Cake Batter Blondies

So..this happened.

They were on sale! Seriously, I need a chaperone to come shopping with me at all times. It's a real problem.

But then something else happened...and before I knew it, I had all the ingredients I needed to make Cake Batter Blondies sitting on my counter.

Seriously...I need help.

But anywho...something absolutely wonderful came out of my oven yesterday! One of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. The only thing I might find wrong with it is the fact that it is reallyyyyyy reallyyyyyy sweet! Like almost too sweet.

Almost.

I got this recipe from HERE and it is so simple to make!

Just combine all your dry ingredients, and then throw in the wet ones and pop it in the oven! And then try to wait before shoveling into your mouth. It's not as easy as it sounds.

This is what it looks like when it first comes out...although this picture doesn't nearly do it justice! And the smell!! Why have they not invented smellivision yet?? Seriously scientists, it can't be that hard!

So this is where the hard part comes in. You have to wait at least 20-30 minutes for the gooey, amazing center to set before you cut into it. (Or  you could just dig in with a spoon...I won't judge you.)

But after you cut into it, here is the amazingness that awaits you. I'll let these pictures speak their thousands of words.

Look how gooey and amazing! It tasted like pure cake batter!

And it may look like the edges would be the parts that you want to avoid because the center is pure gooey goodness, but the edges are just as amazing! It's just delicious throughout!

You need these in your life. And please mail me some!

Cake Batter Blondies

Ingredients

• 1 box of yellow cake mix
• 1/4 cup of sprinkles
• 1/4 cup of canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of milk (may need a little more if the batter doesn't come together with 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips (optional: I put them in mine, but I think it would taste equally delicious without. So your call.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir cake mix and sprinkles together.
3. Add in oil and egg and stir until combined.
4. Add in milk and stir until batter comes together.
5. Add in white chocolate chips, if using.
6. Place into a greased 8x8 pan and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. The outer edges will be golden brown, but it will still look a little undercooked in the middle. It's supposed to!!
7. Enjoy by the fistful or spoonful.

Chicken & Rice Guys

I think I have a new favorite food truck! How exciting! I will always love Bon Me and I will continue to get the brown rice bowl with tofu and shitake mushrooms quite frequently. And for $6, it's definitely affordable.

But the Chicken & Rice Guys are even cheaper and has a smaller portion option which is the perfect size for lunch!

They keep things very simple with some saffron rice on the bottom topped with grilled chicken or lamb sausage (or both), lettuce, and a slice of pita. And then you can put your own sauce on with a white yogurt sauce, hot sauce, and BBQ sauce to choose from. Now I've gone here twice in the last two days so I've had the chance to try everything.

The first trip I just got the chicken and put the white sauce on half and hot sauce on the other.

It was delicious! You can choose between a small and large size for $4 and $6 respectively. This is the small size and it was the perfect amount for lunch or a lighter dinner. I was very satisfied afterwards. The chicken was deliciously seasoned and went really well with the white sauce! Now here's a warning that needs to be heeded. The hot sauce is HOT! My friend couldn't even finish his because he put too much hot sauce on it. I like spicy hot things, but this is definitely really really hot! So be careful! I think it's good enough with just the white sauce, but if you need a little kick, don't drown your chicken in it like I did.

The second time I went I decided to go out on a limb and try the lamb sausage. So I got the combo with half chicken and half lamb. The lamb was good, but I think I'll stick with the chicken in the future. It's a little healthier without the extra grease from the sausage. But the lamb definitely tasted amazing with the white sauce!

So if you're looking for cheap, basic food on the go this is worth giving a shot. It's delicious, healthy and very cheap.

The Amazing Spiderman: A Movie Review

I still don't understand why this movie even had to be made. Are people really running out of movie ideas so bad that they have to remake a trilogy that's not even a decade old yet?

Seriously.

I had no intention of even going to see this, but alas, a bunch of us were heading to the movies and it was the only decent-looking thing playing (except Magic Mike, but we had males with us so that was out of the question). And why is Seeking A Friend for the End of the World already out of theaters?? It just came out a couple of weeks ago! Was it really that horrible? Because I really wanted to see it!

But anyway...Spiderman it was. And it lived right up to my low expectations. It was a good movie. It had excellent special effects and a nice actiony plot that kept you engaged until the very end. But that's about all it had going for it. Everyone knows the plot by now. Boy lives with uncle and aunt after his father has to run away after his experiments become dangerous. Boy gets bit by spider. Boy becomes a vigilante superhero in a red and blue spandex suit. Uncle dies. Boy sets out to avenge his death while also trying to stop a new mutant monster that's terrorizing New York.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with this movie is that the main character's main desire is never resolved. After Uncle Ben's death, Peter vows revenge on the dirty crook who killed him. Slight spoiler alert here: he never catches him! And after a point in the movie he just stops even trying. You can't have the driving force for you main character just disappear halfway through and then never be resolved. That's something you learn in Screenwriting 101. Come on, now.

Another thing I couldn't get past was the chemistry between Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. Yes, the whole awkward kid trying to ask out the hot blonde thing is funny. Up to a point. Some scenes just took it too far. It was just painfully awkward and there was no chemistry at all. I love Emma Stone to death, but not her best work in my opinion. And I wasn't too impressed with Andrew Garfield either. I'd take Toby McGuire any day.

So as a movie, it wasn't bad (except for that one beef I have with avenging Uncle Ben's death), but it just wasn't spectacular. And if you're going to remake a movie so soon and tack the word "Amazing" onto the title then you better make damn sure that it's absolutely amazing. And this fell short for me.

It's very entertaining, but nothing we haven't seen before. And prepare yourself for some pretty painfully awkward scenes between Ms. Stone and Mr. Garfield.

What's next? Are they going to start remaking the Harry Potter movies all over again now?

Fourth of July in Boston!

Yay! I was finally able to be in the best city in America for the Fourth of July!

And it was everything I dreamed it would be. Lots of crowds. Annoying tourists. Lots of waiting out in the sun. Amazing music. Some good 'ol crazy Boston weather. Incredible fireworks. And a great time!

We began the day by walking around downtown and checking out all the boats and such.

Then it was over the river we went to spend the rest of the evening in Cambridge, looking at Boston.

We settled in at about 3:30pm and got a pretty decent spot! I was surprised by how many people were already there. We were right in front of the fireworks barge smack dab in the middle of the Pru and the Hancock Tower. Only problem was that we were directly in the sun. Because if we sat in the shade then the trees would be blocking the fireworks. It was such a conundrum. But in the end we just plopped ourselves down in the middle of the sun and prepared to be miserable for the next few hours.

And we were right near the Frozen Hoagies ice cream truck. Another plus!

Exactly what we needed after walking around in the blistering sun all afternoon! Unfortunately, it was impossible to eat it all before it became a melty mess, so I was sticky and gross the rest of the day. Oh well. So worth it!

My American flag and my umbrella. The only two things I truly needed that day. (The umbrella ended up being quite useful at blocking the sun and torrential rain pellets.)

The other side of the river was quite crowded as well!

And the sun began to set and more and more people piled in...

Then the National Anthem and flyover. (Which personally I thought was pretty lame compared to the awesome 5 plane Blue Angel formations we'd been seeing all day.)

So festive.

And then we were all told to evacuate. Hah. Right.

We had seen the lightning looming behind us and knew that there was a good chance of thunderstorms all day, but no way were we moving after sitting there for 6 hours. But alas, they delayed the Pops concert and fireworks (while everyone else at home was watching the pre-recorded concert). And they tried to usher everyone into storm shelters.

That wasn't happening. We decided to take our chances with good 'ol mother nature. Sure enough, a half an hour later, things started up again after absolutely nothing happened. Not even so much as a sprinkle of rain. Even though they kept desperately pleading for us to seek shelter because (direct quote here) "This thunderstorm contains lightning."

Really? Really, Boston Police? Did you learn that in 6th grade Earth Science?

So then finally...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAOKNcinDWY&feature=plcp

And after waiting  6 hours in the blistering sun begging for anything to cool us off, the skies finally decided to open up seconds after the fireworks started. Of course!! Still an awesome time though! Despite the giant globs of water that got in our eyes as we tried to look up at the spectacle above.

Here are the few pictures I managed to get before I had to put my camera away to save it from water damage.

And we were pretty wet by this point.

And the grand finale!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kRvcMrn00U&feature=plcp

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July and thank you to everyone who has in the past and is currently serving our country so that we can enjoy the freedoms we often take for granted. We are truly blessed to be living in America. And I am so blessed to be living in the wonderful city!

Free Cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake

Who doesn't love free cupcakes??

Anybody? Anybody?

I didn't think so.

So what if I told you getting free cupcakes was as simple as following a company on Twitter? And not just one free cupcake and you're done. A free cupcake EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. And a different flavor everyday too.

This is real life, people!

Thank God I don't live closer and I work during the day or this would be a serious problem.

So I'll stop the suspense. It's Georgetown Cupcakes.

As many of you probably know already, they recently opened up a shop on Newbury St. And there was a line of like 10,000 people to get free cupcakes for their grand opening a few weekends ago. A line so long that even I just gave up and bought some overprices roasted cashews in Copley Square instead. I passed up free cupcakes!! It was a really long line.

But fear not! Because now they post the day's "secret cupcake" on Twitter everyday. And all you have to do is go in and ask for the cupcake by name and you get it for FREE. Simple. You just have to pray that you got there early enough to get one because they only do 100 per location and 1 per customer. But I imagine they last awhile, especially on weekdays. At least until more people start finding out about it. I got there at 12:30 yesterday (they open at 10am) and there were still some left.

Yesterday's secret flavor was Blueberry Cheesecake. Now I looked on their menu and it said that the blueberry cheesecake cupcake was a blueberry mascarpone cupcake with vanilla icing and I got super excited because I LOVE mascarpone cheese! But alas, maybe it was just different because it was the secret flavor, but it was just an actual little mini cheesecake. Which is not to say that that's not okay, because it was still very delicious!

It had a graham cracker crust that was more of a crumble than a crust because it kind of just fell apart, but that's totally okay with me! And then a thick layer of cheesecake with blueberries throughout. It wasn't the best thing I've ever tasted, but it was definitely quite delicious!

And free.

Did I mention it was free?

But I guess it's a good thing that I got suckered into actually buying a cupcake too so I could get a taste of what their actual cupcakes were like. All in the name of research. Just for you fine readers. You're welcome.

So I went with the Vanilla Birthday Cake. Obviously.

I suppose for only $2.75, it's not a bad deal at all. About $3 with tax. A very standard cupcake price. I was pretty surprised at how small these cupcakes were though. Not that I'm complaining. All the more reason to go get free cupcakes everyday of the week because everyone knows that calories don't count in miniature things. Duh.

Even still, I was planning on saving the birthday cake one for the next day because I couldn't justify eating two cupcakes in one day. Even though I did walk ALL the way from work to Newbury St. just to get said cupcake! But in the end, I couldn't have a perfectly delicious-looking cupcake sitting there, looking at me, without eating it. And plus...I needed to evaluate it's flavor on the same day so I could judge it's freshness. Like I said...just for you guys!

I did manage to pawn off half of it onto my smiling roommate though. So I don't really feel guilty at all.

I really liked this cupcake. It wasn't phenomonal. I don't think it lives up to all the hype, but it was a very yummy cupcakes. And I think most of that hype just comes from the fact that they have a TV show (which you should never watch because it's really stupid and blatantly staged! Cupcake Wars all the way, baby!).

The frosting to cupcake ratio was pretty good with maybe a little too much frosting. But the flavors of both were very good. I don't know where this Madagascar vanilla stuff came from, but I've been seeing it in cupcakes everywhere lately and it is freakin good! Also the cake was pretty moist. I didn't really like the sprinkles though. They had a weird, tart flavor to them that didn't go with the rest of the cupcake.

So overall, I'd give it an A-.

I like how many different flavors they have! And they have different ones for everyday of the week. And different months have different featured cupcakes. The cupcakes all look pretty plain though. Which I guess isn't a bad thing, it just struck me as odd compared to say Crumbs or Sweet.

The store itself was pretty adorable! I liked the set up a lot. I took a gajillion pictures on my phone, but I got a new phone yesterday afternoon (the story of THAT hell is to come in a future blog post) and my memory card won't work in my new phone. So until I can go to the Verizon store and get that all sorted out, I am in desperate withdrawal of all my pictures.

So have you followed them yet??

Do it.

Free. Cupcakes.

Banana Pancakes for One

Let's get one thing out in the open. I love breakfast. Love love LOVE breakfast!

Pancakes.

French Toast.

Oatmeal.

ANYTHING combining bananas and peanut butter and/or Nutella.

I go crazy.

Now let's get another thing out in the open. I'm a very routine kind of gal. Which often leads to me having the same exact thing every single morning for breakfast. 2 slices of toast (or bagel thins if I accidentally pass them in the grocery store and they fly into my cart), one slice gets covered in peanut butter (Peter Pan Honey Roast Crunch to be exact) and one slice gets covered in Nutella and then I slice up a banana and layer 9 slices on top of each slice.

I then proceed to eat half the peanut butter slice, then half the Nutella, then peanut butter, then finish with Nutella. Everysinglemorning!

But lately, I've been craving delicious breakfast foods. I just don't have time. (Waking up earlier is not an option).

I did make THESE peanut butter banana oatmeal squares one night last week and then heated one up in the morning, topped it with even MORE peanut butter and caramelized bananas. Heaven.

I apologize that that is such a bad picture, but it was early and the smell of caramelized bananas and peanut butter was intoxicating my brain.

So once I spoiled myself once, I was hooked and was craving delicious breakfasts all week. And I've been craving pancakes forEVER! I make THE most delicious whole wheat blueberry pancakes, but I think I'm the only one who would eat them and there is no room in our tiny refrigerator for pancake leftovers.

My prayers were answered when I stumbled across the pancake section of Katie's blog. And if you've never checked out her blog, you need to do it RIGHT NOW! It's a healthy dessert blog made with real foods and vegan-friendly foods. It's great.

And the best part? Pancakes for one!

I, of course, made the banana pancakes (with a few variations of my own) and it was super simple! I even had time to do it on my 7 am day! So if I can squeeze this into my morning routine, so can you!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
half a banana (mashed)
1/4 cup fat free milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Mix up your dry ingredients.

2. Then mix up your wet ingredients.

3. Then combine them all together and throw them down on a hot skillet!

Easy.

I added more sliced bananas and blueberries to mine for good measure.

This made 3 pancakes for me, but my third was pretty big so you could probably get away with 4. And it's all for under 300 calories!

The lack of eggs did make them a little hard to flip and they weren't quite as fluffy as regular pancakes, but they still tasted GREAT!

Who doesn't want a pancake breakfast on a regular workday morning? And all in under 15 minutes.

I know I do!

Brave: Movie Review

I was really hoping this wouldn't happen.

When I first started seeing trailers for Brave I was a little skeptical. It just didn't seem very Pixary. And trying new things is great and all, but I was really afraid that it would just not work out too well.

And I was right.

I love Pixar. Love love LOVE Pixar. I just checked the date on my Pixar calendar. (June is Wall-E, the one movie of theirs that I'm actually not crazy about, but I guess I've never really given it a real chance. I only half-watched it at the drive ins one summer.) But other than Wall-E, I absolutely LOVE every single one of their movies. (Cars 2 is just something we can all pretend never happened. But even that, I was at least thoroughly entertained through).

So let's talk about Brave.

I didn't like it. And I hate that I didn't like it, because I so desperately wanted to like it.

And if I had to narrow down the one thing I didn't like, it would be the plot. It was just weird. I can't think of any other word to describe it. If you are heading to this movie thinking you're going to see a great film about female empowerment and going after your dreams and creating your own destiny, you will be gravely disappointed. As I was. But that's exactly what the trailers made us think it would be about! It was supposed to be a princess movie with a twist (a GREAT idea for a movie plot) but it wasn't that at all.

I won't give away the "mid-movie twist," but it's not what you will expect from this film.

In Pixar's defense, the story was told well and it was a good movie. I just did not like the premise. And it wasn't Pixar at all.

Nothing really stood out and Wow'ed me. In Up, you have a house that flies away tied to balloons. In Ratatouille, you have a rat in someone's hat who can cook like a gourmet chef. Etc. Etc. Etc. Brave just didn't have that wow factor for me. There was no quirky sidekick or anything (although her little triplet brother terrors did offer some nice comic relief).

And the animation in Brave was impeccable. I read that it took them 3 years to develop 2 different software programs just for her hair. There are 1,500 bright red, curly strands of hair bouncing around on top of her head throughout the film, and the three years of hard work shows. The movie is just beautiful overall, slightly making up for the lackluster plot.

So I wouldn't waste your money. It definitely wasn't worth the $9 I spent. Wait for it to come out on Red Box for a dollar and prepare to be disappointed. Or just looking at the screen at the end and saying "what just happened?"

Here's hoping the next Pixar movie is a great one! (Side note: the short before the movie, La Luna, was phenomenal!)

They're doing a prequel to Monsters, Inc. about their lives in Monster University. I can't wait. And Finding Nemo is coming out in 3D. That would be an amazing movie to see in IMAX!

(And on an un-Pixar-related note, THERE'S GOING TO BE A DESPICABLE ME 2! So excited. If you couldn't tell. And the teaser trailer was adorable! I guess that and La Luna was almost worth my $9. Almost.)

Also on that Yahoo article, there was a poll at the end asking 'What is your favorite Pixar movie?'

I of course picked Up. And to nobody's surprise, Toy Story was the clear favorite. Followed by of course Finding Nemo and surprisingly The Incredibles. I never would have guessed that.

You can vote for  yourself HERE.

But tell me what you think! What's your favorite Pixar movie? And for those of you who saw Brave, did you like it??