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Who Is Martin?
This weekend we put on our party shoes.
There was a birthday party for four … Heather (6/24), Mark (7/7), Nadine (8/11), and Billy (8/19). There were two cakes for these four people.
There was fun.
And smiles.
And those two cakes were delicious.
But … who is Martin?
I think it went something like this…
Mom: “Can you write ‘Happy Birthday Heather?” Oh and add Mark in.”
Cake Guy: “Martin. Okay, I’ll write it in blue.”
Very common occurrences for our family parties.
Moving On Up
Mark and I are slowly moving from here…
to here…
Yes, we’re moving from the 2nd floor of our house to the 3rd floor. Seems like an easy move, right? Well not so much. Because we don’t need to pack things into a car, it’s sort of been a moving free for all. And because our current apartment has 2 bedrooms, a living room, a dining room and multiple large storage areas and our new apartment, well … does not, we have a lot of weeding through of our belongings to do! But we will be saving oodles of money on rent, so it’s worth it.
Luckily I have a cooking project to keep me sane.
My Spiced Pear Butter is currently thickening. I will be patient. I will be patient. I will be …
Chocolates from Gail Ambrosius
Would you judge me if I told you that after that amazing meal at Wine in the City on Friday I still dug into my goodie bag and partook in some Gail Ambrosius chocolates?
By the time we (Mark + two friends) got back home the whole box was gone.
Salted Caramel straight from the heavens.
We All Scream for Ice Cream!
Sometimes a little vacation from the internet is necessary, right?
I had a lovely long weekend. There was delicious food, a beautiful wedding, relaxation and job hunting. I wasn’t inspired to take any pictures until …
The first time I had Cookie Dough Ice Cream was at Friendly’s after the 7th grade Father – Daughter Dance. I remember seeing it on the menu and ordering it for my Cone Head Sundae. It was love at first taste, and I’ve been removing cookie dough from ice cream containers ever since. But … I always thought it could be improved by the addition of chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla.
Years later I found Half Baked. It is perfect. Vanilla ice cream + giant cookie dough nugget combined with chocolate ice cream + brownie pieces. Ben & Jerry’s makes the best ice cream and frozen yogurt! Oh delicious summer!
What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
I can’t pick one. Don’t make me!
Cherrific Care Package from Michigan
Well I must say I love the Baby Sitter’s Club support. Although, Mark was a little sad that the BSC comments outnumbered the comments on his tapas. I always loved Mary Anne. I was really shy when I was young, so I identified with her and I liked how she was quiet but pretty bad ass when she needed to be, especially after she cuts her hair short.
Apparently there are 131 (not including Super Specials) books, so I umm might need to modify my plan to read them all if I would like to ever read anything above a 4th grade reading level again. During my youth I read up until about 50, so I am going to start skipping around to get to those I didn’t read. I am getting all of the books from my local library, which has worked out okay so far.
Now I promised I wouldn’t talk about my BSC adventures too often unless it had to do with food, so what does this have to do with food?
Well, Caronae offered to send me some of her old BSC books from her childhood home, but then she found out her mom gave away her whole collection. To make up for it she sent me some wonderful Michigan treats in the mail.
There were these amazingly delicious Chocolate Cherry Coconut Congo bars with famous Michigan cherries.
I would just like to take a moment to tell you how delicious the box smelled when I opened it up; the buttery sweet smell was overwhelming. I had one immediately.
She also sent me a jar of Cherry Butter, which is sour but sweet. Yum.
I love getting local things! I love cherry flavored things, but I don’t like eating cherries so this was such a perfect present. Thank you so much!
So, I would just like to say that normally at this time I would be saying, “Tonight is Lost and yoga.” I am so sad.
Tasting My Way Through Columbus
This is the last installment in my posting series about the super fantastic Columbus, Ohio where I traveled last week to surprise my friend Caroline for her 30th Birthday. My other posts include:
I learned about Jeni’s from Bethany (Heather’s Bestie). She visited Caroline in Columbus last spring and loved the ice cream so much that she bought a shirt. The flavors are unique, the texture is creamy. Yes, I knew my trip to Columbus would involve Jeni’s.
But before dessert comes dinner, and that involved another great Columbus eatery. We debated going to 3rd & Broadway or Northstar Cafe – same ownership, but different environment. We opted for the more casual and laid back Northstar so we could walk to dinner and Jeni’s.
I was really excited to try Northstar because everyone I met told me to go there because I’d love it. I did! It’s a cute modern styled cafe that is comfortable, but not cutesty. And best of all, Northstar promotes local and sustainable food.
At Northstar you order at the counter where you are greeted by giant cookies baked earlier that day.
You also get your own pop (ha, I get such a kick out of the word “pop”).
And you can even get liquor. I guess the liquor licenses are harder to come by in New Jersey because this seemed unique to me, but no one else.
There’s also a little couch area where you can read some of their magazines.
We started with a ton of appetizers to share among the seven of us.
Pimento cheese dip.
Guacamole.
Artichoke.
They also make their own ginger ale, which looks like a mojito because of all the fresh mint in there. I stole some of Caroline’s and it was delicious – you could really taste the freshness of the ginger.
There were so many great things to choose from at Northstar, but I went with the Northstar Burger. Made from beets, brown rice & black beans, this burger was unlike any I’ve ever head.
The texture is ricey and chewy, which I prefer over “fake meat” texture. I loved how it was grilled and smoky. I really loved this burger!
Cameron loved his flatbread pizza.
After dinner we walked over to Jeni’s on High St. This is another local establishment (If you can’t tell, Columbus really places a big emphasis on local food).
With all the fabulous flavors I knew it would be hard to choose and planned to do lots of sampling. I told the nice man at the counter that it was my first time and he offered me a bounty of flavors to try.
I really really loved the Salted Caramel, but Ididn’t think I could eat a whole scoop of it. I chose two fruity and refreshing flavors – Mango Lassi and Black Currant. I never normally get fruity ice cream, but I wanted something different.
It was super creamy and smooth! I was expecting the flavors to have chunks and bits of things reflecting the flavos, but all of them, from what I could tell, were completely smooth – the flavors just infused throughout.
It was the perfect way to end my Columbus vacation … until we arrived back at home and I stole a bite of Michael’s Buckeye Cupcake from Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery. Columbus was great! I raved so much about it that Mark spent Sunday looking for houses in Columbus. Maybe a move is in our future? 
Have you ever been somewhere to visit and really wanted to move there?
Mark and I will pretty much move anywhere right now and are easily persuaded. Any suggestions? Things we need to know about: housing costs, jobs for teachers, jobs for a weirdo like Mark.
Bakery Gingham – Columbus
Where did I leave off? Oh yes, cupcakes! After lunch Caroline was still working and did not know I was in town yet. Cameron showed me all around Columbus and then we went to go pick up Caroline’s birthday cupcakes at Bakery Gingham in Columbus’s German Village.
The smell in this place should be bottled and pumped into homes everywhere! The bakery was adorable inside – pink and green and everything that a cupcake bakery should be.
They also have incredible looking muffins, bars and brownies.
But of course, the cupcakes were where it was at!
Cameron got three types – blueberry, red velvet and haute chocolate. I sampled all three later at Caroline’s birthday dinner, and I loved each one for a different reason, but my favorite was the blueberry. I was expecting a frosted muffin, but it was sweeter and had a strong blueberry flavor throughout. I’m not a frosting fan and the frosting on all three was also delicious.
