101 in 1001

For our 6 month anniversary, Finn and I went up to NYC and spent a wonderful day walking around the city and spending quality time together. Despite his still very broken collar bone, it was a great trip and we had lots of fun.

I originally made us a reservation at Ninja, since going there is also on my list, but I ended up changing my mind when a friend told me that it was kind of cheesy and not really worth the money. I still want to go there, but I wanted to go somewhere that would definitely be a fantastically delicious meal for our anniversary.

I’ve wanted to go to wd-50 for quite some time now, as molecular gastronomy is just endlessly interesting to me. Cooking is already all about science, so nerding it up and taking it to the next level scientifically is bound to be totally awesome.

Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures, as I didn’t feel comfortable whipping out my phone to photograph our meals like I usually do, but I assure you that it was delicious.

Wiley Dufresne was actually there, and actually cooked our meal. I know that he does this on a regular basis, but it was the first time that I had ever been to a “celebrity” chef restaurant where they were actually present. It was pretty rad.

Here’s what we ordered:

Appetizer: Shrimp cannelloni
My Entree: Wagyu skirt steak, long bean, tamarind, peanut butter ‘pasta’
Finn’s Entree: Mediterannean bass, artichokes, bamboo rice, halva, chicory
My Dessert: Cheesecake, pineapple, raisin, saffron, lime
Finn’s Dessert: Soft chocolate, peppermint ice cream, black cardamom, toffee

I typically don’t order steak out, but peanut butter “pasta” intrigued me, and I just HAD to order it. Everything was delicious and we had a fabulous anniversary dinner. :)

Day of the Tentacle has been my favorite video game since the very first time I played it. It’s a LucasArts point and click adventure game from back in the 90s, and it’s just one of the silliest, most awesome games I’ve ever played.

I’ve been wishing and hoping that they would re-vamp it and make it playable for me again, whether on the computer or on some other gaming platform, but it’s never happened.

Finally last month I told Finn that all I wanted for my birthday was to be able to play Day of the Tentacle again. I knew he’d be able to find me a way, but what I didn’t know was that I completely wasted a birthday wish. He was able to find a working version of the game in about 10 minutes, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing it together.

I somehow forgot to cross this off my list back in December when my brother came to visit me. We took the bus together after Christmas and came back to Philly. He spent the weekend with me. It was awesome!

We went to the Franklin Institute and spent the day learning about awesome science-y things. Well, I learned quite a bit, but as it turns out, he’s a smartypants who already knows EVERYTHING. Seriously, every exhibit we went to, he was able to tell me some kind of facts about it off the top of his head, without reading it off the actual exhibit.

We also went to the Bodies Exhibit which was super awesome!

I made him dinner and then I took him to Max Brenner, my favorite place on Earth, and we had dessert. We spent the rest of the night playing video games and watching Spongebob.

The next day we walked around the city and I took him to the Liberty Bell and we checked out Old City a bit. My dad was there as well.

I definitely hope he visits again soon. I miss him! :(

I love video games, but I almost NEVER beat them. I end up getting distracted by a new game or stuck on a part that I can’t beat. I don’t like to cheat and look up how to do things on the internet, so many of my games end up unbeaten.

I actually ended up beating 2 games within a week of each other!

Flower and Critter Crunch, both games from the Playstation Network, and both very awesome.

I’ve only got about 4-5 levels left to beat Super Mario Brothers Wii, as well! Yay me!

About two weeks ago, after looking through a zillion pictures of cupcakes on Tumblr, I had an uncontrollable urge to make french toast cupcakes. I looked up a recipe for the cupcakes and the frosting and headed out to the store.

These were the result. French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting and Bacon Sprinkles! Yum!

Ever since my friend Zac first told me about Crumbs a year or so ago, all I’ve wanted to do is go to Crumbs and get a cupcake. Cupcakes have always been one of my favorite things on the planet, and these cupcakes just looked absolutely glorious. I’ve been to Magnolia Bakery, and it just didn’t live up to the hype, and I was really hoping Crumbs would be better. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.

My very first Crumbs cupcake was the Peanut Butter Cup one. Chocolate and peanut butter is my favorite food combination, so it only seemed appropriate.

It was hands down the best cupcake I have ever eaten in my entire life!

I also bought a Smores one for myself, but haven’t eaten it yet. I got a Candy one for my dad (white cake, vanilla frosting, M&M’s) and a Tony Hawk one for my favorite skaterboy. (white cake, vanilla frosting, sprinkles, sugar skateboard)

Here’s a pic of the whole group:

I originally wrote something pretty lengthy and heartfelt and a bit revealing about my past, but decided against posting it. I’ve saved it elsewhere so that I have it to look back on, but for the eyes of the internetz, this is all you need to know:

I found him. He’s incredible. He’s LOLarious. He appreciates me. He just…GETS it.

<3

I’ve always loved traveling and exploring new places, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve been doing my best to travel as often as I can and discover new favorite places or new favorite things about old favorites. New York City will probably always be my #1 favorite city, there’s just so many reasons to love it, and its unlike any other place I have ever been, but I’ve been kind of worn out on NY for awhile and trying to find new places to love.

2-3 years ago I fell in love with Boston. All it took was one weekend trip there and I was absolutely hooked. It quickly became my secret haven for relaxation, thinking, writing, and self-discovery. I connected with Boston on a level I have never connected with a location before, and I have a pretty serious attachment to it. I’ve taken more than a handful of solo trips to Boston and a few trips with companions as well. I’m always itching to get back there whenever possible because I absolutely adore it.

Ever since then, I’ve been hoping that I could fall that hard for a city again and decided that I really wanted to start exploring more. I started with Philadelphia because it was close, I could get there on a bus or a train, and I had only been there as a kid and had no memories of it.

My first trip to Philly was an extremely fun one. I spent it with a group of people who were determined to show me a really good time, and that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t get to explore the city much on my own, and I saw more of the inside of bars than I did of the city itself, but I had a ridiculously fun weekend for the first time in ages and I really, really needed it.
When I left, I was unsure of how I felt about Philly and honestly felt like I didn’t really like it. I reminded myself that I didn’t get to explore as much as I had hoped, and that not every city was going to be an instant love affair like Boston, and promised myself I’d give it another chance.

A few weeks later, I was back for my second trip. 4th of July weekend was jam packed with awesome people, fun times, and lots of laughs. I saw a bit more of the city and started to really appreciate it. I knew I’d be back for more, and I was.

What follows is a story I’ve told many, many times at this point. I don’t know the exact moment that I fell in love with Philadelphia, but I spent every weekend there with the exception of two from July 4th until moving here October 23rd. There were even some random weekday trips. I was addicted. I was in love.

There’s something unique about this city. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s got this unspoken energy about it. It’s not like New York where the energy is visual, it’s much more understated than that. The people here are passionate. They want to do things. They care about things. They speak up about their opinions and they get things done. There’s a huge geek scene here. For realz. Pretty much everyone I’ve met in Philly is a programmer, designer, blogger, gamer, or nerdy in some way. Everyone here is just completely amazing.

I’m not only in love with Philly, it’s the place that I call home. <3

The Get Up Kids have been one of my favorite bands since high school, but I unfortunately never got the opportunity to see them play back at the height of their career. Seeing the Get Up Kids back during the “Something to Write Home About” era would have probably been an unforgettable experience, but seeing them at all is pretty damn fantastic.

I saw them back in 2004 or 2005 for their final tour at Webster Hall in New York. Having never seen them before, I was completely speechless at how awesome it was to see them live, and was definitely bummed that I had never seen them before and would never be able to see them again. I ended up crying at the show because seeing them perform some of my all time favorite songs and knowing that they were breaking up for what could be for good was super sad.

Ever since then, I’ve always hoped that they’d do a reunion tour, and knew that if they ever did, I’d be there. A few months ago they came through New York and tickets sold out super fast, and then re-sold for over 100 bucks a pop. While I often spend the big bucks to go to a show I truly care about, spending 100 bucks on Get Up Kids tickets seemed a little crazy. Thankfully for me, I didn’t end up dropping hundreds to see them, because they ended up adding lots more dates to the tour.

I ended up getting tickets with Katie and Dana for the November 6th show at the TLA in Philadelphia back in like August. From the moment I purchased the tickets I was excited for this show and seriously could not wait. Finally the day arrived, and it was totally fucking awesome. Katie, Dana, Ferry, Sean, and I all had a blast. Katie and I screamed the lyrics to everything at each other all night. They played pretty much every song you could possibly want to hear.

Being the big fan that I am, I have to hope that they tour again in the future, because they’re one of my favorite bands to see live, for sure.

A few years ago I made this super awesome fishbowl cake for my dad’s luau themed wedding party. It was pretty freakin awesome. Ever since then, I’ve been totally fascinated by cake art. I love watching the cake challenges on the Food Network and just browsing the internet for super awesome cakes. I have’t tried to make another awesome cake since then, but I’ve been wanting to for awhile. Now that I have my very own apartment, I figured it was a good time to start.

My boyfriend is a skateboarder and really into the skate scene here in Philly, so I figured it was only appropriate to make him a skateboard cake. He loved it and I think it came out pretty rad. I made a few mistakes and its a bit messy, but I’m just getting the hang of things and I think I’ll make even cooler cakes in the future. I wonder what’s next?