Happy Blogday!

One year ago today, I decided to bite the bullet and start a blog.  One year!  Here is my first post.  Aww.

Getting into this, I really didn’t think I’d stick with it, but it turns out that blogging can be pretty fun.  I’ve learned so much and have met (er, “met”) some really great fellow bloggers along the way!

Part of what has helped me stick with it is the fact that I like to try to make things that I wouldn’t usually have otherwise.  This feels like an adventure (bake me away, you guys…hur, hur), so it’s always an interesting challenge for me rather than a chore.  I’m also glad that I haven’t tried to post every day because that probably would have burned me out ages ago!

Anyway, I really appreciate all of the support I’ve received from you guys!  Here’s to aiming to stick with the blog for another year. :)

(p.s. I totally did not make that cupcake.  Still out of town!)

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Wordless Wednesday: Happy Meal

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Cleveland, Coventry, High Thai'd, Pad Thai, tea, Thai, tofu, Wordless Wednesday

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Macaron Café in NYC

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bakery, French, macarons, NYC, reviews, travel

The weekend before last I headed down to the city from upstate NY to visit some grad school friends that I hadn’t seen in a few years, which was so great!  On Friday night after eating at a Greek place, we baked a batch of red velvet cupcakes and a loaf, then ate most of it while drinking wine and watching youtube videos.  Honey badger don’t care!

We went into Manhattan the next day where we walked around 5th Avenue (I finally went into the crazy Apple store), then meandered through Central Park.  At this point, I thought I’d try to look up the whereabouts of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck via twitter, but it turned out that they had gone to Maine for a friend’s wedding.  Sad panda.

But then a lightbulb flashed, and I said I wanted to look for macarons!  Luckily I found out at that point that my friend Amanda was obsessed with them and had even had some at the famed Ladurée in Paris.  Jealous!

It turned out that we actually weren’t too far from a macaron-devoted bakery: Macaron Café!  Once there, we were greeted with the biggest selection of macarons I have seen yet.  This was actually only the second time I had really tried them at a bakery though, and there were only about five flavors the first time.  The shop was very small and cute with a little seating area in the back.  The menu also listed breakfast, salads, sandwiches, daily specials, and beverages, but we just bought macarons and left. 

Wordless Wednesday: Sky and the City

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buildings, Central Park, clouds, New York, NYC, sky, summer

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Picking Blueberries!

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blueberries, farm, Greig Farm, Hudson Valley, New York, organic, Red Hook, summer, travel

Up until a couple weekends ago, I hadn’t ever even seen pre-picked blueberries.  However, it just so happens that my temporary summer location is 3.5 miles away from a pick-your-own farm, and the blueberries are currently in season!  So yes, I took a billion pictures to document the occasion.

When you arrive, there’s a little hut at which you pick up a plastic bucket for filling to your heart’s desire.

Alright so blueberry bushes?  They’re way bigger than I thought they would be and there were so many of them!  The berries themselves were also the biggest I’d seen, which had pretty much only been the kind in pints at grocery stores.  (I haven’t seen them at farmers markets in Texas before maybe because it’s too hot?) 

Wordless Wednesday: Late Afternoon

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New York, summer, Wordless Wednesday

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How to Make Butterbeer, Universal Style!

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butterbeer, butterscotch, cream, cream soda, easy, experiment, frozen, Harry Potter, Orlando, recipes, Universal Islands of Adventure

Since December, I have tried four different kinds of butterbeer: boozy, hot, frozen, and non-frozen.  Two were at Alamo Drafthouse (the most awesome movie theater ever…truth) in San Antonio and the other two were at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure in Florida.  (I blogged about the latter!)  One of them came the closest to what J.K. Rowling conjured up in my imagination, and that was the hot version at the Drafthouse.  However, the two kinds at Universal were supposedly sampled and approved by the author herself.  Even though they weren’t what I had imagined, I really enjoyed them.  (Friends and the surroundings definitely helped!)

I’ve been wanting to try to create my own interpretation of butterbeer for quite some time, but since that’s hot and it’s summer, I thought I’d attempt the frozen Universal creation for now.  Besides, with Part 2 of Deathly Hallows coming out this weekend (eeeeeeee!), it’s the perfect time, right? 

Little Czech Bakery: Kolache Pit Stop in West, Texas

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bakery, Czech, Czech Stop, kolaches, Little Czech Bakery, reviews, Texas, travel

Guess what!  I’m going to be fancy and do a block quote.  What’s the occasion?  Kolaches!!  (aka Czech bun-type things filled with yumminess)

There’s apparently a big Czech/kolache center in Texas; sounds like I need to do some traveling for science (or vicarious traveling…maybe I can find a Texan-baker willing to do some research…? >.>).
– Mary from n00bcakes on kolaches

Howdy!  I am happy to report that this Texan-baker (1/4 Czech/Bohemian to boot!) has finally done some field research for blog pal Mary.  The Czech/kolache center that I assume she was referring to happened to be on the way to New York, but umm, much closer to San Antonio than my final destination.  It’s in West, Texas and every time I say this, I feel the need to add a dramatic pause where the comma is so as not to sound like I’m referring to West Texas.  Totally not where this place is…it’s 75 miles south of Dallas and 15 miles north of Waco, which is the northeast part of Texas.

This gem of a place is known as Little Czech Bakery which is part of Czech Stop.  There are gas pumps in front of it making it also a gas station, which you can use as justification for stopping to Czech it out (hur hur).   I had to get gas, so this was convenient, but there were so many people that I had to wait 5 minutes.  No biggie.

Wordless Wednesday: Week 5 of #30DayPhoto

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30DayPhoto, New York, summer, Wordless Wednesday

Here is my final post for the 30 Day June Photo Challenge!

June 29 – Trees

June 30 – Family

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | My Flickr set | Flickr group pool
(much shorter post than the previous weeks…)

I had fun and would like to do more challenges like this as they make me take way more photos than I usually would!  This in turn makes me try to be more creative while learning more things about my camera and photography in general.  365 project maybe? :)

For more WW, click here.

Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Tags

candy, chocolate, frozen, fudge, gluten-free, ice cream, Moose Tracks, peanut butter, recipes, summer, vanilla

It’s been a dream of my dad’s to renovate* an old Airstream and drive across the US to see the national parks.  (*This would be one sweet ride…he is a master craftsman!)  Since this hasn’t happened yet, my parents flew up to Wyoming a few years ago to explore Yellowstone for a couple weeks.

I like to tease my dad about that hat.  (photo by my mom, I’m assuming!)

While there, he found a beer that he really liked: Moose Drool Brown Ale by Big Sky Brewing Co. in Montana.  My sister and I were a bit shocked I think because he’s always been a Miller Light (eww) drinker.  I’m pretty sure he tried the Drool purely because of its name…