Red velvet experiment: Part 1

I've developed an addiction to red velvet cupcakes lately. Unfortunately, as many sources have pointed out, it costs about $3.25 to buy one cupcake at a good cupcake shop. Yes, in most cases, you can probably make 24 cupcakes for under $3.

So, I'm on the quest for the perfect red velvet recipe. I started out cheap and easy. I bought a box of red velvet cake mix for the first time and a can of cream cheese frosting. As expected, they were OK but not great. (And the dye from the cake mix was frighteningly potent.)

Now I'm on a quest to try some homemade recipes. It'll probably be slow going. I can't bake an entire batch of cupcakes every week (for the sake of my health, if nothing else). But if you know of a good recipe, send it my way.

Also, I should note that even when I find a good recipe, I will still buy a $3.25 cupcake sometimes. I don't mind baking, but that $3.25 convenience fee saves me from having to find places to give away 23 cupcakes just so I can eat my one (or two ... or three).

Midwest adventure: Part 5 (Cute kids)

In addition to coming to Nolen's party, Amy, Cindy and their kids stayed at my parents' place Saturday. For lunch, we had Louie's P&R sandwiches, and for dinner we went to Italian Village (two places I could check off my "I must eat here" list).

Andrew and Hannah loved Italian Village pizza and were so adorable there. Andrew started stealing bites of pizza off Hannah's plate every time she turned away.

And at the end of the meal, they licked their plates (before eating their complimentary ice cream).

The kids also seemed to enjoy playing with all the "new" toys at my parents' house (luckily Nolen is around so they HAVE toys at their house again). My parents pulled out a little kids' table that used to be my dad's (They were holding onto it for Nolen once he gets a tad older.), and Hannah set up a tea party for Curious George and herself.

Later, Andrew sat down for a "snack" at the table.

I'm so glad Amy, Andrew, Cindy and Hannah were able to visit while I was in Herrin. I really enjoyed seeing everyone again.

See more photos from my trip here.

Midwest adventure: Part 4 (Nolen's birthday)

My trip was planned around my nephew's first birthday. Saturday was Nolen's big party in Herrin. The rain ruined plans for an outdoor luau-themed bash. Jennifer set up tables and cute decorations in the garage, and by the time the party got under way, the rain had passed.

Of course, the highlight was the cake-eating. Or us watching Nolen eat his cake. He was pretty timid at first, but eventually he got into it.

He started out pretty clean ...


But by the end, blue icing was everywhere.


Amy and Cindy came down from Chatham with their kids to visit for the weekend. They came to Nolen's party as well. The kids, Andrew and Hannah, were most interested in the wealth of new toys and the cat.

Andrew spent a lot of time releasing balloons, which Amy had to pull back down from the ceiling.


Hannah got into the luau spirit.
See more photos from Nolen's birthday and the rest of my trip here.

Midwest adventure: Part 3 (the rest of St. Louis)

The St. Louis part of my trip was rounded out with stops at some favorite places and more time with friends.

Pad thai, Schalfly beer, pizza and cupcakes
I had a few places in mind that I hoped to visit on my trip — and I made it to all the top ones. (I realized long before I left on the trip that I simply couldn't make it to every place on the long list, so I had to create a short list.) I met up with some Post-Dispatch co-workers for lunch that Friday at Sen Thai, possibly the best Thai place ever (at least in my mind). I had been craving their pad thai for weeks, so that and an order of crab rangoon made my day.

In the afternoon, I stopped at the Schlafly Tap Room to purchase some bottles of their Kolsch beer. I consumed some during the rest of my trip and packed some in my suitcase to take back to D.C. I also stopped at SweetArt with my friend Elie for some delicious cupcakes. I was saddened to find they were out of red velvet cupcakes (my favorite) for the day by the time we got there. However, I tried a cookies and creme cupcake, which was quite satisfying, and bought a box of others to bring with me to Herrin.

My food stops concluded with a trip to The Stable for its Fromaggio pizza. (I had no choice but to order the whole, large pizza and take the leftovers with me.) Later, I visited the always cool bar Venice Cafe for drinks with friends.


Citygarden
About a week before I arrived in St. Louis, the city opened a new downtown park/sculpture garden. I heard good things about it, so I stopped by to check it out. It was very well done and full of people wandering through or eating lunch on a Friday around noon. I think it was a great addition to downtown. (Both photos in this post are from Citygarden.)

More pictures from Citygarden and the rest of my trip can be found here.

Baseball that wasn't meant to be

I had tickets to a Sunday Cardinals vs. Nationals game when the Cardinals were in town the first weekend of May. I made it to one game in that series, but the Sunday game was rained out. So tonight was the makeup game. Despite the forecast of scattered storms, the weather appeared great at game time. The first three innings went well with the Cards up, 2-0.

Then, we saw a group of about 20 guys rush toward the tarp on the side of the field. "But it isn't raining," we thought. Of course, the tarp guys were much more on top of things. Five to 10 minutes later, the drops started falling. ... and soon became sheets of rain ... and strong winds ... and lightning. We huddled under a huge concourse — using umbrellas and jackets in an attempt to stay dry — and were still getting soaked by the blowing rain.

Using our high-tech instruments (weather radar on cell phones) and surveying the situation (puddles on the uncovered parts of the field), we decided the game wasn't going to get very far very fast. So, once the rain let up a bit, we headed out of there.

When I got home, I was a bit dismayed to see the game had resumed. (Maybe I left too early?) Except when I checked back a few minutes ago, I saw the game is in a second rain delay after making it through only three more innings. Yea, probably best that I got out while I did. Plus, my pants will need the extra time to dry after being dripping wet.

Breaking news (better late than never)

This is actually old news now, but I wanted to post it for those who aren't paying attention to media industry news. Roll Call Group (and its parent company the Economist Group) announced its purchase of Congressional Quarterly this week. (Read Roll Call's announcement here.) For those unfamiliar with the company, Congressional Quarterly also reports on and tracks the happenings of Congress, though with a slightly different focus than Roll Call. Thus, we've been told the publications will remain with their distinct voices.

I'm sure some things will be changing (at least eventually), but hopefully it will all be for the best.

Midwest adventure: Part 2 (All-Star FanFest)

Even though I worked at a newspaper in St. Louis for three years (and newspapers tend to look forward to big events and make plans and all), I forgot the All-Star Game was going to be in St. Louis. More specifically, I didn't think about when it was as I planned my trip and booked my tickets. Only after I had airline tickets did my dad mention I was flying out of St. Louis the morning after the All-Star Game ... oh yea.

So, Friday morning I had some extra time and decided to check out the All-Star FanFest. It would have been more worth the $30 if I had gone with a group instead of alone. (Everyone else was working at 10 a.m.) But it was still a good experience.

I had my picture taken to be put on a "real" Post-Dispatch cover ... (Yes, it's called the Post-Dispatch, not the Dispatch.)

And watched a baseball barbershop quartet ...

I also saw some sweet Cardinals World Series trophies ...

Visited with the Washington Nationals mascot, Screech, who had flown into St. Louis with me (more or less) ...

And even did a little copy editing ... (They really needed a copy editor to check the exhibits.)

More pictures from FanFest and the rest of my trip can be found here.

Midwest adventure: Part 1

I've been back from my trip to the Midwest for almost a week now and haven't posted anything about it, so I'm going to start with a small chunk.

Metro madness
Though I take the Metro everywhere in D.C., I could not remember the last time I had taken the Metro in St. Louis — until this trip. I was a little frightened as I got on at the airport. Of course, I had no choice of lines or directions, so it turned out to be pretty simple. Now if only they would correctly name the Scottrade Center stop instead of calling it "Civic Center."

Cheap, cheap!
I was thrilled when I got my bill after happy hour with friends and former co-workers the first night. Granted, we were at Tin Can, but it was still cheaper than any dive bar I've been to in D.C. On top of the already-cheap drinks, we discovered a marvelous special. For those who aren't familiar with the place, Tin Can specializes in cans of beer. They vary in price based on the type. The cheapest cans (including PBR and Stag) are regularly $1.75. However, on Thursday nights (downtown location) starting at 9 p.m., that cheap category of beers goes for 50 cents for 50 minutes, then 75 cents for 75 minutes than $1 for 100 minutes. I mostly drank Boulevard Wheat that night (on draft, one of my favorites, and I can't get it in D.C.), but I could pass up a 50-cent beer from the bar.

Concept clock

I found this clock on swissmiss, a design blog, and was really excited. I went to the original site to see how far out of my price range it was. Turns out, it's only in the concept stage. So, it's FAR beyond my price range, seeing as I'd have to pay to develop and manufacture it. Darn!

July Fourth

I had a fairly uneventful July Fourth. I took care of some errands and pre-trip things, and I finished reading a book. ("My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult ... I haven't seen the movie yet, though I hear the ending is somewhat different and am now curious as to exactly what was changed.)

Later, I met up with Emily and Joe. We ate dinner in Silver Spring, which had some live music in its City Place area. Then, we went into D.C. to brave the crowds at the National Mall. We checked out the Hare Krishna Festival, which was happening on part of the Mall. Then, we walked around and finally settled on some seats in the grass. The fireworks were good. (I'm not one to rant for hours about fireworks, so I'm not sure what else to say about them.) Afterward, we avoided the Metro crowds by stopping for some frozen yogurt before heading home.


More photos of yesterday and today are here.

A cheesy day off

Since July Fourth falls on Saturday, I didn't have to work today! Instead, I braved the D.C. tourists to check out some sites.

Such a cheese
First, I checked out the "life-size" cheese carving of Abraham Lincoln. He wasn't quite life-size, but he was pretty big. According to the Washington Post, he was carved out of a 1,000-pound block of cheddar cheese. After being on display for three hours, the outer layer was going to be cut off and the rest of the cheese donated to charity. I should note the whole shindig was put on by Cheez-It, and I received two free snack-size bags of Cheez-It just for checking it out.


A new site discovered
I never even realized that Constitution Gardens and Constitution Gardens Lake existed on the National Mall. (It's near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.) Situated in the lake (as an island) is a Declaration of Independence Memorial. It includes stones commemorating the signatures of all the Declaration's signers. The lake and island are also crowded with geese and ducks.


Folklife Festival
I also checked out the Smithsonian Folklife Festival today. The three topics this year are: Las Americas, Wales, and Giving Voice (spoken word and African-Americans). So, I learned a little. The best part was probably the great music in the Las Americas section. Anyone who knows my dad will understand why I thought he might like the pants this mariachi band was wearing.


Hirshhorn rocks
Since I was on the Mall, I decided to check out a museum. I wanted to avoid the ones that I suspected were overcrowded on Fourth of July weekend (such as American History), so I went in the Hirshhorn Museum. The building itself is pretty cool (round like a doughnut), and I really liked that it isn't HUGE like some of the other museums. It was manageable, and I could spend as much time as I wanted in each area without feeling that I had to rush on to the next thing. And it had some pretty cool art. If I were rich, I'd look into throwing a party there.

Mid-week adventures

Congress was on recess this week, so I finished work early and had long, leisurely evenings (in other words, I got done at 5 like the rest of the world instead of 8).

Games
Monday night's plan was bowling, but when we reached the lanes, we discovered a Google party had taken over the entire place for the night. So, we headed across the street to a bar with "reindeer games" (as Andrea would say) and played pool for a while. And before all that, we took advantage of a great happy hour special: 34-0unce drafts for $8.

Postal Museum
Every day to and from work, I pass the National Postal Museum, located near Union Station. I've often considered stopping in to check it out during my lunch break, but I didn't do so until this week. (It's free and close, so I figured I could break it up into small trips on different days.) It is slightly more interesting than it sounds. It's located in part of the old City Post Office Building — a beautiful place. I spent my chunk of time looking through one exhibit: Alphabetilately. I thought it might be about fonts or text on stamps. Instead, it was an A-Z of stamp terms. But it turned out to be kind of interesting anyway. What other exhibits are in the museum? Stay tuned for future visits.

Like cats to water
My cats have always liked water. Mostly, I think Griffin likes water and Loki tries to do whatever Griffin does, but they're always at the sink when I turn it on. I let Griffin check out the bathtub (with water) when he was young, and to my surprise, he happily walked around in paw-deep water. After that, taking a relaxing bubble bath became more difficult, so I haven't done it very often. I decided to give it a try again tonight. This time, I hoped, they were older and slightly more sensible about staying out of the water. I also kept the door closed (their meows weren't too annoying) most of the time. But when I was done, I let them check it out. Loki peered over the tub, but only looked. Griffin, on the other hand, perched over the side and stuck his paws into the water. He didn't just dip them in; he stuck them in and let them soak in the water. Finally, I got too nervous that he would jump into the foot or so of water and bubbles, so I drained it before he could "explore" more.