Archive for May 2013
So, you know how I love baking? Well, I’ve packed my schedule full of activities (social and volunteer), and I haven’t had time to relax and bake in what seems like forever. Whenever it’s been a long time since I’ve baked anything, I usually grab one of the spare box mixes I keep on hand and get to work. This time, I had a spare banana quick bread mix (the same one I used to make these muffins) and since I didn’t have milk (which muffin form requires) and I didn’t have a loaf pan (as I suspect my sister stole it), I decided to use my bundt cake pan. I knew from flipping through my baking cookbooks that bundt cakes often have some sort of frosting or such drizzled over them. I always have the following items on hand:
- Butter
- Flour
- Sugar
- Brown sugar (light and dark)
- Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
- Cream cheese
- Heavy cream (usually)
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
You would think it wouldn’t be hard to find something, but it kinda was. You know why? Because I don’t have milk. And do we know why I don’t have milk? Because I hate it and it expires so quickly. Well, I couldn’t make cream cheese frosting because I didn’t have time for it to soften and all the other recipes called for milk. Until I came across a brown butter frosting section to Joy the Baker’s Banana rum cake. I didn’t have rum, but that was the only ingredient I was missing. I cut down the portions since I wasn’t going to frost an entire cake and gave it a whirl.
I was terrified that I browned the butter wrong. I mean, what does it mean to wait until it’s “nutty in fragrance??” That has no meaning to me! However, I had no other options, so I went with it. Because I played around with the quantities, the frosting was looser than I wanted, but I used my slightly-maybe-just-a-tiny-bit-beyond-the-expiration-date heavy cream (IT WAS UNOPENED! AND STILL GOOD! Stop judging me.) and I got it to the perfect consistency.
Here’s the finished product:
It was quite tasty. Next time, I’ll make something from scratch. I’m thinking Joy’s cream cheese pound cake with whipped cream and berries… mmm.
Disclaimer: These photos have received the Instagram treatment.
Do you know how to get a bundt cake out of the pan without tearing it? I clearly don’t.
Ok. So we didn’t actually have a traditional conversation. But she replied to my tweet. That means we’re best friends now.
mascot hunt.
Posted on: May 6, 2013
- In: daily | random | sports
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I’m all about pictures with statutes, monuments, and mascots. I don’t know why, I just am. I like to take pictures with anything that could be remotely described as iconic. And it seems as though I’m on something of a mascot hunt now. It wasn’t on purpose, but I’ve been lucky in April and I’m one Oriole bird away from being set for the summer.
When I went to buy a snack at a baseball game in early April, I ran smack dab into Natty Boh. What luck! I had to make a quick decision between keeping my place in line or hovering around him for a photo. I chose to hover. Got my picture gladly, posting it to Instagram almost immediately. (Side note: I’ve gotten better at Instagram. Have you noticed?!)
Then one week later, I was participating in the Red Shoe Shuffle for the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore and all the mascots were present and accounted for. Now, I was rushing to the start line as the race was beginning so I didn’t have time to hunt for any mascots beforehand. I ran into the Oriole bird during the walk, but I wanted to finish and there were a bunch of kids around, so I kept it moving. I might want pictures with the mascots, but I Refuse to step over little children to do it. That’s not a good look. After the race was over, they were distributing awards when Poe started mingling amongst the crowd. SCORE! With football season over an done with, he would’ve been the hardest to catch before September.
That brings me to the end of April and the fashion event in Harbor East. I’d read on the website and filer that the Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker would be there, but I figured he’d maybe do some signing or get up on stage, give a cheer, and be shuffled off by handlers. I was not correct. Much to my surprise, Mr. Tucker was a model in the fashion show. I was with my cousin from Georgia at this time and we saw him hanging out behind the runway after the show was over. I was determined we’d get pictures. He’s not a mascot, so it’s not as exciting, but my cousin’s husband somehow finagled his way into the Ravens’ Super Bowl party in NOLA. I figured it was her turn to get a Ravens photo, too. She decided she was too shy to say anything, but I paid her no mind and tapped his shouler after some other fans took pictures and asked if he would mind taking pictures with us. And he did. I inquired as to whether they received their rings yet (I’d read somewhere a month earlier that they were still in the works), to which he replied they had not, but would be receiving them in June. Blah, blah. Here’s the photo!
As soon as I find that damn Oriole, I’ll be good to go. Let me know if you see him, yeah?
As I Cee It 