Bakeries!

I have finally decided that it is time to explore Charlottesville.  On the top of the list, bakeries and ice cream shops!  I am starting with bakeries.  First, I visited Sweethaus.  Here, I tried three different cupcakes.  This place seems most similar to My Delight Cupcakery in Claremont, CA because of their wide variety of cupcake flavors.  It was pretty good, very sweet (which is fine by me); however their cakes were just a bit dry.  I would definitely go back, just not every week.

Top: double chocolate

lower left: salted caramel

lower right: cookie dough

Next, I heard about a place called MarieBette Cafe & Bakery where I tried une pain au chocolate.  Their croissants are supposed to as good as Europe's.  Now, it has been a lot of years since I've tried a chocolate croissant but it was really good.  In fact, there was a warmish, gooey chocolate center.  Definitely worth going back to.  In fact, I think I want to bring my college friends here when they come to visit!

Whelp, that's all for now! Until next time...

Smiles

Hi!

A blog post to update you on my weekend.

I went to the DMV.  I got there at 7:45 am and left an hour later.  I was amazed at how fast I got out.  I did not have to take the written test as I had a valid California license (yeah!).  Since I was done early, I was second in line to get my car wash at the dealer and was in and out in 15 minutes.  Next, I went to Costco.  Costco just opened on Thursday; I am happy it is here but wish it was here a month ago.  I bought 2 large cheese pizzas, salad, chicken breasts, chicken broth, etc.

Last night, a group of people came over from my program.  We had so much fun!  We spent a lot of time laughing and talking.  It was different hanging out with a group of people who are all research scientists; it was great because we laughed at each others jokes and noticed little things about the Prince & Me (the movie we watched) that nobody else would have noticed.  I hope that we all get to hang out again soon.

By the way, these are the cupcakes I served.  You can see the process of frosting them, moving clockwise from 11 to 10 o'clock.

Today, I tried my crockpot for the first time.  The lentils came out perfectly, but the chicken breasts were a bit dry.  It will take some time learn how to use it properly.

Additionally, I went to a Pure Barre class today.  It worked all of my muscles.  I can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow (and no, that is not sarcastic).  I liked it enough that I bought a 10 pack.  As I am not sure what my spending looks like, I am going to try and go once a week until I get on my feet.

This week is going to be very busy, I am attending a Cardiovascular conference!  My first one as a graduate student.

That's all for now! More to come soon.

M'Oreos?

Hi everyone!

It has, again, been a busy week.  We went to the Fralin Art Museum at UVA this week to enhance our observation skills.  The point is to observe the outcomes of our experiments as a whole, and not look solely for the outcome we want.  I then went to dinner with a few of the other first years--I think we are starting to bond (at least I sincerely hope so).  In fact, I invited a few over tomorrow night for dinner and a movie.

I am very excited for everyone to come tomorrow, and in preparation I baked oreo cupcakes.  I modified a recipe from Roxana's Home Baking.  It made one dozen cupcakes!

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup skim milk, room temperature
12 oreo cookies

1. Mix butter and sugar
2. Add in vanilla and eggs, one at a time
3. Add in the baking powder
4. Alternate adding in the flour and milk.  I added 1/2 flour, 1/2 milk, 1/2 flour, milk, and the rest of the flour.
5. Stop mixing when all of the flour is added
6. Place cupcake liners in the cupcake tin
7. Put an Oreo at the bottom of the cupcake liner
8. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes

I will say that the cupcakes were denser than I would have liked.  Most likely it is due to not bringing all of the ingredients to room temperature.  My suggestion is to use 2/3 cups milk and add chocolate chips!  I just hope that the people coming over tomorrow will like them!

I am going to include the link to the original recipe, because I think the original recipe was probably amazing.
http://roxanashomebaking.com/mms-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-and-chocolate-ganache-recipe/

Now, I just have to figure out what I am serving for dinner.