2011 Fall Television Schedule

I waited a bit to write this post since shows are still premiering. Of course, shows have already been cancelled too. Anyway, here's what I'm watching this fall.

Plan your own lineup here.

Monday
8:00 PM
TiVo: How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
Live/Online/On-Demand: Adventure Time (Cartoon)

8:30 PM
TiVo: 2 Broke Girls (CBS)

9:30 PM
TiVo: Mike & Molly (CBS)

10:00 PM
TiVo: Hawaii Five-O (CBS)

Tuesday
9:00 PM
TiVo: Ringer (CW)
Live/Online/On-Demand: New Girl (FOX)

10:00 PM
TiVo: Chopped (Food)
Live/Online/On-Demand: Covert Affairs (USA)

Wednesday
9:00 PM
TiVo: Modern Family (ABC)
Live/Online/On-Demand: Man v. Food Nation (Travel)

9:30 PM
TiVo: I Hate My Teenage Daughter (FOX)

10:00 PM
TiVo: Psych (USA)
Live/Online/On-Demand: South Park (Comedy)
Live/Online/On-Demand: Top Chef: Just Desserts (Bravo)

Thursday
8:00 PM
TiVo: Community (NBC)

9:00 PM
TiVo: Person of Interest (CBS)
Live/Online/On-Demand: The Office (NBC)
Live/Online/On-Demand: Bones (FOX)

10:00 PM
TiVo: Burn Notice (USA)

Friday
6:30 PM
TiVo: Young Justice (Cartoon)

7:00 PM
TiVo: Batman: The Brave and The Bold (Cartoon)

8:00 PM
TiVo: Chuck (NBC)

9:00 PM
TiVo: Grimm (NBC)

10:00 PM
TiVo: Blue Bloods (CBS)
Live/Online/On-Demand: The Soup (E!)

Saturday
Nothing?

Sunday
8:00 PM
TiVo: Once Upon A Time (ABC)

9:00 PM
TiVo: Masterpiece Contemporary or Masterpiece Mystery! (PBS)
Live/Online/On-Demand: The Next Iron Chef (Food)

10:00 PM
Live/Online/On-Demand: Iron Chef America (Food)

CBS is definitely the winner. When did their shows get good?

I'll be adding 30 Rock, Cougar Town and maybe some more shows when they premiere (mid-season?).

Batman Cake

This was my littlest nephew's 3rd birthday cake, which was for his Batman-themed party. He dressed as Batman, his brother as Nightwing, and the rest of us as various villains from Batman's rogues gallery. My sister handled the decorating duties. The symbol was made by adding yellow frosting to the chocolate-frosted cake. The cake underneath is Special Birthday Cake, and the chocolate frosting is Mrs. Millman's. The yellow frosting is a simple buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, milk).

Co-dessert bat-shaped cookies. This picture looked better upside-down so that's how I'm posting it.

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes with Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting

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.

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.

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!

Eighties Mania!

Back in April, I won tickets to the Eclipse tour, which is a concert headlined by Journey. The other two bands are Night Ranger and Foreigner. It was my ultimate I-wouldn't-buy-these-tickets-but-would-go-if-they-were-free concert. Here's the official trailer for the tour!





The show was actually great! My concertmate and I knew we would be running late , but we saw most of it. I was mainly interested in seeing Journey anyway, and we caught their whole set. They played some songs from their new (who knew?) album, called "Eclipse" and all the songs I wanted to hear except "Who's Crying Now?" Their lead singer, Arnel Pineda, has a voice that deserves to fill an amphitheater or arena. He sounds a lot like Steve Perry, but he managed to make the songs his own. And you could tell he was having the time of his life! If you don't know his story watch the video from CBS Sunday Morning. It's a little corny, but sweet.

Almond Poppyseed Cookies

I made these cookies after I got an impromptu invitation for dinner at my friends' house. I looked around my pantry, flipped through some cookbooks and found inspiration. I ran to the store for almonds, but had the rest of the ingredients on hand. I had bought poppy seeds at World Market (a great source for spices and such) a few weeks before but did not have a purpose for them.

The recipe came from a KitchenAid cookbook, and I can't find a link to it online. It seems very similar to this one. They were a soft and slightly puffy cookie with a nice light crunchy exterior. They were similar in taste to an almond poppy seed muffin but with a cookie texture.