Mike Birbiglia

On a whim and a tweet I purchased a ticket to see Mike Birbiglia perform his one man show My Girlfriend's Boyfriend at the Gonda Theatre in Georgetown. It was my first time to the Georgetown campus. Luckily there was a bus to take me straight there. If you have a chance to see a show at the Gonda Theatre, you should definitely go. Its a small theater with not a bad seat in the place.

the gonda

the stage

The show is Mike retelling stories about the relationships of his life. He weaves them all together in a gripping and hilarious way. I'd heard a few of the stories from This American Life, but seeing them told live added more life to them. And even though I kind of knew the ending, through his stories I convinced myself I didn't.

He's doing a few limited shows before filming the show, so if you have a chance I definitely recommend checking it out.

Sandy

So most of you know by now that Sandy didn't do too much to DC. The strong winds didn't damage the trees or power lines much due to a huge Derecho storm that hit this summer. Most of the weak trees fell and the power companies upgraded some of the grids. My thoughts are with NYC & NJ this week as they suffered much worse.

The storm did give me a very welcome two days off of work after a long weekend trip. I was also lucky that I had a friend in town staying at the hotel across the street from my apartment. She came over for some squash soup (this time I added triple the veggies and it was perfect thickness!) that I had cooked up Monday and we watched Sex in the City while the wind howled.

The wind started sounding a little fierce so she decided to head back to the hotel. I walked her down the lobby where we were stopped by the doorman. He was locking down the building at 11 pm and was asking if we would be back by then. I wasn't leaving and his stories of 80 mph winds picking us up almost kept Liz from leaving. She braved the wind and made it back across the street safely.

Some of my Missouri friends had asked me to live tweet the storm and since I was short on content I tweeted the lockdown situation... a minute later I noticed the tweet was favorited by a Washington Post writer... a little more investigation and I found that they had reposted my tweet on their live feed. I'm famous!

Chocolate and Kale match made in cupcake heaven

At some point on Wednesday while reviewing the weekend happenings in DC, I came across the DC State Fair. If you've been around this blog for more than a day, you know that I love fairs and I love competitions. Well after a little more reading it was clear that this fair wasn't the traditional "state fair", but a way to celebrate DC gardeners, cooks, bakers, photographers, and artists in a state fair way. And by celebrate... they meant compete. Sadly since I came across this group so late, most of the competition's deadlines had passed. If I wanted to compete I had to either make a bike accessory or cupcake.

With the short time frame, I settled on cupcake. Upon reading the details I discovered along with overall prizes for first, second, and third, there were two category prizes. One for most creative cupcake and the other for best vegetable cupcake. I'm not the baking sister in my family so I decided to hedge my bets and go for the veggie gold.

After sending 100  a few texts to my sister and analyzed the cupcake world with one of my coworkers, I decided I would make chocolate-kale cupcakes. 

For a brief second I contemplated fondant, but after reading a recipe online I realized I wasn't ready to buy a candy thermometer. My second idea was a chocolate decoration. At first I thought, a chocolate White House! hahahhahahhahaa yeah, that didn't work out the bets. My second idea, the DC flag, though was golden  chocolate.

can you at least tell which ones I attempted the White House on?

I melted two baking chocolate squares and used a zip lock bag with a corner cut out to pipe my designs on waxed paper. I popped them in the freezer, but later realized that was a bad idea. Simply let them sit out and harden.

I'd never made a chocolate-kale cupcake, I'm not sure if I have ever made cupcakes from scratch before,  but I was up for the challenge. I consulted many websites, mainly the following:

Double Chocolate Kale Muffins

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

ChoKalet Cake

And then got to work.

First I prepped the kale. I went a little crazy at Safeway and bought a two pound bag of kale. Luckily I didn't go crazy while kale prepping and I only measured out two heaping cups of raw kale. First important step- remove all big stems and spines. Then I steamed/boiled the kale (bring 1 inch of water to boil, insert kale, cover, wait like two minutes), drained off excess water, cooled a bit, combined with a tablespoon of milk, and pulverized it in my mini food processor.

bright green goodness

Then I watched some TV and like any competitive baker I waited till the grocery stores closed before checking to see if I had all the necessary ingredients. The night before I purchased the more exotic ingredients, but hadn't checked to see if I had any sugar. I only had a half cup of sugar on hand, so I added a trip to the supermarket to my morning baking activities and went to bed.

Cupcakes had to be delivered between 11:30 and 12:30 for judging, so I set to work at 8:30am.

Mixing went well and baking was smooth.

cooling down

While the cupcakes were cooling I started mixing up cream cheese/buttercream icing. I made a bit of a mess.

big mess

I used the zip lock baggy method once again, but this time with a bigger hole cut out of the corner. I only had snack sized bags, which at first I thought were too small, but they worked well because my hands are a bit small.

pipping icing on

I picked the best six and started to add the decorations, only they seemed to melt when I took them out of the freezer... I reevaluated and all though they got soft, they kept their shape so I decided to put them on three of my cakes and see how they looked upon arrival.

packed for travel

Then I did something I never do before 2 am, I took a cab. It was worth it as my cupcakes arrived unscathed.

row after row of cupcakes

a judge with his helpers

While the judging was taking place I walked around the fair a bit and around the larger Barrack's Row festival. I also watched the honey judging, which was quite intense. There were at least twenty entries and the three judges were quite thorough, checking taste, clarity, and even moisture content.

After an hour I was running short on time (I had a football game at 2pm) so I went back over to the judging table. They were eating my cupcake! One girl took a bite and did this lovely positive head nod. Then I heard her tell a fellow judge that mine deserved a five because it had kale in it (in a good way!). I couldn't leave early now! So I went to change into my athletic gear in a nearby bar's restroom. When I got back they had lined up the top six cupcakes for the final judging by the "celebrity" judges. Well mine wasn't in the top six, but I was gunning for a different prize. A few agonizing minutes later they announced that...

I won! Best Vegetable Cupcake!

I received a blue ribbon and a $50 gift certificate to Whole Foods. And my photo with the Whole Foods guy.

Because of the delay I snuck back in the crowd and literally had to run. I ran a mile and a quarter to my football game and arrived just in time.

my winnings, my new t-shirt, and one of my cupcakes

Recipes

I have issues with following recipes, I don't buy enough powdered sugar, I substitute vegetable oil, I forget the salt, and I roll with it. So with that in mind I decided to share the recipe I actually made and not the one that might be most ideal (because that one didn't win!).

DC Chocolate Kale Cupcake

Ingredients-

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup Hershey's Special DARK Cocoa

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup OlivExtra Canola/Olive Oil blend

1/4 cup kale steamed and processed into very small pieces (I used 2 cups raw kale)

1 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and fill cupcake pan with paper liners.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and kale; beat on medium speed of electric mixer for two minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin, at this point I thought I ruined everything, but don't worry). Pour batter into prepared pan. Fill cups 3/4 full.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Cream cheese buttercream icing*

1 8oz. package of cream cheese at room temperature

3 sticks of butter at room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3 cups powdered sugar (the recipe I was following called for 6 cups, I only bought one bag of powdered sugar, 3 worked fine, but 6 would of created a stiffer icing and no I didn't think to halve the recipe until my mom suggested it late that afternoon)

2 T vanilla extract (recipe called for 2 teaspoons, I misread, but was happy with the result)

1. Beat cream cheese till creamy

2. Add butter, beat till incorporated

3. Add brown sugar and beat till fluffy

4. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, till mixed

5. Add Vanilla till combined

*I don't remember where I pulled this recipe from, but since I basically butchered it, I don't feel too bad sharing.

President's club

My former employer loves alumni (or maybe they just like drumming up new work and boomerang employees) and this week I finally got to reap the rewards at my first event. I work with several other alumni and when we received the email about the event at National's Park we all thought we would be watching baseball. About two weeks ago I noticed that they wouldn't be in town... interesting... then they sent out additional emails clarifying that there would not be a game, but we would get to see the dugouts! and the batting cages!

The stadium was empty other than our group in the President's Club. The President's Club is the place all the rich people hang out who buy those seats right behind home plate.

"May the sun never set on American baseball" -President Harry S. Truman

baller

dugout

view from the dugout

After a delicious pulled pork topped mini hotdog, a mini hamburger, a regular sized taco, and some gross cold noodles, it was time to hit the cages. It was my first time having some one pitch to me in a batting cage. It was also my first time batting in a pencil skirt. Luckily I was wearing my commuting Sperry's and I didn't have to attempt batting in heels.  

first time with a wood bat too

ready for the big leagues

the widest stance I could manage

I'm expecting a call from the scouts any minute now...

TAG

My blogger friend over at OMG I'm Back In DC tagged me in the following challenge, so here you go!

Here are the rules: You give five random facts about yourself. You answer the questions provided to you. 

Five random facts-

1. I don't mind running on the treadmill, I like the temperature control and the convenience of it being right downstairs and the fact that in the gym no one comments on my backside like they do when I run around outside.
2. Recently I discovered that Jillian Michaels has free podcasts on iTunes and have listened to oh about 30 episodes in one week. (Check it out!)
3. I have a hard time not accepting free things, but I am getting better!
4. I have a pencil collection, it started when I was a child on family vacations and all my parents would ever buy me from the gift shops were pencils.
5. I have a mild crush on Matt Lauer (I don't think an explanation is needed here)

Questions from Leanna:

1. What's your favorite guilty pleasure book? I guess the Emily Giffin books Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Love the one your with, and Baby Proof.

2. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Homemade vanilla

3. What are you looking forward to most in 2012? I'm not sure, one thing that just popped in my head is the summer Olympics. I'm a sucker for the Olympics and especially the summer games. As a child I put my swimsuit on to watch the swimming events.

4. If you were going to plan your perfect weekend, what would you do? The perfect weekend would include sleeping in, touch football, cooking, exploring a new area, hanging out with friends, CBS Sunday Morning, and reading and maybe some shopping.

5. What's your favorite cocktail? I like a simple vodka tonic or rum and coke

6. If you could visit one city in the world, which would you choose? Currently I'm focused on Amsterdam and Madrid.

7. If you could only wear dresses or pants for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Dresses 100% Monday through Friday I pretty much live in dresses. However I like to workout and sleep in pants....

8. Do you like to plan your week out in advance or fill it with spontaneous events? I'm a mix, I plan a few things, but mostly fill it in with spontaneous events.

9. How do you like your coffee? With skim milk. I weaned myself off sugar last year when I (mostly) gave up soda.

10. What's the best practical joke you've played on someone? I'm not very good a practical jokes, but a few years ago one of my coworkers was heading to Europe for work and he had never been out of the US. He was going to Germany (where I have been several times) so I told him that in Germany you stand up when you sneeze. Thinking this was ridiculous and that he would never believe me, but he did. We let the joke continue for a few days, but we did tell him the truth before he left.

11. What's the biggest challenge you want to overcome in 2012? Making DC feel like home. Even though I moved here knowing some people, it still takes time to figure out where I my hangouts will be and how to make DC mine.

Who wore it better?

Who wore it better? Post #1 was a huge success and friend of the blog (ok sister of the blog) sent me the following text yesterday:

"I saw this in mom's real simple magazine." With a picture of this lady from the July 2011 Issue of Real Simple magazine -

She remembered seeing me wear the $18 H&M dress to our fabulous brunch - 

So who wore it best?

Who wore it better?

I bought a fun summer dress to wear while in Texas... soon after I saw the same dress all over the place.  This never happens to me, well I sometimes see my fashion choices on coworkers, but never on famous people.  Let's also note that I bought this dress on sale.  So who wore it best?

If you've seen the previews for Zooey Deschanel's new show then you've seen her in this dress.

 I came across Taylor Swift wearing this dress in my July Glamour magazine.

Unfortunately this is the only picture I could find of me wearing the dress, after a long, hot, fun night.

MARTHA

A few weeks ago on a last minute impulse I went to the taping of the Martha Show. The weather had been terrible and the morning was calling for sleet and ice, so people from out of town were canceling and they had some last minute openings. I pretty much risked my life to get there. The ice came and even though there was a lot of ice slush a few of the sidewalks were pure ice.

I arrived right on time, but still had to wait outside for awhile. Once inside I was checked in, went through a metal detector, and then to the coat check. I also checked my snow boots (as one security guard said on the way out, I had my snow boots and my show boots). Then came the signing of release forms and a free bottle of water!

Then the audience wrangler came in. He was some comedian... He gave us an overview of the show and taught us some hand cues. Basically when to clap, when to ohhhh, and when to awwww.

in the holding room

Our tickets when we came in had different markings on them. Mine had a pink stripe... which does not mean I get to sit on the floor level, but I got a pretty decent seat a few rows up.

Seating the audience

The show had a nice segment on how to care for your houseplants and what plants are best for the indoors. The curator for the Brooklyn botanical garden joined Martha for the segment.

Garden area of set

Martha did a craft creating paper roses. They were cute in a bunch in a vase (see below), but seemed like a lot of work. It was interesting to see all the show's staff setting everything up and rearranging things on the go.

Craft area decked out for Valentines day

Martha had Shea Gallante making broccoli rabe pesto and lobster mushroom ragu... they didn't share any of it with the audience.

The kitchen

After the show Martha did several promotional shoots and signed a few things for "special guests"

Then Martha took some questions from the crowd. I'm never good with coming up with questions on the spot, so I didn't ask any. Most of the questions were regarding what she likes to do in her spare time and how she manages her busy schedule. The girl to her right was an intern from Baylor.

It was a fun time and there were no show giveaways, but they cleaned out their old giveaway closet to give all of us something "for coming out in the icy weather" I ended up with a whirly popper, a stove top popcorn popper. I haven't tried it out yet and have no where to store it.

The show aired that day, but if you want to see it the segments can be find on Martha's website I can be found in the Heart health types section at 4:46.

Food Wars

My friends and I weren't the only ones in Kennebunkport for the weekend. Also in town was the Travel Channel's Food Wars hosted by Camille Ford. The were in town to settle the lobster roll war between the clam shack and Allison's restaurant. We had seen some filming around town on Saturday, but hit the jackpot on Sunday when we were heading to the pier behind the Nonantum Resort. There was Camille filming the opening segment by a lobster boat. We went on with our sail trip, but when we got back they were handing out samples and coming to the conclusion of the show. We got to sample Allison's but had to leave before the decision was made.

Chowing down on a lobster roll

The set and all the fans

Sex and the City 2 midnight show

Wednesday night I headed to the Chelsea Cinemas for the 12:01 am showing of Sex and the City 2. One of my friends had the hook up to know that there was a "pop bag" event at this cinema. When we entered the theater we were handed a "boarding pass" for our theater (there were four different showings of the movie). We got "Carrie" passes and then headed to the party. Different companies had booths set up around the room handing out free samples and signing people up for give aways. A bar serving wine was also set up in the area. Working our way around the room we got press on nails from Dashing Diva, Metromint water (thumbs down), Bass shoe's coupon (I didn't win the shoes), Cupcakes from Cupcake Stop, Popchips, and won some finger nail polish from the pop bag trivia table with help from my friend. (Who did Carrie call the idiot stick figure without a soul?) The event was hosted by Hedda Lettuce (seen below) who was working the room with a crew of cameras, had a best shoes contest on stage, and introduced the movie. As we entered the movie we were handed our goody bags.

The movie itself was a bit excessive, but enjoyable. I wouldn't recommend the movie to anyone who didn't watch the show, but if you did I think you will enjoy the movie.

MC Hedda Lettuce on stage

The SATC girls with some sparkle

All my goodies...

Happy Birthday ME

Birthday weekend included

1. A bar with a bull

2. Cupcakes galore (this one from my ole roommate Katie)

3. And plenty of pretty packages (these were so cute I had to photograph, thanks Kristen!)

1+2+3+ Fancy Mexican food + Martha's Bakery + football win vs OK + time with friends= A fabulous birthday!

Thanks everyone!

Livin' on a prayer

While at a training in Orlando they took us to Universal Studios "City Walk" we had a few locations for our exclusive use, but I was drawn to the live band karaoke bar. After only a few songs I knew I had to get on that stage. It didn't take too long to convince my friend Lauren to join me. There were fewer songs to choose from than the traditional karaoke, but it was still a hard decision-- we decided on Livin' on a Prayer.

Let me tell you... I loved the stage. I am now looking for rock star openings.

The band consisted of a keyboard, drums, two guys on guitar, two back up lady singers and a back up guy singer. There were lights... and cameras... and big screens... and screaming fans... (well maybe they were just singing along)

Good Morning America

My aunt Betty was in town visiting so we decided it was high time I made it on Good Morning America. We had passed by the studio earlier in the weekend and noticed that no reservations were needed this month, but that we had to be in line at 6:45 am. We got there right on time and were let in around 7am. From that point on it was a lot of standing and waiting. Right before 8 am they had us go outside for the outside segment. Betty and I were slow pokes and were in the very back. But aha there was a fence, with Betty's encouragement I climbed on top. With my added height I got my 20 seconds of air time. They then shuffled us back inside and I texted my family in the central time zone to catch me at 8. Scott Wolf made a surprise appearance talking about his new show. Emeril was cooking something, but he wasn't too friendly to the crowd. After the segment Robin kept eating forever. Sam stayed around for pictures and the rest went back up stairs. We were all sad when they announced that they would close the show upstairs, but then they announced that some of them would come back down for pictures! Horrah!

Betty and I pose with the Giants.

Chilling with the rich and famous

Wednesday night after eating at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park with Carrie we headed up third avenue to find this hardware store the creepy guy at Home Depot advised Carrie to check out. The hardware store didn't have what she was looking for, but we had passed the "Rodeo Bar" on the way and decided to check it out. We got a spot at the bar and just chilled. The decor was country but the juke box and the crowd didn't exactly have the same feel (we were after all still in NYC). I had my back to the door and telling a story when Carrie interrupts me with "that's Keanu Reeves"..... noooooo way!!!!! It was. He apparently knew the people in the band that was playing that night and sat in the opposite room right in front of us. Soon the bar was buzzing with excitement that Keanu was there. I timed a bathroom visit so I got to walk right by him. I timed wrong and didn't catch him in the stairwell, but oh well! I can confirm he is a smoker, he likes ribs, and he plays drums with his silverware. The band however was really weird- rockabilly. My proof of the evening, however blurry, grainy, and distant, is below... I did have to remain cool and discreet ; )

On Thursday I strolled down 5th avenue after work. After a little shopping I continued on towards home only to find the Giants Football team going into Tiffany's to receive their Super Bowl rings. Below is further evidence that I shouldn't quit my job and join the paparazzi. What can I say those football players are quick!

Today while getting ready for work I heard the folks on Good Morning America telling me that Usher was going to be performing in Bryant Park. I altered my morning commute a tad bit to walk by the park and stop and enjoy some of Usher's amazing moves. Usher is the man in white with his arms raised.

Also while walking to work this morning I had to rush across first avenue as the sirens sounding of approaching fire trucks and police cars... I didn't think much of it, because honestly there are always sirens going off, but when I got to work I saw the news alert that another crane had collapsed. This crane is much closer to my apartment. I could see the cranes picking up the damage from 79th street and first tonight as I walked home. One crane= fluke, two cranes=starting to worry, but they are hard to avoid.