Dadadada, dadadada...The Addams Family!

Tonight Jim and I saw The Addams Family at the Fox Theatre. It was a fun show, with some really strong voices in it. The set design was awesome, as were the costumes. Well, except that Morticia wore a dress so low cut and revealing that I was positive we were going to see a wardrobe malfunction. They must have had the dress glued to her boobs. I haven't seen that much flesh since I was in New Orleans for Mardis Gras. To me it was a little distracting and I thought they could have done a low cut dress without also cutting across half of her breasts. But I'm sure the males in the audience would disagree with me. There was also more than a bit of sexual innuendos in the script, which didn't necessarily bother me. But I felt sorry for the dad in front of me as he was trying to explain to his pre-teen daughter what some of the lines meant. Maybe they had some sort of disclaimer out there about the play perhaps not being suitable for children - I'm not sure. Those of us who remember the television show would have imagined that this play would be fun to attend as a family. I guess that wouldn't sell too well on Broadway though, huh? Too bad.

Scary Time

The first thing I do every morning is open up my iPad and review the headlines on Yahoo. The first thing I saw yesterday was that there had been an afternoon subway train accident in Shanghai. The article stated that 260 people had been injured! Calculating the 13 hour time difference, I realized that Katie takes the train about that time to get to her internship. I have no idea which line she takes from the campus to the business, but my mother's mind immediately assumed it was her line.

I checked my email next, and saw that I had gotten an email from Katie. Whew! But then I checked the time and saw that it was before the train accident. I sent her an emergency email asking her to email me ASAP. And then I waited. I realized that people in the dorm would not miss her for hours because of her internship. I decided to try calling her cell phone, which I had not attempted to do before now. The number wouldn't go through. I googled placing a call to China from the US and realized you need to enter a code to get you out of the country first. I tried the code and the number to no avail. Further research indicated that Katie might have given me the wrong country code for China, which is a little hard to believe since she is very detail-oriented. Regardless, I tried the number again with the alternate country code and got the recording of a very fast talking Chinese gal. I immediately hung up. But then I wondered, could that have been Katie? She probably does have her voice mail in Chinese while she is there.

While I was pondering that, Katie sent me an email. She was safe! In fact the train accident occurred on the one she normally takes, but she took a cab Tuesday for whatever reason. Her angel was definitely looking out for her! She had not heard about the accident yet, but her train ride back to campus from the internship was very delayed, and she had been annoyed by that since she didn't know why it was late. So thank you, God, and the little guardian angel you sent as well.

The Ulimate Vanilla Cupcake Finale

In an earlier blog post I mentioned that I was one of 50 Explorers chosen by Stef at The Cupcake Project to test vanilla cupcake recipes in her search for the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake. After the Explorers tried baking each recipe we completed a survey in an effort to find a cupcake that at least 80% of us deemed good enough to be called the Ultimate. The first recipe, which my husband, daughter and I disliked so much that frosting couldn't even save them, was given the Ultimate approval rating by only 29% of the Explorers. We eagerly awaited the arrival of recipe #2.

The second recipe required the use of a vanilla bean. This was a new experience for me, so I watched a YouTube video to see exactly how one harvests the vanilla from inside of a vanilla bean. It is a bit of a tricky process, with the vanilla sticking more to my knife and my fingers than I was prepared for. Regardless, this recipe was amazing! All three of us loved these cupcakes, and the highest compliment I can pay is to say that they did not even need frosting. And I love my frosting! I was certain that this recipe would be IT. Imagine my surprise when only 36% of my fellow Explorers agreed with me. I wondered how in the world Stef was going to improve on perfection with the next recipe.

For the third recipe we again used a vanilla bean, which was great because I had ordered a package of six beans online and had no idea what I would do with all of them. Katie had already left for South Korea at this point, so only Jim and I did the taste testing. While the cupcakes were very good, we did not feel like they held a candle to recipe #2. Again I was surprised when 66% of the Explorers thought that this recipe was the Ultimate.

At this point Stef had to decide whether she would ever get 80% of us to agree on a recipe. Considering that we all have different pans, ovens and brands of ingredients, not to mention taste preferences, perhaps 80% was an unrealistic goal. In the end she decided that if 2 out of 3 of us thought this recipe was the Ultimate, that was good enough. Recipe number 3 was crowned as king of vanilla cupcakes, and you can find the recipe here. While I am disappointed that my personal favorite was not selected as the best, I am very happy that I participated in this search for a great vanilla cupcake. Cupcakes from scratch no longer intimidate me, and I am eager to try some of the other fantastic recipes out on the Internet.

So for now, Wolter the Explorer signing out.