Chocolate Chocolate Stout Cupcakes

with a cream cheese icing!


A few weeks ago a friend of mine had a going away party as she had gotten a job at the National Weather Service in California, awesome! I decided to bring some cupcakes for dessert, which really just gave me an excuse to get out a recipe I had been wanting to make.

I used Epicurious' (from Bon Appetit) recipe for Chocolate Stout Cupcakes, but instead of Guinness I decided to use Young's Double Chocolate Stout (so Terence could drink the leftovers)! I later determined that there wasn't so much of a Stout taste in the cupcakes and this may have been due to the overwhelming chocolaty-ness.

Lots'o'butter, Paula Deen would approve!

This recipe filled my 5 Qt. KitchenAid mixer to the brim, or in cupcake terms it made about 4 dozen.


I then used Brown Eyed Baker's recipe for Cream Cheese frosting. I chose this recipe because I was looking for something a little fluffier and not so heavy since the cupcake flavor was so intense.


After the cupcakes were cooled to room temperature, I used my Wilton tips and bag to get them to look a little professional. I think I left the icing out too long because it was pretty soft and the design didn't hold that well.

I ended up throwing all the decorated cupcakes in the fridge to harden the icing up a bit, but I really don't prefer this as it tends to dry out the cake. I still haven't figured out how cake/cupcake shops can not refrigerate their cakes iced with cream cheese frosting, wouldn't it go bad!? If anyone has answers I would really appreciate the advice!

End result: Yummy! They were super moist, thanks to the beer, and had a very dark chocolate taste. The cream cheese frosting was eh, I think I will keep hunting for that ultimate fluffiness.

Hope you enjoy!

Running with Roma...

Well, today I had my first successful run with Roma! It's exciting since I love to run...I never thought I'd be able to run with a pup, but today she did so successfully. The first couple times were disasters...she was putting everything in her mouth...running left, right, left, right, trip me, left and on and on!...it was a mess. Kind of reminiscent of Phoebe running in "Friends." Making a reference to a 1990s TV show, but who cares!

Anyways, tonight was great. We ran just short of 4 miles, a good run for the both of us. I have been slacking since I ran the half marathon last month, so this was a nice stretch of the legs. I love to run and having a pup that can run with me is great. I know Deb is excited to run with her, too. Considering we don't often run together, we'll at least share the same running partner! Lord knows Roma needs the exercise to burn off all the puppy energy she has!!

I tested her speed briefly during a flat out sprint. As fast as I could run, she was still able to pull on the leash! During our walks I walk her, but during our runs...I hate to admit it, but she might be running me! :-)

Now all is well, she's tired and busy chewing on her bone. Perfect way to sit back and enjoy the Olympics! Go USA!!

(Oh, the reason why I never thought I'd run with a pup...well, I love PUGS! Pugs are built to sit and lay, not run and sprint!)

Learning with Roma, "Sit, Watch Me, Down, Leave it..." Pee in the house?

Roma is definitely a smart dog. No doubt about it. She knows when she's doing well, she knows when she's being a stubborn adolescent, and she certainly knows when she is in trouble or has done something bad...

Training at Petsmart started last Friday. In our first session, we basically held Roma back from being the pain in the a$$ dog. She was hyper and distracted.

We learned the "watch it" command and how to properly walk on the leash... Basically you get the dog to watch you, so that both are in sync with commands, listening, etc. She didn't do well there, but by the end of this week and last night's class, she was a pro. With the walking you have to continually stop if she's pulling you. We are walking her, not vice versa. This is hard for her at times, but this week she did really well. At times though, you have to give her some latitude especially when you come home from work and she's all amped to go to the bathroom!

Last night we reviewed our progress and showed off our command of "sit," which she does really well. We did the "watch it" really well for our trainer, too. She was impressed and proclaimed our smart dog. Then we showed that she could walk well on the leash, a complete 170 from last week. Not quite all the way perfect, hence, 170, but she did awesome. Then we showed off next week's command "down" which Debbie has been working with Roma on. She lunges down but still she's starting to understand what we want.

Lastly we touched on "leave it." Granted, this would have been useful on Wednesday night when she decided to start chewing gum. Not once, but twice. It was gross for her to put in her mouth, but even worse going digging in her mouth! Ewww!

Overall progress is there, but she's still being a pup. With her estimated age at 6 or so months, her behavior apparently is going to get worse before it gets better. This scares the both of us! Worse? How about we take her to the bathroom and bring her back in...10 minutes later, pee! Then 45 minutes later she decides "i'm going to pee again!" Yup, this was pushing us...and this was last night! After her great showing at Petsmart. Oh well, she'll get there.

Hopefully I don't expedite my hair going gray, I was saving that for the kids! How do I blame the kids if I'm gray by the time we are having them? Oye...puppies!!

Bonus photo...after all the rain the past two weeks, we have to keep toweling her off. She thinks it's a game...actually it's pretty cute and a lot of fun!

Back to Rome, to the Vatican, then home...sadness

All good things come to an end...and so brought the end to our 12 nights aboard the Carnival Dream through the Mediterranean. I always am sad to come back, but our vacation wasn't quite over yet! :-) We had another day to explore Rome and Vatican City! Just as we did previously, we took the train into Rome. That meant lugging all our bags to the station...

Sort of a fiasco when I said "let's get off here," referencing the Vatican stop. HA! We had to wait for a taxi...then it was an adventure finding the hotel...which had it's lobby on a second floor and a small little sign. I wouldn't recommend Hotel Sant' Angelo, it was dated and uncomfortable. We had an old school 13" TV that didn't even turn on. Ha! Oh well we opted to spend the majority of hotel funds the first night in Rome...which we definitely scored big on. Hotel Artemide was primo!

We did a tour of the Vatican, which was amazing. So many pieces of art, sculptures, and celebrities? Yup, we saw Vince Vaughn strolling through! It was too funny because I got him on video...promptly getting a "no pictures" from his body guard. As I am not a paparazzi, I simply was like, "come on, I'm on a tour!" I laughed!

But the best part was seeing the Sistine Chapel in person. OH MAN! I was in awe...wow. No words can describe such an intricate painting telling stories, beliefs, and more. It was something to see, I recommend it to everyone!! No pictures are allowed in there, so sorry...



Then we got to see St Peters Bascillica which blew my mind too! It was huge! So much to see, so much to take in...time never allows as much as you need.

We headed back to our hotel and changed for dinner...decided to go back to where we spent our first dinner in Rome, in Piazza Navona. Had dinner across the square from the first night...and it was amazing, again!

Deb even got the BEST hot chocolate she has ever had, I thought it was too much chocolate, but oh man, it was amazing, too!

The following morning, after a quick nap (so it felt) in the sub-par hotel, we headed to the airport. Our driver was arranged to be there bright and early at 430am...yikes!

We were exhausted after an amazing honeymoon...thanks for reading all the posts! It was fun thinking back on it...what a great way to spend our first two weeks of marriage!!!

Firenze (aka Florence), last port of call...bathroom fiasco(s)

I am going to try and be brief, quick, etc...we have so much going on now that blogging our honeymoon seems like old news and frankly, who cares anymore?! Actually, I know there a couple of you Kadlec blog readers that do read it (hello sister!).

Oh where do I start...we had a 7am to 7pm day in Livorno, a port city about an hour outside of Florence. We did the "Florence on your own" tour through Carnival. Based on readings before the trip this seemed like the most logical choice and most economical. Oye, it was...but with plenty of entertainment!

Not kidding...we get on the bus and someone says "can we stop for a bathroom before we get there?" Excuse my abbreviation, WTF! I was angry, but Debbie was furious...I mean, we are one of the youngest people on the cruise, and youngest on the bus. We knew well enough to go before we got off the ship 10 minutes earlier! Oye. So, 1/2 way to Florence we stopped at a gas station to let off the whining guests...95% of the bus got off. The fiasco of getting everyone situated, back on the bus, etc...yeah, fun stuff.

But we got there and holy crap, what an amazing city. I think Florence could be my favorite...we went to the Duomo and neighboring Gioto's Bell Tower. We climbed the bell tower as the line was shorter. We got up to the first platform and I think we both said "that wasn't so bad." Ha, that was the first of four! By the top we were a little pooped and tired. Luckily for us we prepared and our Nalgene full of water again was a Godsend. The view was amazing!!

Then we of course went to get some gelato. I mean, "why not?" We took the advice of our guide that gave us recommendations on the bus ride over. She was not wrong! We went there TWICE, once again before we headed back towards the bus!

We explored and went down to the Accademia to see where the "David" was. "WAS" because it was a Monday and in Italy the majority of all museums are closed on Mondays. Boo. We missed out a lot but made up for it elsewhere. That is a recreated version of the statue, to scale, etc.

Next we walked over to the Pontevecchio, which is a famous store-lined bridge. Debbie continued her shopping...window shopping, at least. We really didn't buy much... One thing we joked about throughout the honeymoon was "trusting" another couple, person, or whoever with our camera. Another couple was as reluctant as us, we all laughed about the topic, and they were gracious and snapped a beautiful shot of us on the bridge.

We wondered back through Florence searching for leather, a staple of the city. Eventually we did find some...I got myself a new briefcase (which I finally broke in this week, actually!!) and Debbie got herself an Italian handbag (it's red and I haven't seen another one even resembling it back in the states, which is pretty sweet! Ditto to my briefcase, it's embossed with TDK and all!)

We also hit St Croce chuch...so beautiful outside and in...we toured the inside, too!

It was around here when we ran into Bob and Lisa and got to pull out the "EH! EH!" in the streets of Florence. They were caught off guard, but it was hilarious. So much fun.

After we got the gelato, best in Italy, again...we had to meet back up with our group. Let's see...one guy lost his wife en route back to the bus...his comment "she has her passport and knows how to get back" and we LEFT! Not kidding!! Then, like clockwork, someone asked for a pit stop. This time Debbie yelled "come on, this is not included in the tour!" No need to say what happened but I swear we were going to have a rebellion against us "kids."

(Deb snapped a shot of the cranky, bathroom-loving folks!)

Oh well, Florence was a blast all the way around!!