Inaugural Weekend is Here - Instagram Version

Four years ago Tom and I flew down here to see Obama be sworn into his first term. It's nice and exciting to be living in the city as this weekend arrives again. We spent the entire day seeing the sites with Tom's family, starting off at the Holocaust Museum and ending our city visit with a cupcake and a stroll by the White House.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky! It made it so easy to be outside the whole time. Now if only it would be this warm on Monday....

Our journey took us by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was very appropriate to be there this weekend. 

Thanks to Instagram I was able to have a little fun as I captured the sites of the day!

We tried yet another cupcake bakery this afternoon - Red Velvet. I always try a bakery's birthday cake cupcake to compare it to my little cupcake's version in Vermont, and have yet to find one that beats my little cupcake. I was surprised to bite into this one today and taste almond extract. Say what?! I was not at all expecting to taste that! 

Needless to say, my little cupcake has Red Velvet beat! 

After taking and teaching Earth Science, I can't help but take notice whenever the moon is out. It was up in the sky the whole day, but was especially prominent while we were munching on our cupcakes. 

A friend joined us for the cupcake portion of our tour. She experienced a protest near the White House with us, and dinned with us for dinner and a post-dinner fro-yo treat. After this full day, we are pooped! It's early to bed in order to get ready for tomorrow's adventures, including a reception in the evening. We're still not cool enough to be invited to a ball, but maybe some day ;)

Baking this Holiday Season

I love the idea of holiday baking. There are TONS of recipes out there that I want to try. However, each year I go back to the same recipes.

I must be forming my own traditions: fudge, peppermint cupcakes, and cookies.

This year there were no cookies. But there was plenty of fudge and cupcakes. Fudge for work, fudge for Tom to take into work, fudge for family and friends, and of course, fudge for a holiday party that consisted of a dessert-making contest. Cupcakes were for birthdays, baby showers, and that same holiday dessert party!

With all of that baking comes much taste testing. So I got plenty of chocolate deliciousness this season.

And with teaching comes along more sweets - like the caramel cupcake from Georgetown Cupcakes that I got on our last day before vacation.

I totally understand why people go on diets for New Years. I won't go on a diet, but by the time NYE comes around I am ready to take a step back from the sweets for a while!

Walking Long Distances is Always Better with Cupcakes

When we moved to DC I worried that I would miss out on the local produce that is so abundant in Vermont, and that there would be no farmer's markets in the area. Geesh, what a dorkus I was. My worry was put to rest during our first weekend in the city, when we ran by a great market in Dupont Circle. It wasn't until yesterday that Tom and I finally had a chance to check it out. 

The day greeted us with cooler temperatures, blue skies, and plenty of places along the way to stop and eat our goodies. One woman remarked that it felt like September. It was a perfect day.

Free samples of peaches, nectarines, watermelon, and cantaloupe were served at every stall, and some vendors even welcomed customers to taste the berries before purchasing. We fell in love with the peaches and snagged a few at one stand, then purchased a box of organic raspberries at another. Farm-fresh fruit is so much more flavorful than supermarket fruit, and I love being able to see the farmers (or at least their staff) that I am supporting. 

Tomatoes are definitely in season and there were a wide variety of tomatoes found at each stall. We decided not to buy any since we're leaving for VT this week. It would be a shame to have veggies go bad while we're gone. 

Tom lucked out. He's been without Rosie's Beef Jerky for a few weeks and found this Buffalo Jerky to hold him over until we can get back to Vermont to replenish his stock. 

We stopped by the fountain to enjoy the jerky and peaches, and to soak up the sun. 

We also stopped at Hello Cupcake's Dupont Circle location for an afternoon pick-me-up. I mean, if Tom can get beef jerky, then I certainly need a cupcake. It took me a while to decide between the strawberry lemonade cake and a more traditional, vanilla cake and chocolate frosting. Ultimately I went with the classic. I'm trying to find one that is just as good as the my little cupcake version, and after this one, I am still looking.

We stopped at a mini-park on our walk back home to enjoy the cupcakes. Note: If you want to make sure that I have fun and am in a good mood on a 1.7 mile walk, then be sure to give me a cupcake half way through. They were a little melted by this point, but were still just as effective!

 The frosting tasted great, but the cake was lacking some flavor. It was a nice, fluffy cake, but it did not taste like vanilla. Yikes! I'm starting to sound like a cupcake snob. Anyway, I enjoyed the cupcake, but have had more delicious ones. Will I go back? Yes! I need to try the strawberry lemonade.

 

Tom opted for the Root Beer Float cupcake. At first it tasted like a gingerbread cupcake. It wasn't until I was done eating it that I could really taste the root beer. It's funny how he always goes for unique flavors and I tend to hit somewhat boring chocolate and vanilla combos. 

That evening we enjoyed some of our farmer's market finds with our dinner. Tom found two great recipes on tastespotting.com and was the chef of the evening. He made really delicious corn on the cob, green beans with walnuts and balsamic, and honey-dijon glazed chicken. We'll definitely be using those recipes again in the future! 

Hope you all have a Happy Monday!

Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream

I had corn beef and cabbage on Saturday for the first time ever. Ever! It was quite enjoyable, and so far has been the only way I'll eat cabbage.

Tom and I were at our friends' house on Saint Patty's day for some March Madness and to celebrate the holiday of course! With our insanely warm weather (we may break into the 80s today?!) it felt like we should have been celebrating Memorial Day instead.

I'm sure you're going to fall out of your seat with shock when I tell you that we brought the dessert! Who would have thunk!

Since it was a holiday, our dessert needed to be something special. It needed to have some green. It also needed to have some beer. Irish beer. And Irish cream.

And that's when the chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's Buttercream was born! I followed the recipe on Brown Eyed Baker, omitting the ganache portion of the cupcake.

These cupcakes were awesome. Like, really super delicious, and very rich. They will most certainly be reappearing at future St Patty's day celebrations!

Champagne Cupcakes

Happy New Year everyone! Tom and I went up to Winooski last night to welcome the new year with good friends of ours. It was a fun time and we even got to see a few old faces from high school and college.

We couldn't go to the party empty handed and I knew exactly what I wanted to bring: champagne cupcakes!

A year ago I discovered champagne cupcakes on some blog (I don't even remember which one at this point) and have waited patiently for the appropriate time to make them myself. I mean, you really need something to celebrate with these bite fulls of deliciousness. Actually, I just forgot to get a bottle of champagne every time I went out and that's definitely a key ingredient.

Since I couldn't remembered what blog I found the recipe on, guess where I headed? Pinterest.com (I need to get paid for the advertising I'm doing for them). I found a recipe from Culinary Serendipity and only made two modifications: I added 4 cups of sugar in the butter cream and 5 tablespoons of champagne instead of the 3. The frosting was too think with only 3 tablespoons of champagne and would have made piping difficult. Fortunately, I can't imagine anyone complaining about having more alcohol in the frosting. 

The verdict? They were a major hit! It was so hard to keep myself away from them before the party, and even harder to stay away this morning. Does anyone else eat dessert after breakfast? Oh dear, I do have a sugar addiction... The cake was drier than I'd like, but I think it actually worked with the amount of frosting that was on each cake.

I got this fabulous new apron from my college roomies, Meghan and Courtnay. I absolutely love it. And them!

Sweet Surprise

I got home from school today and found an awesome surprise waiting for me. No, it wasn't the Praxis study book in the Amazon box. It was what was inside the bag.

Talk about cupcake deliciousness! Tom was in Fairfax this morning and stopped at Eastman's Bakery after hearing about this bakery a few nights ago. He brought home a Cookies n' Cream cupcake that included a chocolate center, crushed Oreo buttercream and topped with an Oreo. Yum!

I tried really hard to wait until Tom got home so we could share the cupcake, but I only lasted a half hour! I am SO weak when it comes to chocolate.

You will be happy to hear that I managed to only eat half of it. And I will force myself to stay away from the remaining half so he can have it when he comes home from work. But he better hurry.....

Chocolate Candy Cane Cupcakes

Today's the last day of classes for the semester. Instead of being a good student and making progress on my final projects last night I procrastinated and made Chocolate Candy Cane cupcakes to share with my class.

Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting, sprinkled with crushed candy cane 

I also used up some of the salted caramel from the salted caramel brownie recipe to make salted caramel cupcakes. I feel bad for the people presenting lessons this afternoon. We are all going to be on quite the sugar high.

my little cupcake Grand Opening!

My new favorite place in Vermont is the my little cupcake shop in Burlington. This is the second shop that owners Michelle and Stephanie have opened (the first being in Essex) and yesterday was the grand opening!

You bet I was there bright and early. I had been looking forward to this day for months. It was beautiful inside. If you're in the Burlington area you have got to check it out. Not only do they have 12 flavors of their mini cupcakes, but they have regular-sized cupcakes for sale as well!

Tom and I were both excited to see our favorite flavors. His is dirt (chocolate cupcake, chocolate frosting, with Oreo crumbs and a gummy worm) and mine is birthday cake (vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles).

These little minis were chocolate cupcakes with a cookie dough surprise inside, topped with vanilla frosting and a mini chocolate chip cookie on top. They may have made it into my top 3 favorite flavors.

We loved the atmosphere inside. There were Halloween decorations around the cupcake cases and even REAL tulips! The wood floors, exposed brick, and beautiful ceiling only add to its character. And the pink chairs add a touch of playfulness that's expected in a cupcake shop. 

A toast to my little cupcake's grand opening!

Summer Memories

Fall is most certainly here. The trees are turning colors and it's a cool 55 degrees this morning. Tom and I are running in the Leaf Peeper's half marathon tomorrow, another sure sign of fall. I love this race because it's an out and back, and also because there's Ben & Jerry's waiting for me at the finish line!

So now that the season has changed I wanted to leave you with a few photos of my summer that didn't make it onto the blog.

Running, Running, Running! We held our 9th Annual Milton Freedom 5k in June

I got to shake Michelle Obama's hand!

There was plenty of wedding cake baking. One cake took almost 13 lbs of butter, 36 eggs, and 14lbs of confectioner's sugar!

Whoopie Pies!

Beautiful flowers everywhere we went

My first day of school - one of three 1st days.

Tomatoes from Dad's garden

Hurricane Irene paid a visit to Vermont. Fortunately, Montpelier did not receive a lot of damage. 

Beautiful September drives through VT - Pre-foliage season

Cupcakes galore to celebrate birthdays!

And now I'll leave you with some photos of my favorite little creature, Wilson! This summer was big for him! Not only did he learn how to fetch tissues, but he learned how to take the entire box's worth out of the box and spread them across our bed, across the floor, and even into the kitchen and bathroom. He also learned how to sit and give high fives. I'm thinking we may need to schedule him for a TV appearance soon!

Next week we have a visitor from Washington DC. I expect to be posting many photos as we play Tourist and explore Vermont.