Odds 'n Ends

Nothing major to blog on, but just a few tidbits that have come up over the past few days.

For starters, I tried my hand at red velvet cupcakes from scratch on Monday night. Dirty Girl and I have been getting together on Tuesday nights to watch the show House and she has been providing dinner and dessert. Last week I brought brownies in order to contribute something. This week, I saw a recipe for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decided to give it a whirl. Aside from red food coloring on my clothes, the recipe was rather easy to make. The frosting would have been smoother if I had a hand mixer, but I managed to get it pretty good the old fashioned way. The only problem was the cook time. I put the first batch in for 20 minutes. I checked them halfway through and they looked not done. But, I wound up pulling them out a minute early when I smelled them burning. Just the bottoms, so if you pull that off, the rest is fine, but still 24 burnt cupcakes. So, I made a second batch. This time, I cooked for 15 minutes. When I pulled them out, I was disturbed to smell a little burnt-ness. Not all, but several had slight burnt bottoms again. I'm not sure how much more I could cut back on the cook time before the things don't cook all the way through. Anyway, I had 48 cupcakes with the majority burnt. I've given away most of the un-burnt ones, and am now left with the burnt ones. I guess I'll slowly eat them until they get too old. I hate tossing away food, but I can't give out the really burnt ones and I can't eat all of them. Oh well.

I was very happy to note that the hiatus for Diet, Schmiet is over! Loricious discovered that she could blog from work now. Her most recent blog says some very nice things about my determination to exercise. While I certainly like hearing that she admires what I do, there are times when I definitely feel that the admiration is unwarrented. I've been struggling with the workouts lately. I managed to get my long runs in for the marathon, but didn't really do much more. However, I'm kind of excited to get back to the basics with exercise. I don't have anything planned for the next several months as far as goals, so I can work out at my own pace and just do what I enjoy. If I feel like running 2 miles, I can. If I feel like running longer or just walking on a particular day, I can do that, too. I'm done with training plans for awhile.

There is a new book that I'm reading. It's called, "The World in Six Songs". I picked it up at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago. The bright blue color actually caught my eye first, but once I read the summary I was hooked. The author, Daniel Levitin, has looked at music throughout history and feels that all songs can fit into one of six categories, Friendship, Joy, Comfort, Knowledge, Religion and Love. He then goes back through history and talks of how each of these categories of music has helped to shape human nature and history. For instance, in the chapter on friendship songs, he talks about percussion and how drumbeats were used to get a group of people to keep time. In modern times they keep a marching band in step. In ancient times, they kept slaves rowing at the same time or moving in the same rhythm to build something. He argues that without music, the pyramids may not have been built and empires may not have risen and fallen as they did. Very interesting stuff. Anyone interested in music would probably get into this one. I plan on picking up his first book, "Your Brain on Music" one of these days as well.

My final note today- I am very excited that I will be attending the New Kids on the Block concert tonight at the Bradley Center! I was lucky enough to get to see them at the height of their fame in 1990 at the same venue. Last night I located my old New Kids t-shirt (which may be the same one I wore to that first concert) and although it is a little yellowed from the years, it still fits. So, I will be reliving one of my favorite moments of my adolescence tonight.