Radiohead

Is there a better live band these days? I have a difficult time choosing between Radiohead and R.E.M. These videos are from their live webcast last night. I missed it because I was watching one of the best political speeches I've ever seen.

Pepino!

A few weeks ago, my cousin and my friend came over for pizza night (aka every Friday night at my house). I am a COSTCO shopper, and have been getting my canned tomato sauce by the case there for a while, and then doctor it into pizza sauce. My friend and cousin were disappointed in my Contadina selection of sauce. We got into a discussion about how the only pizza sauce to use was Don Pepino.

Having grown up with Don Pepino sauce on my pizza, I decided to try it once more. They were right. It is superior to Contadina. I also got some Cento pizza sauce to try this week, per my friend Meg's recommendation. I'm sure all five of my readers will be interested to know the outcome of this experiment.

Things I Like Thursday

I feel like I complained alot the last block of posts, so to make up for it, things I like on this Thursday:

-The trailer for the new Coen Brothers movie, Burn After Reading
-Hello Kitty
-Fruit Smoothies
-Iced Starbucks Doubleshot drinks (but only from an actual Starbucks and with 1/2 the sweetener)
-The Baltimore Orioles
-The Chick-fil-a cow
-Mold (as long as it's not growing on my food or walls)
-Snowglobes

Angel

Since I'm on the subject of vampire shows, I wanted to mention that I'm finally watching Angel. Yes, I know I missed out on watching all the Buffy cross-over episodes, but it's ok. I'm currently halfway through season two.

I thought Cordelia would get on my nerves, which is one of the reasons I waited to start this series. But, I have to say that I really love how her character has changed on this show. I find her endearing.

I am really loving Angel. I was sad to hear that Alan Ball hadn't watched either this or Buffy before creating his new one. He probably could have learned a few things.

True Blood

HBO has a new vampire series premiering next week (September 7th, to be exact) called True Blood. Normally, I would shrug this show off as just another Buffy wannabe, but it was created by Alan Ball, who created Six Feet Under and wrote American Beauty.

Since I loved Six Feet Under, and American Beauty is one of my favorite films, I'm going to give this series a shot.

Hopefully, it will be good.

Fantasy Football

Last night, I attended my first fantasy football draft. I set up my team, and hopefully, the players will score me some points. I didn't fair very well in my Project Runway fantasy team last year, so I'm a little nervous about it all. I also wonder if I'll have trouble rooting for specific players so they'll score me points.

But, I did get LT, and something tells me I'll have no problem cheering him on as he (hopefully) runs down the field week after week.

Let the football season begin!

GO RAVENS! (come on, I know you can score at least ONE offensive touchdown this year!)

Annoyed

My friend just informed me that the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed to next summer. It was slated for a November 2008 release.

The trailer just came out last week!

Where are the nods for The Wire?

How is it that The Wire was completely shutout of any Emmy Nominations?

There is something really wrong over there at the Academy of Television of Arts and Sciences. Especially when crap like Desparate Housewives gets nominated instead.

I Lied

I said I wasn't going to watch the Olympics, but now I'm all excited to watch the Olympics. That swimming relay last night was fantastic!

Shoutout

Some time ago, I wrote about a burger I'd eaten at Duda's in Fells Point. I was scanning the posts on chowhound earlier this morning, and found this tale about the employees of Duda's. Just another reason to support this fine establishment:

My brother is in the middle of a 18 month tour in Afghanistan. He was fortunate enough to come home for two weeks near the holidays. During this trip, he obviously missed the Baltimore dining scene and we hit as many of his favorite spots as we could, including Dudas. Almost all restaurant / bar owners were extremely friendly upon realizing this was a brief respite for my brother. The guys at Duda's were no different. Until a few weeks later. My brother returned to the mountains of Afghanistan and received a large package postmarked Fell Point. The guys at Duda's had sent him a giant portable crab feast, crab meat, old bay, Utz potato chip, and other stuff. It went above and beyond a simple nice gesture (the shipping alone probably coat $50).

Random Monday

1. I received my copy of Comic Book Tattoo today, and all I can say is "wow". I cannot wait to go home and dive into this beautiful book. All Tori fans should buy a copy immediately.

2. Wall-E is the cutest movie ever made! I want one.

3. I am thankful they have finally made contacts for eyes like mine that are shaped like footballs.

4. I wish I could knit and read at the same time. I have been reading alot of books, but not knitting alot of garments. Some of this is due to the fact that it's summer and I just don't feel like sitting outside with a lap full of hot wool this time of year. But it is mostly due to the fact that I missed reading.

5. Read "History of Love". It's the best book I've read in years. I wanted to start it over again when I was through.

Friday Funny

That Ernie is hilarious

Project Runway

Is it just me, or are the designers this season kind of boring? I can't believe the guy with the patchwork dress I could have made when I was 10 wasn't eliminated tonight. It looked like those fabric wreaths crafty people make. Heinous.

Do Not Read

I was accidentally sucked (ha ha) into reading the first installment of the Stephanie Meyer vampire series, Twilight, after reading about how great these books were in Entertainment Weekly. I stopped at Borders and asked some of the workers if they had read it. They assured me the books were wonderful.

Perhaps I should have followed my intuition and stayed away from them. They are terrible. It's as if this woman watched a bunch of Buffy episodes and asked herself, "How can I make the Buffy/Angel relationship completely boring and devoid of feeling as well as interesting dialogue?"

What a waste of ten dollars. I really hope this is the last time I get drawn in by a pretty cover.

Yummy Cupcakes in Boston

Back to the Boston trip for a second. I promise there is a burger post from the trip, but now I turn to my other food love, cupcakes. I finally had some decent cupcakes that I didn't make myself.

We ventured to Lyndell's Bakery. I read that it's the oldest bakery in the country. It was exactly how I pictured my dream bakery. Beautiful baked goods. So many, in fact, that I wanted to order one of everything in the store. But, I limited myself to a half moon, and three cupcakes. A half moon is kind of like a flattened cupcake pancake with lots of icing on top. I got the chocolate and it reminded me of a cake version of a Berger Cookie.

The cupcakes were all vanilla cake with vanilla, strawberry, and orange/pineapple icing. They were all delicious. A little bit of a bakery flavor to the icing, but not too sweet. The cake was perfectly made.

I am jealous my friends can go here all the time.

I also ate a Mojito Cupcake at Kickass Cupcakes, but I didn't get a good picture of it. A little pricey at 3 bucks a piece, (the Lyndell's ones were only 1.50) but they were still terrific.

Pics from Lyndell's:

The Storefront:


View of the goods:


Cupcake closeup!:

1983 Orioles

Tonight, the 1983 Orioles were honored in a short ceremony before the game at Camden Yards. This team was the first I can remember cheering for as young girl. I got a little teary-eyed as they walked onto the field.

Here's some of my favorite memories of the Orioles when I was a young girl and they played at Memorial Stadium (which was luckily only about a 5 minute drive from my house):

At my school's Halloween party, I went dressed as Herself the Elf. My mom made me elf shoes, and a little wand just like she had. Only problem was no one knew who she was (most people still don't). But, I was voted "most original costume" and the Oriole Bird himself presented me with a gift basket filled with Orioles stuff. It included a T-shirt, a team roster, and some other things that I forget. I was in first grade, after all.

During one of the games of the World Series, most of my family went leaving me at my Nana's house. I was waiting on the back porch for everyone to get back when my Uncle Irv handed me a 1983 World Series hat from the game.

I had an operation on my right ear when I was in preschool. My mom brought me a stuffed Oriole Bird as a present when I was in the hospital. I can remember being super happy that she had gotten it for me.

My Aunt B and Uncle Irv got us front row seats and we went for batting practice. I was almost hit in the face by one of Cal Ripken's fly balls. The pole caught it though.

My mom opened a bank account once to get 4 free O's tickets. They were in the very last row against the brick wall at the top of the upper deck. I remember lots of bees and wondered if we would plummet to our doom because we were up so high. We paid for our Orioles tickets after that.

I loved the sound of people beating the bleachers when the fans would do the "We Will Rock You" cheers.

I grew up loving the Orioles and I still love them. It's funny to me to say that I "love" the Orioles, but I do. I know one day, they will be a great team again.

Best.Sandwich.Ever

I am not the biggest sandwich person. I actually go out of my way not to eat most sandwiches. But, this weekend, I ate the best sandwich ever. It was a Cuban from
Dave's Fresh Pasta on Davis Square in Somerville, MA. I can't believe my friends are lucky enough to have this place within walking distance of their house! I would eat many of these each week.

This might have just changed my view on sandwiches!

Fenway

Our kickass friends suprised us with tickets to the baseball game on Friday night. Luckily for us, it was the only game of the series the Orioles won. I was expecting Boston fans to be rude and obnoxious, but they were suprisingly really nice and approachable.

Here's some pictures!

Entrance to the park:


View usually seen on tv:


View from our seats (which were VERY close together!)


Note that the bullpen is checkin' me out...


O's win!

Off to Boston...

My husband and I are leaving for Boston in a few hours. I'm sure I will be back with some things to say about it. (Maybe I will even have a new burger post!)

Oh the excitement.

Our beloved Baltimore Orioles are playing the Boston Red Sox while we're in town. Cross your fingers for a sweep for us!

GO ORIOLES!!!!

4th of July Treats

For the 4th of July shindig at my Aunt and Uncle's house, I made some Paula Deen treats for the family to enjoy, bacon wrapped pretzel sticks, and cheese crackers. She uses breadsticks instead of pretzels, and makes cheese straws instead of crackers, but they're still her recipes. You can find them on the Food Network's website.

Bacon wrapped pretzels ready for the oven:



Out of the oven and rolled in grated Parmesan Cheese:



Cheese Crackers: