Lexington

N.'s dad found this wind-powered motor thing on craigslist or something that some guy was giving away for free and he wanted it for his boat. N's dad lives in Florida; the thing was in Lexington...

Time for a roomie adventure! 

I actually really didn't want to go because it was early Saturday morning and I am lazy, but I did it. The weather was beautiful and to get in the spirit we made up a song as we were biking. It went:

"We're going to Lex-ing-ton

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

There will be no rain

Only sun

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. 

Who is going?

Two, not one

It's going to be a ton. of. fun. "

There is no tune. Thankfully we didn't pass many people on our way to Cambridge. 

We arrived in Cambridge looking pretty cool. 

We then met our manager/friend Q. who let us borrow his car. N. can drive!

But not park.

The motor thing was wayyy smaller than expected. 

So we had a lot of room in the trunk. We went to Trader Joe's and DSW and JoAnn's. There I found this awesome Duct tape while N. was busy looking for fabric and fancy needles. 

Not gonna lie, this trip kinda made me want to move to the suburbs. Everything is so big and clean there and it's easy to get around! It was nice to be back in the city though. 

We ended the day successfully with a full car! 

Later that day, we biked to a BBQ in West Roxbury. Who knew West Roxbury was so nice? I would totally move there. Lots of hills though. We even had to walk our bikes up one (don't tell anyone).

We arrived home to this lovely couch in our yard. Our landlord was moving some stuff and left it. We relaxed on it for a bit until he came back, at which point N. literally jumped up, ran away, and tried to hide in the basement. I played it cool.

A wonderful summer day :)

Midnight Marathon

I convinced some people to do the Midnight Marathon with me!  Despite a few initial road bumps like failing to obtain a Midnight Marathon Train Ticket (Q. missed the sale by only a few minutes!) and missing the first charter bus, thanks to Facebook and a stranger named Jed Jeng I was able to get all 8 of us onto the 2nd charter bus!  Woohoo!

As the night approached (Sunday April 14th in case you are wondering), I got a little nervous and decided to do a trial run on my day off.  I carefully mapped out a route on google, copied directions down and headed out on my bike.

Per usual I missed my turn and ended up in Milton.  Then Roslindale and finally Dorchester to where I was actually heading...Target!  At the end of the day I was confident that I could ride the route and had managed all of my errands as well.

This was actually my second year doing the ride and I was a bit concerned that since losing my bike naivety I couldn't go out on this ride unprepared.  Last year we had hopped on the trail with only our bikes, a few snacks and some water but had miraculously finished unscathed.  This time I was certain I'd get a flat and remain the laughing stock of my work.

So I decided to make a flat kit!  Initially I was working on a fanny pack but then decided to just make a bag that connects to the bike, large enough to hold a tube, tire levers, multi-tool, 15mm wrench and a banana!  I researched a few models online and got to work.

Half a day later with the help of V.'s sewing machine I was set!  Reflective details and all.

Sunday rolled around and one guy dropped out of our group!  I also worked all day.  D. and Z. met me after work and along with DD we rode over to South Station where I had to continue work by handing out coupons and stickers.

Tons of cyclists mulled around with excitement in their eyes and shiny new stickers in their fists.  Q., C., and F. met us at the station and I managed to sell the extra ticket.  We stuffed our bikes under the bus (except for Z. who put his in a UHaul) and set off for Hopkington!

One hour 51 minutes and 56 seconds after we unloaded our bikes at the start line and took off we made it to Copley Square, somehow losing D. in the mix.  Along the way we'd chatted up new friends, raced old ones and couldn't figure out which measly hill was supposed to be a Heartbreaker.

Orange Marmalade Ice Cream

No words necessary.

-N.

Restaurant Review: The Real Deal

I bought a Living Social to The Real Deal a while ago!  It was $15 for $30 worth of food, a fact I had forgotten when P. and I decided to go try it out.  When we arrived I actually looked at the deal and we began compiling what we were going to order.

The menu at The Real Deal is extensive.  SO MANY OPTIONS.  P. and I had to go sit down to formulate our plan:

• The Zombie Burger (P.)
• Carmela Soprano (Me)
• Spicy Curly Fries
• Mozzarella Sticks

We placed our order and asked what our total was.  $26!  In a pinch we added on two cupcakes, chocolate cake with white icing for me and chocolate on chocolate for P.!

When our food was ready we brought it back to the table and stared at it in amazement.

S. insists that the curly fries here are the best, and since the grease was already soaking through the bag it seemed promising.

This shot shows almost all of the food, you can see the cupcakes in the plastic container.

P. and I focused our energy on the fried foods as they tend to not heat up well.  We polished off the mozzarella sticks with only a little trouble and ate a decent amount of fries although both of us only took about two bites of our paninis/burgers.

We then walked the leftovers home and ate the cupcakes.  They were GOOD!  Like really good, surprisingly tasty!

The next morning I used S.'s cast iron panini press to warm up my sandwich and stuck the remaining curly fries in the toaster oven topped with BBQ sauce.  I would say that the food was even better left over.  Initially I hadn't been too taken with my Carmela Soprano but reheated it was delicious!

Overall I would definitely return to The Real Deal.  I'd love to try their pizza and would definitely reorder the Carmela Soprano if only to let it sit in the fridge for a day before eating.  If I saw another Living Social I'd buy it but then bring maybe 5 people versus only P. so that we don't have to look like such pigs!

-N.

S.'s Birthday!

That's right I finally turned 23 18. So young! 

Friday night we had a ragin' party at our house. We made cupcakes with Bailey's frosting and a chocolate trifle. 

N. made me a brownie peanut butter cake! Which I ended up baking 2 days after the batter was made because our oven was broken for a while, then N. had to work. But she did this awesome frosting job when she got home!

Our friends also brought candy, more cupcakes, and a whole lot of liquor. There was also a cantaloupe filled with vodka and a bowl of jello. We have great friends. I think roughly 20 people showed up throughout the night.

The next morning, N., G., Z. and I went to Sorella's for breakfast. They have the best pancakes. N. never orders pancakes and then she is disappointed. When will she learn? Mine had chocolate chips, granola, and nuts.

After breakfast we watched Extreme Couponing then took a nap.

Later that night we went to the new Harpoon beer hall. It was larger and more crowded than expected, but they had the best pretzels EVER.

The night ended at New York Pizza, as all good nights should. We got there 5 minutes before closing and the place was a madhouse! When we left, one of the employees was physically blocking the door to keep people from coming in, and some girls outside were begging him for pizza. 

I certainly did not fall off my bike on the way home or do anything embarrassing...

Restaurant Review: Bhukara

A while ago N. and I went to Bhukara, an Indian restaurant near our house, for lunch buffet.
It was a pretty good deal - we ate garlic naan and some sort of fried vegetable thing many other delicious items I don't remember the names of.



We ate soooo much.

I tried rice pudding for the first time, and it was not too terrible.

I would definitely go back again, if I ever have a week day off of work again. It was pretty much all I needed to eat all day.

Banana Bread

For some reason I decided Thursday was the perfect day to make a ton of banana bread.  Don't ask me why, maybe it was because it'd been a frustrating day at work and S. was out of town and I love banana bread, but either way I soon found 8 disgustingly soggy defrosting ripe bananas on my kitchen table.

So I had to move quick.  We were out of eggs but from my search on egg replacers a day earlier I knew my plain yogurt should be a good replacement so I searched for some recipes and came across this!  My mom also gave me her delicious Banana Snack Cake recipe so I decided to try and make an egg-less version of that as well.  Finally my plan was to make these because I had a weird idea that I needed to use up all the bananas RIGHT NOW!

I put P!NK on repeat, started singing and began baking.  It was actually one of my cleaner baking experiences.  I used two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for melting the butter and for the wet ingredients and then reused them from recipe to recipe!  I think I'm finally learning.  I did forget to take pictures though, so that's a slow process.

First I made the Eggless Banana Bread subbing out plain non-fat yogurt for the applesauce, doubling the vanilla extract and with dried cranberries!  Into the oven that went.

Next up was my mom's Banana Snack Cake (see below).  Yogurt for eggs and with chocolate chips and crushed walnuts.  I failed to read that I should press the nuts on top and instead mixed them in with everything.

I then realized that I didn't have enough oats for Sally's Peanut Butter Banana Oat Bars.  Let's be honest, it's a good thing.  I put the remaining 2 bananas back in the freezer.

Unfortunately I think our oven might be broken because both recipes took forever to bake and I ended up turning it up to 400 since it didn't feel hot.

After a while a toothpick came out clean and I went to bed!  Who wants banana bread?

Banana Snack Cake

Eggless Banana Bread with Cranberries

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Banana Snack Cake

(Mom’s Recipe)

Ingredients

            1 cup softened margarine or butter

            1 cup sugar

            2 eggs

            1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 Tbs vinegar)

            4 mashed medium bananas

            1 tsp vanilla extract

            2 cups flour

            1 cup quick-rolled oats

            1 1/2 tsp baking soda

            1/2 tsp salt

            6 oz. chocolate chips

            1/2 cups chopped pecans (or a different type of nut)

Directions

            1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F

            2. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together with a mixer until fluffy.

            3. Mix in eggs

            4. Stir in buttermilk and vanilla, mixing well

            5. In a separate bowl, stir flour, oats, soda and salt to mix

            6. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture; mix well

            7. Stir in bananas

            8. Spread in a greased 9” x 13” baking pan

            9. Sprinkle nuts on top and press lightly

            10. Bake for 30-35 minutes