Friday Things
1. The Easter bunny gave me an Easter basket with some golf socks for my new hobby, peanut butter eggs, a gift certificate for a facial and a few other little goodies. That’s one awesome bunny!
2. I’m happy to report that I made it through all 40 days of Lent without a smidgen of peanut butter. Success! However, I’ve devoured my fair share of peanut butter eggs since Sunday ;-)
3. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I found out that our soon-to-be new house isn’t serviced by Comcast, which is what we both have now. We’ve been looking into DirectTV as an alternative to the other local cable provider. Has anyone switched from cable to DirectTV? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the service in general, reliability, channels, etc.?
4. I’ve tried making hi-hat cupcakes three times now. I’ve failed three times. I’m beginning to think that I’m just not meant to have these cupcakes.
5. Wrapping paper that makes a stack of presents look like a hamburger? Genius!
[source: Gift Couture]
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6. I’ve seen a number of articles over the last couple of weeks about how social media is skewing our perception of real life. Lots of really interesting points in the posts; here is the latest one I’ve seen: Stop Instagramming Your Perfect Life.
7. This is 100% true, right?
8. T-minus 40 days until we close on our house! Not that we’re counting or anything…
9. A quick admin note – I know some of you were having issues saving recipes to the recipe box connected with ZipList… Good news – it’s all fixed! If you have any issues moving forward, please be sure to let me know!
10. TGIF! I’m suddenly inspired to lounge in pajamas all weekend! :)
That wrapping paper is awesome!!!
I don’t have DirectTV I have Dish Network instead. I have had zero problems, they have been the best “cable” provider I have ever had.
I don’t know how you made it through Lent with no peanut butter! Congrats on that — you’re a bigger person than I am. I’ve never heard of hi hat cupcakes! I love that hamburger wrapping paper, and the Julie Child quote. Hope everything goes well on your new house! That’s so exciting.
I have a great cable company that keeps me happy and isn’t super expensive (Suddenlink), so I’m not thinking of switching, but my parents had a bunch of billing issues with DirecTV. My mom had them turn off the pay-per-view option with the remote if you didn’t have her code (which she never shared with any of us – she couldn’t even remember it because we never ordered anything!) Multiple times a bill would come in with lots of pay-per-view (much of it adult or expensive sporting events) and with three or four movies ordered at the same time. Service reps never could explain it. They did a one-time “courtesy” removal of the charges, but refused to the next time. No one at DirecTV could ever explain to her how someone could order without the code, or how someone could order multiple movies at the same time (usually around 5:30 in the morning…my mom is a light sleeper, if someone had turned on the tv she would have been awake instantly), and they swore there was no way the card could be hacked. They switched to Dish and haven’t had any issues! The weather issues affect all satellite dishes in my experience…we’ve had multiple through the years, starting with the giant white fiberglass one that actually rotated based on the satellite station you programmed!
I have never heard of hi hat cupcakes…I guess I’m going to have to do some research! :)
The best and worst thing about the Reese eggs are they are super cheap after Easter!
As for DirceTv we made the switch from cable and love it. More channels, less money and less problems. The only downside is it doesn’t work during really bad storms.
I agree with other comments about DirecTV. We’ve had it for almost two years now after switching from cruddy Time Warner and we’ve loved it. We don’t feel that we are paying any more for it than for other cable companies. And as for bad weather: During snow storms if we still had power, we would go knock the snow off the dish and then it would be fine. Even when we went through Hurricane Sandy last year, I don’t think we had that much disruption.
We used to make hi-hat cupcakes at the bakery where I worked. What trouble are you having?
I can’t get the frosting to be super stiff enough to sit high on the cupcake. I used two different seven-minute recipes and both failed; then I tried a recipe using just a simple syrup and meringue powder. It piped up stiff, but it tasted horrible and it squished and oozed as soon as I tried to cut into the cupcake.
We used more of a meringue frosting…we beat it until stiff peaks (like 12-13 min). We also refrigerated the cupcakes (sometimes popped into the blast freezer for a short time) after they were piped before we dipped them.
Second comment, Michelle… I’m so glad you featured the Instagram article… what a wonderful blog post and a great blog… another great discovery from the BEB!
Michelle, What area are you moving to ? Could it be raught 30 near your favorite Italian store ? I live in the North Hills and get phone, cable and internet for 135.00 a month from Verizon.
Hi Nancy, No, I’m actually moving in the complete opposite direction – more to your neck of the woods. We checked and the area our house is at isn’t serviced by Verizon FIOS, so that’s not an option. Thank you for the recommendation, though!
I am from around the Saxonburg area and know a couple of friends who have tried Direct TV / Dish. They said that in high winds/snow/rain they would have absolutely no picture. Armstrong and Consolidated Communications have good offers for starters. Good luck! Hope the move goes well!
We went from DSL cable to Dish Network for our television. Dish has a terrible reputation for treating it’s customers badly, but I can tell you that I have always been treated respectfully and promptly by customer service and technicians there. We don’t have Dish’s internet, though, depending on Hughesnet where we are in the country.
Am going to go back and read the Instagram piece right now… my husband and I had this very conversation last night! Have a good weekend!
That puppy! Cutest puppy every! You just made my morning!
Your puppy is darling! Have had Direct tv for a year. The channel selection is nice. It does go out with the weather but usually back on right away. My pet peeve for it is the way they have the weather channel set up. I was so excited when the installer said you could push a button to get your local weather. It’s a really nice feature…..but! It does NOT show active radar! It’s just still. That really gets me. You can’t see where the rain is going or if more is on the way. What man decided that was a great idea! So you have to try to catch the radar when they show it in your area…. Not good direct tv! I’m in the middle of tornado ally!
I absolutely LOVE Julia’s quote about people who love to eat. (Of course, I am one of them!) :)
Happy Friday!
I’m dying over that puppy!
I can’t personally speak about Direct TV but my sister has it and she absolutely hates it and can’t wait for her contract to be up so she can switch back to cable. They claimed they fixed the problem of service going out even in bad weather but that hasn’t been true in her experience. We were watching playoff football one weekend and it was a beautiful, bright, sunny day and her system went out. She was pretty embarrassed because she had a lot of people over. Customer service claimed it must be a tree branch blocking her signal but her dish points into a clear path without a branch in sight. On a different note, love that pup picture!!
We have had DirecTV for about 6 years and have had very few issues. When there is a weather interference it is almost always from extremely heavy rains. I live in NE Ohio so I imagine our weather is fairly close to your weather. My hubby insists on DTV because of the NFL Ticket. Their customer service is awesome compared to Time Warner Cable customer service which is our alternative. Oh and I completely agree with #7! Have a great weekend.
I have Directv and absolutely love it. Whenever I’ve had a problem with it (maybe 2 times in the past 13 or so years) their response has always been quick and effective. The customer service reps have always been nice and helpful. I used to have problems with losing the satellite connection during storms but they have better equipment now and it doesn’t happen. No, I don’t work for Directv! My brother also has it and loves it. (if you give them my account number when you sign up we both get $10 off our bill for 10 months ;)
Love your site! I’ve only recently signed up for emails but made several things already. Not good when trying to lose weight but we only live once, right!? lol
I use Martha Stewart’s hi-hat cupcakes (well, the topping, not the cupcake itself). Believe me, you can make them if I can! :-) What kind of difficulty are you having?
That’s the first recipe I tried. I can’t get the frosting to stiffen up, no matter how long I beat it.
I used whipped cream instead of frosting (I am not a big fan of frosting anyways) and they came out great. Maybe try using whipped cream instead. Then you don’t have to worry about getting the frosting to stiffen
Michelle — Are you using “real” egg whites? I remember attempting a recipe using the refrigerated egg whites that come in a carton. However, they are pasteurized and don’t quite act the same was as a real egg white–the recipe was a disaster because of the substitution.
Yep, real egg whites! It looks like I’m just going to have to try, try again :)
I live on the Philly side of PA…about 75 miles north of Philly and once switched from our local cable (RCN) to DirectTV. My husband and son are AVID Philly sports fans. On DirectTV we were massed into a Pittsurgh locality market. Hence, I could get the Pittsburgh sports (Pirates, Steelers etc), HOWEVER, Philly sports were typically unavailable and blacked out. Not in my market, and, because DirectTV did not have a contract with Comcast, who has to exclusives to Philly Sports, we could only get Philly sports if a local channel Direct carried aired it. Now to say my husband and son were unhappy would be a gross understatement. The first year of our marriage we lived in Pittsburgh. I loved it. My husband hated it…because he bleeds green (or red). We had to move back to this end of the state posthaste (as soon as work would transfer him). I even bought the MLB package on Directtv to get the Phillies (as their salesman promised) however, Phillies were blacked out on THAT too! SO. the moral of the story? If your sports are important to you, be VERY careful in your questioning of the DirectTV sales reps and do not accept their blithe assurances. Make them PROVE it to you that you will get your sports you want. My husband was so angry I ended up paying the big disconnect charge to go back to cable to watch a couple lousy baseball games. SIGH. I could have gotten him season tickets….
Love directtv!! Will have a hard time going back to cable if I ever have to. Works great and we have dsl and I can’t tell a difference in Internet speed.
Oh my word, dogs in pajamas!! Is there anything cuter?! I’ll be paying attention to your comments to see what people think of DirectTV. Our cable contract is up and we’ve been thinking of switching too. Happy Friday :)
Your cutie in PJs is so adorable, I just had to pin that. He looks so sweet, that made my afternoon:-)
Hi Michelle. Love following your posts. I just went to dish after having cable and the perks on having a hopper are great! Can even watch DVD recordings on my iPad! Congrats on your home!
our experience was not a good one…whenever the weather was bad or even a light snow our directv went out…:( …or if it rained it went out…;( …very frustrating.
on a bright note i love your site & am a huge fan of your cheesecake recipes…always in my freezer: coffee & espresso cheesecake!
thank you for such a wonderful site!
Yea, I had that problem too. I live in Columbus, Ohio and we always have bad weather so we switched back to cable. I really liked it though, would have kept it if not for the weather.
We have had DirecTV for almost 10 years and love it. It is getting pricey ($110/month with no premiums), but my hubby likes his sports. Their customer service is great though, service is reliable (except in extreme weather) and even though we just changed to cable Internet, we’re definitely keeping DirecTV.
I’ve never even tried making high hat cupcakes. I so want to get my frosting to look like Gigi’s does, but just can’t get it there!!
I don’t know how you made it through Lent without peanut butter. That’s some killer willpower!
If you get Directv be sure to get the HD Genie DVR. You can record up to 5 programs at once with it. They have good package deals on premium channels too if you’re a new customer. That bakery your birthday cake came from looks sensational! How’s your copycat attempt coming along?
I haven’t tackled the copycat recipe yet, but I’m excited to try! :)
Been with DirecTV for quite some time now. Great customer service, tons of channel alternatives if you’re trying to keep your bill down, a smart DVR (when I had cable last time, the “record series” option would record EVERY SHOWING of a show, regardless of old or new, even if you specified you just wanted the NEW episodes only). The only downside is, reception goes to hell in case of a rainstorm/snowstorm/high winds, but I’d totally go for it in your place. Hell, if you decide to get it, contact me privately for my account number as reference.
Have a great weekend!
What source recipes are you using for your hi-hat cupcakes?…i had great success on my first try but only bc I used the recipe from Martha Stewart combined with Bakerella’s post about the same. DO NOT GIVE UP…they are sooooooooooo worth it!
Hi Kristen, First I used the Martha Stewart recipe, then the Bakarella version, then King Arthur. Gah! I guess I need to try again ;-)
We got DirecTV when we moved into our current house in 2002, because it wasn’t serviced by Comcast either. We’ve been happy with it! It can get pricey, but it has way more channels than Dish. We looked into switching at one point, but changed our minds when we compared. I guess it depends on how much TV you watch – my hubby watches a lot!
Don’t give up on the hi-hats! Try adapting the Martha Stewart recipe maybe? That’s the one i use and it worked really well :)
You post the absolute sweetest pup pictures: the pj shot is so great it had me in tears. We got a 3-month baby onesie for out JR as he tends to get chilled easily.
We have had Directv for several years and have been happy with the programming and the service. The only time service has been interrupted has been with heavy weather interference. It is getting to be a bit expensive but, “What are you going to do?”
I held my iPad up to my face to kiss therapy and tell him I love him. That’s not odd, is it? ;)