The Madness (and the non-diet) continues...

So, the heartbreak of Purdue losing to VCU has passed.  I really thought they'd at least get to see the Sweet 16.  Apparently not...and though my bracket has many many red lines, surprisingly I'm still in it. (at least, in the one bracket where I didn't have Purdue go all the way)  All of my Final 4 teams are still alive, all but one of my Elite 8 is still alive also.  However, obviously, that can change at any moment.

I wish the weekend wasn't over...

Friday night, the husband ditched me to watch Purdue play in Round "2" of March Madness. We had opera tickets for Carmen, so I took my friend Stephanie and we made a girl date out of it.  On a recommendation from a friend, we went to this fantastic Thai restaurant for dinner in the loop.  We splurged on dessert and got mango with sticky rice AND banana spring rolls with coconut ice cream.  This was the first time I'd ever watched Carmen and I was pleasantly entertained.  I loved it.  Although by the end, I started thinking about the Bugs Bunny opera episodes and wasn't quite as moved as a normal classy opera-faring individual should be.  Of course, it wasn't like Steph and I were being all that 'classy' to begin with.  At one of the intermissions our conversations drifted towards male ejaculations.  I certainly felt mature when I overheard the two gentlemen seated next to us talking about business models, and there we were talking about jizz. Yeah, we're real sophisticated..said in my snooty voice.

Saturday after being productive and finally getting my oil changed, and getting lectured by the auto specialists for the poor maintenance of our vehicles, I spent the rest of the day baking and cooking.  I tried these homemade funfetti cupcakes posted by Evan B on SwEEts by e.  They just looked so damn delicious and I had the opportunity to bake so I did.  It was also a beautiful day out so I had the dogs outside and the door open. 

Mmm..funfetti!

Yes, I have engraved spatulas. They were a wedding gift...came with an engraved cocktail shaker.  My Tita Judy knows what's gonna get used in my house! :-P

Pre-baked....

...and decorated with colored buttercream frosting

They are absolutely delicious!  I really should bake more often. I love to bake and cook...hubby is hardly allowed in my kitchen, although he is the grill master.  Here he goes prepping a rub for the pork butt he smoked yesterday:

"hmm, what do i need?"

There's not much room in the kitchen for the both of us, and then there's always the puppy who never leaves our sides even in a big roomy house...

i love to bask in the warm sun!

he used all my spices!

I did mention I let the dogs out to play right?

he's so photogenic..

mm breakfast...for lunch.

I was enjoying myself in my kitchen, so I continued the baking extravaganza...with the homemade thin mints I told myself I would attempt last month. 

I think maybe it's still worth it to buy the $4 box of crack thin mints every year.  This was much more complicated than I would normally be comfortable doing unless I was in a serious baking mood as I was over the weekend.

the hardest part...getting a thin coating of chocolate w/o breaking the cookie!

finally done.

OK...now I'm starving.  Time for left over pork butt. :-)  I haven't uploaded those pictures yet so I'll save that experience for a later post. That, and it was so delicious it deserves its own entry.  <3