A Pineapple in China

Duck Head. Yes, that's a bill, feet are below

After only living in Connecticut for three weeks, I managed to have a pretty packed weekend. Some of the highlights include seeing Act of Valor Friday night, which I would definitely recommend people see. While the acting isn't "Oscar" worthy (I mean c'mon, the guys are real soldiers), you definitely leave feeling pretty good about being an American. It also helped that the entire audience applauded after the movie ended.

My best friend Lindsay came up for the weekend on Saturday and we had a really good time doing girly things: lunch out, manicures, etc. We spent the evening out with some of the other folks I've met along the way. We spent the majority of our time at Molly Darcy's. Not a bad place, but I certainly realized, "I'm not in Philly anymore!" On Sunday we had lunch at a coworker's house. He and his wife prepared traditional Chinese food. It was eerily reminiscent of my trip two years ago. I loved the Beijing noodles, but politely passed on the duck head, and chicken and duck feet.

My co-worker, who is from China, loves pineapple, but he had never had pineapple upside down cake. Although this is my father's favorite cake and my mother has always made it for him, every year, I never did it myself. So, here is a little photo story of my first-ever, and yes successful, pineapple upside down cake:

I don't usually use boxed mix, but I like that Duncan Hines has a specific "pineapple" mix for this sort of cake. In addition, I try to find ways to make the mix healthier. For instance, I substitute apple sauce for vegetable oil and I use egg whites or egg beaters in replace of real eggs.

I had to make the glaze first - Again, here I substituted Smart Balance butter, for real butter or margarine. I also used the Splenda Brown Sugar mix - Be careful. The recipe calls for a cup of brown sugar, and I almost made the mistake of assuming Splenda Brown Sugar measures cup for cup like brown sugar - it does not!

 

 Did my best to make a pretty design...I was nervous about the Splenda Brown Sugar at this point because the glaze was lighter than I remember it being when my mother uses regular brown sugar - but all was well.

It took about an hour to bake and smelled really delicious. A this point I was nervous, because you have to flip the cake right after you take it out of the oven . . . 

 Success! Flipping of the cake worked! AND the cake was really quite good, if I may say so myself. The entire lunch party really enjoyed it and the best part was, it was less guilt-free than usual!

And now, at 25 years old, I can say I have baked a successful pineapple upside down cake! Enjoy.

Oh, hello Winter!

View from my office

Yesterday, I found myself running a few miles outside, in mid-February, in Connecticut, without seven layers of clothing, earmuffs, and gloves. Funny how in just 24 hours that all can change. I woke up this morning to a few inches of snow. My eyes were almost blinded, because I haven't seen this kind of white stuff in weeks. It's been a strange winter indeed. I'm in the process of training for a marathon and typically do my long runs on Saturdays. Tomorrow is supposed to be as warm as today, but with lots of wind. I'm still debating if I want to stick it out or head to the gym and run my six miles on the dreaded treadmill. People are telling me I'm lucky this winter. Apparently most years, Connecticut and this part of New York are coated in massive piles of snow. I guess New England is breaking me in gently. This move has been an interesting one. For some reason I expected to feel incredibly homesick and lonely. I didn't do well my freshman year of college, when I chose to move nine hours away from my family . . . and I sort of expected to encounter some of those same feelings during this move. Thankfully, three weeks in, I'm doing alright. Maybe it's because I already knew some great people here at my new job before moving . . . or maybe because I still talk to my best friend every day and we made a fourth-grade style pact to see each other every month . . .  or maybe, dare I say it, I'm actually a grown up? We'll see how things continue to progress . . . still working on making new friends and embracing the social life of a New Englander, but I think this was a good move on all accounts. Enjoy the snow folks.

Pinterest has sparked my interest

For the past few months, all I've been hearing is how much everyone loves Pinterest. As someone who thinks they're on the up and up when it comes to social media (yes, I check-in on Foursquare everywhere I go, I tweet throughout the day, and am constantly reading through my Facebook news feed), I figured I should check this new phenomenon out. After requesting an invite last week, I was finally granted access to the world of Pinterest. I have to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what all the hype is about, but then again, maybe I just haven't given it enough time to really sink in. I've begun "pinning" as they say and have created a few boards which highlight my main interests, baking, boys, and apartment finds. I do admit, it is pretty exciting when you see that someone has liked or re-pinned one of your pins - Sort of validates that what I find to be cool or pretty, in fact really is! I currently have one follower, my colleague from across the room. I also have managed to already figure out how to pin from my phone, and helped my colleague pin from her iPad. I suppose, given some time, this will turn into my latest social media obsession - I'm already trying to find ways to incorporate this into some of my work...I do think Pinterest could have some interesting implications for brands. Apparently, according to Entrepreneur.com, "Pinterest is becoming the next big thing in social media for business." So my friends, happy pinning! And should you be interested in my pins, feel free to follow me! Just please disregard the old photo, haven't quite figured out how to refresh it . . .

Why, hello there!

I'm not entirely sure what compelled me to start a blog . . . I think I decided it might be a good outlet for me to share my experiences as a real "adult" in a new job and a new city. Over the past four years, working in a public relations agency, I've seen my fair share of interesting and thought, maybe people might like to hear what it's like to be a twenty-something, single gal in corporate America? Or maybe not? Regardless, I hope to share stories about my career, my experiences learning a new city, and of course, my thoughts on pop culture and anything and everything in between. This blog will have its fair share of random, but I hope it'll be somewhat entertaining to the one or two readers I'll pick up along the way . . . Enjoy.