Music Challenge - Day Six

This challenge is turning out to be much harder than I was expecting.  However, I have finally decided on a song that reminds me of an actual place.  I had several options that I was weighing in my head, but most of the "places" I was thinking of were linked to events, and that's a whole separate challenge day.

This song, however, does in fact take me back to a specific location.  In my freshman year of college, I lived in a dorm that was relatively secluded on the campus, and enough so to merit it's own market in front of the building.  It basically amounted to the college version of a 7-11, with candy and cereal and a few toiletries here and there, even a grill where you could buy plenty of fattening and unhealthy food.  Like fried mozzarella sticks.  Which were disgusting.  And delicious.

Anyway, it seemed as though Pitbull's Culo was playing in the store 24 hours a day.  I guess that's what happens when you go to college 15 minutes from the Mexican border...

So here's to you Chappy Market!  Thanks for the memories and heartburn!

Day 06 - A Song That Reminds You of Somewhere:


Ahh.. memories.
*Note... this song also reminds me of Tijuana itself, because it played a lot in the club circuit there too. Yes, I partied there. Yes, it's gross.  Don't judge me.  I was 18 and stupid.

day 01 - your favorite song
day 02 - your least favorite song
day 03 - a song that makes you happy
day 04 - a song that makes you sad
day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone

Music Challenge - Day Five

It took me quite a while to pick out this song.  There are so many songs in the world that remind me of so many people, and I just wanted to pick out a good one.  I finally decided that this song and this person would be the most appropriate.

A little less than a year ago, I lost a good friend of mine.  Scooter Pie introduced us back in 2009 when he started taking me to one of his favorite karaoke bars in Hillcrest.  The bar is called Flicks, and every Sunday, they would have karaoke, hosted by a man named Tom Doyle.  Scooter Pie met Tom while they were in a play together and had remained close. So close, in fact, that every time Scooter Pie was at a karaoke night hosted by Tom, he sang "Sandy" from Grease but changed the name to "Tommy."

This is not that song.  This song, rather, is the song that I used to sing with Tom. He approached me one night and asked me if I knew the words to this song.  I got very excited, and before I knew it, we were up on stage, singing it together.  So here it is.

Day 05 - A Song That Reminds You Of Someone




It was one of the greatest times I had (nothing holds a candle to singing "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life" with Scooter Pie... check that off the bucket list) singing karaoke. When Scooter Pie first introduced us, I realized I had recently seen him in a play, and that he was my favorite part of the play itself.  I raved, and we became instant friends.  According to Scooter Pie, Tommy adored me.  I had no idea until I realized that his last Facebook profile picture has me in it.  I feel very lucky, and honored to hold that distinction.  This one's for you, Tom.  I know you're up there, singing with me.

The infamous profile picture

A Big Ol' Blog Full Of Pictures...

Thank you in advance to Purple who told me about Picasa.  You made this blog post much easier. 

In the past week, for reasons I'm not quite clear on, I have been experiencing quite the creative spurt.  It all started Memorial Day weekend, because we were expecting Cousin Face, MsLyss, Brother-of-Cousin Face, and the kids (from this moment to be known collectively as the "FamBam") for a family bbq of burgers and sausages.  So (you guessed it) I was put in charge of dessert.  We had a box of red velvet cake mix by Duncan Hines, and I know a great cream cheese frosting recipe, so I couldn't think of anything more patriotic.

Since we had small children coming, I thought it would be fun to make mini-cupcakes, and save some for their little hands to decorate.  Generally, this cake mix is enough for about 24 cupcakes, but I managed to get 55 (yup, more than double) with my mini tins.  I use a piping bag to fill my cupcake tins because I can better control the amount of batter per cupcake, but it's not necessary.  I also wanted to give you a few in process pictures (even though cake mixes are very user friendly) to show you how they look before and after being baked.

Once the cupcakes were baked, I wanted to do a little something extra to frost them.  I used Wilton Icing Coloring in Delphinium Blue, and mixed just enough to create a swirl effect.  Then I used my smallest star piping tip to swirl the frosting onto the cupcakes.  Sprinkle with colored sugars (I used red, blue, and gold) and you have some lovely, festive, pop-able cupcakes.  My cupcakes came out a little bit uneven, but the best way to avoid that is to put your cupcake tins on a flat surface (like a cookie sheet, or a foil covered oven rack) and rotate them halfway through the baking process.

The next night, Cousin Face, who had spent the night before with us, was a most excellent historian/sous chef while I made my family a dinner of meatballs and THE bruschetta from Julie & Julia.  As you know, that movie holds a very special place in my heart (and my kitchen!) and my mom and I have been talking forever about wanting to make this bruschetta that they rave so much about.  I finally found the recipe, concocted by the food stylist for the movie, and I've gotta say... it is every bit as good as they make it out to be.

This is a super easy recipe, with very few ingredients, and very little prep time. You should also be aware that the bruschetta alone is enough for a meal.  The most important things to remember, in my opinion, are making sure you have large, ripe, heirloom tomatoes (they make a difference), TEAR the basil, don't chop it, and have a nice loaf of crusty bread.  I used a par-baked round of Italian bread from Ralphs, most grocery stores carry par-baked breads in their bakery sections.  Rather than bake the bread for the full 15 minutes suggested by the package, I only baked it for 10 minutes since I knew the bread was going back in a pan to be fried, and I wanted to maintain some of the softness in the middle.  Cut the bread in thick slices (about 3/4 inch) and then cut them in half.  After frying them in the pan, rub them with a garlic clove (the heat from the bread will help bring out the juices in the garlic and it will spread more easily) and then spoon your tomato mixture onto your bread slices. *Note: It's better to spoon your tomatoes on each bread slice just before you eat them, letting the tomato mixture sit on the bread will make your bread soggy. 

To go with this marvelous bruschetta, my dad found a recipe for meatballs (link above).  I substituted the 1/2 pound of veal for another 1/2 pound of pork, so I had a 2:1 ratio of pork to beef. *Note the hilarious Star of David made of mostly pork meatballs.  For the marinara, I used Fresh & Easy's Tomato Basil sauce straight from the jar.  Don't be afraid when you cook your meatballs if they look a little charred on some sides - that's a good thing!  Meatballs are supposed to have a sort of, crunchy outer layer.  The moral of this adventure in the kitchen is:  it is very easy to over eat when the food you make is as delicious as this dinner was.

For my last segment of this blog, I'm going to switch it up from food, to hair.  For reasons I don't entirely understand yet, I'm going to link you to my comedian friend's girlfriend on YouTube.  Her name is Bree.  Under normal circumstances, this would not be happening, but I guess this is just another unexpected twist on my journey down the rabbit hole.  As I've told you before, I am a full-fledged hair retard.  I watched her tutorials, and by some magic... I think I actually learned something.  It will take practice, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.  It took me quite a bit of time to get it right, but it was late at night, and I wasn't using product of any kind (I was relying on my dirty hair to be enough product) but I managed to have some success.  And anyone who can teach me how to do something semi-difficult in the hair department certainly deserves a shout-out in my book.

That's it for today's installment!  See ya in Wonderland!