New Muse Album on Myspace Today

You should all listen to it. It's yummy.

Black Holes and Revelations

I wish they were coming to the MD/DC area this time around. Guess we'll have to wait until the fall.

Diet Coke and Mentos

It works. You should try it. Best $3.50 I've ever spent.

(Note: This is someone else's picture.)

Multiple Carriers

As most of my ten readers know, I recently traveled to the other coast. I did this using multiple airline carriers. Why would I do such a thing? Because it was cheap, that's why. Well, it seems there's a reason for these discounted flights.

I bought my ticket through Northwest Airlines. After purchasing the tickets, I realized that the "to other coast" trip was operated by Delta airlines. We would only be flying Northwest on the return trip. This seemed alright to me after clicking the confirm button.

A few weeks later, an email was received stating that our original return flight (on Northwest) was cancelled. We were supposed to red-eye it back on Sunday night and return on Monday morning to rest. The new flight had us leaving on Monday afternoon and not returning until Tuesday morning. I called Northwest airlines and worked out a new schedule with the customer service representative. We would now be leaving on Monday morning and returning on Monday afternoon. We would be flying from Portland to Minneapolis and then to Baltimore. She informed me that she had waived the fee for changing the flights. (How nice of her to do so after they screwed us out of a day of rest!)

I thought we had it all figured out.

Fast forward to the day of departure. The airport shuttle picks us up at 3:15am for our 6:00am flight. We check the monitors. Our flight is right on time. The little check in yourself convenience kiosks do not open until 4:55am. No problem. Still more than enough time to get through security and onto the plane. Did I mention we were waiting in the Northwest line? We get to the front of the line and are told to go wait in the Delta line. Had it not been 4:55am, we probably would've already figured that out.

We get to the little check in kiosk. We type in our names. We say we each have one bag to check. The prompt tells us it cannot print out our boarding passes. The following is what ensues after this message:

(note: Delta customer service representative is merely a nice term I'm using for this guy who works at the ticket counter who has no idea what's going on and I think was hired by another airline merely to piss people off so that they will never fly Delta again. He will hereby be referred to as DCSR)

DCSR: How are you getting from Minneapolis to Baltimore?
US: We are flying from Portland to Minneapolis and then to Baltimore. See, it says so on our itinerary computer print out.
DCSR: But, how are you getting from Minneapolis to Baltimore? There is something wrong. You must go to Northwest and figure it out.

(We walk back over to the Northwest counter and stand in line. The Northwest guy shakes his head because the Delta people cannot figure anything out. He prints us out an itinerary of our trip and sends us back. We walk back to the Delta counter and stand in line)

US: Here's our itinerary (that we already had before). See, we're going from Portland to Minneapolis and then to Baltimore.
DCSR: But, how are you getting from Minneapolis to Baltimore? See, today is June 7th. How are you getting from Minneapolis to Baltimore on your way home?
US: Well sir, if you look at the itinerary, it clearly states with flight numbers that on the 12th, we will be traveling from Minneapolis to Baltimore.
DCSR: But, how are you getting from Minneapolis to Baltimore? See, (pointing to itinerary clearly typed in black ink) today is the 7th.

(At this point, I am pretty much freaking out. This guy is being ridiculous. It is now 5:20am and we are getting nowhere with this person. He is not helping and, as you can read, just keeps asking us the same question.)

US: What is it about this that you don't understand?
DCSR: What is it about this that YOU dont understand?

(My husband tells me to calm down and the DCSR says "yes, I think that's a good idea". Had I actually heard him say this, I probably would've punched him in his bullshit face and gotten arrested. But, luckily I'm half deaf and I missed it)

At this point, I motioned for someone else to help us at the ticket counter. I think the guy who was helping us was a reject for a bad version of some heavy metal cover band. It was now 5:25am and he told us we had "plenty of time". He took about 10 minutes on the computer and printed out our boarding passes. It seems they had every single flight originally booked on Northwest. So, in Delta's computer, we were coming home on multiple days and it wasn't allowing us to print out our boarding passes.

We made it through security and just made our plane. Vowing never ever to fly multiple carriers again.

ever.

Please don't let this happen to you. Don't fly multiple carriers! It is not worth saving 80 bucks a ticket!

If you've made it through this incredibly long post, thanks. I promise the next one will be shorter.

Cupcakes

I love cupcakes. They are my own little serving of cake. They feel like they were made especially for me. They are aesthetically pleasing to my eye. They are so cute.

I remember going to my Nana's house every weekend when I was a little girl. She always had a container of cupcakes with sprinkles sitting in her kitchen. I think this is where my obsession with all things cupcake began. I always loved when it was someone's birthday in school because I would get to eat cupcakes for lunch. I especially loved the ones baked in ice cream cones.

I had repressed my childhood obsession until a few years ago when I tasted a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in New York City. The icing is plentiful and the cake is divine. Every time I go to New York, I try a different bakery. I've also been to the Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery and Baked. My next venture will be to the Buttercup Bake Shop.

I recently visited Portland, Oregon with a stop off at Saint Cupcake. They have a different cupcake menu every day and they're super tasty. That's me with my cupcake at the bakery. Yes, I'm wearing a Johnny Cupcakes t-shirt (because I'm a dork, that's why).

Here in my hometown of Baltimore, we have our own cupcake store called the Baltimore Cupcake Company. The interior of the store makes you as happy as eating one of their bakery concoctions! Visit it soon!

Finally, a story of a tragedy narrowly averted. My friend Becca kindly offered to bring me a box of Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes when she visited from New York. On the way back to her house, she ran into the side of a bridge and split her leg open while trying to balance the box of cupcakes on her bike handlebars and avoiding traffic. The cupcakes were unharmed. Thanks Becca, for your heroic endeavor. The cupcakes were delicious.

Pictures of Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery (above) and Saint Cupcake(below)



Cupcake Bakeries:
Baltimore Cupcake Company
Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Baked
Saint Cupcake
Yes, they're pricey, but they're worth it

Burgers I've Eaten - West Coast Edition

My lovely Aunt, Uncle and cousin took us to a riverside restaurant, Northbank, run by microbrew moguls, McMenamin's. The view, as you can see in the picture above, was very nice. The burgers were not.

I would like to be writing you about how much I loved my West Coast burger, but alas, I did not. It was a little too dry, and the patty was too thin. The toppings and the bun were very good though.

However, the accompanying tater tots and fantastic beer made up for the mediocre burger.



Sorry West Coast. Better luck next time.

Enough With The Magnetic Ribbons On Your Car

Haven't they been there long enough? I am tired of seeing them. Kindly remove them. Thank you.

A Diversion from Burgers. The grilled cheese from Tweede's

Last weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a pilgrimage to the little town of North Bend, Washington. Never heard of this town? Well, you probably weren't a fan of Twin Peaks then. I am a huge fan of Twin Peaks. I remember eating cherry pie and drinking black coffee at the ripe old age of 13 during every episode. I would sit and analyze the characters' every move. Yes, I was a big dork (and still am).

Tweede's Diner, as it is now called, was used as the exterior shots for both the show and the movie. In the show, it's called the "TT Diner". The original interior of the diner, before it was set on fire in the late 1990's was used in the pilot episode of Twin Peaks. Now, the interior is lined with hundreds of Tweedy birds, which is quite creepy, if you ask me.

I ordered the grilled cheese on wheat toast. It comes with all you can eat fries. The grilled cheese was perfectly prepared. The cheese was very melted, and just enough butter was put on the bread, so it wasn't greasy, but crunchy. This is the best grilled cheese I've had in years.

The fries were fresh, and tasted like they were fried in peanut oil. They were also all you can eat.

But, I had to save room for pie.

The pie was good, but the crust was a little soggy for me. I still enjoyed it thought because it was "the" cherry pie. Doesn't it look delicious?

Burgers I've Eaten - Part 2

Today, the chain, Five Guys. Five Guys has locations throughout the east coast. They have a simple menu of burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese, and fries. The fries are made from fresh potatoes and fried Thrashers style in peanut oil. but, this isn't a blog entry about french fries. Let's get to the burgers.

I ate at Five Guys two times last week. Normally, I don't eat that much red meat in a week, but I couldn't resist taking my husband there last weekend to share in the experience of eating this burger.

The burgers at five guys are hand formed patties. Hand formed patties of goodness. They are cooked on a grill until they are well done. There are two options for your burger enjoyment at Five Guys. You can get the little burger with one patty, or the regular burger with two. Personally, I am not a fan of the double decker burger, so both times, I went with the little burger.

This burger is far from "little". The patty is not too thin, not too thick. The burger is grilled until it is juicy and slightly greasy, but not greasy enough that it impacts the bun. The bun stays a bread consistency and doesn't congeal into a gooey, oily mess while you're eating it, another positive aspect of eating this burger. This may have something to do with the buns being grilled before assembling the burger.

The selection of free toppings for the burger is also impressive. Fresh onions, fried onions, pickles, mushrooms, Jalapeno peppers, hot sauce, bbq sauce, A-1 sauce, along with the standards of mayo, ketchup, and mustard. (Although my husband informed me it's rude to smother a perfectly good burger with A-1 sauce. Still, I'm glad the option is there).

For the first burger, I chose ketchup, fried onions, pickles, and cheese. The second burger was adorned with fresh onions, ketchup, cheese, and pickles. I liked the fresh onions better, but had to pick off some of them, because I thought the sheer number of them overwhelmed the taste of the burger. I recently made friends with the pickle, and am now enjoying its tartness on burgers.

Another positive aspect of Five Guys is that it's cheap. Two little cheeseburgers, a large fry, and a drink will run you about twelve bucks. Not bad for a fulfilling Saturday afternoon lunch.

I'm venturing to the west coast this week. Hopefully, I'll return with another exciting installment of "Burgers I've Eaten - West Coast Edition". Until then, happy eating.

Burgers I've Eaten - Part 1

Today, I embark on a new series of posts about burgers I've eaten. Those of you who know me, know that I am relatively new to the burger eating experience. I am a former vegetarian of 12 years. Why did I start eating meat again? That story is for another time. Today, the topic is Burgers. More specifically, burgers I've eaten.

I start this off with my favorite of the burgers so far, the Black and Blue burger at Friends. For many years, I would only eat the catfish sandwich, or the bbq chicken pizza, along with an appetizer of crab dip. I didn't even notice they served burgers until a few months ago, and ordered it on a whim.

These days, I am hooked on their Black and Blue burger. I eat it prepared Medium, on a sesame seed bun, with a few red onions. It is not too fat, not too thin, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. The burger is somewhat scorched on the edges, hence the black. And the blue cheese compliments the taste of the meaty burger better than ketchup ever could.

My only complaint is that it's a little too small for the enormous roll. It is served with a side of fantastic fries. It is my favorite burger, in my favorite bar, in my favorite city. And there you have it, a short shout out for the Black and Blue burger at Friends.

(Side Note: The crab dip has since been taken off the regular menu and used to be the best in Baltimore. They did inform me that it would be back sometimes as a special)

O's Fans - Do Your Part!!!!!!!!

Go to www.mlb.com and click on the icon to vote for Orioles players in the All Star Game. Let's vote in Tejada and VOTE OUT Derek Jeter!

You can vote up to 25 times, so please, pretty please, for me?

Thanks!