CUPCAKES

When the New York Times does a feature on the cupcaking of New York (circa 2003), you know it's a big deal. I can remember reading an article in InStyle once about favorite celebrity cupcake haunts in Los Angeles and New York. At the time, I was living in San Francisco and the cupcake fanfare hadn't made its way to the Bay Area. So now that I'm living in one of the cupcake hotspots - and possess a mighty sweet tooth - I'm having a great time finding my favorite cupcake bakery. Anyone who is anyone here in the city will instantly fire off "Magnolia Bakery" when asked about cupcakes - they have such a cult following that you pretty much have to go at midnight to avoid a line out the door and around the corner. I say - eh, too much frosting and not enough variety. There's a "Crumbs" in our neighborhood and I am slowly making my way through their extensive inventory (so far, their classic buttercream has been the best, but I have a lot more to try). We recently stumbled upon a "Buttercup Bake Shop" and I had to go in for a taste. These have been the worst by far - way too dry for me to even finish the whole thing. The whole point being that I have more places to try before I can give a definitive answer to where you can get the best cupcake in New York, but as of today I would say "Crumbs" and also tell you not to pass up their muffins or a piece of their Princess chocolate mousse cake (Adrian's fave).

HALF MY MOTHER'S AGE

A birthday isn't really a birthday without the consumption of a Poor Man's Black Velvet, some tequila shots, both a hamburger and a hot dog, and some really great talks - oh, and a really bad movie (sorry Clint Eastwood, I'm so over you and your "Letters"). Thanks Mark, Neal, Steven, and Adrian...and the really nice "beer waitress" at Swift for a memorable day and evening.

NO YAO

Yao Ming hurt his knee recently and will not be playing tomorrow. What a birthday bummer. But we still plan to go to the game after a day of sleeping in, living room ottoman receiving (our last piece of furniture finally delivered!), and yummy food eating. Let's hope the jumbotron isn't broken.

*Change of plans: When your closest friends decide to entice you to stay in the city for dinner and a movie, plus a birthday drink afterwards, you can't say, "No...the jumbotron..." Instead, you say, "Sounds wonderful - thanks" and go from there.

BEST GAME EVER

I should probably tell you about how the Nets won last night or how LeBron James of the Cavaliers had two amazing slam dunks, but instead, I will tell you that Jay-Z and Beyonce finally made an appearance (he co-owns the Nets). We'd always wondered if they would sit courtside or in a box - well, they sat in the front row right next to the Nets' bench and since they were across the court from us, you can bet I watched them more than any of the actual game. They didn't talk much and they barely touched - what a weird celebrity existence. Then we found out that Missy Elliott and Ciara were also at the game. It took me awhile, but I finally spotted them in the front row behind one of the baskets. Eventually, all the celebrities got some screen time on the jumbotron and once the crowd found out, there were plenty of screams and cheers. Beyonce signed a ton of autographs, as did Missy and Ciara, both on their way out and during halftime. And then, in the middle of the third quarter, there was a fight in the upper deck stands and the whole crowd was more engrossed in that than what was happening on the court. Even Beyonce turned to see what all the fuss was about. Plus, we finally met our season ticket representative, Dashawnda, who promises to put my name up on the jumbotron for my birthday - when I get to see Yao Ming, up close and personal. It was all a bit much for me; I'm overstimulated at those games to begin with, but all that caused my head and eyes to ache. Like I said, best game ever.

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Adrian informed me that when he speaks to his family in Chinese, he oftentimes refers to me as his wife, rather than just as Amanda. I asked him how to say wife in Cantonese, and he replied, "lo po" - which, after further questioning, really translates to "old, old lady". I'm fine being his "old lady," but his old, old lady? It doesn't seem right since I'm only going to be 31 on my next birthday (eight days away!).

MAS CHRIST

Last night, Mark and Jillian hosted a themed Christmas party - guests were expected to wear cheesy Christmas sweaters that would make their third grade teachers jealous. We were in top form and I think Mrs. Dezember (yes, that was my third grade teacher's real name) would be very proud.

IS THIS TOO OLD?

I just realized that I never updated about the arrest that happened outside our building last week. I finally talked to the late-night doorman who was on that night, and he said this guy came running up to the door, but the doorman didn't buzz him in. (I had forgotten that our front door is locked after midnight...see, Mom, we're safe here!) The doorman said a bunch of cops came running up and cuffed the guy while he was on the ground. Unfortunately, I don't know any more than that - and I'm too tired to come up with a really good blog, so you get this.

WENT TO CHICAGO...

for Emilee's baby shower and some wedding detailing with Katie. Caught a nasty cold - should have gone down for the count, but there was too much shopping to do and too many trips to the Bongo Room (fyi: that's a restaurant, not a bar - you'd go twice too if you could taste their s'mores banana pancakes covered in vanilla bean sauce). Flying with a congested nose leads to painful earaches. Not good. Am finally home and ready for a few days of rest.

CS/7-9

Last night, Adrian, Mark, Jillian, and I went to the Comedy Cellar - a comedy club in Greenwich Village that is prominently featured in Jerry Seinfeld's movie, "Comedian". We attended the early show (9pm) and saw six different acts from comedians that have been on such things as Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, and one from the movie, "The Aristocrats". When the early show was over, the MC invited anyone who wanted to stay for the late show to stay, informing us that there would be all new acts. Mark had an early personal training session this morning and Jillian was feeling a bit under the weather, but we decided to stay to watch the first few comedians before trying to make an inconspicuous exit. Then we realized that the late show is when they bring out their big guns - we saw six new comedians and this time, they included Sherrod Small (host of VH1's "Best Week Ever") and Dave Atell (star of Comedy Central's "Insomniac with Dave Atell"). We also saw that those people who tried to leave were usually the ones that got heckled, so we knew we were in it for the long haul. So you can imagine our surprise when about halfway through the second show, we were treated to a drop-in guest - a comedian that comes by just to stay fresh or perhaps try out new material and is famous enough to get time at the mic. We put our hands together for Shawn Wayans, who came and did about a fifteen minute set before handing the stage back to the scheduled line-up. During one of the last acts, I noticed a couple across the room get up to leave (it was nearing 1:45 in the morning!) when the MC approached them, whispered something in their ears, watched their faces change expression, and sit back down. I leaned over to Adrian and told him that I thought another famous person was coming in, since the couple had decided to stay and looked somewhat shell-shocked. Sure enough, when the current guy was finished, the MC got on the mic to tell us we had another drop-in guest and she waited until she had us clapping uproariously before announcing, "Daaaavvvveee Chappelle". And there he was...Dave Chappelle on stage, in front of us, at the most intimate comedy club we've ever been to. We were literally five feet away from him. At this point, everyone in the crowd looked shell-shocked. He came with no prepared material - he asked the crowd for suggestions and then went from there. He riffed on everything from Shawn Wayans ("I saw Shawn Wayans up on the street and thought, 'Wow, that's Shawn Wayans'...then I remembered I'm Dave Chappelle") to his current sabbatical from public life ("People say I've been hiding...does this look like I'm hiding?") He smoked two cigarettes during his twenty minutes on stage, but I think we all agreed that getting secondhand smoke from a comic genius is okay every once in awhile. We left as soon as he was done - there was one more comic to perform, but really, who goes on after Dave Chappelle? Out on the street, breathing fresh air after five hours down in the club, we saw Mos Def waiting with Dave Chappelle's security team. Only in New York - and all that for only a $10 cover charge and a two drink minimum.

QUICK UPDATES

Correct bench is being made; we get to keep the wrong one in the interim (should take about a month)

Current doorman didn't hear any news about a ruckus happening near our building; will check with other doormen later

CITY LIFE - NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Having the windows open in our apartment to counter the intense heat from the radiators allows a lot of various noise and soundbites to float in. Not two minutes ago, I was calmly reading by the living room window, which looks out onto West End Avenue, when I heard a guy shouting, "Get the f*#k down! Get the f*#k down!" Not one to ignore any sort of excitement, I raised the window and stuck my head out just in time to see four police cars stop in front our building and cops make a mad dash for our apartment awning. Grrrreat. I didn't see anything other than a bunch of cops emerge and stand around while talking to a guy I didn't recognize - I don't think it was any of our doormen. It also seems like the majority of the police cars aren't numbered, so perhaps we have a drug lord in our building that they were staking out. (Oh, the scenarios Adrian and I come up with!) Anyways, I couldn't stay hanging out the window for very long - I start freaking myself out with the 11-floor drop before me. I'm hoping tomorrow morning whoever was on duty will have spread the story to the rest of the doormen, so we can get the full scoop.

IT'S NOT MOHAIR

Back in early September, we ordered a bench for our foyer that took nine weeks to get because we chose a specific fabric and it needed that long to be produced. It was delivered when I was in Chicago for the Oprah show, and the first thing Adrian said to me over the phone was that he didn't think it looked the same as the one in the store (which was an exact duplicate of the one we ordered). When I first saw it, I thought it looked different too...not as pretty as I remembered (Adrian felt it wasn't as soft as he remembered), but it had been so long that we both thought we were just remembering wrong. Every day since then, it's prickled at the back of my mind that the bench wasn't right. However, the store we bought it from is in Soho and I know we don't work, but a trek down to Soho usually isn't in our daily plans. Today however, after brunch with the family, we walked to Soho and we headed straight to the store where we got the bench. Luckily, the guy that sold it to us was there and remembered us and explained that while it was highly unlikely, there was a chance that our bench wasn't the mohair it was supposed to be, but a linen velvet that was also named bittersweet chocolate. He gave us two samples of the different fabrics to take home and test. Well, you read the title of the blog, right? It's not mohair. After calling him back to tell him the bad news, he gave me the store's customer service information and we will be calling first thing tomorrow. We both can't believe we sat on this (no pun intended) for almost a month now - we just hope it isn't a problem when we try to remedy it. I just hope we don't have to wait another nine weeks to get the right bench.

KISS CAM

If you've ever been to a professional basketball game, you know that they do everything possible to fill the non-playing time - for every timeout or during halftime, there's something going on. Whether it be dunk contests or dancers on the court or people being shown on the jumbotron, there is never dead air time. At our first Nets game, they had a "kiss cam" that scanned the audience and selected couples to show on the jumbotron. Once the couple realizes they're up there, they're supposed to kiss. It was quite funny to watch people's reactions, especially when one of the couples was a father-daughter combo who didn't look like they wanted to be at the game to begin with. Ever since it's first showing, I became determined to get on the "kiss cam". Well, we've been to half a dozen games since and no "kiss cam". Until finally tonight, they busted it out again...and again, they ignored the cute couple in section 122. I guess we have to start looking cuter - or maybe buy some Nets gear to wear. I did read that the Nets recently held tryouts for a senior citizen hip-hop dance team to perform at various halftimes. Now that can take the place of the "kiss cam" anytime it wants to.