Friday, September 30, 2011

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes


In the past few months I've made these cupcakes three different times. This picture is from the middle time I made them. The first time, I forgot to buy cupcake liners so I had to just bake them in the tins sprayed with Pam for Baking. The second time, I did it intentionally because I liked the results. And the third time, which was just this past Wednesday, was because I'm trying to make it my thing.

I did some experimenting this last time and used brown sugar instead of white sugar and Nestle's cocoa instead of Hershey's. The only other change was that I greased and floured the tins because I ran out of Pam. I bought Nestle's because it was cheaper than Hershey's, but according to the nutritional information on the box Nestle's has a higher fat content. Maybe it was a combination of heavier sugar or richer cocoa but this last batch was the most delicious I've ever made. I think I'll keep the changes.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Assemble!

Here are some pictures from The Avengers movie shoot that took place on E. 9th Street in downtown Cleveland, although it was supposed to be 42nd Street in New York City. Check out the too cool for school non-actors (PAs?) hanging out on set.








They crashed a New Beetle! That broke my heart.





You can see the faux subway station sign in this one. If only the Rapid ran underground.


Friday, September 16, 2011

NYC

I spent a whirlwind day in New York City this past spring to celebrate a good friend's birthday. One of the purposes of this trip was to see the Spider-Man musical, which was still in previews at the time. The signs were everywhere!


The show was... interesting... I wouldn't call it good, in fact, it didn't really make much sense. Even the name of the show is puzzling. After seeing it, I have no idea who or what turned off the dark. Someone must have turned on a light at some point, but it wasn't the one over my head. There were some very cool things in it: the webspinner girls at the beginning, the comic book set pieces, the villains' costumes and the performance of the Green Goblin were pretty spectacular. And I would recommend seeing it for the amazing wire work, especially the fight scenes between Spidey and the Green Goblin. But if you want to be entertained with a coherent storyline or memorable songs, then you should see something else.



We visited the Apple Store.



Saw the fun subway signs and weird buildings.



H & H Bagels was pretty awesome, if no frills. They had fresh bagels, cream cheese and some drinks, but they had no coffee and were not located anywhere near a coffee shop. Sadly, H & H has since closed for business.

We went to the Jekyll and Hyde Club for lunch, which had talking inanimate objects and decent food.

I liked the way these two businesses were side by side. I wish we had time to have some noodles while there. Of course, we hit a Starbucks.
Two of my favorite things. A food truck and a duane reade.

This sign contains so much delicious food! Biscotti! Cupcakes! Soup! Risotto! and Oatmeal! I don't know why we didn't stop there!



This was a great sign that we came across on the day of the supposed Rapture.
Goodbye New York! Hope to see you soon!