Hello, hello.

We like eating cupcakes but we also like to *make* them. I bought a Groupon (one of maybe three I’ve bought my entire life, FYI) for a cupcake class at Butterlane almost a year ago. Finally got to use them when my mom and sister came to town. Cupcake 101 aka Frosting.

The class made three different frostings: vanilla, chocolate and cream cheese and then the head baker, Sunshine, taught us what you can mix into these basic frostings to give them more flavor. It was a short class, next time I would have opted for one a little more longer and more in depth, where you’re measuring the ingredients yourself but it was still fun! And yummy, of course.

Frosting the cupcakes was the fun part although I could NOT get their signature swirl down for the life of me.

I love this picture.

Cupcake anyone?

I realized I had not yet posted a photo of my tree fully decorated and lit up. I went for a bit of a color theme this year since I was starting with only two ornaments to my name. And also Macy’s had their ornaments on sale for 50% off. I was a little disappointed I never found a magenta, red, or even white or silver star for the top. Maybe next year. Except next year we all promised the littlest Spurlock that we’d have Christmas in Birmingham so we wouldn’t be using my ornaments at all.

I think my tree turned out quite nice, actually. It’s one of those things where I’d kind of like it to stay up forever. I’m giving it another week before we take it to the mulch station a few blocks away set up by New York Parks, which is good knowing your tree will be useful after you throw it out.

Oh and a bonus cakepop of sorts from one of the bakeries in Chelsea Market, Ruthy’s. He was so cute it made it (almost) impossible to eat:

Le Parker Meridien is a fancy hotel. With a fancy restaurant called Norma’s that supposedly has a fabulous brunch that I will hopefully be lucky enough one day to try for myself.

But Le Parker Meridien also has a secret divey hamburger joint inside it as well. And it’s called Burger Joint. Also, it’s not so secret anymore. The first time I tried to go it was at lunch time during the week and I walked in with my coworker and we walked right back out because the line in the lobby was HUGE.

*Also, Anthony Bourdain recently blew up the spot even more on his NYC episode of The Layover, my new favorite show.

But, when I had my family in town we wake up super early and get out the door super early which makes us the first in line for a lot of things. In fact, Burger Joint wasn’t even open yet. But eventually it was and we got inside and snagged a booth first thing.

The menu is not so huge, obviously. You’re there for the burger. The messy, messy burger:

Oh, yes. I love hamburgers. The fries were good too.

The only bummer was that they currently weren’t making shakes when we were in.

Dang, guess I’ll have to go back.

Yes, I am aware that the title of this post rhymes. That’s what’s up.

I’ve been a terrible blogger. Just haven’t been able to make time to update the dear old City Mitten but it’s about to be a new year and I have a feeling 2012 is going to be pretty damn good.

I just had my mom and older sister in town with me for Christmas and it was awesome. I would definitely do Christmas in New York again. I did it last year, but with family it is even more fun.

One of the things we did was venture to Dyker Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn known for their Christmas lights every year. I’ve been wanting to check them out ever since I learned they existed. It was my first time in Dyker Heights and I had no idea what to expect. But it was nice. And some of the houses were HUGE! We walked blocks and blocks and wondered to ourselves who were all these people who live here? I’d like to know.

Some craziness below:

Like I said, crazy. But cool. Can you imagine if you moved into this neighborhood in the summer, completely clueless, and then winter rolls around and BAM your neighborhood blows up with 10,000 light up Santas and reindeer? You’d pretty much have to participate or spend the winter in Florida, I think.

I’m very glad we went. Next time I’d consider renting a car so you can drive around and see more things, although it was cool to be able to see in creepy detail the faces of all the different Santas and all the different random dolls.

Hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

I have a Christmas tree in my apartment! It’s the first time I’ve had one so this is all very exciting. I actually got it the weekend *before* this past one because I wanted it for my ugly sweater Christmas party. Finally today I added the ornaments – although I am still in a need of a topper, and then I will post a picture of the tree in all of its glory.

Getting one was very exciting. I picked one out in Brooklyn Heights across from Colonie and a very nice guy named Sam helped me and answered all my silly and not so silly questions. Like I said, it’s my first time having a tree so I wanted to be prepared!

I was lucky enough to have Missy help me and here we are with the tree we picked out. It’s from Nova Scotia!

So we carried this babe to my apartment and up five billion flights of stairs and it is now very happily in my living room.

Releasing the Christmas tree was very fun and very exciting. And so was putting together the stand. If you are wondering, this baby cost $45 and the stand was $15. I actually didn’t think that was too bad. I’m pretty happy with it.

The only thing – since I got it over a week ago now, I fear it is already dying. I may just be oversensitive because my family never got trees that early (um, one year I came home the day before Christmas Eve and there was NO TREE so I went out with my sister’s boyfriend at the time and bargained with some guy and picked one out for $20) but everyday when I see pine needles on the floor (which I know is normal!) I’m like, “Oh no! Are you dying?” ALSO it stopped drinking water! Except that may not be true. The water *seemed* to be at a higher level yesterday than it was the day before so I’ve been meaning to ask my roommate if she’s been watering the tree the whole time… because THAT would explain things. If she hasn’t been, then I really don’t know.

Baby, baby, I love you, I love you. Stay alive til Christmas, please?

Oh and if you wonder what an Ugly Sweater party looks like, here’s a ladies-only shot from some point of the evening that weekend:

My friend Susan’s hat was the win of the evening. You can maybe sort of see it but it was there is a sequin Christmas tree on her baseball hat. Tis the season, my friends.

Hello, bloody Mary in Brooklyn with Missy!

Can I just say that I LOVED my apartment last year because I had a HUGE room that looked over Prospect Park, but I am loving my new apartment a little bit more because I have the option to walk to five billion different places for brunch? I mean, that’s not the only reason, but it’s huge. And my bedroom is still overlooking trees. Brooklyn! Love you. Ha.

So, Colonie on Atlantic Ave. I’ve been once before for dinner and it was very good, and I decided it was time to try for brunch. The menus are a little short, but there’s still enough options for me.

These are the pancakes. Not my favorite presentation, it looks like a quesadilla. But I did dig the raspberry preserve!

This is the leek and gruyere scramble which was a solid choice. Also I feel like I’ve had some very dry potatoes lately and these ones were perfecto.

Also perfecto:

Biscuits! A little butter and raspberry preserve, you’re good to go. Biscuits are just good, people.

So I do really like Colonie. It’s a cool space, too. And we went around 1 or so on Saturday and didn’t even have to wait. And I had a Bellini. The way brunch should be!

It is officially time to talk about Christmas, because Christmas is almost here. Let’s talk about the picture above. OBVIOUSLY the person taking it missed the point. There is a giant Nutcracker and you cannot see him. But at least all the ladies are in the picture! That’s what I get for asking a random passing man to take a picture of us. Obviously I should have given him more instructions.

So that’s a lot of my family up there. I love it when cities start decorating for Christmas. Even downtown Brooklyn is getting into the groove and I am pumped.

When I was in Michigan, we went to Rochester Hills, a really cute town for some shopping and sight-seeing. And also to check out this gingerbread house at The Royal Park Hotel:

The Royal Park Hotel is very nice, btw.

Next up… Christmas in New York!

It’s actually hilarious that the last time I was home we went to Sign of the Beefcarver. It’s basically a cafeteria and the clientelle is very, um, old. Also, they close at 8p.m. so don’t even THINK about getting too wild! We used to go with the family after church like fifteen years ago and my sister Emily suggested going when I was home as a half joke that we took completely seriously. I mean, once it was suggested, we just had to check it out.

Everything was EXACTLY the same.

Look at this. Cottage cheese. Side salad. Roast beef and mashed potatoes. I mean, how could I not? My grandpa got chicken a la king which I must say I would try next time instead. Also, do you think they gave me enough roast beef? My dad got the same thing and I was quite impressed when he cleaned his plate.

Between my sister and I, look at all this food:

The bread was warm (yum) and obviously we had to get a piece of chocolate cream pie or whatever it is in the middle.

The fun thing is that you put all your food on a tray and then you pay for it and someone *carries* it to a table for you. It took me a second to figure out what was going on. Also they have a very nice hamburger dill pickle stand that I COMPLETELY missed until we were on our way out, but don’t you worry, Emily and I snagged a few before we left.

So if you’re ever in metro Detroit, cruising down Woodward Avenue and you think to yourself, “Man, I would just *love* to eat at a cafeteria right now” – well, you know where to go.

Wow, I am behind.

The Detroit Lions. Lost last night and lost unfortunately when I was home for the Thanksgiving Day Game. I’ve gone to the Thanksgiving Day Game pretty much every year in my life, except for one when I was spending Thanksgiving in Hong Kong, visiting my friend S up there on the left. And E there on the right, he’s a big Lions fan too. We’ve got pride. (Get it – Lions *pride*?)

This past Lions game was one of the better ones, mostly because we got to tailgate before the game started, which we never do. I feel like I know a lot of people and a lot of people who know people but for some reason I RARELY know people who actually have a legitimate tailgate. Not this year! S had the hookup for us and part of it included deep fried turkey. Yes! I have heard of this phenomenon for years (as well as the injuries sustained to people doing it) but I had not actually tried. I don’t know what I was expecting exactly but I can tell you it surpassed all expectations.

See below:

There it is! I wasn’t expecting the fryer to be so small, that’s for sure. But the group went through three fried turkeys, understandably. Also, the turkey looks a little burnt – but the meat I had was not at ALL.

In fact:

Possibly the best turkey I have ever had. All I know next Thanksgiving will be a MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT if I do not have this again. I’m tempted to buy a deep fryer for my apartment cause I have my mom and older sis coming to NYC for Christmas but I feel like that would be nothing but trouble. So, not happening. But fried turkey, I will be having again. It was soooo juicy and so good.

And here’s some more of our Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day Crew. We always have a crowd of about 15 family members (including E who is honorary on Thanksgiving Day for maybe three years now?) Good times, good times. Now Lions, if you could only start playing just a little better for me.

I believe my family has been doing this for four years already, one year is documented on City Mitten already and this year’s is being documented now. The night before Thanksgiving all the floats for the Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade are lined up on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit ready to go. They block off the streets to cars but smart people like ourselves are free to park around the corner late at night and go for a stroll and say hi to all the floats from last year as well as the new floats added as well.

Above is my sister Emily and I. It got really cold for some reason this year and we were not wearing gloves so I think we are lucky to still be in possession of all of our fingers. All for the sake of the floats. And the photos, of course.

This is a new thing. The caterpillar is there every year but usually he is reading a hardcover book. This year – not so. A laptop! Times are changing! He still hasn’t gotten Lasik eye surgery yet though…

And here’s another new float! This one promoting recycling. As you can see, Emily is a big help. Nice work, Emily – let’s keep our environment clean!

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. I got back to New York yesterday and have plenty of things to post about from my trip to Michigan. Stay tuned!