Ice Ice Baby + Cake Boss Cupcakes

The kids were out of school for ice on Friday (crazy!!! I can't believe we got an ice day down here before ever experiencing a hurricane day!) but no worries - it all melted by noon, and we even hit 70° today! (God bless Texas! :-)) I was actually thrilled to have the kids home to help me take down the Christmas tree. Yes, you read that right! :-P We had to leave it up for late Christmas with JB's parents this past Monday, (& I truly didn't mind. :-)) I was so thankful not to have to do that chore all by my lonesome! And they didn't break a single ornament. ;-) There's apparently a chance we could get more ice & wintry mix on Tuesday, (but 76°, again, Fri!) so if they're out then, maybe we'll try to have more fun. Hanging up laundry is fun, right? :-D

On Saturday, we took a little drive northwest of the city to check out a bakery. Buddy Valastro, the "Cake Boss" has a new TV show called "Bakery Boss", where he comes to help revive struggling bakeries, a la "Kitchen Nightmares". The episode he filmed in Houston aired this past Monday, so of course I looked up the location to see if it would be worthwhile. Yes, it was. ;-) Here's a quick clip from the show.

The revamp of Drew's Pastry Place was a success! And we have ingested the calories to prove it. ;-)

The "newly famous" cannoli cupcake totally lived up to the hype! I like it better than regular cannoli, b/c the shell is my least fave part, but I love the cream & chocolate chips:

Drew (you can see him over my shoulder back in the kitchen in my pic above ;-)) & his wife were just lovely. Will & Annelise thought it was super cool to be not only sitting in a place they had just seen on TV, but also eating Buddy's actual cupcake recipe!!! (Without us having to go to New Jersey :-P)