whomp there it is

Well damn, epic FAIL on my part. It's been a ridiculously long time since I last updated this thing. Well shiiit.

Now I could spew off some excuses but real talk, sometimes life just gets away from you and that's basically what's happened.

To recap though...

1. I graduated from Graduate School
2. Worked a million hours in the last 5 months
3. Got a new job
4. Got a social life? Weird.
5. Moved permanently to Massachusetts
6. Read some books
7. Went to the beach
8.  Started to get my shit together.

In other news here are a few things that I made in the last 7 months or so.

This can't be legit

In an effort to make things easier than box cake mix, I recently discovered that you can make box mix cake with a can of good ole' diet coke. What?! you make exclaim, diet coke?! Yup, one can of soda and nothing else.... Nothing?!... nope, forget the 1/3 cup of oil, those pesky 2 eggs and geez be sure to leave out the water... man box cake is pretty dang complicated, so it's better this way right?

Apparently this is not a new idea, as my mom pointed out that it was pretty popular in the 60's and 70's? NO idea I tried to a bit of crude research only to discover that people use it as a substitute to the oil and fat that is used in box cakes. Well I'll be damned a diet cake?! Gosh so I can eat the whole thing right?! Um, no although it is a "healthy option" to straight up oil, soda contains some questionable ingredients. The point is, if you want cake... when in doubt go for the real thing! 

Culinary Students Bake Cake!

Some of you may (or may not) know that I am currently finishing up my Masters degree student teaching in a Culinary Arts High School Classroom in Upstate New York. A few weeks ago we did a lab where the students were in groups and had to bake cake using one of the three different mixing methods. Below are some of the finished products!

December Babies

My Niece Lily celebrated her 1st Birthday on December 21st. Luckily the Mayans were wrong and the world did not end, so we celebrated with a ladybug cake and some cake pops.

The recipe for this cake was taken from the wonderful Smitten Kitchen blog and featured a dense chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse layer on top of that with a little homemade whipped cream and fresh berries. No surprises here, it was for my Mom's birthday! 

27 Things I've Learned in My 27 Years

As the door closes on my 27th year I thought I might share some of the things that I have learned this past year and maybe a few things I want to learn in my 28th year.

1. I'm still a work in progress
2. Once you think you have something figured out, you probably don't... whereas if you are completely confused you are probably closer to figuring something out.
3. Things seldom work out the way you think they will.
4. Life is not like an episode of Friends, Dawson's Creek or any other cheese ball show.
5. Sometimes the people that are really family to you, aren't blood related.
6. Some people are only supposed to be a part of your life for a brief moment... facebook kinda ruins that.
7. Eventually you will grow out of the awkward stage... fingers crossed ya'll
8. You should spend everyday learning... cause once you're done learning what's the point?
9. Any shitty day can be rectified with a little When Harry Met Sally
10. Does everyone judge others based on how many books they read in a year?
11. I'm not convinced that I want to have kids... like ever... I mean they are cute and fun but maybe not for me
12. I'm also not so sure about marriage...seems like after the divorce rate is as high as it, we as a society would have figured out something else.
13. Someday I hope to figure out what I want to be when I grow up
14.  Pinterest is the newest form of internet crack.. not that I could ever compare it to real crack but I'm just gonna go with this one
15. If you push yourself to the breaking point, sometimes that's where the greatness is
16. This shits harder than I thought it would be to come up with 27 things
17. I think it's important to get to know your parents, as people...it's pretty crazy what they are thinking
18. It's just as important to know where you are going as where you have been
19. I'm trying to live sans regrets, it's not like you can go back and change anything
20. The TV show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo Child makes me slightly embarrassed to be from the same country as them and waaaay better about myself
21. Birthdays are a super weird experience, like it should be this epic turning of the tides yet it very seldom is
22. It doesn't matter how old I get... there are still times that I feel like an awkward 13 year old
23. I'm convinced that Joy the Baker and I would be buds
24. Someday I'll stay put somewhere for more than a year...since I'm discovering that there is not perfect place
25. I never believed what "they" said when I was a kid, that time speeds up as you get older.... whoever "they" are were right...doh
26. I may or may not have just gotten sucked into a MTV Awkward marathon... no judgement necessary
27. I don't really have anything figured out.. but I'm faking it pretty well

28. And finally it really is just another day, another year, etc. so have a beer for me tomorrow! Cheers to 28 years! 

Hilarity

So my mom recently hands me this picture that was taken in 1992 at my Grandparents house. They had a blackboard in the basement that we all used to play with, and I occasionally would leave them notes on apparently I left this one when I was 8. Pay close attention to the final sentence. To which all I can say is at least I'm honest.

Happy Birthday Julia Child!

So apparently today would have marked Julia Child's 100th Birthday so as a way to celebrate PBS released this video in tribute to her!

Enjoy!