I'm not into the whole holiday thing so I wasn't going to get all sappy about Mother's Day. These Hallmark holiday usually just cause trouble and make people feel bad. That's not really the case for me. Yes, it does suck that I don't have my mom, but B is good at the holiday thing. I don't like to throw that in anyone's face but I did have a pretty good day yesterday, so I thought I'd share. We only get Sundays to have family day, and a great family day we did have. My husband and son deserve some accolades and I feel like it's important to post about the positives in life.
I was going to say that we didn't need any fancy meals but we did go to Legal Seafoods on Saturday night. That's where I got a haul of NINE rolls. NINE. So that immediately kicked Mother's Day off to a good start.
On Sunday morning, I got up to awesome cards and drawings from E. His writing and pictures now are so funny, I get why parents keep all this stuff. Then, I got a great card and three strands of necklace from B. That he MADE. Yes, he made me three long, beaded necklaces- one representing him, one for E, and one for me. He had made me a necklace on his "vision quest" (when he drove cross-country on his motorcycle), eleven years ago. I love that necklace and still wear it.
These new ones were made very similar to the previously made one in style, but a different color. They're to be wound around the neck and tucked to make my own look. They're beautiful. Truth be told, I'm glad they weren't more Swarovski. That store in the mall has always been his go-to. I much prefer something he created than for him to run to a mall he loathes, to just dash into a store, grab something and run out. He did very well this year.
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| Three strands of purple beads woven around my neck |
In my mind for days prior, my own secret plan was to find another cupcake place to try. I've been mostly disappointed by every cupcake place, except for House of Cupcakes. The Wayne one closed, so now I'm down to Clifton. Getting to Clifton on a weekday or Saturday means tons of traffic. I just haven't felt like doing that drive. And I don't have the time. We were going down the shore, so I figured there had to be one I haven't tried somewhere in the Long Branch/Deal/Red Bank area.
Boy was there.
I had did a search on cupcakes before we even went down there. Cupcake Magician came up in Red Bank. I'd already been to two other places in that area for cupcakes and I wasn't dazzled. One of the places was raved about by someone I know, but I didn't like it as much as she does. It was fine. It just wasn't great. We got down to Red Bank and made a beeline for Cupcake Magician. I walked in and was totally knocked out by how many flavors there are. I didn't even know what to pick.
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| Cupcake Magician |
I took eight home and the owner gave me a specialty flower one to take for Mother's Day. I thought that was really nice because this was definitely not your average cupcake. I'll be honest- as I always am. I didn't have high hopes even though I wanted to love them. I wanted to loved them because their flavors are so unique. Not just your average chocolate, vanilla, red velvet. I find most cupcake places have crappy cake though. They do. Or not enough frosting. Or just something wrong with them. Most of the time, it's dry or hard cake.
Last night when we got home from the shore, I had to try one. I grabbed the Strawberry Shortcake. I actually didn't know it was strawberry shortcake because I couldn't remember what I bought. When I was transferring the cupcakes from their cake box to a Tupperware container, I got some of the frosting on my hand. I tasted it and it seemed like whipped cream. I didn't want to have to refrigerate just one so I decided to eat that one.
Wow. I was blown away. The CAKE part was fantastic. I don't even really like cake. I use it as a vessel for frosting. But this cake was delicious. It was SO moist. After sitting in my car all day too. The frosting was amazing, the filling was awesome- the whole thing. I could've eaten another one. I'm so looking forward to the rest of the flavors I bought. I now have a new favorite place. I would actually consider getting a cake from them too if I was going to be able to get down to that area. Or just to bring with me to a summer barbecue. The cake was light and spongy, versus heavy/oily or dry/crumbly, like some other cupcakes I've had. I know the rest will be good too- but after that one, I'm sorry I didn't get more of that one!
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| Me, trying to choose |
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| My picks! |
As we were walking down the same street Cupcake Magician is on, I spied Lil Cutie Pops. A CAKE POP STORE. A whole store dedicated to cake pops. I couldn't just walk by, so after spending $19 on cupcakes, I now needed cake pops. I was going on my own bakery tour of Red Bank. I quickly bought a Fruity Pebbles cake pop and a Birthday Cake one. I told E that Birthday Cake one could be for him, but he'll never remember. MINE.
I actually don't usually like cake pops. I like the idea of them, but most of the time, they're not good. Except for my friend Coley's cake pops, who makes them in Florida, which doesn't help me in NJ. I had hers on a trip we were on and they were great. Back to Lil Cutie Pops.... I opened my Fruity Pebbles one immediately upon walking back outside. It was delicious. I could've eaten five. I was two for two on bakeries! I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to press my luck or bust my pants, so I quit at two.
They have a Carlo's there, and Whipped is still open, but we have Carlo's here and I'm not really a fan. Whipped had too many people in there for me to bother. I really only like their Strawberry Shortcake, which they don't always have. I couldn't even eat all this in a week. Or better and more importantly yet, I SHOULDN'T be eating all of it in a week, let alone adding more.
We walked over to Double Take, which I'd seen on the ride into Red Bank. I love the Double Take in Ridgewood and never been to the one in Red Bank so I was excited. The one down there is bigger than the one up here, so there was more stuff to pick through. I found two dresses- One Alice & Olivia and one Hale Bob that are now mine.
Then we went over to The Secret Stash just because it's cool. Parents of the Year that we are, we bought E a hat that has "Snoogins" embroidered on it. And of course, the sign for the store that says, "I assure you, We are Open!" The rest of the day was a whirlwind of beach, toes in the sand, Windmill burgers and fries, and ice cream at Hoffman's. It was a long, full, beautiful day and I spend it just as I wanted to- with my two favorite guys. We got home as the sun finally went down, exhausted and stuffed.
Hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day!
Cupcake Magician: http://www.cupcakemagicianonline.com/
Lil Cutie Pops: http://www.lilcutiepops.com/
The Windmill: http://www.windmillhotdogs.com/home
The Secret Stash: http://jayandsilentbob.com/
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