyone. baby jj's shower was super cute. retro cowboy theme.  SOOO cute. 

and it was fun to have aubrey and shawn here. i love greg. and was happy to finally see bryson!

we've just been hanging out at the house. i helped stan and reshea add a lovely addition to their living room media center. i have been pulling weeds, mowing the lawn. paying for my rent!  :)