March 27, 2011

Cheesecake Trial #1: Fail

Our most wonderful, amazing, multifunctional coffee/espresso machine broke a few weeks ago.  It was a present we had received at my wedding shower from Emily and Michele.  The warranty was expired and we could not afford to replace it, so Alex and I were devastated!!  We cannot live without coffee!!  Alex decided to bring the machine back to Crate and Barrel and give returning it a try, even though it was a long shot.  It worked!!  They refunded us all the money!!  They do not make our old coffee machine anymore so we got a new one and had enough money left over to get a special treat... a food processor!  The first thing I wanted to try in our new little addition was a cheesecake.
          
Moo is a good watcher-helper :)
       
Trying it out for the first time!
     
Pureeing raspberries!
   
Of course the recipe we picked had us doing something unnecessary, but it was our first cheesecake and we didn't know that at the time.  The recipe wanted us to bake the cheesecake in a pan surrounded by hot water in another pan, in order to get an even bake.  After the fail, I looked at other recipes and none of them did this :(  We didn't have a pan big enough to put the cheesecake pan in, but found one eventually, after calling every friend living in Cloverly Park.  After allowing the cake to bake for the specified time, it still was not done.  We waited and waited, but it would not finish baking!  We were supposed to be at Alex's faculty party early enough to spend some time there, then head over to Den's apartment for Olivia's goodbye party.  We decided to just pull the cake out and let it continue to cook in the hot water.  FAIL.

The water seeped into the cheesecake pan, even though I had wrapped it all in aluminum foil.  We ended up with a cheesecake soup.  So sad :(
     
 And into the trash it went.

March 24, 2011

Happy 5th Birthday Furry Girl

Today is Moo's 5th birthday!!  We can't believe the little girl is five years old!  Moo got lots of treats and celebrated her five years by napping all day long :)
     
The birthday girl came and sat in my lap while I was studying!
    
On her birthday chair,
    
looking cute,
    
as usual.

March 20, 2011

Special Weekend Visit

Alex's mom came to see us this weekend!  We had a lot of fun visiting our favorite spots in center city and munching on our favorite foods.  It is always nice to have visitors :)
        
Eating at the Dutch Eating Place at Reading Terminal Market
      
Getting cheese snacks from Downtown Cheese
        
We had dinner at an awesome French restaurant in Rittenhouse Square
    
The best bread in Philadelphia!

March 13, 2011

St. Patrick's Day Parade

Alex and I went to the Philadelphia St. Patrick's Day parade today!  We were expecting a bunch of floats, but instead it was just a parade of walking Irish groups, bands, and dancers.  We only stayed an hour so maybe the floats were towards the end?  It was still fun and now we feel like we have a bit of luck on our side :)
      
Some bagpipers to start off the parade
     
The Philly Phanatic was there!
    
A float!
    
A marching band
   
A cute little school of Irish dancers
   
It was cold and windy... what's new?  Happy spring break to me.

March 9, 2011

Going Pro

Alex and I went to the Sixers-Oklahoma basketball game tonight with some other Drexel students.  It was my first pro basketball game!  It was a really fun game and went into overtime, but college ball is still where my heart lies :)
     
The view from our seats
    
Sruti, Danielle and us
    
Rohini and Visish

March 5, 2011

We Beat Doook!!

There was no way I was going to miss watching UNC and Dook battle for the ACC Regular Season Title, even if it meant not studying for my pharmacology final on Monday!  It was so nice to see UNC play such a great game and beat those dookies!!!
  
 Alex would not let me dress him up in Carolina gear so I had to dress the cat :)
    
 Ramses is her homeboy
  
I couldn't drive back to Chapel Hill to rush Franklin Street with everyone else, so I rushed School House Lane instead!  It felt almost as good :)