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Gina DiMartino

~ finding beauty in pain

Gina DiMartino

Monthly Archives: May 2014

Italian Cream Cupcakes (Pioneer Woman)

25 Sunday May 2014

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Italian Cream Cupcakes, The Pioneer Woman

This weekend we had a small group picnic at the park. we had tons of food. Tons.

IMG_4607We grilled, ate, soaked up the sun, played kan jam, played with the puppies and ate some more. Amazing.

IMG_4630 This is Jack. He’s the cutest.

I made Italian Cream Cupcakes. Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously. They were SO good. I even messed up the recipe and they were still delicious. I will definitely be making them again. Seriously. Try them.

Italian Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients

  •  CUPCAKES
  • 5 whole Eggs, Separated
  • 1/2 cup Butter, Softened
  • 1 cup Vegetable Oil
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1 cup Sweetened, Flaked Coconut
  • 2 cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  •  Icing
  • 2 packages (8 Ounces Each) Cream Cheese, Softened
  • 1/2 cup Butter, Softened
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
  • 2 pounds Powdered Sugar
  • 1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
  • 1 cup Sweetened, Flaked Coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin pans (regular or mini) with nonstick baking spray OR line with paper cupcake liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites they’re stiff. Transfer to another bowl and set aside; clean the mixing bowl and return to the mixer.

Combine the butter, vegetable oil, and sugar in the mixing bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, the beat until smooth. Add 1 cup of coconut and beat to combine.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl, then alternate adding the flour mixture with the buttermilk, mixing for a few seconds after each addition. Add the egg whites and use a rubber spatula to fold them into the batter. Add batter to the muffin cups, the bake for 13-14 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

To make the frosting, whip together the butter and cream cheese until smooth, then sift the powdered sugar and mix it in until combine. Add the vanilla and mix. Add 1 cup of coconut and the pecans, reserving a small amount of pecans for garnish. Mix until totally combined.

Frost cooled cupcakes, then sprinkle extra pecans on top. Refrigerate cupcakes if not serving right away (frosting will soften at room temperature.)

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Recipe from The Pioneer Woman 

400 days

20 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by ginamd in Uncategorized

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Tags

Boston Marathon, Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston Strong

May 20th

400 days

The doctors said it would take 400 days to know if the surgeries worked. If my leg would work again. If I would walk. If I would ever feel anything. If I would be able to move my ankle and toes.

400 days.

Well time is up. Its been 400 days. It seems like it should be a huge milestone, but I’m sitting in a coffee shop and life is going on around me as normal. I don’t feel different today than I did yesterday. I don’t know what I expected of my 400 days. I think I expected that it would arrive and I would be back to normal. But that isn’t the case. I’m not normal. I don’t think my leg feels more than it did yesterday. I can feel things all the way down to my toes: if I rub it really hard or spray water from the shower on it. But it is by no means normal. I can go some days without wearing my brace, which is awesome, but it gives me a more defined limp and I walk much slower. My ankle is getting stronger, but my calf is still non-existent. I don’t think it will ever come back to what it was before. I still have a lot of pain there.

Today should be the ending of my book. TODAY IS THE END! I mean it’s not really the end of anything. It’s just the end of my 400 days. But that’s what I wanted my book to be about. This blog post should be a summary. It is my final chapter. The conclusion of my book. What do I want my conclusion to be. What is the takeaway? What have I learned in these 400 days? I don’t know. I just don’t. I don’t know how to put it into words. But I need to. That’s the point right? The point of writing a book. Is that I can put into words what I am learning. What I have learned.

I have learned that I am still telling an old story about who I am. After reading Shauna’s blog: Getting Out of a Life Rut, I realized I read the whole thing completely agreeing. Yes, that’s who I am. The chubby, funny girl. The sidekick. I am telling an old story about myself. That’s not who I want to be anymore. In The Holiday, Kate Winslet’s character, Iris, comes to the same realization when talking to her neighbor, Arthur.

Arthur: Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Iris: You’re so right. You’re supposed to be the leading lady of your own life! Arthur, I’ve been going to a therapist for three years, and she’s never explained anything to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.

This bomb should change my life. I should be changed. I should stop telling that old story. It isn’t who I am anymore. I think that’s a lot of what these 400 days were about. I should have used them more wisely. I should have figured this out before day 400. Have I essentially wasted 400 days of my life? Or have all these days been the culmination of this learning curve?

I need to start living the life I want to have. I can’t keep moping around waiting for something to happen to me. I need to stop acting like the best friend and start being a leading lady.

Allison Vesterfelt wrote a great blog post called Don’t Wait to be Invited to Your Life. She tells a story about how as a child she was always left out and was always waiting to be invited to things, while other children always seemed to be invited and included. But she realized it was because they were constantly putting themselves out there.

“They didn’t need someone to tell them they were good at wall ball, or that they were a great writer, or that they deserved a happy marriage. They already believed those things were true. And because they believed that, they put themselves in the game. They played with a sort of abandon. They got better and better.

I don’t need an invitation. Neither do you. What we need is a little more moxie, a little more guts. We we need is a willingness to know what we want. What we need is to practice, practice, practice—and to make a little room for ourselves on the court. “

I can’t keep waiting to be invited. I can’t keep waiting for something to HAPPEN in my life. I need to start living the life I want and I need to start being the person I want to be. I need to stop telling that old story about myself. I’ve had 400 days. As this concluding chapter closes, how am I going to change my story for the next 400?

How will you?

France Day 10

10 Saturday May 2014

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Boston Heroes Cruise, boston marathon survivors, Boston Strong, France

The last day! We sailed to the town of Tarascon and explored the town in the pouring rain and crazy winds.

IMG_8224

Everyone had umbrellas from the boat, but the wind was getting the better of them. As we wandered the deserted town we saw abandoned umbrellas everywhere. Laying dejected on the sidewalks.

IMG_8244Tarascon has winds called Black Mistral winds, meaning fierce mistral winds accompanied by pouring rain. They have mistral winds 100 days a year in Tarascon. We braved these winds and walked all over the city. Very few shops were open. We finally found a little cafe and got some pastries and espresso and sat with some other friends from the boat before venturing back out  into the rain.

Tarascon has a saint called Saint Martha. Her story is one of the most awesome stories about saints we had ever heard. There was a monster in Southern France called the Tarasque. It was a sort of dragon with a lion’s head, six short legs like a bear’s, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion’s sting. It ravaged cities and no one could kill it. When Saint Martha arrived in Tarascon she about the Tarasque, went to it and tamed it by singing hymns and prayers to it. She then brought it back to the city where the people, who were still terrified of the beast, killed it. Martha made them feel horrible for killing a tamed beast and converted many of the to Christianity. Crazy. 

That night we played cards and hung out with all our friends on the boat. No one wanted to pack or think about saying goodbye! We stayed up late, drinking French wine, coffee, and feasting on macaroons, cheeses and other delicious snacks we had purchased but didn’t want to pack into our suitcases. In the morning we were separated by color, put onto busses, and taken to the airport in Marseilles. I flew to Boston with Kim and Colton, and then home to NY with mom and dad. What an unforgettable trip. So many amazing memories and so many great new friendships. We will never forget! We are all Boston Strong!

IMG_8251

France Day 9

10 Saturday May 2014

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We were up at out again by 8:30. We headed to Pont du Gard, an old Roman aqueduct built about 2000 years ago sometime between 40-60 AD. It was an amazing structure. The total aqueduct system was 31 miles long when it was originally built. It carried water from Uzes to Nimes and brought about 44,000,000 gallons of water a day.

IMG_3651

There were also amazing olive trees around it that are believed to be 1000 years old. They were so beautiful, twisted and gnarly.

IMG_3645

We walked across the bridge of the aqueduct and spent some time exploring the area.

IMG_3670We then boarded the busses and headed to a tiny medieval town called Uzes. Built sometime in the 5th century, with an enclosed courtyard in the center to fortify it. There was a beautiful fountain in the middle. The whole town looked like it was straight out of the Three Musketeers. You could picture Dumas’ sitting at a cafe writing the Musketeers into life, picturing them fencing around the courtyard.

IMG_8192
At night we wandered again around Avignon. It was very rainy, but we made the most of it. Tomorrow is the last day!

France Day 8

09 Friday May 2014

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Boston Heroes Cruise, Boston Strong, France

A friend in Boston reminded me that I never finished blogging about our trip to France! I got distracted. So sorry!

Day 8! We got up early ate quickly and were all on the bus by 8:30am. So much for sleeping in on vacation! We drove through a town named Orange to Chateauneuf-du-pape. On the way we stopped at a Triumph gate and an old theater that were built by the Romans.

IMG_8159

When we arrived in Chateauneuf-du-pape, we went to a winery for a wine and chocolate tasting. We had dark chocolate with thyme and another with rosemary. Paired with crisp white wine and smooth reds, oh my gosh SO good! It was the best wine tasting I have ever been to.

IMG_3613

We went from there to a castle ruin that the pope built a long time ago. It was beautiful. So awesome to see things that were built so long ago. We found an olive tree with olives so we picked some.
IMG_3627IMG_3632IMG_3628We left the castle and the bus took us to a huge vineyard. French vineyards are so interesting. The ground is covered with rocks that came from the Rhone river. The plants are kept very small and short which is so different from American vineyards. The smaller vines allow them produce less quantity, better a much better quality grape.

IMG_3637We picked some grapes that had been left on the vines. Yummy!

The boat was stuck in a lock so we came back to the boat and had lunch and waited to get through. We napped all afternoon as we sallied to Avignon. Avignon is a walled city. It looks so medieval. I expected there to be a moat. After dinner we wandered the city for a little while. Nothing was open. The French towns are all so deserted at night. Barely anything open. No people wandering around. It was so odd. But we explored for a while and then went back to the boat. Ready for a new day of adventures!


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