Austin to Baltimore, via Albany

This post is about a month overdue. But better late than never!

In the middle of September, I made my third cross-country drive this year.

My friend Rachel (my BFF in Albany) flew to Austin to make the long drive with me. She had about another month in Albany, so I had to take her back there. Originally we planned to take this random southern route (so I could hit more state capitals), but decided that adding 10 extra hours of driving on really didn't sound appealing. So the night before, we rerouted ourselves on a more direct route.

We left Austin on a Friday morning (Sept 18). I did a bad job at taking pictures on the trip. We made it to Memphis that night. We explored Beale Street (So much live music out in the streets! So fun!) and ate dinner at a Memphis bbq place called the Pig 'n' Whistle. (Memphis/Southern bbq is different than Texas bbq. It's pulled pork, as opposed to brisket and such. I've mentioned this before.)

Saturday was loooong. We decided that we wanted to make it to church in Albany Sunday morning, so we went as far as we could. We even ended up skipping dinner at the Cracker Barrel in Erie, PA because we didn't want to lose time. That tells you something.

But we did make a stop in Frankfurt, KY so I could add capital building #24 to my list.

We arrived in Albany Sunday morning, just in time for church. (Well, a few minutes late, actually, but I was booking it as fast as I could on I-90 across New York while avoiding getting pulled over.) We weren't supposed to arrive until Monday, so we surprised people. (Except the Porters; I was staying with them, so I had talked to her the night before, and they knew we were coming then.) Some people's looks of surprise made it especially worth it. :)

I stayed in Albany until Wednesday and had such fun! Monday was spent relaxing, having lunch with a friend from church, having dinner with Nathan, and then playing ultimate with the Albany gang. So fun! Except it got dark a lot faster than I was ready to be finished playing. And the light on Bill's frisbee seemed to be burned out, so we couldn't keep playing too long after it got dark.

Tuesday was probably the most adventurous day of the trip. It warrants an entire blog entry of its own; but I won't, mostly because I feel confident most of you don't want too many of the details. Anyway, so my friend Rachel works on an organic farm. Tuesday they were processing chickens, and she invited me to come along.

After some deliberation I decided that I wanted to do it for a couple reasons: (1) as a meat eater, I probably shouldn't feel queasy at the thought of slaughtering chickens; (2) I would feel more justified in eating meat if I've actually participated in the process (not that I've ever felt unjustified in it before), and it would make me feel slightly more "socially responsible;" (3) we know it's all about the story, and this would be something I would like to HAVE done, but in order for that to happen, I actually had to DO it. And when was I going to get the chance again?

So I did it. Like I said, I'll spare the details, but the experience didn't make me sick or want to become a vegetarian. In fact, I felt the entire thing was rather educational. And I did feel more enriched and socially responsible afterwords. And they even gave me two chickens as a thanks for helping. (Though not one of the ones we processed that day...rather, two that they had in the freezer from a previous time. I have eaten one of them, and I honestly thought it did taste better than a store-bought chicken. The flavor was much richer.)

Me decked out and ready to go!

Okay, sorry if this grosses you out, but I seriously could not resist putting this picture on here. (Don't worry, they're already dead.)

Here's Rachel and I on the farm later that afternoon, after the chickens were finished, everything cleaned up and we all had lunch.

From the farm, I went home and showered, then went to SUNY to pick up Nathan. We went to see this traveling display advertising Disney's new A Christmas Carol movie. The line to get in to see it was like 2 hours, but we managed it. But it was interesting. They had lots of things from the movie (like costumes they based the animations on) and different rooms explaining different aspects of making the film.

Then we went back to his place to eat Texas waffles! Back in June after he drove back to Austin with me, I bought him a Texas-shaped waffle maker as a thank you present. So fun! Texas waffles really are the best.

What a great time. Next day I headed down to Baltimore, and well....you know the rest from there.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

It's fall! And finally the return of one of my favorite foods....pumpkin!

People try to convince me that pumpkin and pumpkin foods are seasonal. I, for one, do not espouse this philosophy. In a perfect world, you'd be able to order pumpkin cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory whenever you wanted, or order pumpkin pancakes from Kerby Lane in June just as readily as you can in November. But alas.

Even buying a can of pumpkin at the Safeway down the street this week was complicated. It took FOREVER to find it. I had to ask several employees, and they all told me different aisles to look in. One of the cashiers even tried to convince me that canned pumpkin was seasonal. (Really?! Come on, that's why it's CANNED!) And that if I couldn't find it, it's because they didn't have it yet. (Um, hello! It's mid-October. Tis the season!) Finally as I was checking out, my cashier sent the bagger girl to go look for it and she came back to say that she'd found it, then asked with a sort of confused look, "Oh, did you want me to get you one?" Gah! YES! Meh. But I finally got it!

So first up for the fall pumkin season, is this pumpkin spice cake. And then it took me a few days to find the time to make it, but finally did tonight! So without further ado:

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 15 oz. canned pumpkin
• 1 package spice cake mix
• 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 3 eggs
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Cinnamon
  

Frosting

• 1 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 2-3 tsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F. Generously grease bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix cake ingredients until well blended. Spread evenly into pan.
3. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
4. As cake nears completion, blend together frosting mix until smooth.
5. Remove cake from oven and pan, placing on plate. Drizzle warm cake with frosting.

Notes:

• YUM!
• My drizzling job wasn't very pretty. I think my frosting may have been too thick because I was a bit...liberal...with my "ounce" of cream cheese.
  
• I didn't measure the spices, I just sort of sprinkled them in until I felt I had enough.
  
• I even used reduced fat cream cheese and it tasted fantastic.
  
• I wish I had more frosting to drizzle a bit more on my individual slice, but I ran out of vanilla so I couldn't make more.
• The original recipe said to make in a 9x13 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, but since I made it in a bundt pan, that wasn't nearly enough time. The 40-50 minutes is an estimation. I lost track of how long I really cooked it for but it was somewhere around there.
  
• I found the frosting recipe on a different website and combined it with this cake, and the results were brilliant!
  
• This is super easy, and super yummy. The perfect cake!

Woo! Bring on fall!

Chimichangas

I'm in a new recipe mood right now. (This means if I have a more successes, there may be a few more recipes coming.) Tonight I tried a recipe for oven-fried chicken chimichangas. I found the recipe online (don't even remember what I was searching for). It is FANTASTIC!

Oven-fried Chicken Chimichangas

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup salsa
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 green onion, chopped with some tops (about 1/4 cup)
• 6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
• 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
• Garnish with: salsa, cheese, chopped green onions, and sour cream

Directions:

1. Mix chicken, salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions.
2. Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla.
3. Fold opposite sides over filling.
4. Roll up from bottom and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.
5. Brush with melted margarine.
6. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until golden.
7. Garnish with additional cheese and green onion and serve salsa and sour cream on the side.

My Notes:

• AMAZING!!
• Instead of margarine, I brushed them with olive oil.
  
• I only cooked them for about 20 minutes.
• I must have overstuffed them, because I only had enough filling for 5, not 6.
• I didn't mix the cheese in with the salsa/chicken mixture, but rather sprinkled it on top after spooning the mixture into the tortilla. As a result, I'm pretty sure I didn't use a full cup of cheese.
  
• I sprayed the pan with nonstick spray, just in case.
• I brushed the oil around the ends too, not just on top. This made the ends extra crispy, which was YUMMY!
• I suspect this same recipe would also taste great with beef or pork. (Mmm....I will have to try that!)
  
• Did I mention they were amazing? So scrumptious! They were crispy, just as if they had been fried. But they WEREN'T! It's so beautiful.
  

Here's another picture, right after I took them out of the oven.

New York City!

This weekend I drove to NYC. The plan was to arrive Friday afternoon, stay at my friend Sarah's parents' house in Long Island, and meet my friend Nathan in the city. It takes just short of 4 hours, but with traffic and stops (I needed food and I was worried about running out of toll money) it took me closer to 4.5. He was attending a law conference this weekend and had gotten us tickets to see West Side Story. Woo! I was super excited. And the weekend was super awesome.

Me on the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) train to Penn Station.

We met up and saw the play. It was great! I love West Side Story. In this revival, they changed some of the dialogue and lyrics between the Puerto Ricans to Spanish, but after a somewhat negative reception, they changed much of it back to English this summer. "I Feel Pretty" was still almost entirely in Spanish, but most of the other PR songs were English. All the Spanish didn't really bug me as much as I thought it might.

Oh, and I got this great purple dress for the occasion (for like 85% off at Kohls!) and had fun wearing it!

Nathan left to return to Albany the next day, but we met up for lunch first. We ate at a place called Virgil's, a bbq place on 44th Street between 7th and 6th Ave. Turns out good bbq can be found in NYC. I got the Carolina pulled pork, but tasted some of his Texas brisket. I purposely didn't get brisket because (a) it might be disappointing (it wasn't) or (b) it might make me miss Texas too much (it did).

After seeing him off at the bus station, I headed over to a street fair we passed. It was on 6th Ave, and stretched almost 15 blocks (between about 42nd and 56th). There were booths selling random goods, scarves, food, and -- my weakness -- cheap jewelry. I tried to exercise some self control, but still came away with several pairs of earrings, a few necklaces, and two cashmere scarves. And I ate a caramel apple and a cupcake.

Here's a shot of the stretch of tents.

After figuring I'd done enough damage there, I wandered back over to the TKTS booth at Times Square to see if I could get discount tickets to a show that night. Nothing listed really caught my attention, though I'd never heard of many of the shows listed. After making a tentative decision, I got in line. While in line, someone was explaining the play "Perfect Crime" to the woman in front of me, so I asked for more information about it. Somehow I'd never heard of it, despite the fact that it's the longest running nonmusical on Broadway. Anyway, he said it's an Agatha Christy/Hitchcock whodunit type murder mystery. I love that kind of classic suspense/thriller type thing, so I bought tickets for it.

Before the show I went to this Irish Pub near the theatre at 50th and Broadway. I ate this amazing chocolate mousse cake.

Words cannot describe the awesomeness of it. It practically melted in my mouth. I was in food heaven. And I ate it all.

I went to the theater and saw Perfect Crime. I really, really liked it. I was totally confused as to what was going on by intermission (I didn't even know if who was supposed to have been murdered was actually dead), but the second act cleared it up as a very thick plot unraveled. So good!

Interesting fact: The show has had over 9100 performances, Catherine Russell, the female lead, originated the role and has only missed FOUR performances. That's amazing! She was recently inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for it.

The next day I went to church at Sarah's parents' branch. My original plan had been to drive back to Baltimore Saturday afternoon, but I stayed because they told me Julie B. Beck, the General Relief Society president was going to be there. YAY! No way would I pass up that chance. Her brother is in the mission presidency on Long Island, so they were out here visiting with two of their granddaughters. Anyway, she taught Relief Society and spoke in Sacrament Meeting. I got to meet her after RS, and she was so nice. She seemed genuinely interested in talking to me and in hearing about me. So awesome!!! And she let me take a picture with her.

I left straight from church for home. The drive was fine, despite a bit of traffic and the battery dying twice in my ipod (I neglected to charge it the night before). (Someday I may finish the audio book of Harry Potter 7. But what great driving material.) I had a great weekend!

Balsamic Genius

A few days ago I was grocery shopping and wanted to buy some balsamic vinegar. (Which I LOVE, by the way.) As I perused the various brands and sizes available, I came across something I'd never seen. I give you exhibit A:

Balsamic vinegar with a SPRAY cap. You can SPRAY your balsamic vinegar. This lid also unscrews so you can pour and measure out, as normal. Exhibit B:

This is absolute GENIUS.

I cannot get over how much I absolutely love this.

Balsamic vinegar is the BEST. But a little goes a long way and it's often tough to get just the right amount. The spray solves that problem completely. It distributes the balsamic evenly and so you don't get some bites that are overwhelming and others that are underwhelming. Perfect every time. And it's so EASY to use! There is something strangely satisfying about using it. And now I'm even using it on MORE things than I was before.

I am officially in love.

Nevermore

I've loved and been somewhat fascinated by Edgar Allan Poe ever since I was in 10th grade and we read The Masque of the Red Death in my high school English class.*

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe. He was born in Boston, January 19, 1809. He died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849. That's 160 years ago today, in the city I currently live.

As the bicentennial of Poe's birth, there have been many celebrations and events throughout the year, in various cities. (Since various cities claim stake on being Poe's city -- to name a few, Boston, the place of his birth; Richmond, VA, the place he spent much of his life; Baltimore, the place he died.) No one really knows how he died, just that he was found delirious in the streets and taken to a local hospital where he died. He died very unceremoniously, it wasn't even immediately announced. Ten people attended his funeral.

This week, Baltimore is creating a lot of hoopla around his death. Because they feel Poe was not given a proper funeral at the time of his death, they're doing it right this time around. Downtown there is The Poe House and Museum, where Poe once lived. Tonight at this house they were having a "public viewing of Poe's body" where "Mr. Poe's body will lie in state" and it would be "an open casket viewing."

There was no way I could resist this.

I headed downtown to 203 North Amnity Street, through some obviously sketchy neighborhoods. There on one of the narrow streets (that I actually missed the turn for the first time) is a rather unspectacular house, that I didn't even recognize right away. The Poe House.

And the front door.

Upon entering, the guides spoke to us for a few minutes, explaining a bit about the house, and that this would be a self-guided tour. I took one of their brochures and read the entire thing before proceeding through the rest of the house. It explained a bit about Poe's life. The part I liked the best were the clear statements that the Poe Society would neither confirm nor deny any sort of "haunting" tales about the house, but clearly stated that if you heard something here that couldn't be explained, it was probably just your imagination.

The house is incredibly small. The staircases are incredibly narrow. For example: looking down the staircase we went up to get to the second floor:

On the second floor they had a small room with several sketches, etc. of Poe and those close to him, as well as sketches inspired by his writings.


Across the small hallway from that room was the room set up for the actual viewing 0f Poe's body. It was a replica (obviously), but it was set up in an open casket and dressed appropriately. It was kind of creepy, but not terrible; the guides stationed in that room weren't playing along and acted like it was 2009 and not 1849. But it was still solemn, and in some ways felt like a real, somber viewing. They allowed us to take pictures.

A closer look.

Tonight they are holding a midnight vigil at the nearby Poe Monument. (Sorry, I won't be there.) Sunday they are moving Poe's "body" to a nearby church on a horse-drawn hearse led by a real Pipe and Drum corps. The funeral will then be a real show -- actors acting as Poe's contemporaries will speak, including the first eulogy given by an actor portraying Rufus Griswold, Poe's enemy who published a libelous obituary of him in the New York Tribune, right after his death.

As much as I would love to, I won't be at the funeral, because it seems to be sold out and costs $40 to go to. Sadness.

Anyway, here are some pictures of me, outside the Poe House and then with Poe's "body." (Is that weird?)


The Baltimore Museum of Art has an exhibit opening this month of more works of art (sketches, etc.) inspired by the writings of Poe. It opened this week and I can't wait to go see it!



* I suspect my love of the works of Poe stems from the same place that my love of Hitchcock films does.

ID pictures

As part of being in a new location and a new job, I've had to get my picture taken a few times. First off was for my ID badge for here at the Institute. It took awhile for the computer to cooperate so the guy could take my picture, so I just sat in the chair and waited. He kept saying, "Oh come on!" which was an obvious indication of his frustration with the computer. Occasionally, he'd say, "Okay, here we go," so I'd ready my smile, but then he'd say, "Oh wait, no." Anyway, it was probably a full 10 minutes of sitting there, waiting. I kept kind of half smiling and looking around the room. Then suddenly he said, "Okay, got it!" What?! No warning?! No, "Okay, one, two, three!" He just took my picture without even telling me! So this is what I ended up with.

It's not a very good picture, and I kind of wish I could get it retaken. But honestly, it makes me laugh more than anything.

Later that afternoon I was getting my membership set up at the JHU gym. They had to take my picture for an ID card too. Fortunately, she did give me warning, and I like my picture a lot better.

Can you even tell those pictures were taken just two hours apart?