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Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Whole Lot of Updates!

The past few months have been an exciting, busy and wild ride that have left little time for blogging, but don't let my lack of writing fool you. Although I haven't blogged in a while, it does not mean I haven't been baking. I just simply haven't had time to write* about all of my latest creations (*note: you can always follow me on Twitter @cldugan for live tweets and instagram updates on what I'm up to, where I'm eating and what's currently coming out of my oven)!

In the time that I sadly have been neglecting Chelsea's Choice over the past few months, my life has taken off in some crazy cool directions! In September, I moved into a new apartment in Boston with my awesome YouTube celeb roommate, Cassidy. You guys should totally go check out her YouTube channel (especially because there are some funny videos with me in them too, like our first #apartmentfail video or our Super Bowl XLVI announcement video, which is currently posted on the front page of her channel... but more on that later)! Fall brought exciting changes with a new post-grad address, a new job, new friends and a whole city of new fun foodie gems to find. I didn't waste any time taking advantage of my favorite seasonal baking flavors and experimented with tons of delicious recipes from September through November. To name a few*:
  • Gluten-free Apple Crisp
  • Apple Pie
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake
  • Pumpkin Butter
  • Apple Cider Doughnuts
  • Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Cake
  • Pumpkin Sangria
  • Pumpkin Ice Cream Doughnuts
  • Pumpkin Toffee Chip and Rolo Chunk Cookies
  • Mini Cream Cheese and Butterscotch Pumpkin Pies
  • Pumpkin Creme Brulee
*Email me at duganchelsea [at] gmail [dot] com if you're interested in trying any of these recipes!



December brought the holiday season, and Christmastime is one of my favorite times of the year. Spending the season amongst the hustle and bustle of the city brought a whole new level of excitement and inspiration to my baking and decorating this year. I hosted a few holiday parties at Cass and I's new apartment and used that as an excuse to go totally over the top with decorations. Christmas comes but once a year though, right? You have to make the most of it! There's just something about entertaining during the holiday season that brings a childlike joy and wonder to cooking and baking. I tried a whole slew of holiday recipes and had so much fun swapping ideas with my fellow foodie friends over festive holiday cocktails. This year, my family celebrated Christmas in southern Florida, and we had the best time trying out tons of restaurants (both old and new favorites) in the Naples area. Hint: the chocolate cake with mixed berry sauce at Vergina's on 5th Ave. in Naples is TO DIE FOR!



I kicked off 2012 by entering my photography work from my trip to Sicily last March into a company-wide art gallery in my office. Since I have a passion for both the art of photography and baking, I also created a special cupcake for the gallery opening to share with the office. My co-workers enjoyed a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese buttercream frosting adorned with the company logo. I received rave reviews! It was such an honor to be featured in my first art gallery.


I promised I'd get back to the topic of Cassidy and I's Super Bowl XLVI adventure, so here goes! Early in 2012, Cass entered a contest sponsored by Motorola to win a trip to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis and cover all the excitement for the Ochocinco News Network (Chad Ochocinco is the wide receiver for the New England Patriots)! Hundreds of people entered to win this amazing prize, but in February, we found out Cass was chosen as the winner (check out Cass' funny announcement video - I'm featured AND there's a dance montage!) and she SO kindly asked me to join her as her guest on this once-in-a-lifetime trip! So, we were off to Indy for a week-long Super Bowl adventure and were able to meet tons of pro athletes and celebrities! If you're interested in checking out some of Cass' interview footage from the week, head over to Motorola's Super Bowl YouTube playlist. I'm still working on finalizing my entire Super Bowl XLVI photography portfolio from the week, but check out the preview below! We had an absolutely amazing time and I could NEVER thank Cass enough for including me in such a special experience!


And now, we're all the way into March and the excitement ceases to diminish! Today, I took an awesome cooking class on meat at the Boston Center for Adult Education. We learned all about cuts, rubs, sauces and marinades and the best part, of course, was tasting the fruits of our labor. I was thoroughly impressed by the state-of-the-art facility and resources at the BCAE and our instructors (@theskinnybeet) did an amazing job at making the art of cooking steak seem approachable! For baking nerds looking to branch out (such as myself), this class was a perfect match. 


And, tomorrow, I am joining the @BostonBrunchers (who recently made headlines in the Boston Globe) for a delicious dinner at Maximo's in Watertown. I'm psyched to be part of such a renowned foodie group in Boston, and have been looking forward to tomorrow's dinner for weeks! Check out my live tweets from the event tomorrow night at @cldugan, and stay tuned here for a review in the next few days!

Happy Baking, friends!

1 comment:

  1. Welcome back to the blog world, girl! I recently resurrected Sincerely Samantha! I guess great minds think alike ;)

    ReplyDelete

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