Five Things Friday

It's another Five Things Friday. How did it get here so fast? Time flies when you are having fun! Here are five things I'm digging this week!

Reuniting with Christine Bean.

I haven't seen her in two months and it is n.o.t. o.k. I miss my sister! She makes me proud every single day with her THON work and I just miss her when she is away. I'm so happy to be together with both of my sisters this weekend!

Spotted self-tie blouse.

I picked up this little number for my trip to the ABQ. I think it’s so pretty and though I often do not find F21 clothing to be flattering on my frame, I kinda sorta fell in love with this one. I will be pairing it with dark 7 for all Mankind flares, cowboy boots and big hoop earrings for the rehearsal dinner tonight.

 Heat Rises, the novel.

Any Castle fans out there? Call me super cheesy, but I am so into the Richard Castle books. To give you some background, Richard Castle is Nathan Fillion’s character on the show Castle. He plays a mystery writer and tags along with the smart and gorgeous homicide detective Kate Beckett in order to research for his novels. She is his muse, and he bases a whole book series on her alter ego, Nikki Heat. In a genius move by ABC, they actually publish these books for fans to read. Do you follow? The books follow the alter ego’s of everyone on the show, including Castle himself, written as Jameson Rook, a snazzy, charming and {obviously} ruggedly handsome journalist who just so happens to be crushing on Nikki Heat. Anyhow, I totally dig these books because they are legitmately good mystery books, whether you watch the show or not!

Zombies.

Our new favorite show, The Walking Dead, started back up on Sunday evening. Man oh man how I love this show! I found it gripping from the first five minutes of the first season, and the second season opener did not disappoint. I am soooo into it. Perhaps into it enough to go with zombies as this year's Halloween costume of choice? I just might base my zombie costume on this creeptacular zombie girl from The Walking Dead. Ack, I have nightmares everytime I see this image...

Falling asleep in a big cozy bed after a long day.

I'm spent from sightseeing and limited sleep last night. I'm barely keeping my eyes open as I type this post. There is no better feeling than being 100% completely exhausted and snuggling up next to the one you love.

Have a great weekend everyone!

What are you loving this week?

Halloween Through The Years

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Do you want to know what I hate?

As soon as my favorite season comes around, it starts to be extremely dark in the morning when my alarm goes off. I hate that! It feels like waking up in the middle of the night, instead of at a normal human hour. It makes dragging my butt out of bed that much more difficult.

On a fun note...it's hump day! And that means it's time for another installment of What About Me Wednesday. As I mentioned last week, I'm trying to bring these back for my Wednesday posts. As we're already approaching the middle of October, Shaun and I have been hard at work devising our Halloween costumes for this year. Though I'm not particularly a huge fan of dressing up for Halloween, a certain someone is in fact a big fan, so we will be decked out and attending a party in our building this year.

I thought it would be fun to do a little embarassment reminiscing here on the blog of Halloween's past. Starting with this little gem:

My mom typically made our Halloween costumes when we were kids, but this one was actually the dress from a kid-sized Raggedy Ann doll, topped with a red yarn wig. I actually love this photo because it was down the block from the house I grew up in (where we subsequently moved from when I was in college). Look at those cars in the background! Some of my other favorite costumes I wore as a kid include a red crayon (I have to track down this photo), Sleeping Beauty and a Giants football player.

In looking for other costumes through the years, I found this one of my friend Jen and I from high school. Oh man, I can't help but crack up at it...I'm some kind of chick Cat in the Hat and she's a blue M&M. Love it.

As you know, Shaun and I have been together for over 11 years now, so there have been many, many Halloweens together. We typically do some sort of 'couples' costume. I believe our first ever couples costume was in our senior year in college. I was a somewhat sexy devil (because as every girl knows, every costume must be a sexy form of something. for me circa 2003, this meant a tank top with a skirt. hot.) while Shaun went as a fat angel.

Following college, we clearly got a little more sophisticated for a hot second. This brought on the era of the 1920's! I was a flapper and he a gangster. I think this is my favorite costume to date. I still love that cute hat that I had found at a thrift shop.

Next up, we went as cave people! I think we simply went to Wal-mart, picked up fabric and tied it all up to look like costumes. Shaun's wig/flip flop combo gets me every time.

We must have recycled a few costumes in there, but I do have some more recent ones...like Halloween 2009 when we went as Sookie & Eric from True Blood! I loved these costumes too. So fun

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any pics from last year's Halloween, but I assure you, it was a doozie. We devised our costumes at the last minute. Shaun went as an 80's hair band rocker and I went as his groupie/lady friend, complete with paint splatter tights, glittery eye liner and a Fame hat. Yeah.

So that's my little trip down memory lane. As for this year? We're working on something a tad bit spookier, which I'll share with you once we've got it all planned.

Have a great day everyone! I hope this brought you some laughs :)

Questions of the Day:

What was your favorite Halloween costume ever? Or your funniest?

Will you be going in costume this year? If so, as what?

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Though I made many delicious dishes before Halloween, I also need to tell you about the cupcakes that I made for my sister Kimberly’s party last Saturday. For a few reasons. First, these were hands-down the best chocolate cupcakes I’ve ever made. Uber chocolatey with a Devil Dog-like texture, they were decadent and delicious. They were perfectly topped with a sweet vanilla buttercream, the perfect balance to the rich and not entirely sweet cake.

Second, I need to take a moment to recognize Ina Garten, who has officially solidified herself in my permanent go-to collection of recipes. Anything I’ve ever made of hers has been nothing short of perfection. If in any dish you’ve ever thought, wow that’s good but could use a little more... Well Ina goes for that little more. And ooooh mama does it show in taste, quality and presentation. I think this article should really be called Ode to Ina with a giant thanks and pledge to worship her cooking and baking skills until the end of time. The genius of Ina is that while her recipes may call for some extra steps (like alternating the addition of buttermilk and flour into your batter) or a laundry list of ingredients (this one includes 2 sugars, sour cream, buttermilk, coffee, among others), she chooses the right inclusions despite the caloric intake that a dish may incur. Would you think that 2 tablespoons of coffee would make a world of difference in your chocolate cake? Well it does. So don’t skimp on it.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
*Adapted from Ina Garten
For the cake:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 C granulated sugar
2/3 C brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 C buttermilk
1/2 C sour cream
2 tbsp brewed coffee, cooled
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
For the frosting:
2-3 C confectioners’ sugar (to taste)
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
red and yellow food coloring
sprinkles

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. In a stand mixer (or in a giant mixing bowl with your hand mixer), cream the butter and both sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream and coffee. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Back in the stand mixer, add the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla, mixing well. With the mixer on low, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture, alternating between the two in 3 parts. Start with the buttermilk and end with the flour. Mix just until combined and if necessary, use a spatula to complete the mixing. Fill the muffin cups about half way. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack and frost.

To make the frosting, beat the butter in your stand mixer (or with a hand mixer). Add in the sugar, one cup at a time until completely combined. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract and almond extract and mix well. Add food coloring to the color of your choosing (I used red and yellow to make orange). Frost cupcakes (I used a piping bag and metal tip from my brandy new Wilton cupcake decorating kit that I snapped up at Party City) and douse with sprinkles or decoration of your choice.

Enjoy and be prepared to never be on the hunt for a chocolate cake recipe again! 

So there you have it. My favorite chocolate cupcake recipe to date. Not bad, huh? These could easily be adapted for any holiday or party by changing out the color of the frosting or the sprinkles. In fact, this exact version could easily work for Thanksgiving as well! So what I want to know is: What's the best cupcake you've ever had? One that you made, or one that you bought?