Blue-Eyed Baker: Evan's Pre-School Graduation Cake

Last night my littlest brother, Evan, graduated from pre-school.  Now I know it's not really that big of a deal but he asked for a cake a few days ago and this was a good excuse to make one.  I don't really like making cakes just out of the blue because I feel the need to decorate them and I like to have a theme going.

However I didn't really keep to a graduation theme because he asked for Manny from Ice Age to be on it.  So I did my best and here's the result.

Not my best work but I did all right.

I used the "Cake Boss's" recipe for a vanilla cake.  I haven't tried a vanilla cake recipe that I loved just yet so hopefully this will be the one.

Buddy Valastro's Vanilla Cake
Yields: 2-9 in cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil or 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, sugar, butter or oil (I used oil), vanilla and salt.

Mix the ingredients on low until combined.

Increase the speed to med-low and beat for about a minute.

Decrease the speed and add the eggs one at a time.

Add milk 1/2 a cup at a time with the mixer still running.

When the batter is fully mixed (no more lumps) divide it into your greased cake pans.

Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes.

 Let cool and Enjoy!

The icing I used was a vanilla butter cream.  I'd never tried it before but it had a nice consistency.  You can find the recipe here.

I'm writing this post on Thursday so the cake hasn't been eaten yet but I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy Friday and Happy Baking!

The Silver Linings Playbook a.k.a. The WORST Movie Adaptation EVER

Last night I watched "The Silver Linings Playbook" and a week ago I read the book with the same title. The two should not have the same title.

When a movie comes out that was originally a book I usually make it my mission to read the book first. I like to be "that guy" that compares the book to the movie and usually get mad because the movie was nothing like the book.  Sometimes whoever is in charge does a pretty great job of doing the movie adaptation.  I think that the Harry Potter films are probably the best.  The books will always be better but the person/people in charge of those movies did an amazing job.  Kudos!

The same cannot be said for whoever took it upon themselves to make "The Silver Linings Playbook" into a movie.  At first I wasn't even going to read or watch "Silver Linings", that was until Jennifer Lawrence (who I have a huge girl crush on) won the Oscar for Best Actress.  So I ordered the book and LOVED it.  I was really excited to watch the movie because the book was so good and I thought you could totally make a great movie out of it.  Well they didn't, in my humble opinion.  They completely changed EVERYTHING.  They changed the characters, they changed major events and they changed what the story was really about.  The movie should have been called "I have nothing to do with The Silver Linings Playbook, I'm a piece of crap".  Okay, that's a long and contrived title but the movie was sh*t.  If you haven't read the book you might be okay, it actually could be a good movie.  But I went in having read the book and expecting the movie to be like the book and I was very disappointed.  I don't even know how the author of "Silver Linings" let it happen but maybe he didn't have a say.  I'm not really sure but I am sure that the movie version of "Silver Linings" is terrible.

That is all.  Happy Wednesday.

P.S.  Work was better today, my boss said she was impressed with how well I can ice a cake.  SCORE!!!

The New Job

Today I started my new job at a local bakery.  It was interesting.  I hope to god none of my coworkers and/or boss stumble upon my blog because this isn't going to be a "nice" post.

I like working there.  Let's start with that BUT, there are some serious short-comings in that bakery.  For instance, I never thought I would walk into a bakery and see them use a box cake mix.  I know my friends, Micah and Nicole, will rag on me later about another rant on box mixes but SERIOUSLY?  I could never imagine charging people for a cake that I made if it came out of a box.  They don't even add anything extra.  It's just the mix.  I was like super stunned when I saw that.  Now she (my boss) does make everything else from scratch, I think, but still.  It's not hard to make a cake from scratch; I do it quite often.  I feel like you're probably costing yourself more money by purchasing the mixes individually.  I'm sure it'd be much cheaper, not too mention authentic and possibly tastier, if you bought all of your ingredients in bulk and made things from scratch. But whatever, it's not my bakery.

Next point, the health inspector would have a field day with that place.  It's a mess.  While I was standing around all day with my thumb up my ass watching people teach me how to make a cake out of a box I wanted nothing more than to clean.  It was dirty and unorganized.  I personally wanted to just shut it all down.  Robert Irvine (for you Restaurant Impossible fans) would be appalled.  I'm not the neatest, most organized person in the world so when I say it's bad then it's definitely bad.  I don't know how they've survived for so many years without being shut down.

One more thing, I understand that when you own a business you get to do things your way.  I understand that you have the freedom to be a little particular about things.  My boss however is super particular about EVERYTHING.  She yelled at me today because of how I washed the dishes.  Puh-lease! That's a bit ridiculous.  Also, I hate the way she ices her cupcakes, it'll never be a problem I'll just do it the way she wants it but for the record I think it looks stupid.

When she told me that I could feel free to put in my opinion I wanted to say so many things but I don't think she'd like to hear them.  I still like my job but I no longer think that I'll be going back next summer or anything like I thought I did at first.

That's all, end rant.  I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject later.  Happy Tuesday!

P.S.  My sister, Mercedes, says hi!

Military Monday: Memorial Day

Most days I come to the conclusion that I despise the military and it's all because the person I love decided to join the Navy.  Before this decision came to be I never had any reason to not like the military.  They keep us safe, they keep the bad guys out, mostly everything they do is good.  (We can't lie to ourselves and say that the military has never done anything wrong).

Last week I didn't even want to talk about anything regarding the military and I still don't because I've been in a slump.  I really don't want Kyle to go to the Navy.  It may seem selfish but I think I should be able to think that way.  It's only thinking I'm not telling him that he can't join and if/when he does join I'll support him all the way and we'll figure something out.

Today though isn't going to be a tip on how to cope with your S.O. joining the military or a list of vocabulary words that the Navy and possibly other branches use.  Today is about my respect for the military.

The only ties I have to the military are my great-granpap and grandpap on my mother's side.  I never met either of them they were both gone before I came along.  So it's safe to say that I don't know too much about the military except for what I see on TV and learned in school and it's safe to say that sometimes those resources are biased.  Recently I've been more interested in what my grandpap did because my grandma lived through basic and deployments and PCSes.  But having not known a lot about the military earlier in life gave me a choice to support or not support our troops.

I can't even begin to think of the stigma you would put on yourself if you didn't support our troops.  Sure sometimes on TV you hear about the crappy things they do.  But there are I guess probably millions of troops out there and only a few doing those really crappy things.  I'll never let the actions of a few dictate my opinion of the many.  I think our troops are great and I can't thank them enough.  Without them I wouldn't be able to sit here on my laptop and tell you all about how I feel everyday.  I also wouldn't be able to do a lot of other things as well.  In my mind our military personnel, past and present, are the reason for our freedom.  Sure there are others that have helped that haven't been a part of the military that I respect as well but today is not their day.  Today is a day for our men and women that fight for our rights and the rights of others.

I want nothing more for our boys (and girls) than a safe trip home someday.  So for all of those that are deployed right now and for those that may be fighting stateside, stay safe, we all want you to come home.

I hope you're all enjoying time with your families and thinking about how much the military has done for us.  Happy Memorial Day!  And thank you to every military man and woman, past and present!

Winter Weather in May

For the past two days here in PA it has been frigid.  It's May.  It's supposed to be warm.  We're about a month away from summer.  What the heck?!

I'm ready to wear my shorts and tank tops and work on a tan.  I do not want to be bundling up to brave the cold.  I also didn't pack for cold weather.  I brought a couple sweaters and pairs of jeans but I wasn't expecting this.  I should have brought my winter coat back.

If you can't tell I'm really fed up with this weather.  It's been two days of chilly now and that just doesn't cut it.  Plus it's Memorial (Day) Weekend, we should be barbecuing and honoring our troops and vets in warm weather.  This just blows.

In other news, today is my sister's dance recital.  I'm excited to see the show because she dances quite well and I'll finally see some other dances besides the competition ones.  Also I'll be spending the day with my grandmother which is always a treat.

I hope it's not too cold where you are. Happy Saturday!

30 Day Challenge(s)

On Monday I was watching the show The Doctors.  The premise of the episode was several different 30 day challenges.  One was to be vegan for a month, one was 30 days of sex, one was no TV for a month and another was go on a walk once a day for 30 days.  This episode inspired me.  Actually it did more than inspire, it made me feel kind of bad about myself.

Yesterday I posted a few goals I want to meet over the summer.  None of them were super specific but I really want to meet the one that called for less technology usage in my life.  Now obviously I'm still going to use my oven and my microwave but I'm constantly surrounded by my phone, laptop, TV, and or tablet. Now the tablet isn't so bad because I usually only use it to read and rarely have a Wi-Fi connection on it but the other three are almost addictions.   I can sit and watch TV for hours on end and be just fine with it.  I can check facebook over and over and over again and end up reading the same status updates 10x each and on my phone I almost have a routine, sulk because I have no texts, check facebook, twitter and instagram, and play Candy Crush.  Honestly I'm tired of living like this and so my first 30 Day Challenge is:

Only watch 1-2 hours of TV a day, use my computer for an hour a day and only use my phone for calls and texts when necessary.

Now I should try to cut it all out completely but there are people I need to contact and I want to keep blogging.  Also in a house with so many other people it will be hard to completely cut out TV but I will try to keep busy if the TV is on unless it's a show I'm really interested in watching.

I also mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to exercise more over the summer.  It's really hard for me to stay motivated to exercise so maybe if I challenge myself I'll actually do it.  Also if I maybe tell myself if I complete the challenge I can reward myself that will keep me motivated.  So my second 30 day challenge is:

Go for a 30-60 minute walk everyday.

I think it's safe to say that I previously set my "work out" goals too high.  I never explicitly laid them out for you but they were goals that were probably unattainable for me.  So a walk everyday should be doable.  The first few days will probably be hard for me to be motivated to get up but maybe coupled with my low tech challenge I will actually get up.

I'll keep you posted.  Happy Friday! 

Note: I wrote this on Tuesday.  My mom and I started walking but the technology thing isn't going as well.

Things I want to enjoy this Summer

When Summer begins I always make grandiose plans.  I'm going to workout, eat healthier, be more active, go more places, attend more concerts, et cetera, et cetera. I already told myself and blogged about how I was going to workout and all that business and I'll be honest, it might not happen.  But I do have some places I'd like to get to and I would like to make the most of the summer so I'll post this now and at the end of the summer we'll see what happens.

Ohiopyle

Cucumber Falls

I talked about Ohiopyle when I was home for what I thought was only a week and I didn't get to go because it rained all week.  I don't think it will rain all summer and I hope to make it to Ohiopyle several times over the summer with or without my Sadie dog.

Camping

I love to camp.  I should spend more time outdoors seeing as I love it so much but I never do.  The internet and TV are just much more convenient.  I hope to go camping at least once or twice this summer.

Less Tech

The blurb above brings me to "Less Tech".  I'm almost always near a TV, computer, tablet or my cell phone.  I would love to cut down on my usage of all of those things over the summer. I'd like to cut down to about an hour a day on my laptop and an hour a day of TV.  I'm sure my cell phone will still always be on my person but I'd like to cut down on how many times I check Facebook and play how much I play meaningless games like Candy Crush.

The Beach

Now I know I will knock this one out.  My family is going to Wildwood, NJ for my sister's dance competition this summer and I'm also supposed to visit my aunt in North Carolina in August so I know I will get to the beach.

Kennywood

Most of you probably have no idea what Kennywood is.  Well, I'll tell you, it's an amusement park in Pittsburgh, PA.  I've been there about 8 million times and it really hasn't changed too much.  I'll still go every summer though as long as I live in PA.

Emotional Independence

Now this one's a bit more serious, I recently realized that I'm pretty emotionally dependent on the people around me.  I don't think I was always this way so I'd like to work on making me happier which I think is always a good goal.

Books

I love to read and usually I do a good bit of it.  I'd like to find a few new favorite authors this summer so I don't keep limiting myself to Stephen King.  I will always love King and will always be a die hard fan.  One day I will make it to Maine and go to all of the places he describes in his books.  However, I've limited myself the past few years to reading only King books and in all honesty I'm kind of bored so this Summer I'm going to find at least one new person to add to my list of favorite authors.

I think these are pretty manageable goals and I'll be sure to update you all in August.

Happy Thursday!

P.S. Baking is not on this list because I will be baking almost everyday at work.  Whoopee!

R.I.P. Sonic

I think in one of my original posts or my "About Me" page I mentioned my hamster, Sonic.  Sonic became a part of Kyle and I's family in February of 2012 when my grandma gave me too much money for my birthday.   I also desperately wanted a kitten and since no one in State College would give me one I bought a hamster instead.  He was cute and adorable and his fur had a blue tinge to it so Kyle named him Sonic.

Such a cutie.

Now hamsters aren't the best pets to cuddle with or anything but we enjoyed letting him climb around on the couch and roll around in his ball.  We liked to buy him new things to spruce up his cage and give him treats that made him fat.

On one of the breaks I brought him home and forgot the food at the apartment.  He munched on granola bars and apple skins for a week and got really fat.  He never did lose the weight.

When we brought Link back to State College Sonic kind of took the back seat.  Link was more fun and we couldn't really let Sonic roll around in his ball because Link would attack.  I still took care of him but once he had to be put up on a shelf out of Link's reach we didn't pay too much attention to him.  I felt bad for the poor guy.

So when I put him in the car to bring him home for the summer I was excited because Link doesn't stay at my house so I could pay more attention to Sonic.  The day I left I got him down from his shelf and he looked fine.  I told him, "We're going home Little Buddy".   I finished packing the car put Sonic and Link inside and took off.  When I got home I unloaded Link and Sonic first because it was rather hot out.  I checked on my little guy and he didn't look so great.  I left him alone for awhile so that I could unpack the rest of the car and my mom came out and said, "When was the last time your hamster moved?".  Oh boy, I checked on him and indeed he wasn't alive anymore.

I chalked his death up to a long, bumpy car ride and old age. It was no one's fault.  Hamsters only live for like two years and my drive way is enough to give a person a heart attack.

R.I.P.

So rest in peace Sonic, we'll miss you. Happy Tuesday!

No Military Monday

As you may have noticed I was on hiatus for the weekend.  Also, I'm skipping Military Monday today because I don't even want to think about the military or the Navy or the fact that my significant other is joining today.

I had a great weekend.  I ended up in Virginia with Kyle and his parents.  We went to this lovely little winery called "Narmada".  They had really good wine and Drew Stevyns was there.  He's a musician and he's just wonderful.  You should all check both the winery and Drew out.

Also I don't know if I mentioned this but I'm now home for the summer.  I don't know if its the better choice but I'm here with the people I love so that's good.

I started and ended my summer job hunt today.  I'll be starting work next Tuesday at this darling local bakery called Sweetie's and I'm so excited.  Mostly because it won't be just a counter, customer service job like I thought.  I'll actually be helping bake!  I'm totally pumped.

That's all for today.  Summer is a hard time to blog.  Happy Monday!

Blue-Eyed Baker: Mother's Day Cake

Sunday was Mother's Day.  I hadn't bought my mom anything and I also hadn't planned on it because money has been tight.  So I thought to myself, I like to bake cakes and my mom likes to eat cake (and share it with her coworkers) so why not bake a Mother's Day cake?  That's exactly what I did.  And here is the result.

Gorgeous.

Okay, my decorating wasn't great but I made it at the last minute so I think I did pretty good.  I mashed up two of my fave recipes, Hershey's Chocolate Cake and Wilton's PB Buttercream.  They're both really simple recipes but they always turn out so lovely.  The cake isn't too heavy and I can't get enough of the icing.  You'll also want a nice glass of milk as a chaser.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

Yield: 2 9-in cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 c. Sugar
• 3/4 c. Hershey's Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)
• 1 3/4 c. Flour
• 1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 t. Baking Soda
• 1 t. Salt
• 2 Eggs
• 1 c. Boiling Water
• 1/2 c. Vegetable Oil (I also use Olive oil when need be it makes no difference)
• 1 c. Milk
• 2 t. Vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  

In a large bowl stir together the dry (flour, salt, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda) ingredients.  Then add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.  Beat together for appx. 2 minutes.  Stir in the water.  Don't worry the batter is supposed to be thin.

Bake each cake for appx. 30-35 minutes. Mine took exactly 30 but it always depends on the oven you're using.

Wilton's PB Buttercream

1 recipe = 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c. Butter
• 1/3 c. Vegetable Shortening (I use Crisco. ALWAYS)
• 3/4 c. Peanut Butter
• 1 t. Vanilla
• 4 c. (1 lb.) Confectioner's (powdered) sugar
• 4-6 T. Milk

Cream the butter and shortening.  Then add the PB and vanilla.  Gradually add the powdered sugar.  If need be add milk to reach your desired consistency.  Note: I didn't add the milk and everything turned out fine.

Just lovely.

This was the first time I ever attempted a basket weave.  I've never even practiced on a flat surface.  It didn't turn out perfect but I was happy with the results.  Plus it tasted amazing so no one actually cared.

I hope you all had a fantastic Mother's Day and Happy Friday!

Author's Note: I didn't change these recipes at all.  I did include the links so that no one could say I plagiarized.

That whole Life Changes Thing? Well...yeah

I haven't been around the blog for a couple days.  I've been trying to get adjusted to living alone and taking classes.  At first I was here because there was one class that was keeping me here.  I couldn't take it online or at another campus.  While I was taking that class I could justify being in State College and almost torturing myself.  Apparently, I don't do well alone when I'm three hours away from my friends and family.

On Tuesday I decided to drop the class that was keeping me here.  It wasn't because I knew that if I dropped it I could go home that was actually the last thing that came to mind.  The class was going to be a lot of work and after a consultation with my advisor I really wasn't going to need it.  So why take it?

It wasn't until a little later that I realized that class was the only reason I was in State College.  I could transfer the other two classes to the online versions and I could be home free.  That seems pretty exciting right?  I haven't been happy here so it should have been a no brainer.  I should have been able to tell myself just go home.

Turns out, it wasn't that easy.  I had come up here with the mindset that I wanted to prove to myself that I could be on my own for an extended period of time.  I was trying to justify staying here.  And at one point I was going to just stick it out because I thought that it's what others would want to see me try to do.  The turning point was when I consulted my mom and she said the exact opposite of what I expected.  She said to come home.  So I thought and thought and thought about it.  I talked to Kyle, my mom, my therapist and my 2 best friends.  And after making the biggest deal out of a relatively small problem I decided to go home.  Now I'm not there yet, I have to pack and drive there but by the end of the day today I'll be home.

I can't say I'm ecstatic about my decision.  But if I would have chose the other path I can't really see myself being any happier.  I have a really tough time making decisions and this one was probably one of the toughest but I talked myself through it and ultimately I think I'll be happier.  Although in the very long run this whole thing probably doesn't even matter.  I read an article about decision making yesterday and it said to ask yourself the question, "How will this decision affect you in 70 years?"  The truth is this isn't a big decision and in 70 years I'll probably have forgotten that I even worried about this or I'll be laughing because I made such a big deal about it.  I even went to the trouble to blog about it.

Happy Thursday!

It's Tuesday

Today is Tuesday, in case you didn't know.  I couldn't think of a good title today because I have just so many things to talk about.

I returned to State College on Sunday.  It was really tough.  After two years of living here I've gotten used to leaving my family for long periods of time but this time I had to leave Kyle back home.  We're both taking classes but his are at a branch campus closer to home while mine are at the main campus.  It's been a long time since I've cried as much as I did on Sunday.  I cried in the car, I cried in Wal-Mart and I cried in my apartment.  I was surprised yesterday morning when I didn't wake up crying.  I think I've got it mostly out of my system now.  I'm pretty pumped for my classes.  I love, love, love my marketing professor and I think everything is going to be okay.

As short as the week was, I did have a great time at home.  It rained a lot so I didn't get to take my darling Sadie to Ohiopyle but I got to do everything else on my list.  I made my mom a gorgeous cake that I'll be featuring in a Blue-Eyed Baker post soon.  I also got to see one of my bestest friends and remind myself how out of shape I am by going to Zumba with my mom.

Nice segue! I am totally out of shape so let the exercising begin!  I told myself that while I'm here for six weeks I'm going to lose at least a little bit of weight.  I'm still refining my routine but get ready because when I go to the beach this summer I am going to look smoking hot (hopefully).  Also get ready for a new series on my fitness routines and some healthier recipes.  I might be changing things around because Fitness Friday has a lovely ring to it.  Or maybe alternating Fitness Friday with Blue-Eyed Baker. We'll see.

So in summation, I had a great time at home, adjusting to a new situation is hard and the next six weeks are hopefully going to be a good time for some renewal.  Happy Tuesday!

OH! Also I hit over 1,000 views on Sunday. Yay!!!

Military Monday: "Support your Significant Other, Friend, Family member"

Today I wanted to talk about the phrase that any new military spouse, significant other, friend or family member is going to hear when they ask, "How do I deal with my son/daughter, husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, friend, fiance/fiancee going into the military?"  As we all know I'm not quite a military significant other yet but it's going to happen sooner rather than later and when I first found out about my SO wanting to join the Navy I took to the internet to see what others had to say about me being sad about this very sudden decision.

When Kyle first told me that he had decided to apply to go to the Navy I was in shock and I found pretty much every military blog, support website, etc. to tell me what to do.  I wanted to know how you were supposed to cope with a life changing decision like this.  And the answer that I got the most was, "Always be supportive of your new sailor/soldier/etc.".  No way!  I would have never thought I should be supportive of Kyle's decision.  That my friends was sarcasm, of course I knew I needed to be supportive and I am/was.  My real question was what do you do on the days when you don't feel like being supportive?

It was harder to find an answer to that question and I never actually did.  So here's my answer.  Do whatever you want.  However it is that you cope with being upset about a big change in your life that you can't control, do that.  It's pretty simple but I would have been happier if someone had told me that.  My coping techniques include ice cream, sometimes a chick flick and crying.  One night I was feeling really down about the whole thing.  I felt like I didn't know anything, it was all so uncertain.  Do I go with him? Where will I live? Will I have a job? Will we get married? What about my hopes and dreams?  Nobody had an answer to those questions so I went to Wal-Mart, bought some Ben and Jerry's and then went home and bawled my eyes out.  And guess what it helped.  I eventually talked myself through some of my questions and kind of came up with answers.

I also want to let you all know that it's okay to doubt sometimes and if you don't feel like being supportive that's not being selfish.  If your friend or family member or SO decides to join the armed forces it's not only a big change for them it's also a big change for you.  You might not physically have to go to basic or be deployed but it's a challenge in it's own right.  So it's okay to have days where you want to cry all day or punch a hole in a wall, okay you might not actually want to punch a hole in the wall,  but trust me it's okay to not be supportive 100% of the time.

How do/did you cope with your loved one joining the military? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Monday!

Mother's Day

Today is, you guessed it, Mother's Day.  I'm sure myself and plenty of other bloggers out there are dedicating today's post to our mothers.  To me it seems fitting and appropriate and this is one of the ways I'm celebrating my mom today.

My mom is basically my hero.  In tenth grade we had to do a "Most Influential Person" project and while some people did presidents or other important figures I chose my mom because I would literally not be where I am today without her.  But my mom's helpfulness in giving me life is not the end of her greatness.  My mom has taught me a lot in my 22 years and I'm sure she's not done yet but I've realized since I've started living in my own apartment that she's taught me more than I ever thought.

I can clearly remember her teaching me to read and write my name and later teaching me how to drive but since I started living on my own I've realized that she indirectly taught me things too.  I was always afraid that when I moved into my own place that I wouldn't know how to do anything that I hadn't previously been taught.  My mom never explicitly taught me how to cook or that I need to eat somewhat healthy foods on a daily basis but somehow I find myself cooking and eating regularly.  My mom never taught me what to do when your cat pukes on the floor but the first time he did it I cleaned it up and employed the exact same method I now realize my mom used a ton of times with our pets.

I also remember saying time and time again that I will never be like my mother but I'm pretty much a clone of my mother.  Most likely it's a culmination of genes and the way she raised me but if Kyle doesn't fold the towels the way my mom taught me to I kind of get mad and then re-fold the towels in the exact same way my mom does.  I find myself doing a lot of things the way my mom does them and I really can't imagine ever changing them.  I see it as the only way to do things right even if there are clearly other ways that work.  I will always do things  my way/my mom's way.

One thing I can't do is make spaghetti like my mom.  I've tried to make it the same way she does and it never turns out right.  Maybe I'll get it someday and maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll always think my spaghetti sucks and have to go back to mom just to have good spaghetti.  And maybe there's something like that with all moms, there's always a reason you have to go back just so you can have it the way moms make it.

This post feels kind of choppy to me, probably because there are so many things I want to say about my mom.  I love my mom to death, she's my best friend and I can't imagine what I'd do if I didn't have her.  I love you mom.  Happy Mother's Day and Happy Sunday!

Some more of that sweet nostalgia.

Where is home?

In the past 4 or so years I've asked myself this question over and over.  Where is Home?  I don't actually know for sure and I don't know if I ever will again.  I'm sure you've heard countless people say, "Home is where the heart is".  And yes that's probably true.  But what happens when you don't know where your heart is?

Little kid drawings always speak to my nostalgic side.

When I was little my heart was in one place.  Millsboro, PA.  That's where I grew up.  I lived with my mom and dad and siblings as they came along.  My grandparents lived across the street and my cousins a.k.a. best friends lived close by and eventually moved to Millsboro as well.  That was home for 15 years.  I knew nothing else and I didn't want to know anything else.  It was pretty much perfect.

When my dad died in 2005 we still lived in Millsboro but things got weird because dad wasn't there and things started feeling less like home but if I would have been asked I still would have said that Millsboro was my home.  We then moved to Coal Center which is a pretty okay place and I started college and I started feeling more displaced.  We were still in between houses and I didn't know which one to call home.  I later started dating Kyle and staying at his house and I became even more confused.  Kyle's family felt like a new addition to my family almost immediately and I spent a lot of time at his house in our two years at Penn State Fayette because it was convenient and it was where I wanted to be.

I now have an apartment that I live in for the majority of the year in State College.  While I'm in State College I frequently call the apartment home but I don't think State College will ever be "home".  I like it there for the most part but for me it's definitely a place of transition not a place to settle down.

With all of these different places to call home I can't actually think of a place that I can permanently designate that way.  Sometimes it's State College, sometimes it's where ever Kyle is, sometimes it's Coal Center with my family and sometimes it's still Millsboro because that was the most perfect time in my life.  I had 15 years of "normalcy" in Millsboro and then it was all taken away from me and I haven't yet had another period in life where there has been consistency so forgive me if I still want to call a place I haven't been to in months "home".

Sorry for the sappiness, sometimes it just has to be that way.  Happy Saturday!

Blue-Eyed Baker: Boxed Mixes and Canned Icing

As you all know I've been home this past week and the original plan was to bake a couple things while I'm here.  That actually hasn't happened.  I'm going to bake a cake for Mother's Day that will be just lovely but other than that I haven't made anything except for some cupcakes that came out of a box but to me those don't really count.

I haven't used a boxed cake mix in about a year, Wednesday night was the first time since I discovered my love for baking from scratch.  In the past I've made my famed Irish Carbomb cupcakes and people have said "Did you make these from scratch?" and I very pompously replied "Of course I made them from scratch.  Who wants to use a boxed mix?".  I'm very proud of my from scratch creations even if they're recipes from other people, I have yet to make up my own recipe or even drastically change a recipe I've found on the internet. We'll get there someday.

So on Wednesday, my sister, Julia, text me asking if I would bake cupcakes for school the next day.  At first  I said no because I was going out with a friend later and I didn't want to be up late baking.  Then she said they're for Josh Seader, who's a guy that I graduated High School with, he was always really nice and Senior year we had like every class together so she guilted me into making them.  I still knew I wasn't in the mood to bake anything from scratch and I probably wasn't going to have all of the ingredients anyway so, much to my chagrin, I purchased a boxed mix and some canned icing.

It was your classic yellow cake and chocolate icing.  As I was making them, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, 1 cup of water, yuck, I thought to myself that this is really gross and I would have rather taken the time to make something from scratch.  The icing was Duncan Hines Whipped and if I ever had to endorse a pre-made product that would probably be the one.  It wasn't bad.  I still wasn't happy with the overall product but I'm sure the kids in Julia's class could care less.  They're getting free cupcakes at school they most likely do not care that I went through a lot of emotional pain making those boxed monstrosities.  At this point you can probably tell that I really dislike using boxed mixes.

They didn't look half bad,

I used my favorite cupcake icing technique to ease the pain.

I'd also like to express my disdain at the glut of wedding cake recipes online that masquerade as "professional" or "homemade" recipes but utilize a boxed mix.  Now these recipes add other things to the boxed stuff but if you're going to use the boxed crap don't say that it's homemade or that you're a professional.

Okay, my rant is over.  Happy Friday!

Big things are happening

Today I wasn't sure what to blog about but then I remembered that today I have a phone interview for a blogging internship!  How fun is that?

A couple weeks ago a friend of mine from school sent me a link for an internship that corresponds with the blog "Best Friends for Frosting".  I took a look at it and saw that it was unpaid and I didn't think much of it.  I took a second look at it later and realized it was for a baking blog and got a little more excited.  I really like blogging and I love baking so what could be better?  I sent in my resume and "patiently" waited for a reply back.

A few days later I got my reply and THEY WERE INTERESTED! So I answered some questions and once again waited "patiently".  This time the reply was much quicker.  They asked me to do a phone interview and we scheduled a day and time.

Now, I've never done a phone interview so I'm a little nervous.  The prospect of sitting unshowered, in your PJ's and doing something professional just doesn't make sense to me.  I've heard that you actually should like shower and look nice just to give yourself that confidence boost while you're on the phone. I might actually end up doing that but we'll see.  All in good time.

Like I said I'm really excited and I hope to get the internship.  I'm not really sure where it's going to take me but it'll be some sort of experience and it will give me something to do when I'm home for the summer probably jobless and bored.  I can only be entertained by my siblings for so long before they get annoying and I want to lock them up.

Happy Thursday!

Shorty but Goody

Yesterday, as you all may have noticed,  I skipped a day of blogging.  Oh No!  I really didn't mind it because I could not think of a topic that wouldn't bore you all to death.  It'll also probably happen more frequently through the summer because I won't be doing too many exciting things on a daily basis.

But today I write with a purpose.  It's to tell you all about how I had my first cake consultation session today with a lovely bride-to-be.  I met today with a lovely lady named Brandi, who turns out is my cousin, to talk about her wedding cake.  Can you believe it?  Someone wants me to make their wedding cake AND they're going to pay me for it.  Yippee!  I'm totally excited and I haven't even gotten the job yet.  However, it's insanely complicated to price a wedding cake.

I've never ever priced a cake before.  Usually, I bake a cake and my family eats it.  So when I was asked to give a price for a three tier cake that feeds 150-200 people I was like, "Give me a sec".  I did a little research and found 18,000 different ways to calculate the price of say a birthday cake but then I found another 10,000 ways to price a wedding cake.  In case you didn't know pricing a birthday or baby shower cake is COMPLETELY different from pricing a wedding cake.  Who woulda thought?  I definitely didn't.

So today I start the adventure of pricing my first wedding cake.  Wish me luck! And Happy Wednesday!!

Military Monday: Military Vocabulary

When my boyfriend decided to inform me that he had decided to join the Navy and it was not going to be for the  teaching position he had previously explained to me I freaked.  I didn't know what to do and I was pretty sure that life as I knew it was over.  And in all honesty for the most part the life that I live now will change drastically in about a year when he does leave for basic and all that fun stuff but I'm a lot more accepting of it now because I've read about 300,000 articles all about military life.

I know I'll never be fully prepared for what's coming but I read the blogs and I've learned a lot.  The following are some terms and acronyms that I found really daunting but now don't seem as bad.

PCSing

When I started reading blogs and articles I saw this one everywhere and I had no clue what it meant.  I read things like "10 things to know for your first PCS" and "Not every PCS is the same" and "What to expect when you're PCSing".  I didn't actually read that last one but it is a really great title.  I'll have to remember it for later.  But in case you didn't know PCS stands for permanent change of station.  I was also afraid that you would be doing one of these like every other month or something but it turns out that it's more like every few years.  So I guess it's not that bad.

Reintegration

Reintegration is something that happens after a long deployment.  It's basically when your significant other (SO) comes back and he/she has their way of doing things and you've figured out your own way of doing things and those two ways don't exactly mesh.  It seems that for some people reintegration is really hard and frustrating but for others it's rather easy.  I suppose it depends on what kind of couple you were in the first place and how understanding the two of you are.  I told my boyfriend about this phenomena and I don't think he feels that it exists but I'm pretty sure it does and that one day we're going to learn first hand ALL about reintegration.  It should be fun.

Sea Tours and Shore Tours

One day the boyfriend brought home some pamphlets about the positions he applied for and nosy little me decided that I had to read them.  One of them started talking about shore tours and sea tours and the words "sea tour" scared the crap out of me.   I was convinced that the boyfriend would be spending six to X amount of months on a boat and that I would literally never see him.  That's not what a sea tour is my friends.    A sea tour basically just means that your SO and maybe you if you choose to follow along will be stationed on a base near a boat.  Your SO may have to go on the boat for a little while at times but the good news is that he/she won't always be on the boat and you will get to spend time with them.  What a relief!

That's all for this installment but I'm sure we'll talk about military vocab more in the future. Do you have any terms that scared you or you think I should know?  Tell me about them in the comments!  Happy Monday!

Going Home

Today, after work of course, I'm packing up my car and going home! The only downside is that it's only for a week and then I have to return to State College for a rousing six weeks of summer classes.

So you're probably asking what will I do when I'm home....well maybe not but I'm going to tell you anyways.

1. Take my dog to Ohiopyle

 Ohiopyle is the most wonderful place in the world. I love it.  I also love my dog.  She adores car rides and I can't wait to put her in the car and go for a hike in one of my favorite places.  It will be pure bliss.

2. See my BFF's

My two best friends in the whole wide world live back home.  I can't wait to see them and possibly (probably) go out for drinks.

3. Beg my mom to make all of my favorite foods

I eat a lot of pasta here but I cannot replicate my mom's spaghetti and I've been craving it for weeks.  Also I just LOVE not having to cook.

4.  Spend oodles of time with my mom

My mom is also on my list of best friends she's actually number one.  I'm super excited to do super mundane things with my mom because I miss her so much.  Plus we'll also go out to the bar on Thursday and that's always fun.

5.  Spend time with my family in general

My family occasionally does things all together but usually it's hard to have everyone in one place.  But I can settle with just being in the same general area with them.  I like knowing my little brother is just upstairs playing playstation and not 150 miles away.

6. RELAX

This semester has been crazy and I'm sure taking 16 credits over six weeks while also working is going to be no walk in the park so for 7 days I'm going to relax as much as possible.

7. And finally, get my bake on

Next Sunday is Mother's Day and since I'm short on cash I want to make my Momma a gorgeous cake.         Don't worry there will be pictures.


That's all folks! Happy Sunday!

The End of Senior Year

As I said yesterday, I'm officially a Super Senior.  For those of you who were previously unaware of this term; a super senior is a fifth year senior in college.  When I started college I never thought that I would need more than four years to graduate.  But, here I am 4 years later with still a year left.  I'm okay with that.  As much as I want to graduate and move on to the next step in life I know that it's not going to be easy so maybe one more year as a student will be just fine.

This past year has taught me a lot.  It's taught me that you never know what life will throw at you.  And, yeah, I knew that already but I thought I was done with curveballs I thought that I was finally going to have some normality in my life.  That was until Kyle decided to join the military.  Now life is going to change in a big way again and I'm going to be ready for it.

This past year I've also found my passion, baking for people, sure in my Junior year I started baking and people started liking it but this year something changed.  I had people actually asking me to bake things and that was exciting and now I have two people asking me to bake things and their going to pay me for it.  That's doubly exciting.

I also learned that I need to learn how to be a little bit more independent sometimes.  This is a more recent lesson,  a few times this year I've went home without Kyle or he's went home a day before me.  And yeah a day in State College alone is hard for me, go ahead and judge.  Those were small things but in just one short week I will be alone in State College for six whole weeks.  I'm still really scared about it, this is an unprecedented event in my life.  I went to D.C. once for 10 days by myself and I was in tears everyday but I promise myself that these six weeks won't be like that.  I'm going to be active and I'm going to hang out with friends from work and I'm not going to sit around for 42 days and be depressed.  I need to prove to myself that I am a strong, independent person just like I always told myself I was.  I've been doubting myself recently and this is a good opportunity to up my self-esteem.

That's all for today, hope you all enjoyed a lovely Saturday!

Blue-Eyed Baker: Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

Today is the last day of finals week.  I had an 8 am final and now I'm finished with everything concerning the Spring 2013 semester.  I'm officially a Super Senior and that means in just one year I will finally be graduating.

With all the hustle and bustle of this week, studying, odd work hours, etc. I didn't get to bake anything and I'm not feeling a last minute baking adventure today.  Until 5 pm when I go to work today I just want to relax and maybe read a book.  If the boyfriend ever wakes up, it's still early, maybe we'll go to lunch or something.

So today my Blue-Eyed Baker post is going to focus on the most popular of the cupcakes I've baked so far, The Irish Carbomb.  I made these for the first time about a year or so ago and I've had to make them multiple times because they were a hit.  If I ever own a bakery someday I'll definitely have to use these as a daily item.

The recipe I use is from browneyedbaker.com and I don't change a thing.  They're a moist delicious cupcake that I couldn't imagine "fixing".

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Procedure

1. To Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

3. To Make the Whiskey Ganache Filling: Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

4. To Fill the Cupcakes: Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping back with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

5. To Make the Baileys Frosting: Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

6. Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

This recipe yields about 2 dozen cupcakes.  It takes a few hours to make them at first and it's a very involved process.   But, if you do it right you won't be disappointed.

Here are some of my previous results:

My mom requested that I make them for Christmas last year so I added a little festive detail.  They were a hit with my uncles.  They even decided that they were taking me to Hollywood to have my own show.  They're a hoot.

Happy Friday and Happy Baking!

Family, my most important thing.

Recently I was asked to consult with someone on wedding cake prices, yeah I'm super excited and the lovely lady that I'll be talking to in about a week asked if I could bring pictures of my previous work.  Of course I can, I document all of my baking adventures but while I was going through my pictures on my computer I also found a treasure trove of pictures of my family that I didn't even know were on my hard drive.  These new found gems are the inspiration for today's post, Family.

Family is probably the most important thing in the world to me.  When I was 15 my dad passed away in a boating accident and as family oriented as I was before, the loss of my father increased my appreciation for my family ten fold.  Another turning point in my life so far was moving away to college.  Here in State College I am 150 miles away from home, sometimes it's nice but sometimes I miss them more than I could ever describe.  I've mentioned before that I have a huge family well now you can meet them all.

This is, as the kids like to call her, Nan George.

Above you can see my beautiful mother.  This woman gave life to me 22 years ago and I couldn't be more thankful.  Mother's Day is coming up so I'm sure we'll talk about her in more depth then but I love my mom and I hope to be a great mom and human being like her one day.

Dad

That's the best picture I could find of my dad on my sister's Facebook page.  I don't have very many pictures up here because A. I didn't want to lose them and B. sometimes I'm lazy and I didn't want to dig them out.  But that's my dad, John Bodnar, on a beach with my sister.  My dad was integral into shaping the person I am today.  I have a great work ethic thanks to both of my parents but I blame my love of Oreos and cartoons on my dad.  There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him.  I miss him very much as you can imagine.  One day when I get all of my photos together I'll make a post all about him.

This Character

Edward George is another important man in my life.  He's my step-dad and he never fails to make me laugh. I wasn't always crazy about him becoming a part of my life but 5 years later I've decided I think I'll keep him.    He makes my mom happy and he helps put a roof over our heads but mostly he makes us laugh and you always need a person like that in your life.  I love him dearly.

My Little Sister

My sister, Mercedes, she's 19 but she probably thinks she's 25.  I love her to death and we haven't quite gotten to the point in our lives where we've realized how important it is to have a sister (boys are more important) but I'm sure we're almost there.  I haven't always liked her, from age 5-16 we weren't the greatest friends but now we get along pretty well plus we're stuck with each other. 

My Littlest Sister

Julia Jean, I knew she wouldn't appreciate it if I used an unflattering picture of her, I think this one is pretty decent.  Julia is 13 and a drama queen she's just now getting to the point in life where she's not totally annoying.  She dances and cheers and in my opinion she's great at both.  Of course I love her as well and she's turning out to be a beautiful young lady.

My mini Me

This is Elton, I like to call him my mini me.  Obviously he's not an EXACT replica, he's a boy, but he reminds me a lot of myself.  He's super smart, he's tried almost every sport possible and he wants to go to Penn State.  Now I didn't KNOW that I wanted to go to Penn State but the fact that he wants to go to the same school that I'm going to tickles me to death.  I love this little guy and he's growing up to be quite the little gentleman, he even has a girlfriend!

The Baby

This is Evan the baby of the family and even though he'll be 5 in August we still call him Baby and I probably always will.  When my mom got pregnant with him I was angry, there was no need for another kid in our already gigantic family.  He came anyways and I was there in the delivery room and I love him so much.  He's another one that I miss a lot when I'm not home for awhile but as soon as I get there and we play 10 million games of memory match I start to not miss him as much.  He's going to Kindergarten in the fall and in my opinion he's growing up too fast.

I also have two step-siblings, Jake and Jenna.  I can't find any good pictures of them on my computer though.  They are however in the family portrait on my About Me page.  They've been a part of my family for 5 years but  I still don't know them too well probably because Jenna lives with her mom and Jake isn't around very often.  All in all they're pretty good kids and I love them too.

My extended family includes Kyle and his parents and his brother.  When I'm home I spend just as much time with them as I do at my house.  In the past 3 years I've definitely come to be able to call them family.

I also, just like everyone else, have grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins but that would make for one very long post.  As if this one isn't long enough already.

Happy Thursday!

Does my Mom read my blog?

I found myself asking this question the other day and I realized that I have no idea if she does or not.  

Now don't get me wrong my mom and I have a very good relationship.  She's probably my best friend.  When I go home it's mainly because I miss her.  Sure I miss the rest of my family and my friends and all the other great things about home but I miss my mom the most.  

I have yet to actually tell my mom that I started blogging and I guess I kind of figured she would find it on Facebook.  But maybe she didn't, in all honesty she doesn't get on Facebook that much and I wouldn't be surprised if she just skipped over it.  And if she has read it and just not said anything about it that's weird too.  She usually calls me when she sees my new baking creations that I posted so why wouldn't she call or even make a comment about my blog.  I'm assuming she just hasn't seen it and for some reason I'm not worried about telling her.

In other news, I've been blogging for a week!  I'm really excited and proud that I've kept it going.  I'm also pretty dang sure that I like the roll I'm on and I'm going to keep going with it.  I have ideas for days about what to blog about, some are better than others (see today's topic vs. Monday's topic).  I've also had about 430 views in the past week and that just tickles me to death.  I can't believe that people actually care about what I'm talking about.  It's amazing.

Just a short one today.  Happy Hump Day!