Weekend Recap: Turning 21... round 7

This past weekend, I celebrated my birthday!

There's two things that one might think are great about celebrating your birthday during this time of year:

1.) It's always around (or on) SuperBowl Sunday

2.) Living in the North, there's likely snow

HOWEVER: I would state that snow is only nice when you need not drive, and the latter only makes it so people are actually celebrating something OTHER than your birthday.

But this past weekend was extra special.

It started out on Friday evening at Cooper's Hawk with some great friends and co-workers. It's been ages since I've been there. And I'm obsessed with their Malbec!

BF made the occasion extra special. He arranged an outing with Sarah & her husband Jimmy on Saturday.

We drove down to Bridgeport on the southside of Chicago to explore the area.

BF first took us to the Ferrara Bakery to pick up some cannolis for an after lunch treat.

Sarah & Jimmy

Some of the fantastic treats!

We grabbed lunch at The Pleasant House bakery which is connected to this little bar, Maria's Community Bar.

The ordering counter at the restaurant.

The Pleasant House is known for their 'meat pies'. Basically English style pot-pies. You can do as I did, and get them with a side of mint peas and mash potatoes with gravy, which is AWESOME!

We sat at Maria's bar next door and they even bring you your food.

Some of the unique cocktails at Maria's.

My Hornswagglers High Tea tottie

After drinks, we made a quick stop across the street at the Bridgeport Coffee Company for some caffeine.

We ended up hanging out and watching Groundhogs Day until our evenings facilities.

Saturday evening we went to dinner with Sarah & Jimmy and Jenn & DJ at Lucia's in Bucktown/Wickerpark.

I had the most amazing butternut squash ravioli! And there was BYOB with no corking fee, which was pretty incredible. ;) It was so nice though, because it was very much like a large dinning room in some family friend's house. And they had these great, tall ceilings and large paintings, and the the ceiling was lined with faux grape vines and grape-shaped lights!

BF did such a great job keeping his plans secret, and we then cabbed it over to Joe's on Weed for a concert by Clayton Andrews.

Which to BF's credit, was an awesome idea, EXCEPT for the fact that hell descended upon the facility in the form of Indiana Hoosier fans..... which, as a Purdue fan, I have an unreasonable despise towards.

The positive was...

I MET TRACE ATKINS!

So we shook our ba donka donks and had a great time, even with all that dreadful RED!

I've determined that 2013 is the year of the PJ parties! We spent Sunday with some great friends for a Sweat Suit SuperBowl Party!

Just an overall superb weekend!

Thank you everyone for making this year, EXTRA special!

Cooper's Hawk (Twitter & Facebook)

Ferrara Bakery (Twitter & Facebook)

The Pleasant House bakery (Facebook)

Maria's Community Bar  (Twitter & Facebook)

Bridgeport Coffee Company (Twitter & Facebook)

Lucia's (Facebook)

Joe's on Weed (Twitter & Facebook)

BF: Twitter

 

And as always you can check out my other sites here:

Twitter

Pinterest

Tumblr

Till next time...

XOXO, the Prep

Birthday weekend!

Picking up where I left off last week:

I forgot to tell ya'll I made cupcakes!!

It's the recipe from Magnolia bakery and I thought was reminiscent of snow and ice with seemed apropos. I've included the recipe below, however I would like to note that you should use the high end of the measurement for powder sugar as the actual recipe can be kind of liquidity depending on the consistency of the butter:

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:

• Vanilla Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

• Vanilla Buttercream

The vanilla buttercream we use at the bakery is technically not a buttercream but actually an old-fashioned confectioners' sugar and butter frosting. Be sure to beat the icing for the amount of time called for in the recipe to achieve the desired creamy texture.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: enough for 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 (9-inch) layer cake

I brought these into work on Thursday after braving the seriously treacherous roads. I think they were pretty tasty if I do say so myself!

On Friday, my actual birthday, I went and got a great massage with a couple of work buddies after work. Seriously amazing idea! We went out for totties afterward at Cooker's Hawk and seriously like everyone from work came! It was a-mazing! BF even brought cupcakes for everyone to split from Molly's!

Only downside was that my car started making some weird noises on the way home... which called for a trip to the Sears Auto Center first thing in the morning. While BF and I were waiting, I introduced him to my new Sub-urb Brunch place, Benedict's Eggs! We enjoyed some pretty amazing food before picking up my beautiful car. BF headed back into the city, and I checked out this new (to me) place Charming Charlie! I picked up a few things before heading into the city in the evening for dinner with BF for dinner. We hit up Jane's Restaurant on Cortland. This was a beautiful little place with very romantic undertones and large, tasty entrees! Highly recommend, and happen to personally know they're not booked for Valentine's day.

Super Bowl was pretty low key with BF, then headed back to the burbs to prepare for the week. Now it's Monday and I'm writing my re-cap while watch GLEE... ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT STUPID POST-GAME CUT OFF HALF THE FREAKING EPISODE!!! GOSH I HATE SPORTS SO MUCH SOMETIMES! Well kiddies, I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well and look forward to another amazing week!

XoXo