Bunchgasm...Bloodymarys and Meat-Cupcakes

So a while ago Orion and I had this idea to one day make a Meatcake. The only draw back of said meatcake was that it was A LOT of meat and didn't make some economic sense and blah blah blah. I mean the idea had been brewing for a few years now. So finally Orion's birthday comes, I call him up and say, okay what are you going to make or get for your birthday brunch? He rambled off a bunch of ideas and Meatcake was one. After the call I called him back and said...NO Meatcake...MEAT CUPCAKES!!! I have a cake decorating set, then everyone can have one or so, less waste...etc. So Orion came over and we did preparations for the Meatcakes, they also included making bloodymarys, since I have been craving one and haven't had a good one in a while. So what you will get next is the steps of the "Day Before" brunch preparations...ending in a Brunchgasm!

BLOODYMARY

1. First off I gathered all the ingredients, you can see the picture as to the ingredients I use, but I must say Absolut Peppar delicious, some say Absolut Citron, but no...Peppar...delish!


2.Alright you all know, ice goes into the pitcher first...keep it cold people!


3. I use V8, and this time I happen to buy Low Sodium, gotta watch that sodium intake right? I also like using Spicy V8, it gives it something different and some more veggies!


4.Horseradish, key ingredient, I just eye ball it, but seriously, I think I have used to many commas here, yah think?


5. Frank's Hot sauce, just a little, but I like mine a little on the spicy side, I didn't add a lot, eye ball it!


6. The worcestershire sauce, adds that something special, yum!


5. *no picture* add Vodka Absolut Peppar, delicious, gives the little kick of spicy and you know, you need vodka for these. I think between two pitchers I used 3/4 of a bottle of vodka. they were good!

6. Add a celery stalk and enjoy!



Alrighty, so we were enjoying the Bloodymarys when we made these Meat cupcakes, BUT we did buy all the ingredients FIRST, and then we enjoyed the drinks. I had also made a list so we didn't go off and just start adding ingredients into the shopping cart, I suggest that because if I didn't have the list I am sure Orion's pressure of adding ridiculous ingredients.

So here is the recipe for a Brunchgasm...Meat Cupcakes!

Meat Cup Cakes:
3lbs Turkey
2 eggs
Bacon
Onion Soup mix
chopped celery
Dash of Worcershire Sauce
Gorganzola Cheese
Bread crumbs (I used GF ones)

"Frosting"
Instant Mashed Potatoes (we used garlic and butter flavored)
Butter
Milk
Water
(optional) Food Coloring...come on you need to decorate

Other kitchen tools I used:
frosting bag and tip
cupcake paper
cupcake tins
cookie sheet

Other prep notes:
Preheat the oven for 425
put the cupcake pans on the cookie sheet...the grease will get all over the place.
Cool the potatoes and cake before frosting, just like a cake. Alright here are the instructions.
MEAT CUPCAKES:

1. Again, gather the ingredients first, there is tomato sauce, but my meatloaf was to wet, so I chopped up some Gluten-Free Bread and made breadcrumbs...









2. Chop the celery, you need your veggies don't you? of course you get some vitamins here.











3. Next add the meat, just put it in there, use your hands, go ahead get in there...hmm meat.











4. Add the eggs, I used the 2, probably could have used one, but whatever, helps keep things together!






5. Here is a trick my mommy always did, I am sure it's nothing special and I am sure it's one of those "everyone knows about" things, but I loved my mommy's meatloaf as a kid, so I use her ingredients...Onion Soup Mix...there is spices, and dried onions, and MSG...I know...horrible.










6. Worcestershire Sauce, it adds that special something no?









7. MIX IT UP, with clean hands (of course) mix up the meat and get everything all together, its a party in the bowl and everyone is invited.











8. Twas a little wet, so I added the breadcrumbs, it was like 3 slices of GF bread which makes great bread crumbs since its crumbly to start with. I think it was like 1/2 cup or so...eye ball it until the mixture is a little more dry.











9. The meat mixture...delish!











10. Line those cupcake tins with the bacon, sounds gross, but trust me in the end you WILL be happy...it's drool worthly!











11. Spoon the mixture into the bacon cups, you know they look a little like big meatballs wrapped in bacon, add as much or as little as you want, I make mine like cupcakes, duh.











12. IMPORTANT STEP!!! Make a little hole in each meat cake...and add the key ingredient here (this is a-la Rachel Ray) a little (or big) piece of Gorgonzola Cheese, it adds something YUM!











13. Put em in the oven, remember we preheated the oven for about 425, you gotta put them on a baking sheet, less mess, trust me. Bake them for about 20-25 min, check the internal temp with a meat thermometer (or you can just tell)











14. Transfer to a plate to let them cool, put them in the little cupcake papers, refrigerate to cool.










15. While the meat is cooking, make the mashed potatoes...the directions are on the box. You do need it a little more "frosting" texture, that's why I used the instant mashers.








16. You need to now put all the mashers into the pastry bags. Here I painted some of the potatoes different colors. Orion wanted Green, Blue and Pink.









17. This is the colors we chose...really pink is hard to make...and ours came out this gross color.









18. I put green down on the meat first, then we decorated with the other colors.









19. I started with that fabulous pink I made...it was horrible. I put blue on top of this...








20. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENJOY!!!!












So this was a great day, I mean fantastic meat, great bloodymarys, good company. Over all it was a great day. Today we ate the meat cupcakes, cheetos, various flavors of pringles and nuts. I must say, delicious day overall, good thing Orion had a birthday!

living tourists hosting tourists, the best

So to explain the title, I sometimes still feel like a tourist in NYC, even though I pay the stupid taxes to the state and city, and stimulate the NYC economy and have for the past two years (yah that worked out great for me at Tax time 2007...3 months and I was paying income tax.) I really have only lived here what live 18 months or so? Anyway we live in the Bronx which unto itself is a whole different world the Manhattan. Each borough is its own world though. This could be a little retrospective of my last 18 months, maybe not, but sort of. I love the way I write but it's not as appreciated as I would like it to be but whatever. So here we go. I have lived here for the last 18 months and am in my second job in the city. The first one was good, and I met a lot of really interesting people, and learned a lot new things. I also got to explore parts of Brooklyn even my cousin who has lived in the city for a while hasn't even explored. So I got to work in Midwood? East Flatbush? Who knows, no one I even worked with really knew. It was even in a part of Brooklyn that had some lettered streets (but no Ave Q...honestly, O, P, R, S...etc...no Q) I guess Ave Q belongs on Broadway...Har Har Har. Alrighty so I goto go explore those parts of Brooklyn, but now with my new job I get to explore even more...most Jersey, but still I get to see lots of area I probably wouldn't normally want to see, and meet people I would not have met before.
Alright so I like the area, its great and as you may have noticed in the past posts I have stated my feelings about NYC and living here. I like the area, I like the fact that I have almost everything at my fingertips, but you know, even though I have some of my favorite people I see on a weekly basis, it is still a very lonely city. I know people will disagree with that statement and I suppose some will say I haven't lived here long enough to judge it, but oh well. I think a big part of it is that I am from such a close knit community and coming into a city that is established with established close knits groups, it's hard...this is how the immigrants feel huh? Except they have each other and find each other and make groups, enough of that...that is a whole other post. So I guess I should get to the point of the blog. The point I am making was the fact you live in the city and I have friends who don't and want to come visit (I now know how my friends felt when I visited,) but you know I like entertaining and I like seeing people I haven't seen in a while. It's nice to play tour guide. In fact when I play tour guide I get to see sites I haven't yet seen. For example, Beth and Crazy Susan (lovingly called of course) came down for a few days to the big ole apple and we explored the Finacial District, Greenwich Village, and the UWS. These are neighboorhood...I honestly probably wouldn't really go to, but I did and they were cool. I mean we had drink in the financial district, brunch in Greenwich Village, got Tattooed, went to an outdoor market, had breakfast in the UWS. It was a VERY fun weekend. I am glad I get to play tour guide for my friends. I am also glad I get a break from playing tour guide this weekend. A well deserved weekend of no plans before traveling for work, stayed tuned a blog about Minneapolis, my first attempt at a half marathon, and the joys of house hunting are in the works.

...only in dreams...

So this is a new post, on a few dreams I have been having lately. Jeremy and I have been looking at houses...well we physically saw 11 houses together, I saw three other houses also. You know get an idea of whats in our price and where we are looking. Anyways so I have also thought my dreams mean something and if I have a particularly vivid one I will look up on-line (since the internet is the end all be-all...sarcasm really) about what some of my dreams mean and then I put them together. The other weird thing is that years ago when I was working for Americorps I had this boss Sandy who was big into interpreting dreams and stuff like that and I would ask her, and they seemed to always come true and be real. Plus I think I am a little psychic...maybe...who knows. Who knows anything anymore. Here is the dream:
I am shopping or something in a mall (the details of what I was doing previous to the important events are fuzzy) and I go out to my car, turn it on and start to drive away until I realize I forgot something or something causes me to Perpendicularly park my car get out and walk away from my car only to have this older woman go to my car and drive off in it (of course I left it running). So I go to the online internet and search what these things mean and here is what I came out with:

Car:Cars are symbols of the real life conscious world. They are symbols of how you are progressing towards your goals. So think about the practical ways in which you have been moving towards your goals. Is the dream making some point about how well or how badly you are progressing. Are you heading in the right direction. A car at a standstill could suggest that you are taking a pause or that you have come up against some delay.

STEALING : Stealing links to issues of self respect, prestige and recognition. It can also link to moments when you feel taken advantage of or when someone has not shown proper respect for your property. If you are robbed then it may link to a real feeling of resentment that you have missed out on some opportunity.

WOMAN : Unknown men in dreams are usually quite easy to deal with. Unknown women are less clear symbols. They are often quite difficult symbols to work out. Women tend to be more associated with our emotions. They may show you have been assessing your feelings on something. Women often link to behavior which women are more noted for. Women are better communicators and negotiators in life. They are also more contented and may link to your general happiness and contentment.

Well so here is where the weird part comes in and it comes back to the house hunting. So one of the houses we were looking at struck a chord with us and we were planning on looking at it a second time. Notice I wrote PLANNING. Well so I hear from my Realtor because we are going to see houses on Saturday with Jeremy's parents and he tells me the house I want to see again...IS IN ATTORNEY REVIEW!! I realize there is a chance it will fall through BUT STILL, I WANTED IT!

so I take it a couple ways...we have been talking a and expressing our feelings toward buying houses lately so, that could be one thing, but then again...I think it was just foreshadowing the fact the fact that someone is now in attorney review of this house...but then again maybe it wasn't meant to be. OR (and I like this one best) the attorney review falls through its back on the market and we get it! Oh well, he has some more houses for us to see...we'll see on saturday!

Lovely Lady Liberty with her book of recipes...

So here it is, my first visit to the place where lots of people have visited...and I haven't. Jeremy's uncle and cousin came down to the city for a visit from Western Mass. I love playing tour guide especially to places I haven't visited, kind of a good excuse to go to those places I normally wouldn't go by myself or with Jeremy. So we investigated online about going to see the Lovely Lady and found they only allow about 2000 visitors a day up the monument, so we reserved. the other thing is the actual statue is free, its getting there that is the price. So for 12 bucks we boarded the ferry to the statue and set sail...well not sail, but whatever. We boarded the ship around 12:30 after going through security checkpoints like we were going through the airport...step one. The ferry went through New York Harbor to the statue and we landed on Liberty Island, pretty cool, step 2. Next we went to find the next part of the journey which was going to the statue, step 3...more security. This time it took a little longer, and we got checked for explosives. While in line something occurred, and I must say it was kind of humorous. You know when you are in line waiting and there are signs that say you must have your tickets out blah blah blah. Well at the statue as I said they only allow a certain number of people up the statue and it usually fills up fast. So all these people are waiting to go up and the security guards are like "LOOK AT YOUR TICKET....IF IT SAYS...NO MONUMENT ACCESS...THAT MEANS...NO MONUMENT ACCESS, PLEASE LEAVE THE LINE." Then it happened a disgruntled Asian tourist said the famous words, "What do you mean??" and the conversation went something like this:
Guard: G
Asian Tourist: A
Other Tourist: O

G: If your ticket says no monument access, you can't go up.
A: What do you mean?
O: If we can't go up then why sell the tickets?
A: What do you mean?
G: There are only 2000 people allowed up to the statue a day.
A: So I can't go up?
G: Does your ticket say "no monument access?"
A: Why don't you tell people this?
O: Why don't they tell people this when they buy the tickets?
G: Go to the website and reserve your tickets next time.
A: I came from around the world for this
G: Go online and come back another day

Eventually people looked at their tickets, and the rejected "no monument access" ticket holders got out of line holding their heads in shame. It just reminded me of that old Phone commercial...You should have called first. Oh well, we got in. So we waited in the line until we got into the tent...more waiting. We waited in line like the good citizens of America, apparently though there is an express line so people like Charlie Crist, his family and his gun toting security guard could jump line and go in front of everyone, I am sure they had to get tickets JUST like everyone else...RIIIGHT. So we went through the cattle pen until finally we went into the next room. Oh whats this? More security, like the security coming onto the boat wasn't enough. This time we went through those machines that detect explosives, they blow puffs of air all over your body...kinda weird, and I am SURE the metal detectors would have done there jobs the first time and detected...okay enough security, we got to the statue. It was neat,

there were lots of cool things, like a scale model of her face and foot made of copper in the same fashion as she was, then this picture was one of the torches, maybe the one right before the current one? I forget. So we climbed the stairs to the bottom of the actual statue. You can't go the statue anymore, which would have been neat but oh well, maybe soon, I heard they want to reopen the upper part.
So we left the lovely lady and returned to waiting in line for the next ferry. I have been getting a kick out of lines, and people who don't understand that when someone says keep walking forward...big steps, go faster, you're holding the line up, etc...that's what it means. There was a guy standing in front of me getting on the ferry and everyone around me and myself were following the instructions that I previously said, but this one guy? NO he needed to turn around and talk to the person a few people behind me...and the guy with the bullhorn? He did not like this and was shouting at him, I started pushing him, and he didn't like that, but I think it got the point across, although I did hear someone say "he didn't understand you," I think pushing and shoving is pretty universal.



Top of the Rock


I believe I had posted about our trip to the Empire State Building. So we went to the Top of the Rock, again at night. I must say night time is a good time to go. No lines, and I love lines...har har. SO night time, top of the rock, awesome views, it was great. The coolest thing about the top of the rock was this room that was



this interactive room. The cameras watched you and mapped your movements, pretty trippy. The lights moved it was cool. Worth the ten dollar firefighter admission Jeremy's Uncle paid for us. THANKS UNCLE MATT! It was a fun time overall. Lots of NYC, lots of touristy stuff!