Cotton Masquerading as a Cupcake

We did a little cupcake tasting this past weekend. The thinking being, we should try bakery fresh cupcakes to see what my cupcakes may be missing. Major letdown, it was a seriously colossal FAIL! I have never tasted terrible cupcakes. I have tasted dry cupcakes, undercooked cupcakes, old cupcakes, fresh cupcakes, super moist cupcakes and many in between but I have never tasted just plain terrible cupcakes.

I assumed since Bettie's Cupcakes was located on the highly traveled Broadway Street in Saratoga with many people streaming in and out, the cupcakes would be quite tasty and I would wonder how I would ever be able to achieve such simple decadence. Unfortunately after trying 5 mini cupcakes and 1 regular cupcake, it was a definite fail. Of the 6 tasted, Red Velvet, Mai Tai, German Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cup, Chocolate and Vanilla, the Mai Tai and the frosting on the Red Velvet cupcake were decent. The chocolate barely had even a hint of chocolate taste and the only thing signaling the cupcake was "Red" Velvet was, in fact, the red of the cake. We thought surely, the Vanilla Cupcake would be better than the minis as who can mess up Vanilla, right? Upon cutting the cupcake in two, the texture was similar to that of Angel Food Cake but the taste was anything but sweet, moist yumminess. Instead it was bland and tasteless and while I thought I could at least finish my half since we paid for it, I could not make it past the second small bite. I should have trusted the article from the Saratoga Cupcake Competition stating Bettie's Cupcakes' Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting was "mealy and flavorless cake and bitter frosting."

I still two days later cannot get over the lack of taste in Bettie's Cupcakes. Surely the people running in and out all day could taste, or rather not taste, any flavor. Maybe they were all unknowing tourists like us, lured in by the 50s decor and prettiness of the cupcakes. This I can only hope as anyone who is a repeat customer should be schooled on what a true cupcake tastes like. I am not one to bash someone's creative talents because maybe I simply do not understand their talents, however, I know cake. I live to eat cake. I crave cake when I do not have it and I am one of those who will go to lunch at a bakery/deli just to eat the cake. This experience has taught me to always strive to be better and never, no matter how much effort I have put into them, serve sub par cupcakes as that will be the impression my friends take home with them.

They look so tasty, don't they?

Not so good..we ate bits and pieces of the minis and gave up on the regular size cupcake.

A Weekend In!

Mezes Soner made for our dinner Friday Night

For one of our first weekends staying in the Schenectady/Albany area, it was a spectacular and much needed break from all our travels! So needed, in fact, we slept until 11 am Saturday morning and were only able to catch the tail end of the Saratoga Farmer's Market! The day was absolutely gorgeous as we settled into the beginning of a day of food, food and more food beginning with ShrimpHabenero Burritos and Fajitas at Catina in Saratoga and ending with cheese and chocolates so yummy, I actually took the spoon and scraped the chocolate out of the fondue pot at the Melting Pot. We capped the weekend off with the Schenectady Famers market, some shopping and Inception at Crossgates Mall in Albany.

Dinner at Melting Pot

Inception was awesome. Since Soner and I understood it all, I have been pondering all evening and morning if it means we are outside the box thinkers, super intelligent or simply missing a few screws as we have heard from many people the movie is hard to follow and requires a lot of thinking on their part. The graphics were great but I am lost as to what makes an IMAX movie so different than a regular movie. Apart from a bigger screen and super loud audio, I saw no difference.



All in all, it was a great way to spend a weekend. Relaxing and eating. Two things I am best at!

Do you need a knife for that bread?

For those of you who know me, I have become quite the planner the last few years. I plan everything right down to the last "what if." It can drive everyone batty at times but what if you feel sick in the middle of vacation or you make a mess of your clean white shirt within 5 minutes time? What if we randomly decide to pick up fresh fruit from the farmers market and want it now?? (I have a knife and a container for that)! I like well thought out, well planned ideas and I find it difficult to jump in the car and go without a reasonable amount of planning.
Thursday I "accidentally" booked a one night stay in a hotel an hour from where we wanted to be in Cape Cod. "Accidentally" because never in my dreams could I fathom Priceline accepting my bid of $80 for a weekend stay in a Marriott so close to Cape Cod. You know how sometimes you just like to try just to say you exhausted all options and too bad but maybe next time... well I already planned out in my mind a leisurely stay in the Albany area with dinner and a movie Friday night, a long Saturday wandering through the farmer's market in Saratoga and lunch at the little Mexican restaurant on Broadway. Maybe take in some of the world famous Saratoga horse racing and cap off the weekend with a Sunday movie-a-thon. Oh well. We went to Cape Cod for fun in the sun, the sea at our feet and.. SAND in my freshly prepared salsa (there's my travel-a-long knife and container coming in handy!).. yum!. The afternoon was gorgeous, we were too busy enjoying the highway for over 2 hours stuck in traffic (so much for that great $80 deal!) to bask in the morning sunlight.
All in all, while the trip turned out perfect, I am a planner, I like things to go the way I have already thought them out. I like to be prepared and know the outcome. I like the feeling of being in control.