counting down the days

daniel & i went on a little fro-yo date the other night! lately i've been really stressed with school & finishing up my final projects for the summer semester. at the end of next week i'll finally be finished, & i'll have almost a month long break before my classes for fall start.

i went to michael's yesterday to pick up some baking supplies. i'm a sucker for cute cupcake papers & i couldn't resist picking a few up. i've told myself that i'm going to take a break from cupcakes for a while & bake something new, but now i'm being drawn back in... maybe i just need to burn myself out & then i'll work on breads, cheesecakes, etc., but for now i still have a lot of cupcake recipes lined up to try, & a lot of occasions to bake for coming up!

this weekend daniel's parents are coming to visit, & the beginning of next week marks my lease starting at my new place! i won't ~officially be living there till the 5th, but i'll be spending next week moving & getting ready to turn in my final portfolio for class on the 3rd, aka i'll be incredibly busy. on tuesday i'm picking up the keys & a new chapter in my life begins - my first apartment. lots of exciting updates & photos are to come in the next few weeks! cross your fingers for me!

tornado recovery progress

driveways to nowhere in forest lake.

on hargrove, down the road from daniel's apartment.

where hokkaido, our best sushi/hibachi placed used to be, & where i used to get my oil changed.

i drive past this part of down every day. this used to be the block of neighbordhoods off of 15th street that they cleared incredibly quickly.

i know a lot of these photos probably don't look like "progress" to anyone. regardless, in my mind, they are amazing progress from what we started with. i didn't take any photos of my own, except with my phone, after the tornado. i was in too much shock & it wasn't a priority at the time, so i have nothing to show you to compare these to. it's amazing how in so many photos houses are damaged but standing, & then a blank foundation is next to it.

so much debris has been moved in the past 3 months, it's truly amazing. the most impressive of all, in my opinion, is the clean up of the neighborhoods off of 15th street. it was literally 3 blocks of pure destruction & garbage, & now it's a complete blank slate. last night i tweeted about tuscaloosa's newly proposed housing & reconstruction plans, which i'm very excited for.

sometimes i feel like because i see this every day, it's lost it's meaning. i don't ever get close to forgetting, but it's all becoming part of the scenery now. i wish it wasn't that way.

islands in the stream

i've had all sorts of food cravings lately. first it was strawberries, then it turned into a white midnight magic from gigi's cupcakes. normally i'm not a sucker for most of the bakery cupcakes i've tried, but i'll pay good money for a gigi's cupcake any day. daniel was kind enough to bring me one home tonight right before we got down to moving business.

since i sublet my apartment from a friend, i had to move all of my things out before she gets up here to collect her furniture & whatnot. since i didn't know she was coming on wednesday until the other day, & i had class + other obligations, i basically had only today to move. moving in july alabama heat, however? hell no. daniel & i waited until 8pm & then started piling things into the car, & get this - one trip! JUST ONE! in my tiny toyota camry! safe to say i was glad - we accomplished the entire move in 2 hours exactly. trust me, it's absolutely thrilling knowing i'll be doing it all again on august 1st... except not.

i'll be done with my 2nd summer class as of thursday, & then i need to get busy planning my weekend!

love is great, love is fine

the rihanna concert last monday was amazing! the girls & i went to dinner at california pizza kitchen & then made our way to the arena. our seats were amazing - way better than i expected; we were literally right next to the stage. of course, the entire purpose of the concert was a benefit for the april 27th tornadoes that impacted my state & hometown. rihanna was very sweet, doing her own rendition of "sweet home alabama" & wearing an alabama football jersey for the final songs of the show. i've been meaning to do an updated tornado recovery progress report with lots of photos soon, i'll be sure to make that happen soon.

the next few weeks are going to be insane. last week i was busy with class, trips to birmingham & starting to pack for my move. next week, i am moving in with daniel for 2 weeks until my lease at my new apartment begins. i'm so incredibly pumped about this place, you have no idea! there is lots to do & lots to set up, so its going to be very fast-paced for a little while. my official move-in date is the 1st, but my furniture won't be here till the 5th, lol. honestly there is way too much going on & i'm going to try & enjoy this week before things get super hectic.

i just found out that the baking class i planned on taking this fall was cancelled, & you have no idea how sad i am. unfortunately, there was not a single culinary course that fit into my schedule that i could take instead. i don't think i've been this disappointed in a long time. so, i'm going to have to wait until spring. in the mean time, i'm going to keep up with my "new recipe a week" & experimenting on my own with baking techniques. i can't wait to get into my new apartment & break in my kitchen.

the perfect red velvet

every southern girl should know a good red velvet recipe. i hadn't experimented with red velvet before & i had no desire to until i tasted a batch of cupcakes my grandmother made a year or so ago. it was the most amazing red velvet i had ever had the pleasure of putting into my mouth, & i vowed to make it some day.

turns out, it was a simple paula deen recipe. while i originally was planning some dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling for our 4th of july festivities, i whipped out the mixer & got to work on these after my mother reminded me of them. i had never made cupcakes with vegetable oil replacing butter before, so this was definitely something different. i'm really happy with the way they turned out & i can't wait to make them again.


for the cupcakes:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the cream cheese frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

preheat the oven to 350 & line a cupcake pan with 12 wrappers. in a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. in a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

to make the frosting: in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

4th of july weekend

last friday, daniel & i drove down to fairhope to spend the weekend with my parents. as always when i visit, we make a ton of food, & this weekend was no exception. daniel & i have spent a lot of time relaxing, happy that we're halfway done with summer semester.

on sunday we launched my parent's boat & had lunch on the magnolia river, then made our way to orange beach to take part in fourth of july festivities. the weather was gorgeous. unfortunately, i got a pretty bad sunburn - my first in years! it's one of those that are splotchy & in weird places. i look incredibly bizarre at the moment. no photos of that, plz & thx.




not much else going on, to be honest! i start my summer term II class on wednesday & i've got a great weekend ahead of me. i just bought tickets to see rihanna in concert next monday! i'm not a fan of her as a person, but i love concerts. plus, the proceeds go to torndao relief for alabama. how could i say no?