Cake Pops

Tom and I were lucky enough to get away last weekend to make an appearance at Sam's baby shower. It's getting so close to her due date!! Other than getting to catch-up with some of her and Brian's friends, I discovered what seems to be a new phenomenon in the realm of baking. Cake pops, anyone?? One of Sam's ultra-creative friends had made some of these diabolical delights for the shower and thanks to Sam's sister-in-law, Angie, I got the low-down on how to recreate them. The recipe is simple: you bake whatever type of cake you prefer (or multiple flavors if you want more variety in your batch). Once it's done baking, you crumble it up in a bowl and mix in a frosting flavor of your choice. Roll 'em into a ball, refrigerate them to harden, put a lollipop stick in an end (found at Hobby Lobby or another craft store), dip them in almond bark for the coating, roll in sprinkles, and voila! Cake pops! Okay, this actually makes it sound waaaaay easier than it turned out being for me, but I can pass along a few little lessons I learned along the way:

1) You cannot substitute regular melted chocolate for almond bark. Almond bark is "faux" chocolate, if you will. It's thinner than melted chocolate, thus easier for coating, less heavy and hardens much quicker. All important qualities in the making of cake pops. 

2) No matter how excited you are about making these cute little treats, don't jump the gun and take them out of the fridge too soon. I recommend leaving them in there overnight to play it safe. If you don't cool them for long enough, they are too soft and as you dip them, they will fall off the stick. Some recipes call for freezing them, but I also read this can dry them out too much and cause them to crack. Also, I had to leave the pan of them in the fridge as I dipped (I just took them out one at a time), because if they get a chance to thaw too much as your dipping, they will break apart from the stick.

3) Do not overdue the frosting/cake ratio. I did. I used a little over half the tub. Next time I will use less than half. My cake was already super-moist to begin with, as well. Using too much frosting causes them to be too rich in my opinion (more like cake batter rather than truffle-like) and this also exacerbates the issue of the cake falling off the lollipop stick. When I served these up at work, every time someone took a bite, the ball fell off the stick and they had to be eaten by hand. This would be fine, but defeats the purpose of the lollipop sticks that I drove all the way out to Johnson County to buy!!

I used red velvet cake with cream cheese icing on this first attempt (half with vanilla almond bark, half with chocolate almond bark).  I also picked up a styrofoam block at Hobby Lobby to put the sticks in after they were dipped. you could decorate the foam block with wrapping paper for a more professional look. The picture at the top is not of my own...but I will say that mine were just as cute as these!! I just forgot to take a picture of the ones I made before they were devoured :) Great dessert idea for any type of gathering, but just remember they take two days to make!

Nica's 320

My family went to this new restaurant in the Crossroads (about where Southwest Blvd. turns into 19th street) for my dad's birthday. It's new (actually, it used to be way out South, but jumped at the opportunity to move downtown) and is located where Shiraz used to be. It's kind of a Cajun-fusion, eclectic mix of random dishes and flavors. The menu is a little overwhelming, but basically, you choose an entree and then choose a "flavor" in which to have it prepared (i.e. sweet Thai or Caribbean). They have several build-your-own options like pizza, mac'n'cheese (you know what I ordered!!) or salad, plus some different entrees like steak or pasta. It's something I haven't yet seen at a restaurant and an interesting idea. The interior is very midtown, with its exposed brick walls and narrow corridor. It even sports a back room with an 8-foot projected TV screen. We had great service and when my dad's pizza order was miss-topped, the owner came out to apologize, buy his pizza, and send him home with a corrected one to make up for it. Oh--and they also serve breakfast. Click here for the link to their menu.

Saving Our Schools and Doing It Myself

The last weekend in July, my mom, dad, sister and I all took a family vacation to Washington, D.C. But it wasn't your normal vacation...oh no...we went for my first ever official march on Washington. The event was called the "Save Our Schools" march and was a grass-roots movement to protest the policies the current department of education are making. This was something that my sister and I felt especially strong about with our experiences in public education over the past few years. A lot of times, a person forms judgment on one political decision or another, but doesn't necessarily see the direct effects as it trickles down from the top.  For us, we have seen the devastation the standardized testing movement and No Child Left Behind has had on our schools. And apparently we were not the only ones. Thousands of teachers marched and rallied that weekend for what they believe to be best for the children they teach: keeping creativity and critical thinking in the classroom, allowing teachers to have autonomy with what and how they teach, putting resources into failing schools rather than closing them or offering vouchers, evaluating teachers by their effectiveness in the classroom not by how their students do on standardized tests...I will stop before I get ahead of myself. It was an unforgettable experience. We even had a few celebrity sightings (Jonathan Kozol...Uh-mazing...all you education people will know what I'm talkin' about!!).


Other than the march, we spent a morning at the Smithsonian and saw Oscar Wilde's play, "The Importance of Being Ernest". We also got to eat at some delicious DC restaurants (Indian and Tapas, among my favorites).

Oh yes...Matt Damon advocates for teachers. So does Jon Stewart..no surprise there :)

Among other things, I have definitely been more productive lately than I have been in the past (maybe less happy hours has something to do with that???). I have done a few DIY projects around the house and am having a blast with them!! Who knew they could be so exciting??? Seriously?? So anyways, here are my most recent projects:


Coasters: These things are so easy/cheap/amazing!!! I love them and I want to give them for every present in the near future. All they take is a ceramic tile, some scrapbook paper, felt, and some gloss finish!! Check them out:

I made a set for my mommy too :)

I also put these cute little miss-matched knobs on the dresser in our guest room...found them on sale at Anthropologie!

And finally, I ran my first 5k today!! We did Race for the Cure downtown with Tom's work, which supports breast cancer research. It was amazing weather and the view was very scenic, especially with the finished Kauffman Preforming Arts Center in the background! Gorgeous!! I ran it in 36 minutes, my new personal (and only) high.

Thousands of People!!

Kauffman Performing Arts Center