Red Velvet Cupcakes

So, after watching many cooking shows, I felt the urge to do some baking myself. I love red velvet cake and I love cupcakes, so I decided to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing, all from scratch.

The cupcakes did not turn out as good as I wanted. I ended up cooking them a little too long, so they're a bit dry, but the icing is absolutely delicious! I added my own variations to a recipe I found online, and I love the results that I got.

Here are a few pics of my first attempt at "gourmet cupcakes".

My cream cheese icing is as follows:

1/2 Cup of butter (softened)
2 8oz. package of cream cheese (softened)
2 1/4 Cup of confectioner's sugar
2 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Almond extract
3 dash of cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
Add confectioner's sugar gradually.
Add extract and cinnamon and nutmeg.
Place in refridgerator until ready to use.

Now I found that the icing tasted a little too much like cream cheese, but if you like cream cheese, then that is fine. The next time I make this icing, I will try it with 1 8oz. package and go from there.

Well, I hope you all enjoy the cupcakes as much as my family and I did!

Roanoke Road Trip Last Day

Well, my brother's and my vacation is finally over, but we did have lots of fun.

We left the Feazelle's a little after 1 o'clock, and quickly realized that the trip home would be far from fun. I hit traffic almost 20 minutes onto I-81 that lasted for another 20 minutes. Josh and I both hoped that would be the last of the traffic, but an hour and a hald later, after we paused in Strausburg for an early dinner at Burger King and to fill up on gas, we hit another round of traffic. This time we inched forward 8 miles in 30 minutes.

Frustrated and growing more and more stiff, I had Josh look for an alternative route--which proved to be just as frustrating. But after another 2 hours of driving around Alexandria dn Baltimore, I made it to Waldorf in time to drop Josh off at music practice for church. Then, I finally made it home around 7:30 where I promptly fell asleep on the couch which is where Mom and Dad found me.

Now, I'm watchin TV with my mom and waiting for her to go to bed so I can play some vidoe games. All in all, I'm completely drained, but Josh's and my first road-trip vacation was a sucess! May the next one go just as well.

Here are some pictures from the cookout yesterday.

Roanoke Road Trip Day 3

So, I'm sitting on the couch with the Feazelle's as they look through old yearbooks and my brother rocks out to Guitar Hero. I've got my mug of chocolate milk and I am ready to update.

I got another late start today...but what else is vacation for? After my pick-me-up mug of chocolate milk, I went donwstairs to see what everone else was up to. They were watching TV, and I did not have a problem sitting on my butt and doing nothing, so I joined them. We watched soem animal saving show...then a show called DC Cupcakes which just so happens to be near my brother and I back at home, so it was really cool to see that.

When T.R. showed up at 3 o'clock after work, we all started getting ready for a cookout at his aunt and uncles. We ledt the house at 4:15 and drove for half an hour, getting there in time for prayer and jumping in line. And today, for the first time ever, I ate turtle. Snapping turtle to be exact. And even more surprising, I liked it. It tasted like a cross between chicken and turkey.

See video below:

We left after tackling....well, I'll let you see that one for yourself too.

We got home around 8:30. Now, I'm still watching Josh play Guitar hero, and I am planning on going to bed way earlier than 2 o'clock. Tomorrow is the last day of our vacation, but I had a really good time, even if it was short. Church tomorrow, then headed home around 1:30.

But that isn't until tomorrow, so until then...I'm gonna rock!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 2

Well, I didn't have time to blog last night, so we'll just pretend I did, shall we?

After waking up late (what else would I do on vacation?) we had a cup of coffee and headed out to the Wenie Stand for hot dogs, fries, and soda. After a quick tour around the square's bazaar, we went back home and hung around the house until around 4 o'clock. Whem T.R. had to go to work, Erica, my brother, and I went out to David's Bridal to pock up Erica's bridesmaid dress for the wedding she will be in September. Then we headed to the mall.

We stopped in several stores, including my all-time favorite, Barnes&Noble. While my brother and I looked at some manga and other books. Erica found a recipe book for easy rice dinners. We then went to American Eagle (Josh's favorite store) and he bought some clothes. He even bought me a very cute dress and cardigan which I plan to wear to church very soon. I picked up a cami and a white skirt at Charlotte Ruse, then we headed to the grocery store.

While at the grocery store, Josh and Erica and I to crack up several times with his normal weird antics. He even chased me down a couple of aisles! When we finally picked up all the ingredients we needed, plus the ingredients I need for omelets for Sunday, we went back home to start dinner for T.R. and us.

Dinner was an exciting affair, because Erica and I used her brand-new cookbook to make Chicken Carbonara Risotto. To find out more about our attempt, check out Erica's new blog: efeazelle.blogspot.com

Then, we stayed up until a little after midnight watching random TV shows. Josh and I stayed up until 2 watching Criminal Minds, but after the second episode, I did not want to watch anmore, so I headed up to bed.

One more full day! Night, everyone!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 1 Part 2

Well, we made it to Roanoke safely after a 5 hour drive, putting us in at the Feazelles a little after 3 o'clock. Josh and I enjoyed the drive; I did all the driving; Josh slept for about an hour. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch, then quickly hit the road again.

Once we reached the Feazelles, we took a quick tour of the house for Josh's sake, then sat around the kitchen table and chilled for a while. Their 7 pets all welcomed us with welcome paws.

Around 4:30, we headed out into town and Erica took us to Bubblecake for some cupcakes. Not only were they very tasty, the store was cute! Hopefully I can upload the pictures from my phone. With supcakes in store, we then headed up to the Roanoke Star--a 10,000 pound steel star fixture that is over 80 feet tall. YOu can see it at the top of Mill Mountain, and at night, it is lit up and you can see it throughout the entire town. After some pictures, we headed back to the house for some more down time.

At 6:30, we headed back into town and stopped for dinner at the "Texas Tavern" --a tiny hole-in-the-wall burger joint that seats a grand total of 10. But the food is good and the service is friendly. After that, we took a short detour through the city to find a Gamestop, because unfortunately, I forgot Rockband 2 at the house. After hitting 4 different Gametops, we finally found a store that carried the game and we headed home to play.

Right now, we are playing Raving Rabbids for the Wii, a somewhat hilarious games that all of us can play at once. But I can hear my guest bed calling my name, and I will probably answer the call soon. Hope everyone's day was just as fun and eventful as mine!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's events as well, and hopefully, more pictures!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 1 Part 1

Well, it is almost 9 o'clock, and my brother is still abed.

I want to be on the road in the next half hour, so I'm going to have go and "persuade" him out of bed. We are heading to Roanoke today to visit some friends. It is about a 5 hour drive, so that puts us in Roanoke at about 1:30-2. I will post later about the trip and maybe have some pictures up of this mini-vacation.

Look out Roanoke, here we come!

Randomness!

So, I had another blog, which you can visit at landofesrail.blogspot.com
but I want to keep that site for my writing. Thus, I have decided to make this blog for all the other random things I do.

Enjoy!