The Fractured Prune

I love the food network and trust them to guide me to delicious foods.  Naturally Eric and I were intrigued when our PA friends told us about a custom doughnut shop in down town PA.  We ventured to the Fractured Prune.  There, we were overwhelmed by the wonder of custom made, fresh out of the fryer, cake donuts.  How can you beat that?

30 to 40 different types of doughnut concoctions.  My husband selected a doughnut with mocha frosting and Oreo crumbs.  I was less adventurous with a standard vanilla frosting and rainbow sprinkles.  You can rest assured that we had no trouble reaching our calorie intake for the day!

Lancaster, PA pt. 2

More Pictures.  I can not help myself.  We visited the town of Lititz.  There we went to the Chocolate Cafe where all things are made with genuine chocolate, none of that artificial junk.  The lady who owned the shop gave us a very extensive history lesson about the cocoa nib. We then made our way through Lancaster.  We stopped at a country store where you could sample a variety of jams, jellies, salsas, and pickles.  Let's just say we didn't need to eat lunch after that stop.  In general, I sort of felt that we spent the whole day eating.  Not a bad vacation.  

THE TURBO: 60% genuine chocolate 40% espresso 

The friendly chocolate lady insisted on taking our picture...through the glass.  Yes it was as awkward as it seems...

I love the Amish.

Lancaster, PA pt. 1

A few weekends ago, Eric and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary...five months after the fact.  We have found that it can be a challenge to work between a grad school and teacher's schedule.  Finally we had our romantic getaway to Lancaster, PA.  Home of the Amish.  We started the weekend visiting with two dear friends at Messiah College.  We then made our way to a bed and breakfast on the north side of Lancaster.  Now I feel that a bed and breakfast can be a hit or miss, but this one was definitely a hit!  It was run by a little British woman named Wendy.  She was so spunky, I loved it.  She was there if we needed her, but didn't hover.  She gave us the inside scoops on all the sites.  We spent a wonderful weekend visiting small towns and taking in the wonder of the Amish culture. (confession: I am truly fascinated by the Amish.  And I think that Amish children are the cutest things ever!)  It was our first official vacation since our honeymoon and it was splendid.  

Wilbur Chocolatet Factory...the originally Hershey!  Hershey stole the idea for the Hershey Kiss from the Wilbur Chocolate Bud...such scandal!

Amazing coffee house in Elizabethtown, PA.  All fairy tale themed.  And pretty hipster.

The day a cupcake shop came to town.

Gobble Cakes is one of the greatest things to happen to Blacksburg since we have arrived.  There is a part of me that believes that it came solely for my benefit.  I love the frosting  I love the cake, I love it all.  Every month they rotate flavors.  Some of my favorites have included chocolate almond, pomegranate orange, peppermint chocolate, and peanut butter chocolate.  SO yummy.  At the end of a long or difficult day...gobble cakes is the perfect medicine.

Ramekins.

Eric and I get really excited when we find things to go with our red accented kitchen.  We get even more excited when we find cute tiny things that are accented red to go with our kitchen!  We hit the jackpot at Target.  Little red ramekins.  

I will now make souffles and creme brulee every weekend! Look out!

I had to try them out right when we got home with a caramel flan.

Cookies.

For Christmas my mother in-law got me a subscription to Food Network magazine.  Dream come true, the first month I received was titled, The Chocolate Issue!  A batch of cookies were in order. This was the first successful batch of cookies that I have made.  And even more amazing, I baked the whole batch...without just eating all the cookie dough first.