On the road again...

On June 30th, I set out to transport Duane from Coral Springs to Brooklyn. Aside from being the most boring drive of my life, this 19-hour trip had some memorable moments.

Luckily, we were able to finish loading the car before the rain started because it didn't stop. It rained for 90 percent of the time that we drove through Florida. To make matters worse, we were already bored and suffered from the plague of incomplete jams. Basically, we were driving and listening to the radio on scan (the whole way there) and were trying to stop on the jam-worthy songs -- too bad the only time we heard songs that we remotely liked, they were within 30 seconds or less of ending.

Our first and only stop (other than to refuel) was in St. Augustine. At this point, it was dinnertime, and we ended up choosing Burger King. This BK was like something out of a bad '80s movie. The splattered paint effects on the walls and the weirdos that were there... I don't know which was worse. We ate quickly and escaped.

Shortly thereafter, we found our saving grace -- Jacksonville's X102.9, the only radio station that kept our attention! Thank goodness for that! X102.9 continued for a while into our Georgia drive, but, then, it was back to the incomplete jams.

I don't know if Georgia has state colors, but it should, and they should be orange (as a symbol of the never-ending construction) and red (for the endless line of brake lights). The term traffic gone wild does not even begin to explain my frustration. Mind you, there was no reason for this traffic, which made matters even worse. How about the white mini-van with "Love Is You" stickered on the back windshield? We hated that guy.

By the time that we got to South Carolina, it was dark. The boring scenery wasn't helping me stay awake, but maybe I should thank the drivers and their blinding headlights. You certainly can't fall asleep when you're being blinded by pretty much every car/truck on the road.

Another highlight was the flat tire that never was. The car was bumping all around, and it really felt like we had a flat, so, despite not wanting to stop ever because I wanted to get out of SC as soon as humanly possible, we exited to check out the tires, which were fine. Granted, I was thrilled and relieved that we didn't have a flat, but I was hating my life to think that the road was just in that bad of shape. Did South Carolina grow? It sure felt like this state got bigger.

North Carolina was equally annoying at first, but it quickly surpassed its neighbor to the south when we encountered the world's longest and most irritating detour. We had to get off I-95 and drive on country backroads for like 30 minutes. It was awful.

The rest of the states are a blur since (a) I was getting tired, (b) my co-pilot was nodding off like a bobblehead and could no longer take notes, and (c) I was driving the speed limit for so long (throughout Virginia) that I wanted to kill myself. Nonetheless, here are some noteworthy points:

• The driver's seat in the rental car was the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat in in my entire life!
  
• The McCafe (creamy, steamy, and dreamy) billboard is the most popular billboard on I-95.
• When you are plagued with incomplete jams, you are forced to make musical sacrifices and listen to crap that you would never listen to otherwise.
• The most popular songs on the radio were Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me," Beyonce's "Halo," and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours."
  
• If you're bored enough and plagued with incomplete jams for long enough, you might start hallucinating.
  

After all of that, we made it. I dropped Duane off at his new home away from home, helped unload the car, and headed to bed. Unfortunately, I did not do so without injury; I tripped up a step, scraped and bruised up my knee pretty badly. That was not the worst of it; in trying to catch myself, I ended up falling onto a gate, pushing most of my weight into it and bruising/cutting my chest. It hurt so badly that I felt like I was going to faint and/or puke. What a great start to a vacation...

Normally, I would recount all of the details of a trip, but, since this post is already lengthy, I'm going to try and keep it brief.

Day 1:
I slept a couple of hours after being awake for too many hours to count, hung out with AG, picked up Joanne and went to dinner at Gino's in Bay Ridge. Speaking of which, I need to review that on Yelp (lisaphone.yelp.com). After dinner, Jo and I went to pick up Duane and take him and some of his belongings to Williamsburg. Then, I took Jo home and hung out for a little bit before making my way back to 27B.

Day 2:
I woke up early this morning to return the rental car. Mind you, it was due at noon; I left Gerritsen Beach to head to Alamo on 40th and 8th in Manhattan at 10.30 am. I got there at 12.25 -- it took 2 hours to go 15 or so miles! WHAT THE CRAP?

Luckily, I had something to look forward to; I met Jennifer for lunch from F/Orange Circle Line Bagels, which ruled. From there, I went to Jo's and relaxed until she got home from work. We weren't able to do much that day because it didn't stop raining, but we did have Lobo for dinner!

Day 3:
Jo and I started the day with breakfast from F/Orange Circle Line Bagels and headed out for a journey to the trifecta. We should have taken it as a sign when we waited for 30 minutes for the A-train to never come, but we continued on and made it to the Staten Island Ferry for a high seas adventure!

When we got off the ferry, we got onto the craziest bus ever. There was a family of 7 (5 of which were kids) that ran that bus. From taking up the entire aisle to kids singing loudly enough that people couldn't hold their laughter in to being the most crowded bus ever... the hits kept on coming.

Three hours after we initially left Carroll Gardens, we FINALLY got to Denino's, where we devoured a pizza. From there, it was part 2 of the trifecta: Ralph's Ices.

Our mission was not over, though; we took another bus to the Staten Island Mall, where Jo quickly returned a few things. Then, it was back to another bus -- this one took us from the mall to 86th Street in Brooklyn. Over an hour later, we found ourselves having to take 2 more buses before getting back to Jo's apartment. What a mission.

It wasn't even over because we headed back to AG's after all of that.

Day 4, the 4th of July:
Jo, RG, and I got an early start and headed to the city to try to get discount tickets to see Rock of Ages. RG won the lottery! We ate lunch and headed back to the theater to see the show; it was awesome. Constantine might be my boyfriend. Hahaha. (Not if Joanne has anything to say about it!) I don't want to tell you much about the show, but if you like the idea of a musical set against an '80s soundtrack, go see it. I guarantee that you'll love it and laugh out loud throughout the whole show.

After the show ended, we had time to kill before the fireworks, and surprisingly, we weren't hungry. On a whim, we decided to go see a movie. We got to the theater, saw that The Hangover was about to start and quickly bought tickets. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard and/or that much in a movie in my life.

From there, we headed to get a spot to see the fireworks, which were pretty amazing. After that, we took part in what seemed like a mass exodus and made our way to Union Square where we decided to have a late-night dinner at Coffee Shop. My food was delicious and the perfect ending to a great day.

Day 5:
AG made a breakfast feast and followed it up with a dinner feast! In between, Jennifer, Joanne, Tricia, RG, and I went to Prospect Park and took a little boat ride. There were 4 other people on the boat besides us and the captain. The boat ride was nice and relaxing -- so much so that I leaned back and closed my eyes while the captain was docking the boat. Little did I know that when I opened my eyes, Captain Jimmy would be so close to me that I could kiss him. I said, "dang... I didn't know it was going to be that kind of boat ride." Everyone was laughing, and RG quickly pointed out that this stuff only happens to me. He might be right.

Duane met up with us at the park, and we headed back for the dinner feast. After dinner, we had dessert, which was followed by a quick trip to Ralph's in Brooklyn before taking Duane home. We really are the fattest people ever -- who eats ices after dinner and dessert???

Day 6:
I took the Carroll Gardens car pool, hung at Jo's, had lunch with Jennifer, and hung out with Duane before meeting up with Jo, Allyson, and Oz at Joe's Pizza. I had to get my fix! From there, we walked to Magnolia, and we parted ways with Duane.

Allyson bought me a pair of sneakers for my birthday -- thanks, Al! Jo and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and went to Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory before heading home.

Day 7:
I went to Pennsylvania. Mind you, it took 5 hours to get there because Uncle Carl had to run errands; I did, however, get to drive the H2, which was pretty sweet. I got to see everyone except for the Bean before having to head back to NY in the wee hours of the morning.

Day 8:
For my last meal in Brooklyn, I drove the brown beast to Brennan & Carr, where Tricia met RG, John, and myself for lunch. Then, I headed back to get my stuff and go to the airport.

All in all, the trip was a good one, and, once again, I didn't want to come home. Oh, and, for the record, I got lots of swipes -- 15, but who's counting???

C is for cake, California, creamery...

Before I start recounting the trip, let me post a picture of the Taco Bell birthday cake that I made for Duane. It was an intensely chocolatey cake; one layer was double chocolate and the other was triple chocolate. The whole thing was frosted with chocolate frosting and decorated with sugar crystals!


Now, let me tell you about the trip, which was definitely not what I expected at all. When I think of San Diego, I think of marinas and beaches -- basically, I imagine it to be all about the water. As you will learn, that wasn't quite how it was in reality.

The day before we left, Christina wasn't feeling well, which was not a good sign, but she loaded up on medicine and hoped for the best. I stayed up all night because our flight was early, and I wanted to sleep on the planes (not that I wouldn't be able to anyway, but whatever). Gina woke up and didn't feel so hot either -- another bad sign.

Day 1:

I was asleep before the first flight pulled away from the gate. That's how I roll. I woke up shortly before we landed in Salt Lake City. Our flight was late (because only one runway was open), and we basically had enough time to deplane and get in line for our connecting flight to San Diego. I slept on the way to San Diego, too.

The San Diego airport looks like no other airport that I have ever seen. It is like a mall or something -- a fancy one. Anyway, we stepped outside to look for the shuttle to our hotel, and the weather was pretty awesome. By the time that we got to the hotel and checked in, we were starving, so we quickly put our stuff down and headed out to find something to eat.

If the first dining experience in San Diego was to be an indication of the rest, I would have killed myself. We had lunch at Cappell's, a small Italian restaurant in downtown, which really should be named CRAPpell's because it was that bad. We ended up there out of desperation and severe hunger. I should have known from the first sip of fake soda that this was going to to be bad... very bad. I had pizza, which might have been the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my entire life. There was an overwhelming stench of bad body odor lingering in the air, and there were some flies hanging around. It was awful. We were not off to a good start.

Later that afternoon, we made our way to the Gaslamp Quarter. This was definitely the best part of downtown San Diego. We had an early dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. You can't go wrong with that.

On the way back to the hotel, however, we experienced something that I had never imagined to find there -- BUMS GONE WILD. I have never seen so many homeless people in my life. It was crazy. (I'm sure LA is worse, but this was nuts.)

Day 2:

Since we went to bed early the night before, we got an early start and took the trolley to Old Town. Again, this wasn't what I expected; I thought that we could spend the day there. Unfortunately, this historic area was too small and occupied us only for a short while.

From there, we headed to Balboa Park and took a free tram around the park. First, we ended up with some jerky lady and were lucky enough to end up with a driver who looked like Elvis and wanted to have his Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation on YouTube! The guy was crazy; he talked about his pet horse and tried to get the people on the tram to go see his band. He was a weirdo, but entertaining nonetheless.

After we left the park, we walked blocks and blocks and blocks to find a place to eat because there is no food in San Diego, the weirdest place ever. How is it possible to have this many office buildings and residences in the downtown area with so few restaurants? It took nearly an hour to find the 6th Ave Bistro. Mind you, we walked into this place and there was only one other customer, who was sitting at the bar with his young child. Who brings a kid to a bar? The kid was falling asleep when one of the waiters told him that he could take a nap in one of booths. As it that was not weird enough, the father dude left with a waitress while his kid slept there! Speaking of the waitress, she was a mess. She forgot our order, came back to confirm what Christina ordered, and ended up bringing me something else entirely. At that point, I didn't want to eat -- I noticed that the mustard on the table expired in January of 2008. I was done.

Fortunately, the day looked up when we took the ferry to Coronado. I love high seas adventures, and the ferry was a nice little trip. Coronado is beautiful, but the real highlight was MooTime Creamery. Oh man... I love ice cream, but this was out of this world. We all had dessert nachos and felt like we were in heaven. The 'chips' were pieces of freshly made waffle cone and were covered in marshmallow cream, hot fudge, and caramel. Then, you got to pick two flavors of ice cream to go in the middle. AMAZING! That was the only meal that I ate that day, but it could not have been better.

Day 3:

We made the trek to La Jolla. What a mission... it took forever, and I turned into Pukey Brewster on the bus. (I didn't actually throw up, but I wanted to.) My nausea was so bad that we had to get out of the bus early and walk a good amount (before we eventually got back on the bus because we still had too far to go). While we were out, we walked down to the ocean to set foot in the Pacific. That was a good plan until I got drenched. With my pants rolled up to my knees, I attempted to stand in the water, but the waves receded and weren't returning up as far on the shore, so I kept walking farther out. Still, nothing. Finally, Gina asked me to turn around, so she could take my picture. Once I turned around, a big wave crashed and got me soaked... up to my butt. Can I just tell you how much it sucks to walk around in wet jeans? Not only did I look like I peed in my pants, but my legs were so itchy that I wanted to cut them off.

We were starving yet again and managed to choose a good spot for lunch. We ended up at the Bull & Bear Bar and Grill (for those of you that love menu-reading as much as I do: http://72.51.35.40/bull_and_bear//). It was really tasty; I had a chipotle chicken wrap with chips and salsa. Other than the ice cream, this was the best meal that I had eaten.

With fuel in our bellies, we finally made it to La Jolla Cove. The views were intense. I wish we could have gone kayaking or gone down into the cave, but, still, it was worth the mission it took to get there.

We headed back to the hotel and kicked back for a while before attempting to decide where to have dinner. We took the hotel shuttle to Little Italy, and, upon the recommendation of our driver, had dinner at Little Italy Spaghetteria (http://littleitalyspaghetti.com). I ordered the manicotti and had to send it back because the pasta was so overcooked that it tasted like baby food. The second dish I ordered was better, but not good. If they can't make pasta in Little Italy, there's a problem.

After dinner, we attempted to go out, but the place Kane led us to was closed. What the crap? Why do things close so early in San Diego? Oh, I know... because San Diego is weird.

Day 4:

Before going to San Diego, I did a little restaurant research. One of the places that came up was Mexican Fiesta. What I thought was going to be a restaurant was actually a taco stand on the side of the road, but, still, the rave reviews made me want to try it. I got a chicken burrito. To my surprise, it was mostly dark meat (nasty) and some peppers and onions. That's it -- no rice, no beans, no cheese, no sour cream. It tasted more like an egg roll than a burrito. I was so disappointed I could have cried.

This was the sunniest and hottest of the days that we were there, and we chose to walk (a long walk, mind you) to Seaport Village. It was nice -- shops and restaurants set along the water. From there, we boarded the Seal Tour, an amphibious bus/boat tour. It started out as a bus on land and adapted to the water as a boat. I love the high seas! Hahaha. It was actually really cool. Christina took me as a birthday gift -- thanks, Christina!

After the tour, we had lunch at San Diego Burger Co. where I had a mediocre bacon cheeseburger. As soon as I finished eating, I had to get up because there were way too many birds for my liking. I felt a stupid little bird's wings fluttering against my arm; I almost had a heart attack. I took shelter inside the burger shack until Gina, Christina, and Kane finished their lunch. We walked along the harbor and had a mini-photo shoot of Gina and Kane, portraying the famous sailor and nurse kiss.

Later that night, we went back to the Gaslamp, and, finally, we saw people! It was nice to see the streets lively for a change. We had dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery (http://www.rockbottom.com). It was pretty good until some bad singers took the stage. Christina and I left, walked around for a bit, and went back to the hotel.

Day 5:

Christina still wasn't feeling well; from the night before we left up to this point, she actually felt worse. We took our time to get ready while Gina and Kane were at the Midway museum. We had lunch at Los Panchitos, a fast-food type Mexican place, and, once again, I was disappinted by another dark meat-filled chicken burrito. Oh well...

We walked around downtown for a while before heading back to Coronado. Alas, we had good Mexican food at Costa Azul (http://www.costaazulcoronado.com)! I figured I'd go with a chicken burrito one last time, and it paid off. The meal was delicious! We followed that up with one last trip to MooTime Creamery -- I had a s'more sundae and loved it.

We parted ways with Kane as he made it back to the ship and took the ferry back.

Day 6:

My birthday! Woooo-hoooooo! We left the hotel and headed for the airport. Two flights and three airports later, we made it home! We did have a birthday Cinnabon and a birthday Krispy Kreme doughnut to celebrate, though!

___________________

Of course, some other highlights happened during the trip. Christina started doing a Dracula-like impersonation of the Terminator. Kane overused the phrase, "I must admit." We walked less than I would have liked, but more than Gina, Christina, and Kane wanted or needed to. I slept on the floor one night atop a makeshift pillow bed in between an actual bed and the wall in a space so small that you'll have to see the picture to believe it.

Wow.

Only in 2009 will you find a web site devoted to text messages that probably shouldn't have been sent at all and definitely shouldn't be read by strangers -- especially out of context! Having visited textsfromlastnight.com, I am slightly horrified. Maybe that's a bit harsh, but you should really read some of these. I wonder if the creators are making money off of these drunk dial texts. Why didn't I think of this?

I was probably too busy talking to Duane on the phone for hours about places we can go eat. Lately, we are on a counter-service kick, meaning that we want to order our food at the counter and sit down to enjoy it sans waiter/waitress service. We are open to suggestions for future options. In searching, I found a dessert option in Lola's Cupcakery. I need to go there... soon.

Seriously, I should have gone to culinary school. If only I didn't max out on my student loans...

Lately...

I need to go back and fill you in on my life and times throughout the month of April (in case you care).

After the skateboard cake, I made a cake based on the Twilight cover (the book, not the movie) for Brittany's 16th birthday. Plus, I cooked a mini-feast for the party.


After all that, I had to get ready for my trip. The night before I left was Katie's birthday party. Duane agreed to take me to the airport, so we figured that we would just hang out until I had to be there at 4 am. Frank hung out for a while, too; it was like old times. Eventually, it was time to leave, and I was beyond tired.

Day 1:

The flight was fine; it was getting to Brooklyn from LGA that was a mission -- especially on no sleep. When I finally got there, I was able to take a power nap before I met up with Julie and Danny (who flew into LGA a couple of hours after I did). Oddly enough, we only hung out for a half-hour, talking on a street corner. Go figure. Hamptons met us there. From there, we walked for quite a while until we settled on a place to have lunch. The place, Bamboleo, in the West Village, was alright at best. Luckily, we followed it with Cones, which made up for the disappointing meal. We walked for a while longer and headed home.

The next LONG WALK was later that night when we searched for a place to have dinner. After walking around for a couple of hours, we ended up just getting pizza at Sal's (not to be confused with San Remo -- hahaha). It was good, but we were tired. Walking that much probably wasn't a good idea given the next day's events.

Day 2:

I went to NY for the sole purpose of completing a mission/goal: Walking from Harlem to Brooklyn (which Hamptons and I dubbed as the Harlem Walk). After one failed attempt and another spontaneous, but unsuccessful attempt, Hamptons and I were determined to get our Harlem Walk on before it got too hot. We scheduled the HW for Easter Weekend, and I am pleased to say that we did it! We started out on 125th and St. Nicholas and walked down CPW, down 7th Avenue, made a pit stop at Joe's, and, eventually, crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. Our finishing point was at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, a perfect stopping place and an excellent reward.

Later that night, as if we did not walk enough already during the past day and a half, we walked to Park Slope to have dinner at Lobo. (The one on Court Street was closed.) As usual, the food was delicious, but, we couldn't get dessert there, so it was time for yet another walk. We went to the Chocolate Room and had the fondue. It was pretty awesome.

Day 3:

Saturday was the day of the swipes. I wanted to swipe my MetroCard as much as possible, and we achieved that goal. We went to the library only to discover that it was closed, which prompted us to get another swipe immediately as we got back on the bus. We also decided that the theme of this trip was change '09; it was all about doing new things, so, at one point, we tracked down the Cakeman Raven and sampled a piece of red velvet cake (as those are the only slices that were available). Earlier in the day, we even took an access-a-ride to Ikea and took the smelliest bus ever back; if you don't believe me, ask Hamptons or Mike.

Day 4:

On Sunday, we had a feast (courtesy of A.G.) and did the family thing.

Day 5:

On Monday, I walked to the 78th precinct to meet my uncle and went to Sal's a.k.a. San Remo for lunch. From there, I headed into the city to meet Allyson, R.G., and Hamptons for dinner at Max Brenner. Anthony was supposed to go, but proved to be the missing link yet again. Anyway, dinner was pricey. My dessert cost more than my dinner! It was good, but the portions were way too small. Hello---I only got 5 waffle fries, literally. After dinner, R.G. and I went on a nearly 5-mile walk. We ended up exploring parts of downtown Manhattan that I didn't even know existed. By that point, we were so far from any train that we needed that we decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge at 1.15 am.

Day 6:

On the last day, I had lunch with Allyson. We tried to live on the edge and go somewhere new -- BAD IDEA. Allyson learned that she shouldn't listen to her co-workers. It was raining, so I went back to the apartment for a power nap before meeting with Hamptons for one last walk over the bridge before heading to the airport. Getting home was awful. My flight was delayed for 3 hours.

Since getting home, there are a few things worth noting:

1. Soap opera Saturday: Duane and I attempted to resume Social Saturdays! Little did we know that there would be more drama than the daytime soaps.

2. Failed Friday: Our last Fun Friday went down in flames, but Duane did get an early birthday present as Clap and I buried the hatchet. Who knew? Plus, we ate awesome BBQ, and John Joseph was more entertaining than we'd imagined.

3. The Night of the Interesting Couples: While hanging out in the parking lot of the Shake, waiting for Frank, Duane and I saw several couples that were so interesting that they were photoworthy. If only we had a camera...

4. I made a quick (thus, far from perfect) cake for Kane. In sticking with a naval theme, I went with an anchor with USN (United States Navy) on it. He loved it!


Since this post is long-winded enough, I'll save my movie commentary for next time.

Skate or die?

Maybe the subject line is a little intense, or maybe the skateboard cake made me a little nostalgic.

Speaking of nostalgia, the other night, after the Astrea Corp. show, Frank said that he felt like we were hanging out in the Cheers parking lot. I told him that I wished we were; then, we could go grab a slice at Casola's and would not have ended up going to Peter Pan Diner (or as Jasper loves to call it, The Pan). I miss Cheers. I miss going to shows multiple nights out of the week. I miss the scene. Ahhh, those were the days.

Now, instead of going to shows, I bake cakes.

This is my life. It's too depressing to even type about (at this moment).

Back by popular demand?

Forgive me. As you can see, it's been a long time since my last posting. (I feel like I'm making a confession.) First, I mourned my defeat in the cake contest. I had a difficult time coping, and I thought that I would resume blogging after recovering from the loss.

Then, I found myself preoccupied with other things. People asked me when I would blog again, and I kept putting my return my off for no particular reason. Alas, I am back. You can thank Allyson for that; she actually put in a written request. Haha.

I have yet to bake a cake in 2009, but rest assured -- cakes are coming soon. However, I did make cupcakes for Brianna's baby shower, which I will display for your viewing pleasure. I made two different designs. Below is a picture of both; then, I included a close-up of the sleeping babies.




In the past 3 months, I've watched too many movies to recount, but I will take this opportunity to voice my confusion by and displeasure with watching Sir Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz as a couple. I watched Elegy a couple of days ago and was a little horrified by their coupling. (The movie wasn't all that either.)

To ease back into my return to blogging, I'll keep this first one short, but I promise that I'll be back soon. Stay tuned.

The ultimate Christmas cake

As I mentioned in a recent posting, I designed a holiday cake. In fact, I had a cake party in its honor.


As you can see, the cake was definitely cake party-worthy, and a good time was had by all who attended.

The reason for the cake (given that it is premature for a Christmas cake) was I am entering it in a contest. I have been trying for the past hour to send the images, but to no avail! This is so frustrating.

In the meantime, nobody ever saw Gina's birthday cake, so I might as well post that now, too.


As everyone should know, Gina loves chocolate chip cookies, so what better medium for her birthday cake design? Getting the John Mayer logo right was quite a task -- given that you can't just roll out chocolate chip cookie dough, but I was pretty pleased with the end result. She loved it. I can't believe it took me this long (almost 3 months) to post a picture of it.

Let me get back to resolving this email issue...