The Hunger Games review

So I finally got to see The Hunger Games. (I'm a little slow on the uptake, I know). And I guess my overall consensus is that I wasn't super impressed, but it was a lot better than it could have been, if that makes any sense.

(Major Spoiler Alerts by the way)

It baffles me that people who haven't read the book like this movie so much. I think you miss out on so much without having read the book first. I think what originally made this such an amazing story was seeing how Katniss thought through everything and knowing what was going on in her mind. You obviously miss out on all of this in the movie. For example, I think from watching the movie you could believe that she actually falls for Peeta, but if you read the book you know this is far from the case.

Also, I think that too much happens in the book for them to squeeze it into a 2 hour and 20 minute movie. You lose a lot in translation. Her relationship with Rue had hardly developed when she was killed. It just made it all very anti-climactic I think. Even the end scene on top of the cornucopia just seemed really rushed and then all of a sudden the games were over.

I'm trying to critique as a movie without thinking about the book, but it's really hard. But like I said, the general consensus among those people I know who haven't read the books is that they really liked the movie. So I guess it's good. But I still HIGHLY recommend reading the books first!! (at least the first one, because they go downhill from there) You get so much more out of the books. There's more of an emotional story and it's just overall a lot better.

A few things I really loved about the movie:

1. Stanley Tucci. End of story. Hands down he made this movie what it was, in my opinion. He was hysterical. And I loved how the scenes with him made you feel like you were actually in Panem watching the Hunger Games on your TV. I think they tried to do this with the scenes from inside the arena, but the cinematography kept switching from a steady camera to a handheld one. It got really annoying. I guess that's how they kept the PG 13 rating though, because when something violent was going on all you saw was a shaky close up of one of the characters. And then every now and then the camera seemed to get blurrier which made me think they were showing it from the perspective of people watching the Hunger Games on TV, but it kept switching back and forth. It was just really weird.

2. Liam Hensworth. Aka: Gale. But this is mostly just because he's gorgeous. Don't judge. Also, I LOVED how they showed him every time Katniss and Peeta kissed or had a moment, I literally laughed out loud every time. Oh Liam, I would choose you.

3. Haymitch. He looked so familiar and it was bothering me all movie, but now that I see who he is (Woody Harrelson) I guess I really don't know him. But regardless, I think he did really well with the roll of Haymitch.

4. Cinna. Same goes here. Lenny Kravitz did an excellent job playing Cinna.

So yeah...I guess I just liked the casting and acting.

Anywho, you should really judge it for yourself. At the least it's pretty to look at because the sets and costumes are pretty incredible. And in the hopes of ending this blog post in the most cliche way possible...

May the odds be ever in your favor!


**These pictures are from thehungergamesmovie.com**

Cupcake Week: Crumbs Bake Shop

Happy Friday!!! Usually this would be an excellent thing, but unfortunately this also marks the end of Cupcake Week.

And it marks the end of normal eating for me. Me and my roommate have decided to be crazy and go vegan for a week while also cutting out all processed food. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it. But honestly, the only two things I think I will truly miss are bread and peanut butter. And pork. It's going to be awful.

I could go to Whole Foods and grind up my own peanuts into butter, but let's be honest...I am way to cheap for that! So it looks like I'll be living off fruits, veggies, beans, almonds, hummus, and oatmeal. Yum! What more could you need?? Besides, you know, a big cheeseburger or a milkshake or a peanut butter sandwich or CUPCAKES!!!

Okay, clearly I'm too upset for this conversation right now. Let's just talk about cupcakes. And how much I have enjoyed them on my last day of freedom.

So the winner of my Best Cupcake in Boston (so far) (I definitely intend to do a LOT more "research" on this subject matter, especially after my week from hell) is...Crumbs Bake Shop!!!

Now this is a national chain...which made me hesitant to pick it as the best in Boston. But it is in Boston...and it is truly the freaking best I've ever had thus far. So good in fact that I have gone there TWICE in one week!! Me! Spent money! Twice! On giant calorie-laden cupcakes! (I actually read somewhere that their vanilla cupcake has 700 calories. I hope to God that this isn't true, but it would not surprise me one bit. And it would not [and did not] deter me from going back and shoving another one down my throat).

So for real, if you knew me, you would know that a cupcake must be pretty damn good for me to keep eating them after finding out they have over 700 calories a piece. And these are good! And I know why they have 700 calories...they are pure butter!

For real, look at that cake!!! It was so moist and amazing! I could've eaten just the cake plain without the frosting or filling! So good!

First time I went, I got this one. It's called the Good Guy. Funfetti cake with a buttercream filling, cream cheese frosting and a CRAP TON of sprinkles and awesomeness on top! It was amazing. Like I said...the cake was so moist and fresh and delicious! The frosting was also really good. I couldn't really taste the cream cheeseyness of the frosting because there were some many sprinkles, but it was still really good! They didn't even need the filling because the cake was so good on its own and there was plenty of frosting.

They had a coupon on their website for their first two weeks being opening for buy one get one free. So I grabbed my friend Vic (the girl giving me thumbs up in front of the shop) to come with me and she got the Brownie cupcake: chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting and filling and a chunk of brownie on top.

I'm not a chocolate cake person, but she devoured hers as quickly as I devoured mine so it must have been equally fantabulous!

Now today was the last day for that coupon so yesterday I printed out another one and took a trip downtown to get TWO MORE of these awesome amazingnesses! All so that I could give you a more accurate review...I hope you all realize how much I truly sacrifice for your food knowledge. You're welcome.

This time I went with the Toasted Coconut.

Yum yum yum yum yum! Now...I make a mean coconut cake! And that will be to come on a future blog post, but trust me when I say it's the best coconut cake you'll ever have. But this cupcake came pretty darn close. It wasn't quite as moist as the other one I had last week. I don't know if this is because it's a different kind or it just hadn't been made as recently or what, but it was still really good.

It was vanilla cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting, some kind of coconut flavored pudding or custard stuff (technical terms) filling, and toasted coconut on top. Yum!

I also got a Mudslide cupcake for Vic, but I don't know how good it is because I'm going to bring it to her this afternoon while she's busy at work. I know, I'm an awesome friend!

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, coffee cream cheese frosting, and chocolate chips and Oreos on top.

These cupcakes are $4 a piece, which may seem like a lot, but they are a lot bigger than your standard cupcake. Perfect for splitting with someone or cutting in half to have it two days in a row (that is, if you're strong enough to stop eating it halfway through).

The service here was also phenomenal! They were all really friendly and helped you decide which flavor to choose (because seriously, there are AT LEAST 25 different flavors! even more reason to keep going back again and again to try them all).

Overall, I was clearly very impressed! Check this place out! And you can see where all the food trucks hang out outside South Station from the bakery. Head downtown for some lunch and pop in here for dessert!

Rating Breakdown (out of 5):

Frosting: 5
Cake: 20
Number of Flavor Options: 55
Price: 3.5
Overall Taste: 5

Cupcake Week: Party Favors

It kills me to put this place as a runner up for best cupcake in Boston, because until a week ago..they were my absolute favorite. And it's such a small, hole-in-the-wall, unassuming place that you would never expect there to be a bakery inside...let alone a bakery with amazing cupcakes! But instead I am placing them in second place to some chain bakery (which should tell you how absolutely amazing tomorrow's cupcakes are going to be). But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First runner up goes to...Party Favors in Coolidge Corner.

Doesn't sound like a cupcake place, does it? Well, you are welcome for letting you in on this little secret. This is actually a pretty adorable shop. Half of it is party favors and has some pretty neat stuff, especially around the holidays. Me and a friend came here for Halloween (to get cupcakes) but we did look around at all the costumes and Halloween decorations and they had some cool stuff!

The other half is a bakery/candy shop. I guess that's how you'd describe it. They have chocolates/candies/fudge on one side and then cakes/cupcakes/tarts/etc on the other side.

They make wedding and special occasion cakes too, but they always have a good selection of individual cupcakes in the fridge. And did I mention they are always adorable?

I mean, come on! Almost too cute to eat. ...almost.

These were the standard-sized cupcakes and I'm pretty sure they were around $2.50 each. I remember looking at the price and going "wow that's very reasonable" so it must have been in that range.

I love these cupcakes. They manage to have really good frosting AND really good cake that could stand on its own. They also have a perfect ratio of frosting to cake (for me, at least).

So cute!

These are probably the best bang for your buck cupcakes that you will get in Boston. Because they aren't exclusively cupcake place, they don't have a wide variety of flavors. Their pastry cooler has a few more like red velvet and such, but they're bigger and more expensive. The ones that you can get in the half dozens or dozens (or one if you want) are limited to chocolate and vanilla. But I am completely fine with that!

Some of them have delicious cream fillings in the middle and some don't. It's like a treasure hunt! So my tip to you....buy a dozen so you're sure to get some with the filling.

They also have mini cupcakes and bigger ones.

I know it's hard to see how big it is there, but this easily fed two of us and look how pretty it is!! (Way too much frosting for me though...good thing I have a mother who loves it). And I think all of these big size ones have cream fillings. Yum!

You'll probably have to Google Maps this place, but it's right on Beacon St. in Coolidge Corner. You should check it out and tell all your friends!

Rating Breakdown (out of 5):

Frosting: 5
Cake: 4.5
Number of Flavor Options: 2
Price: 5
Overall Taste: 5

Cupcake Week: The Cupcakory

Happy Wednesday! You did it...you made it halfway through the week...it's practically Saturday! (Although I'm not sure if this is a good thing seeing as this is CUPCAKE WEEK! And who wants a week like that to go by quickly? Not I.)

So as I said yesterday...it was very difficult for me to choose between this cupcake place and SWEET cupcakes because they were very close. But they both have the complete opposite problems. SWEET has good cake with mediocre frosting, whereas the second runner up for my best cupcake in Boston has AMAZING frosting and mediocre cake.

Without further ado...The Cupcakory food truck!

One thing I will definitely criticize this truck for though is how boring it is! I mean, come on!!! You're a cupcake food truck! Plain white with green letters is not NEARLY as exciting as it should be.

My mom and I came here the other week when we went to Roxy's at the SoWa Winter Market. We had to wait awhile for them to show up, I mean come on...people totally start eating cupcakes at 11 in the morning! But luckily for them, and for us, and for cupcake week they pulled in just as we started walking to our car. So we waited for them to get set up and were happy to be their first customers.

I was very disappointed with the selection available on the truck. Now I know I just got done saying I was a vanilla kind of girl, but not everyone is. And if you're going to claim that you will have 5-6 rotating flavors available at a time on the truck on your website, then you should have at least 5. At least!

But alas...they only had double vanilla, double chocolate, salted carmel, and Guinness and chocolate. So this limited me to only one option seeing as I don't like chocolate cake. Not good Cupcakory, not good.

Okay, now I'm done complaining. Let's talk about how they tasted!! As I said earlier, the cake was just mediocre. Not the kind of cake that I could eat plain. I needed all the frosting that was available to make sure I had enough in every bite to cover up the blandness of the cake.

Now let's talk about that frosting!! On the menu it is described as a Madagascar Bourbon vanilla buttercream. What is Madagascar vanilla??? And where can I get some? Seriously...I will marry this vanilla bean! This was the best frosting (flavor-wise) that I think I have ever tasted. I'm not sure if it was a buttercream though. My mom didn't like it because it had more of a whipped cream consistency. It wasn't THAT bad, but it was very light (which I don't think is a bad thing, but my mom didn't like it).

I put my cupcake in the fridge for a few hours before I ate it though, and when I took it out the frosting had thickened up a little and was more frostingy (is that a word? I thought so) and ohmygod was it good! I'm not a huge frosting lover. I only like as much as I need to complete the cupcake and then I usually leave the rest behind. I can't just eat gallons of frosting anymore like when I was a kid (okay, maybe last year...) But regardless, I hope I never encounter a giant batch of this frosting because there is not enough willpower in the world to prevent me from inhaling it all!

So yeah...I suppose I can only say so much about how delicious a frosting is so I will stop boring you now. Oh yeah...and they were $3 a piece...pretty standard for their size. Here's the breakdown...


Rating Breakdown (out of 5):

Frosting: 15
Cake: 3
Number of Flavor Options: 2.5
Price: 4
Overall Taste: 4

Cupcake Week: SWEET Cupcakes

Well after a weekend filled with a BU hockey loss and a SU basketball loss, I was pretty depressed. But luckily I rebound quickly and was shouting at my TV during a Bruins game in no time and now I've bounced into NHL playoffs mode and the sports-lover in me is all happy and excited again!

Andddd I found out I can officially stay in Boston for the summer playing in the band!!! Which means I will be able to try every single restaurant/cafe/cupcake/slice of pizza/crepe/sushi place in Boston!! (Well, you can bet I'm going to try).

One last thing before I launch into Day 2 of CUPCAKE WEEK...I have a new obsession. Apparently my picture-taking obsession goes beyond just food. Lately, I've been sitting at my desk doing homework every night and keep getting mesmerized by the sunset and have the sudden dying urge to take a picture of it. So since my computer is now overloaded with millions of sunset pictures from the last week, I figured I would share them with you.

I love Boston! Well, now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time for cupcakes!! SWEET cupcakes to be exact.

Now I'll admit, I had a LOT of trouble picking between these next two cupcake places to decide which one was better than the other. They both have their pros and cons so this was serious work. And let's face it, all cupcakes are delicious...choosing one as more your favorite than another is just a cruel task to place upon yourself. But fear not, I finally made a decision!

And third runner-up for best cupcake I've had in Boston so far is....SWEET cupcakes on Mass Ave. They have four locations in Boston, but this is the only one I've been to. I'm sure they taste the same though. Also bear in mind that I came here a year ago right before I went home for summer, so it's possible that they've improved (or gotten worse, for that matter) since then.

These cupcakes weren't bad by any means, but I would say they are just average. And for $3.50 for a standard-sized cupcake, I don't think just average is good enough. This is the box that we got (I can't remember which one of us couldn't wait to eat theirs before the picture was taken.)

This was during playoff season. So Bruins...you're welcome. I'm sure my family eating these cupcakes early in the playoffs is what led you to win the Stanley Cup. I suppose I'll have to go back here again before going home to ensure the same outcome. But anyway...yeah see those little paper, INEDIBLE circles? 50 cents extra each! Really Sweet Cupcakes, really??

But I guess $1.50 was worth the Stanley Cup.

We stuck to plain vanilla because I guess that's just the kind of people we are. And that's the best way to tell if a cupcake is really good...if they're delicious without all that fancy stuff. These unfortunately didn't knock my socks off. It was called "The Sweet Cake" and described as creamy Madagascar vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. (Side note: I'm not sure what Madagascar vanilla is, but you'll see it again tomorrow so apparently it goes good with cupcakes.)

The cakes were pretty good, not super moist, but had a lot of flavor (must be that Madagascar vanilla). But the frosting was kind of just eh. And I really like frosting...not a lot of frosting (unless the cake is bad and the frosting has to cover it up) but I do really like frosting. This was just kind of like regular old vanilla buttercream. Which isn't bad!! But come on...I'm picking the best cupcake in Boston here, people!

They did carry a lot of different flavor options though, so maybe if I wasn't a boring vanilla kind of gal I would have really enjoyed some of the other flavors. I guess you'll just have to try it out for yourself!


Rating Breakdown (out of 5):
Frosting: 3
Cake: 4
Number of Flavor Options: 5
Price: 3
Overall Taste: 4


One last side note: GO BRUINS!!

CUPCAKE WEEK!!!! Kickass Cupcakes

So I guess summer's over? That was fast. So than does that make this real spring now, or have we skipped right into fall? Oh it's supposed to be 70s again next week? Spring it is! But lucky for all of you, I have just the thing to get you through these next five 40 degree days.....

CUPCAKE WEEK! CUPCAKE WEEK!

So remember that time I agreed to find the best pizza in Boston for you? Well, I'm still working on it, but Pizzeria Regina is still massively in the lead.

I have also taken another challenge on...the best cupcake in Boston. Side note: This does not mean that you cannot go out and try every single one of them for yourself. But make sure you let me know how they are, or better yet...bring me along!

So anywho, this week I will review 5 prominent cupcake bakeries (or food trucks) in Boston in order of least favorite to most favorite.

First up: Kickass Cupcakes Food Truck

Now, just because this is first on my list doesn't by any means mean that it was a bad cupcake, it just wasn't the best. The frosting was really good, but the cake part of their cupcakes are really dry and flavorless.

The frosting and fillings of their cupcakes tend to offset this. I got a Cookie Dough cupcake when I went and the giant chunk of cookie dough in the middle definitely made it infinitely better. But in order to be called Boston's best cupcake, you need to be able to eat the cake part without any frosting or fancy fillings.

Cupcakes are $3 a piece on the truck which is pretty standard in the city. They stopped coming to BU last fall, so I haven't seen them in awhile and I've never been to their store in Somerville.

Rating Breakdown (out of 5):
Frosting: 4.5
Cake: 2.5
Number of Flavor Options: 4.5
Price: 4
Overall Taste: 4

Roxy's Grilled Cheese

I don't know whether to be ecstatic about this weather or deadly afraid that the world is going to end any day now. Especially living in Boston...we're gonna be some of the first people to die when all the glaciers melt and flood the continents. Oh well...I guess there's nothing we can do about it but enjoy this gorgeous weather!

And what better way to enjoy great weather than taking to the streets for some good ole food truck food?

I watched Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race all summer and nearly turned into a crazy fangirl the first time I actually saw Roxy's Grilled Cheese on the streets of Boston. I mean, it's practically like running into Johnny Depp on the sidewalk! Well...almost. Speaking of meeting celebrities...I totally saw Tyra Banks at Raleigh-Durham airport this weekend, but these two girls next to me ran up to her and her body guard was like "be quiet..no pictures!" HOW RUDE!

Anywho...back to oozy, melty, gooey grilled cheese! Now, Roxy's comes to BU every weekend and I had tried them before, but I must admit I wasn't blown away. Me and my mom ordered the Mighty Rib Melt and it was good, but not OHMYGOD good. There's a huge difference.

Alas, this weekend as my mom was dropping me back off at school. (If you hadn't noticed, I love when my mom comes to visit because then I have a real excuse to try all these non-dining hall foods...for free). We decided to go to the SOWA winter market to kill sometime. There's a lot more stuff in the summertime, but my favorites When Pigs Fly and Q's Nuts were there! Those deserve their own post another time though.

After our shopping (and filling up on When Pigs Fly bread samples) we decided on Roxy's for lunch. I was surprised there were only 2 food trucks there. There were like 8-10 when I went in the fall. That was another down side, but oh well.

We were going to get the Rookie Melt, but they hadn't gotten their tomato delivery yet, so we eventually decided on the Winter Classic. And man, am I glad we did! It was Vermont cheddar, white bean and eggplant ragout, and an artichoke spread.

The flavors went together perfectly! It seemed like an odd combination to me at first, but anything that contains melted cheese with artichokes is bound to be delicious! You couldn't really taste the beans, but there were a lot in there. And the eggplant added a nice flavor to the entire sandwich.

So I suppose my only complaint about Roxy's now is their variety of sandwiches. I think they should have more changes or a more rotating menu. I remember last fall they had a Mushroom Lovers sandwich, but of course they stopped serving it the week before I went there. With more variety, I would definitely consider returning there for lunch over the summer.

Happy Wednesday everyone and enjoy this great weather! (while you still can!)