Cupcakes and Baseball!

One of my very best friends, Ms. Erin Butt, came up to visit.  When she asked about my favorite cupcakes in the city I immediately took her to Sweet Mandy B's!

She loves to have a good time!

Walking into Sweet Mandy B's is the toughest part of the journey because you are faced with so many tough choices.  I mean look at this spread...

They just so happened to have a special that I had never seen before..Lemon Raspberry! mmm.  This was perfect because it was a steamy day in Chicago and lemon raspberry seemed quite refreshing.

This cupcake not only looks amazing, but it also tasted amazing!  Per usual the cake had a perfect consistency.  I would have preferred a smidge more lemon flavor.  The icing was a raspberry buttercream.  It was light and fluffy and the flavor was spot on.  I absolutely love Sweet Mandy B's and they knocked it out of the park with this summer flavor.

To make this weekend even better my beloved Reds were in town to play the Cubs!  Erin and I were able to score some great last minute tickets.  Unfortunately, it was a very sad showing and they lost big time.  Even though they didn't get the W it was SO great to be able to watch them play live!

Finally closed out the weekend with this delish turkey burger topped with a corn/avocado/cucumber salsa! So simple and perfect for summer.


Enjoy!
j

Cupcakes & Baseball!

Ah, two of my favorite things!  I am lucky enough to live in very close proximity to Wrigley Field making it quite easy to watch a ball game.  To be clear I am NOT a Cubs fan.  Not even close, but I am a huge fan of the game so I will watch regardless of the teams.  


On the way to Wrigley my friend Katie and I decided to stop for a cupcake at Phoebe's Cupcakes (chicagocupcakes.com).  Not my first choice, but it was convenient.  They had a decent selection to choose from so after a solid five minutes of back and forth I went with salted caramel and Katie chose Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie.  

Salted Caramel:  Caramel soaked vanilla cake with caramel butter cream icing topped with sea salt.  1) the cake - awesome.  It had an amazing texture and loved the flavor 2) the icing - so delicious.  Just the right amount and it had a perfect hint of sea salt so that the cake overall was not too sweet which can easily happen with caramel 3)presentation - simple, fine.  4)creativity - not the first salted caramel i have seen, but the sea salt topping was a nice touch 5)overall happiness - unfortunately delighted.  For personal reasons I really did not want to like these cupcakes, but of course they were delicious.  

Peanut Butter Fudgy Brownie:  I almost don't need to rate a cake with that title because you know it will be amazing.  peanut butter. fudgy. brownie. duh.  This was a brownie cheesecake topped with peanut butter italian buttercream.  1)the cake - the actual chocolate cake portion was not my favorite, but added with the cheesecake brought it back to amazingness.  2)PB icing - great!  Some bakeries struggle with a peanut butter icing, but this one was alright in my book.  It was very smooth and not overwhelming.  3) presentation - simple like the caramel - i like that.  4)creativity - pb chocolate is not that creative, but I have yet to see a cheesecake version.  I think it was a nice touch 5) Overall happiness - hate to love it.

Well, Phoebe's gets an official thumbs up from me.  If you are ever in boystown it is recommend.  The flavor we are holding above is Spumoni which is a pistachio cake.  This gets serious creative points, but I am not a fan of nuts so passed on this flavor.  

2 additional touches I enjoyed: dog cupcakes (can't forget about our furry friends) and self serve sprinkles.  

Wrigley Night Game

Enjoy, 
J

Baseball Season is Back

I know Opening Day was over a week ago, but it just didn't feel like baseball was back.  This was the first time in years I was not in Cincinnati for Opening Day and I can't even watch them on tv here unless I go to a bar.  In my mind it still felt like spring training.  I went to the Cubs Opening Day at Wrigley, but it felt more like a football game.  It was 38 degrees, grey, and raining.  My friend Jesse was in town from Florida so you can imagine how happy he was to leave 70 degrees to sit in the freezing rain!  To make matters worse, neither of us are Cubs fans!  We only lasted 3 innings.  We may not have even made it that long but we were with a group of die hard fans so we had to stick it out for a little bit.  

Miserable

I receive text alerts on my phone for every scoring play during Reds games, but it still didn't feel like baseball season.  That quickly changed on my trip to Texas this past week.  I went to the opening game for the Round Rock Express.  They are a Triple A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.  Now this was a far cry from the opening day I am used to in Cincinnati, but it was amazing!  The picture makes the ball park seem much bigger than actual size.

Dell Diamond

I arrived about an hour before game time and purchased a ticket for $12 - first row next to the visitors dugout. They were playing the Iowa Cubs an affiliate of the Chicago Cubs so I sat by them.  Not that I am or will ever be a Cubs fan, but it was between Chicago and Texas so I figured I'd cheer for the team where I currently reside.  Before the game I took a stroll around the stadium.  I loved that each concession stand had a different name yet the food was the exact same at all locations.  There was a swimming pool at the entrance! That was new to me.  A fraternity had rented out that area (obviously).  Then I went down to my seat to enjoy the game.  It was so great - the players came over and said hi while they were warming up and made sure to talk with all the kids.  I understand this is the minor leagues, but I loved it.  Such a relaxed atmosphere and very intimate.  Overall I really enjoyed my first minor league experience and can't wait to go back!