On Busted Halo this morning I stumbled across this article that linked to the NY Times coverage of the same event. Apparently, earlier in September, Stephen Colbert and Timothy Cardinal Dolan spoke together at Fordham University about joy and humor in faith. Just in case I wasn't already completely in love with Colbert.
According to the Times, Fordham did not let the media in, so (as far as I am aware) there are no videos of the talk. Just a few tantalizing descriptions of the encounter: enough to make me dream of an encore.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Let Love Grow
I know I have not been keeping this blog up well this semester -- I should be posting at least twice a week. Oops. So now I am going to backtrack and cover the wedding in Houston!
Meemaw got married a mere two weeks ago. Ana, Em, Triss, and I all made it out to her wedding -- only Byrd couldn't make it. I hadn't seen Meemaw or Triss since they left St. Louis over two years ago. I was surprised, though maybe I should not have been, at how easily we picked back up, as if we had parted only weeks ago. As the four of us drove around and about Houston, we fell into community again. So of course I remembered the beautiful thing about our VSC covenant: we never put a time limit or an end date. We are bound by sacred kinship bonds forever.
The four of us stayed with Em's aunt and cousins and her parents and sister came into town. Which means that for the weekend we were adopted into a beautiful Mexican family. At the wedding, we were surrounded by Meemaw's Vietnamese family and her Filipino in-laws. The Mass was tri-lingual, featuring English, Latin, and Vietnamese and included Filipino wedding traditions. I have never felt so white or so blessed to be in a place where so much beauty can come together. The reception made it even better: ten courses of Vietnamese food that three white girls and a Mexican tackled with chopsticks!
The only bad part was, of course, the parting. It's easy to forget how much you miss people when missing them becomes a part of your everyday life. When that hole is filled for a few days, suddenly, it's even worse to be apart at the end.
Meemaw got married a mere two weeks ago. Ana, Em, Triss, and I all made it out to her wedding -- only Byrd couldn't make it. I hadn't seen Meemaw or Triss since they left St. Louis over two years ago. I was surprised, though maybe I should not have been, at how easily we picked back up, as if we had parted only weeks ago. As the four of us drove around and about Houston, we fell into community again. So of course I remembered the beautiful thing about our VSC covenant: we never put a time limit or an end date. We are bound by sacred kinship bonds forever.
The four of us stayed with Em's aunt and cousins and her parents and sister came into town. Which means that for the weekend we were adopted into a beautiful Mexican family. At the wedding, we were surrounded by Meemaw's Vietnamese family and her Filipino in-laws. The Mass was tri-lingual, featuring English, Latin, and Vietnamese and included Filipino wedding traditions. I have never felt so white or so blessed to be in a place where so much beauty can come together. The reception made it even better: ten courses of Vietnamese food that three white girls and a Mexican tackled with chopsticks!
The only bad part was, of course, the parting. It's easy to forget how much you miss people when missing them becomes a part of your everyday life. When that hole is filled for a few days, suddenly, it's even worse to be apart at the end.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Things My Inner Grammar-Nerd Needs to Hear
Sometimes, xkcd is too math-y for me. Sometimes, I swear the writer is inside my head:
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| Note: To get the full effect/story of my life, you MUST read the mouse-over. |
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Cupcake Summer Finale
At long last, I have reached the last stop of the Summer 2012 Northern Virginia Cupcake Tour! The final stop of the summer during my final few days at home took us to Persnickety Cakes in Manassas. Like Cupcake Heaven (did I mention we went back there? I am still in love.) this shop consisted of cupcakes and coffee. No coffee for this over-caffeinated girl -- I'm working on cutting back, I swear. However, to make up for the lack of coffee, I got a coffee cupcake. I was torn between that and the mocha, and the chocolate covered espresso bean sold me.
The cupcakes were cold. I guess the displays are refrigerated. While the temperature did not affect the taste, it did make them seem less fresh -- Persnickety was the only place we wondered if all the cupcakes were baked that day. The temperature also affected the frosting. Buttercream is a thick, heavy frosting on its own, and cold it is thicker and heavier. I would have been content with half the frosting -- which is saying something, because normally I am all about that deadly combination of sugar and butter.
So the texture was off, and the frosting slightly overwhelming. The chocolate cake, however, was amazingly chocolatey and perfectly complemented by the coffee flavor of the frosting. I felt like I was eating a deliciously cakey mocha. The shop itself was bright and cheerful and adorned by a display of Civil War artwork, as the town was gearing up the celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas.
Verdict: 3.5 of 5 stars. I'm not 100% sold I would get a cupcake there again, even if I were passing through and craving dessert. If I did, it would be because they are priced extraordinarily well -- only $1.89 for the cupcake.
Larry's mom agrees with this rating, though her review sounds more upbeat than mine:
Shop - simple, nice view of street for people watching.
Cupcakes - D1 - Pina Colada - very good, moist & lots of flavor. I would recommend it.
D2 - PB - OK, basic. on all 3 cupcakes, by the time I got them home, the frosting was smeared & they were falling under the cardboard "holder" part. They were too small for the holder.
Size - smaller than usual & the price reflects this at $1.89 each.
When shopping in Old Town Manassas & wanting a snack I would consider going into the shop. They had a nice variety of flavors & they were fresh.
The cupcakes were cold. I guess the displays are refrigerated. While the temperature did not affect the taste, it did make them seem less fresh -- Persnickety was the only place we wondered if all the cupcakes were baked that day. The temperature also affected the frosting. Buttercream is a thick, heavy frosting on its own, and cold it is thicker and heavier. I would have been content with half the frosting -- which is saying something, because normally I am all about that deadly combination of sugar and butter.
So the texture was off, and the frosting slightly overwhelming. The chocolate cake, however, was amazingly chocolatey and perfectly complemented by the coffee flavor of the frosting. I felt like I was eating a deliciously cakey mocha. The shop itself was bright and cheerful and adorned by a display of Civil War artwork, as the town was gearing up the celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas.
Verdict: 3.5 of 5 stars. I'm not 100% sold I would get a cupcake there again, even if I were passing through and craving dessert. If I did, it would be because they are priced extraordinarily well -- only $1.89 for the cupcake.
Larry's mom agrees with this rating, though her review sounds more upbeat than mine:
Shop - simple, nice view of street for people watching.
Cupcakes - D1 - Pina Colada - very good, moist & lots of flavor. I would recommend it.
D2 - PB - OK, basic. on all 3 cupcakes, by the time I got them home, the frosting was smeared & they were falling under the cardboard "holder" part. They were too small for the holder.
Size - smaller than usual & the price reflects this at $1.89 each.
When shopping in Old Town Manassas & wanting a snack I would consider going into the shop. They had a nice variety of flavors & they were fresh.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Another Gem: Lavender Moon Cupcakery
For our first trip to Alexandria, Larry's mom and I decided to go to Alexandria cupcakes. It had the town in its name, it had a cooler website, and it was on King Street. Luckily for us, we made it back to Alexandria to try out Lavender Moon Cupcakery.
Cost - reasonable ($3).
PB - cupcake was good the pb was hidden under choc fondant that added a little something to it. It wasn't too dry.
Store - Comfortable & bright & cheerful It felt welcoming w/the 2 shades of lavender stripes. It was nice to sit inside.
No hot beverages, only some cold
I took a Blackberry to go. Your uncle thought it lack flavor & tasted very basic.
I would go here before Alexandria Cupcakes.
The main problem with Lavender Moon is that I can't spell "lavender." Seriously. Every time I have typed it for this post, sans one, I have tried to spell is "lavendar," only to get little red squiggles.
I ate a chocolate raspberry cupcake. Chocolate + raspberry = amazing. I was surprised to bite into the frosting and taste cream cheese. Surprised, but not unpleasantly so. The cream-cheese-raspberry-chocolate-ness worked well. The cake was dense and moist, my favorite kind. The shop used to be a house and now functioned with one room to order cupcakes and another to sit and eat. The seating area was small, as it has been with most of the cupcakeries, but had enough seats that another group could have eaten there with us. The pink and purple walls and indoor plants made the place bold and feminine, but somehow not overwhelmingly so. They had a few bottle drinks (nothing hot like coffee or tea) but the cupcakes stood on their own.
I would bring someone to Lavender Moon in a heartbeat if we were walking through Old Town. As long as they didn't make me spell it. I just did it again.
Overall: 5/5. Larry's mom gave it a 4 of 5:
Cost - reasonable ($3).
PB - cupcake was good the pb was hidden under choc fondant that added a little something to it. It wasn't too dry.
Store - Comfortable & bright & cheerful It felt welcoming w/the 2 shades of lavender stripes. It was nice to sit inside.
No hot beverages, only some cold
I took a Blackberry to go. Your uncle thought it lack flavor & tasted very basic.
I would go here before Alexandria Cupcakes.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The Return (Cliff's Notes)
As I mentioned almost a week ago, I am back in Ohio. The new semester has started and I have found myself... without time to blog. And short two cupcake reviews. The cupcakes will come; this promise is more to myself than to any readers still following my ramblings. For now, here are some Cliff's Notes on my return to Franciscan:
1) The reason I am so busy: I saved one paper from my summer courses for the very end, once again show casing the marvels of procrastination. The first week of classes, I enjoyed my light reading load by writing desperately. I did finish and turn in the paper on time, by the grace of God, through the intercession of His mother.
2) I am so excited for my classes. To the point where, when people ask me what I'm taking, I get a ridiculous grin on my face and end by saying, "I'm super-exited!" On the plate: Bioethics, Natural Theology, and Gregory of Nyssa. All small classes with classmates who know how to have real discussions and professors who encourage it. And the papers look like so much fun. Yes. I'm a nerd.
3) I have forgotten what it means to cook only for yourself. I played the 1950s housewife for the first bit of the summer, having dinner on the table when my parents got home from work. Even when they both were home, I cooked a good deal for the four of us at home and baked a good deal for social gatherings. Now I have one me and a tiny, counterless kitchen. I have to remind myself to cook real food.
4) My poor car survived the trip! I got a new muffler as a part of a new exhaust system because apparently I had 80* exhaust leaks and such things can kill you. Now my car sounds different when I accelerate.
5) I finally saw the Hunger Games movie. I give it my stamp of approval. It disturbed me more than the books, however, and I spent at least one night dreaming about Katniss. I think this is because in the movie, the games and the political themes drive the plot more than the characters do. So much happens inside of Katniss's head that she is hard to translate to film.
6) More to come as the semester progresses!
*Rule of thumb: If a number I give has an 8 and seems unreasonable, assume it is an exaggeration. For some reason, 8 says to me, "I am unreasonably large."
1) The reason I am so busy: I saved one paper from my summer courses for the very end, once again show casing the marvels of procrastination. The first week of classes, I enjoyed my light reading load by writing desperately. I did finish and turn in the paper on time, by the grace of God, through the intercession of His mother.
2) I am so excited for my classes. To the point where, when people ask me what I'm taking, I get a ridiculous grin on my face and end by saying, "I'm super-exited!" On the plate: Bioethics, Natural Theology, and Gregory of Nyssa. All small classes with classmates who know how to have real discussions and professors who encourage it. And the papers look like so much fun. Yes. I'm a nerd.
3) I have forgotten what it means to cook only for yourself. I played the 1950s housewife for the first bit of the summer, having dinner on the table when my parents got home from work. Even when they both were home, I cooked a good deal for the four of us at home and baked a good deal for social gatherings. Now I have one me and a tiny, counterless kitchen. I have to remind myself to cook real food.
4) My poor car survived the trip! I got a new muffler as a part of a new exhaust system because apparently I had 80* exhaust leaks and such things can kill you. Now my car sounds different when I accelerate.
5) I finally saw the Hunger Games movie. I give it my stamp of approval. It disturbed me more than the books, however, and I spent at least one night dreaming about Katniss. I think this is because in the movie, the games and the political themes drive the plot more than the characters do. So much happens inside of Katniss's head that she is hard to translate to film.
6) More to come as the semester progresses!
*Rule of thumb: If a number I give has an 8 and seems unreasonable, assume it is an exaggeration. For some reason, 8 says to me, "I am unreasonably large."
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