UPDATE: I know most of you have seen these pics on Facebook but for those who haven't, Biji has posted a couple photos of himself over the past month that I thought I should share.
in a STRYKER on [his] way back from Maiwand
160th SIG BDE CDR and 1/1 AD BCT CDR — at At Camp Nathan Smith, AFG 2013
I have been a terrible friend this tour - I haven't e-mailed Biji once since he left in December. He called us at Christmas but we hadn't heard from him since then. He does check in on Facebook every once in a long while so at least we know he's still out there. Luckily for us, though, he called us Sunday morning and we actually heard and answered the phone! :o) He actually sounded pretty good, all things considered, and we found out he's finished his Major schooling. (The Army wouldn't let him wait until he got back from Afghanistan so they made him do it online while deployed. :o/) That means he has more time for patrols, unfortunately, but because he is a Major, he only does about 2 per week. So that's a very thin silver lining. That's pretty much all we were allowed to know but we were thrilled to get to talk to him and I just wanted to pass along that he's still hanging in there.
I think I've posted about the site Bakerella before but I'm not 100% positive. It seems like I would have and I believe Maria mentioned she found Bakerella through me but maybe it's because I'm a Bakerella fan on Facebook... (None of this matters to any of you so why am I wasting time babbling about it?! Yeesh. Moving on.) Anyway, the point is that I like Bakerella and Maria likes Bakerella and that's where the story begins.
The lynch pin of Bakerella's stable of sweets is the cake ball. The cake ball then morphed into the cake pop and that - or, rather, more specifically the starter chocolate cupcake pop - is what Maria decided she wanted to make for her friend's birthday party. While I was at the McCauleys' on Father's Day she started chatting with me about making the cake pops and I told her I'd be very interested to see how they turned out. I answered a couple of questions Maria had about melting chocolate and then didn't think much else about it. But later that same week Maria gave me a call and asked if I would be willing to help her out with her baking and, of course, I said yes. The cake pops really have long intrigued me... but BOY did they look like more work than I ever wanted to do for a dessert! Doing it with a partner was the perfect opportunity so we set it up for that Friday night and here's how it all turned out.
We were under a time constraint so, unfortunately for us, we had to start from the very beginning (i.e. baking the cake) at 7:30 PM. This made for a looooooong night; all told, it took us about 6 hours from mixing the cake to putting the ribbons on the finished pops. Needless to say, we were all a bit exhausted at the end of it all! It's not even that anything in the process was particularly hard - just time consuming. You have to wait for the cake to bake. You have to wait for the cake to cool. You have to freeze the pops after each step. You have to cool the pops before packaging them. It all just takes a lot of time. Still, we persevered and I think the end product was darn fine! You should refer to the earlier link to see a much more detailed step-by-step instructions on how to make the cake pops. My photos are a little more choppy. But I still think they're a good representation of how we worked.
First, after baking, cooling and crumbling the chocolate cake, Maria stirred the cake crumbs into our homemade cream cheese frosting.
Then we had scoop and mold the mixture into 1-inch balls. (See photo after the one below.) After freezing the balls, they get rolled into logs. This is a photo of the poo log. Had me cracking UP! I was tired.
The logs then got pressed half into a little flower-shaped cookie cutter to make the cupcake shape. On the right and left you can see the molded cupcake shapes; the pre-poo log cake balls are in the center of the tray.
After we froze the cupcake shapes, we dipped the bottom halves in bittersweet chocolate. More setting and then we were ready to dip the top halves in white chocolate and put on the final decorative touches.
Somewhere after the poo logs but before the final white chocolate dip Biji stopped by for a bit (he left the following Sunday so we were trying to squeeze in as much Biji time as possible). We put him and Robert to work, fashioning stands for us to put the pops in while they cooled and making room in the fridge. Here is Biji completing Operation: Transfer Pops.
And here they are! What do you think?
The pops had to set up in the fridge before we could package them and since we were bone tired at that point, we enlisted Robert and Biji's help in finishing up the project. Had we more time (or patience) we would've let the pops set just a wee bit more, as a few that got too warm slid right off their sticks and were sampled by the assemblers. (They were quite tasty! But even with four of us we couldn't eat all the rejects - as you can imagine, they're pretty rich. So some just got to go home to Bob.) Robert transferred all the pops to and from the fridge, Maria bagged'em, Biji held'em and I beribboned'em. We were a well-oiled machine, I tell ya. Biji's Army training really came in handy.
Bagged and ready to chill out overnight. From what I heard from Maria, the cake pops were a big hit at the party. As they should have been! I think we were all very impressed with our first attempt at cake pop making... and I'm not sure Maria or I will attempt to make another batch anytime too soon.
Poor Biji. The man is a war veteran, upstanding citizen, conscientious son and outstanding friend. And his friends are douches. And when I say "friends," I mean me and Robert. Yesterday was Biji's 30th birthday and we didn't call him! Now, in our defense Robert got home very late and we didn't finish dinner until 10:45. We were going to call him then but he was asleep. But that is no excuse!!! I should've called him without Robert since I knew he would be terribly late! But no!!!! So, to try and make amends, here is a Biji-centric post. (It's sort of in chronological order... ish.)
Hope you had a passable birthday, Bij.*
Celebrating Biji's 29th birthday @ Chevy's
Celebrating my 29th birthday @ Banchero's
Riding an ATV in Mexico
In England (for work)
At an Iraqi fruit stand, 2nd tour
Demonstrating how to wear his gear (Jan. '07)
Relaxing in his most awesome chair (Seriously. This chair is sooo comfortable!)
Visiting Fremont, 2006
Lookin' FINE @ Elephant Bar
With his godson, Jonathan
With his good friend, Chris
Iraq, 1st tour
In one of Saddam's palaces
Head freshly shaved, ready to deploy the 1st time
With the Stovalls @ Chili's, 2003
Our 1st visit to Puyallup
Relaxing at the Pleasure Palace
Checking out his huuuuuuuuuge feet in Hawaii
1998
* I know it wasn't "good" because it was a Monday, your boss was back and you were sick. So passable is as good as it was gonna get.
The September 5th Cal football game had a strong military presence/theme throughout and until Biji sent me the following video, I didn't entirely understand why. But, according to the YouTube description from Cal Athletics: "As part of Spirit of America Day, during the halftime of the Cal vs Maryland Football game on September 5th, the young men and women from the Bay Area took their oath of enlistment prior to departing for basic training with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. Captain Tony Laird, United States Navy, department head for the Cal Berkeley Military Affairs Department, representing Cal ROTC, gave the oath." Being a Big Kahuna of the Cal ROTC, Biji, of course, was very involved in all of the goings-on that day. Which is good, as it turns out, because he made it into the video! Check it out! [Oh, and my coworker thinks you're good looking in a hat, Biji, so, y'know, yay for you. ;o) ]
Man... Biji looks huge! HUGE!!!Very intimidating. And I always enjoy Biji's Army face. :o) Actually, I enjoy Biji's whole demeanor once he snaps into Army mode - it's a trip! He's so goofy and dorky as regular Biji; it's kind of fun to see him snap into his Don't-Mess-With-Me-I-Could-Seriously-Kick-Your-Ass persona. Plus, you can just see people's respect for him... and it's always fun to hear people call him 'sir.' ;o)
On a sort of similar note, my dad, being a Cal alum and military veteran, attended the game, too. I'm glad he went - if you know my dad, you know he's a big Cal guy and I think he really enjoyed the chance to check out campus and whatnot. Plus, he's a huge band nerd and enjoyed getting to see what has and hasn't changed with the ol' marching band. One thing he expected but didn't get was the traditional bomb going off on the 20-yard line before the band emerged onto the field. Luckily, however, the Cal Band Alumni group sent out some You Tube links for several things that happened at the game the following week, and the band bomb was included. Vindication! My dad, knowing I'd appreciate his story (I did - you know how much I love it when my random knowledge is proved correct!) forwarded one of the aforementioned clips to me. Why am I boring you with this? Because at the 43 second mark you can see a guy in a gold shirt and dark pants get completely bowled over by the bass drum player as he runs out of the tunnel*. My dad pointed it out to me and I'm glad he did; I'm not sure I'd have caught it on my own and it was by FAR the best part of the video!!! Sent me into a cackling fit at my desk.
(FYI: You can hear the bomb go off at the 48 second mark, followed by residual smoke at the 52 second mark.)
*According to comments posted on YouTube since I last watched the video, the unfortunate fellow is supposedly a security guard that was previously told he was in the way and was instructed to stand elsewhere. Or else he'd be run over. Clearly, the dude did not take the drummer seriously. Big mistake.
It would seem that, ahem, some people were offended by my earlier post in which I mentioned ever-so-casually that Biji did not offer me "the golf ball/tee set, lanyard or water bottle he had lying out for the students" when he came to the Bay the other day. Well, that situation was rectified the following weekend when Biji stopped by our place and defiantly placed 2 water bottles, 2 lanyards and 2 golf ball/tee sets on the coffee table. Now Robert and I each have our own little collection of Cal ROTC goodies.
Never let it be said that Biji isn't always lookin' out for us!
Biji hit the Bay again today (transfer student orientation fair) and even though his boss was there, I still scored me some free stuff. (And no, I didn't ask for it - Biji totally offered it to me, I promise. He probably just didn't want to pack it up but that's okay. )True, it's Army related so it's not all that great (I kid! Ish.) and it's not the golf ball/tee set, lanyard or water bottle he had lying out for the students... but whatevs. :o) And because I'm a good wife... and Biji only had 2 shirts he was trying to get rid of... I snagged one for Robert, too.
(Oh, and today was the first time I got to refer to Robert as my husband to someone [I don't know] in conversation... Aww.)
Biji was back this morning tabling (as he calls it) for the ROTC program. He didn't have his usual sidekick LT Gary with him this time, though, so I got to embarrass him in front of a brand new coworker. Fun! I'm always happy to oblige and give people a little more insight into Biji. This guy seemed to know him well enough, though - I did hear him say Biji is "tight as a clam" as far as money is concerned. ;o)
Biji will be in Virginia for the next couple weeks, so it was nice to have a minute to chat with him before he leaves. Plus, Biji hooked me up with this free foam football. Jealous? I know. Hey, I'm a nice gal - I'll only charge you $1 to play with it.
As I was leaving the building last night, I saw one of Biji's posters rolled up and lying in the newspaper stand by the exit. Someone just threw Biji's beloved poster (actually, I believe Biji told one of the students he handed it to that the poster was "awesome") away!!! Can you believe that? Kids today! So thoughtless.
Biji made his quarterly sojourn to the Bay today - it's our homecoming week and we had a career fair this morning - so I took a moment to stop by his stand. He was stuck outside last quarter but today he had (in my opinion) cushier digs inside our new university union... though I think Biji would've preferred being outside, seeing as he never gets to see the sun on weekdays anymore. ;o) But it was a very nice treat after I was finally freed from the hell that is the Call Center at 1:00!
Biji (and his 2LT Gary) hated these posters so he forced one on me as I was leaving. Apparently, Biji's boss is a big fan but Biji doesn't think they scream 'Join the Army - It's Not All About Guns, War and Killing People!" He could have a point there. Still, I was a nice friend and took it off his hands. Will it wind up in the trash can? Very possible.
Something I scored that I'm a little more excited about is this Army mug. Sweet! I love me a free mug. (The foam footballs last quarter didn't light my fire. Which I guess is good because Biji never offered me one.)
But the best part? Remember Biji's janky 'business cards' from last quarter? Well, he actually had REAL business cards this time out! Much better. (Gary was hoping no one remembered the homemade cards. Oh, Gary - you don't know me at all. As I once said "I never forget!" - plus, always I take photos!)
I think the crappy economy boosted his numbers; I definitely think I saw more people stop at the booth this time than last. Which sucks for them but is good fir Biji, I guess. The poor guy was sick as a dog but he was a trooper. Definitely the healthiest-looking sick person I've ever seen. OH! And he told me he was accepted at Walden University to pursue his Masters in Systems Engineering, so CONGRATULATIONS Biji!!! I'll try to overlook the fact that you're a huge overachiever who's trying to show me up... ;o)
Well, Biji hit the ripe old age of 29 yesterday and to celebrate, a few of us headed up to Emeryville on Friday night. Nothing big - we met up at Biji's place, headed over to Chevy's and had a leisurely meal. I had to get up early(ish) the next morning so Robert and I were the first to leave the party, but I don't know that it went on much longer after we left. After all, we left around 11:30 and that was already an hour or so after Biji's bedtime... :o)
Biji and his super-sized shot of Patron
I don't understand why I photograph so WHITE! I mean, I realize I'm extremely pasty but c'mon - I'm practically glowing in this photo. Depressing.
(My finger was on the flash in this one - whoops. But the one I took of Biji and Robert that was properly lit doesn't make Robert look his best, so I'm going with this one. Sorry!)
Biji and Laura (Yes, we embarrassed him with the full birthday sombrero treatment.)
Biji is on campus today for a career fair The Bay is putting on - he is, of course, representing the ROTC program at Cal. I ventured down to the Meiklejohn Walkway a little after noon to check him out and boooooy was he having a good time!! ;o)
BIJI: "My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my legs hurt..." ME: "But you were in Iraq. Twice! You're telling me just standing at a career fair is doing you in?" BIJI: "In Iraq we ran. And stopped. And ran. And sat. This is just standing for four hours!!" ME: "Don't you sit?" BIJI: "Weeeell... no. It's all in the body language. We stand, we keep our hands behind our backs - to present a good image."
So, Biji is a very good face for the program... but he's not a happy man. I enjoyed watching him try and work the crowd but my favorite part was when his boothmate (the 2nd LT that works with Biji at Cal) approached him and said "Sir? I'm headed to the latrine." He called Biji sir!!! And called the restroom a latrine!!! HEE!!!!! :o) I hee'd at Biji but he didn't see what was so cute about the exchange. "That's what he's supposed to say." Yes, I know, but I never get to hear anyone call him sir so I was tickled by it. I'm easily amused. Sue me.
Here are few photos of Biji in action that I snapped on my cell.
He'll be working the booth until 2:30, after which I told him to call me and I'd give him a tour of my cubicle before he heads back to Berkeley. Ah! Which reminds me! Here are the two "cards" Biji is handing out:
The top "card" isn't even a card - it's a peice of paper. Apparently, Biji's business cards have not yet arrived. And the bottom card, if you can see it, has the original guy's name crossed out and Biji's name written in! Biji has handwriting like a hatchet murderer - I told him he should've at least printed out tiny labels and laid them over the dude's name. "Oh. I didn't think of that." Hmph. On the back side of the Cal card, Biji wrote down his e-mail address. I said "Wow! At least you spelled Berkeley right." To which he responded "I didn't at first. Then it looked weird. I had to go on Google and then saw that it's Berk-eh-lee." Oh, Bij. What a sad, strange man you are. ;o)
