Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail

Did you know there is a Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail? No, I didn't think so.

So I found this sign on the greenway along the Catawba River in Marion, NC.  Very intriguing. I'm a sea snorkeler, but I've never thought snorkeling about local rivers. I'd like to try it. 

The snorkel trail goes from Murphy to Marion, NC. It's a series of curated snorkel sites in NC rivers with easy access points to do some snorkeling.

Follow the links to the NC Fisheries Snorkel Trail page for more info and a map.

FAQs

Sounds like a Bucket List item!

Cupcake Review: Hot Chocolate and Lemon Cranberry

So . . . I casually walked by Cupcake in the Vista again last week and peeked in to see what the day's flavors were.  Hot Chocolate and Low-Fat Lemon Cranberry.  And they were calling my name.

I snuggled these beauties in the corner of my car and drove off to find someone to do the taste test.....

Cupcake Review: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, Low Fat Chocolate Raspberry

Store:  Cupcake

Location:  1213 Lincoln Street, Columbia, SC

Flavors:  Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, Low-Fat Chocolate Raspberry

Testers:  The Ladies and Gentlemen at Busbee's Truck Parts

I surprised interrupted my friends working at Busbee's Truck Parts in the middle of a sunny Friday afternoon.  It was warm, sunny, Friday -- everyone was in a great mood.  What could possibly make it better?

Cupcakes!  

Of course!

The tasters were Ronnie, RJ, Erika, Janet, John, Michael and me.  Everyone except me agreed the chocolate chip cheesecake is the better of the two, but everyone except Erika thought the raspberry was excellent as well.  Erika doesn't like raspberry, so she doesn't count, even though, according to Janet, the raspberry was very subtle.

I never even told them the chocolate raspberry cupcake was low fat!  They still loved it.  It was my favorite, hands down.

Cupcake website doesn't have these cupcakes listed, so I can't tell you the ingredients.  I'm pretty sure the chocolate raspberry had a cream cheese icing while the chocolate chip cheesecake had a buttercream icing.  The chocolate chip cheesecake has a delightful burst of cheesecake inside the cake.




Look what I found for the first time at my location of Cupake:

The Cupcake Mobile!

Guess what?!

You can rent the Cupcake Mobile!

Wouldn't I look fine driving that thing around?!

For more cupcake reviews, click on the Cupcake Review link in my blog's Table of Contents on the right sidebar, or just click here and see if this short-cut works.

Cupcake Review Columbia, SC

Gingerbread
Peppermint

Taste Tester:  Morgan T.

My favorite:  Gingerbread.  Cream cheese icing on spiced gingerbread cake.  It tasted just like the best Gingerbread Man Cookie you'd ever find.

Mo's favorite:  Peppermint. Peppermint icing on a chocolate cake.  She said she would buy tons of these and she would never buy a Gingerbread one.....

Cupcake in Columbia SC, Cupcake Review

It's been far too long since I've done a cupcake review for you, my hungry, hungry reader.  All for you.

The flavors: 

Chocolate Monkey. Dark chocolate cake with white choc. chips and walnuts with peanut butter banana cream cheese icing.
Chai Tea.  Chai Tea vanilla cake topped with sweet cream cheese icing and dusted with cinnamon.
Caramel Macchiato.  Caramel cake with coffee icing, drizzled with caramel and a chocolate coffee bean.
Black and White.  Dark chocolate cake with vanilla bean buttercream icing and pink sprinkles on top for Breast Cancer Awareness support.  $1 on each cupcake sold is donated to breast cancer awareness and research.

Four locations, 8 samplers. So many reviews.  Still, only 4 cupcakes.  Man we made those things last.

And this is the first time I've had someone spit their sample out in the trash can.

Chocolate Monkey.  This is a powerful cupcake.  The Monkey is a love/hate thing - you either love it or hate it, no in-between.   It's very moist.  The peanut butter is subtle.  The walnuts are obnoxious - Pam loved them, Scott and Tommy ate around them.  Tommy said the Monkey tasted like grass, "something healthy."

Patti and Eva took one bite, gagged and spit it in the trash.

Marj bit into the Monkey,groaned curiously, bent into it, peered closely, dug around a little and tried it again.  "Nah," she sighed, "too many weird things going on." 

And the Monkey was sent to the corner.

Caramel Macchiato......

Sugar Chef Cupcakes

Sugar Chef

600 S. Rosemary Ave.

Cityplace

West Palm Beach, FL

First let me say this:

Tasting Studio

Can you imagine such a thing?
Also called.... Oh.... maybe

HEAVEN?

When I visited Sugar Chef, I was not aware that the uber talented and multi-award winning sugar chef Jennifer Ladisky offered a tasting studio.  Well d'oh, I would have attended.  In my blissful ignorance, I attended instead the lovely Sugar Chef storefront at Cityplace in West Palm Beach.

This?  Is a cake!!

Sugar Chef is the first cupcake joint.......

GiGi's Cupcakes, Tampa FL, Cupcake Review

The Place:  Gigi's Cupcakes, 3810 Neptune St, B-2

The Flavors:  Amaretto Amore, Banana Cream Pie, Champagne, Carrot Cake, Miss Princess and White Midnight Magic Choc. Chip.

The Conclusion:  This place has mountains of icing and beautiful, crazy-flavored cupcakes.  Try the Amaretto Amore.  Buy the Banana Cream Pie ones in bulk.

The Drawback:  Gigi's is a chain, a franchise.  I prefer to support mom and pop shops like Frostings, just a couple miles over.

You might go to Gigi's Cupcakes if you are on a Girls Day Out.  Or if you're running with a pack of bridesmaids.  Or if you're a princess.  Definitely if you're a princess.  Gigi's is very girly.

On a recent trip to Tampa, two girlfriends and I came right up to the edge of a sugar coma and teetered there for a minute.  One step further was the point of no return; one more cupcake test, we'd be in shock.

Leaving St. Pete on 275-N, bound for the midlands of SC, we exited on Kennedy and flew down Dale Mabry , hitting the brakes for a hard right on Neptune.  And there she was – Gigi's Cupcakes.  In all her Girly Girl splendor.  Cute mugs, cute T's, cute necklaces.  Sparkly cupcakes, pink ruffly icing, a pearly white cupcake with the word “wedding” in the title.  The stuff that ends with "and they lived happily ever after."

I plopped my debit card down and ordered a round for the house a Princess cupcake with pink sparkles and a crown to carry home to my 6 year old granddaughter and her princessy self.  I got her a cupcake necklace to match and got myself a white Midnight Magic cupcake with frothy white icing scattered with tiny little chocolate chips.  The cake was very moist, the icing, creamy.  Creamy and dreamy.  The whole thing was rich enough to curl my teeth and cause me to leave some of it uneaten, even after my friends each had a bite.

Next we sampled Connie's Amaretto Amore (Pictured below with most of the cake cut off). Creamy amaretto cream cheese icing littered with slivered almonds.   I don't like crunchy and creamy together, so I wasn't fond, but the girls loved this cupcake.  Connie took two bites, slammed her hands down with a long moan and went back to order 4 more to take home, three of which survived the drive.

Jennifer let us sample her champagne cupcake.  White champagne cake with cream cheese icing, edible pearls (insert girly squeal here), and white chocolate.  Moist and creamy, but still... not our favorite.  She returned to buy a Banana Cream Pie cupcake to take home.  Home, by the way, was an 8.5 hour drive away.  We kept the car chilled to a nipper 62 degrees and covered up with wraps, scarves and blankets.  Anything to preserve the cupcakes.  Below?  Yeah, our "to-go" order.

Around hour #5 of driving, we dipped our fingers in the Banana Cream Pie cupcake icing (a buttercream frosting) and nearly fainted.  “Why the heck didn't I get that one?” I screamed.  That icing tasted exactly like banana pudding.  Note to self:  Get the Banana Cream Pie cupcake no matter how stuffed you are.

Also around hour 5 of driving, we decided to eat Connie's Carrot Cake cupcake.  I gagged.  Lumps and chunks throughout, ugh.  Strings of coconut hanging out, stings of carrot and chunks of pecan.  I let the girls finish it.  Connie said it's OK, but the icing was the best part.  Jenn shook her head, “No, the cake is better than the icing.”  Neither one would order it again.


We managed to get home without touching the Princess' cupcake.  Miss Princess is a white cake with strawberries baked in, cream cheese frosting with pink sparkly sugar on top and a fondant crown. My Princess said it was wonderful, she loved it and I did not get a sample, not even a crumb.

I wish I had tried the Strawberry Shortcake and I wish they had served their Raspberries & Cream cupcake – white cake with a raspberry filling, raspberry buttercream frosting sprinkled with white nonperils and topped with a white chocolate heart.  That's scheduled for Wednesdays, I was there on a Monday.  Road trip, anyone?

Click here to see Gigi's full flavor menu.
Click here to find a Gigi's near you.
Www.GigisCupcakesUSA.com
You can find a location near you on Facebook, as well.

Frostings, Etc. Tampa, FL Cupcake Review

The Place:  Frostings, Etc. 500 South Howard Ave. Ste. F, Tampa FL 33606

The Flavors:  Champagne Pear Bellini, Death By Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Red Velvet

The Drawback:  Parking.  Almost impossible.

The Conclusion:  Buy the cookie dough icing in to-go containers and use at home.  Liberally.  Do the shots. Get the Champagne Pear Bellini, maybe 2.

I was given a couple tickets to a women's conference in Tampa FL and asked to review it on my blog.  So it was that I found myself wandering around Tampa with a couple girlfriends.  With you, my hungry reader, in mind, I decided to visit a few cupcake shops.  And my friends -- well, they were eager to help in any way they could.  Selfless friends that they are.....

That's What Friends are For: Cupcake Review

I've been doing cupcake reviews for a few years now, ever since that warm balmy night when I was touring Savannah on a horse carriage and we passed right by a Cupcake store.  I was entranced.  A real, live Cupcake store.  How cool is that?  I almost fell off the carriage leaning over the side.  Of course I went back, re-tracing our ride against approaching darkness and tried a few cupcakes.  I never knew such fancy flavors existed.

These days, cupcake shops are all over the place, quite the rage, and I try to review most of them.  All for you, my friend.

The other day, all my dreams were fulfilled when a fancy cupcake sampling came to me.  Home delivery.

That's true friendship when a friend knows the desires of your heart....

Cupcake: Take 9

Salted Caramel Chocolate

I thought I had sampled all Cupcake had to offer.

I thought they were stumped.

Fresh out of new ideas. 

Then me and the Cool Yule were walking down to Starbucks and saw this blazing beauty through the pink and white windows of Cupcake.  "Come here, my sweet pretty," it beckoned.....

Cupcake VI - Cupcake, Columbia, SC

We made it back up to Cupcake in Columbia, SC recently.  I think we tried a few new flavors, but it's getting difficult to tell anymore, we've eaten so many.   On this trip, we tried

• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Almond
• Chocolate/Vanilla

Almond tastes like Jackie Busbee's famous pound cake, very yummy, mild.  All four of us involved in the taste test voted that Strawberry Cheesecake was #1, our favorite by far.  The strawberry wasn't overpowering.   To get the scoop on all the others we've tried in the past, click on the Cupcake Reviews tab on the right sidebar.

Sadly, I forgot to get pictures of the little darlings before we gobbled them down.  My B.

Cupcake, Punta Gorda, FL

I found the most wonderful Cupcake shop I've ever come across – Sugar Island Cupcake in the T-tiny town of Punta Gorda, FL. (332 Sullivan Street, 941.639.3030)

My sister-in-law and I were driving ferociously towards the Peace River Bridge when she suddenly remembered my proclivity to reviewing cupcake shops.  “Hey!” She screamed, “We need to stop at the Cupcake Shop!”  

“Where is it?” 

“Right there!!”

And she pointed right down the street to our right. 

At that speed, the shop was just a blue blur, but I slammed the brakes, hit the blinker and took a hard right.  We got the Mazda slowed down just enough by the time we reached the adorable blue house.

Being in post-race euphoria, hair askew, we weren't quite thinking clearly as we entered the dark building.  The sign said “Will reopen at 11."  It was then 2:00 and the door was unlocked, so in we walked.  No clue the sign meant 11 on Monday.  No clue the sign below said “Closed Saturday.” 

With our eyes adjusting to the dark, Kath commented “It needs to be more presentable if they want to sell cupcakes.”  I got an eerie Twilight Zone feeling about the place and inched forward slowly.  And that's when I saw the most beautiful cupcakes in the world!

A cupcake for a princess! 

DC Cupcakes: Cupcake Review, Washington DC

The Place:  Georgetown Cupcakes a/k/a DC Cupcake (TLC Network)
The Testers:  VSliker, Steve @ClassTax, Sandra & Michael Shealey, Bryson Shealey
The Flavors:  PB&J Swirl, Mint Cookies & Creme, Chocolate 2, Chocolate 3, Pumpkin Spice, Key Lime, Irish Creme, Red Velvet, Chocolate & Vanilla
The Faves:  Key Lime, PB&J, Red Velvet, (spoiler alert) Chocolate 2
The Drawback:  40 minute wait in line, horrible traffic, hard-to-find parking
Conclusion:  Well worth doing ONCE in your life.

I was asked to stop by & review DC Cupcakes recently when a meeting at NASA Headquarters required I travel to DC......

Washington, DC: Georgetown Cupcakes

Oh my hungry little readers do I have a treat in store for you.  Well, for me actually, but I'll share with you, it'll be a virtual treat for you.

As a part of my on-going quest to find the World's Greatest Cupcakes (WGC)  (kind of like WCW & WWF), I will soon visit.... drum roll please.... Georgetown Cupcake.... home of the famous (but I had never heard of it before) DC Cupcake TV show, which, rumor has it, consists of two annoyingly giggly sisters, a rumor I'll be happy to explore.

This is a cupcake shop so exquisite, answering a question like this is necessary: .....

Cupcake: Take 8

We were able to review two flavors this week for the ongoing Cupcake Taste Tests.

Smores & Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Smores:

When I unveiled the Smores Cupcake and pulled it out, Eva yelled, "I just can't resist that teddy graham!"  And she popped it into her mouth....

Cupcake: Take 7

This sorry lookin' thing, my lovelies, is called a Lemon Cheesecake cupcake.  Tall icing looks pretty and all, but spreading it over the entire cupcake surface tastes much better.  It is better to taste good than to look good, dahling.

My trusty side-kick met me at Starbucks and we tasted this baby together.....

Cupcake: Take 6

May I introduce the

Caramel Apple Cupcake.

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In this our 6th Cupcake Review, my loyal sidekick and I. . .

Cupcake, Columbia SC: Take 5

Melodramatic soul bearing at the beginning followed by the cupcake review. Scroll down if you just want the cupcake review, which, by the way, if you notice below, Cupcake is getting sloppy. Even though the icing is high and plentiful, it doesn't cover all the cupcake, it's just kind of slopped on top as if the decorator was rushed.
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The waiting time when you're near the end with one who is terminally ill becomes a block of your life with a life of its own. Life is suspended. New routines are developed and maintained during this interim, later to be quickly forgotten. "The drive" which starts so unfamiliar becomes annoyingly familiar. You become like a background movie extra in the lives of other people. Suddenly, briefly, you are an observer of or even a bit-part player in their routines: the smiling coffee attendant, the meticulous proprietor sweeping the sidewalk, the drooping homeless man packing up.

So it was I crossed the Edisto and then the Saluda, heading towards the Broad and much later, the Catawba. Cloud cover slowly rising as I resumed the drive, again, to Charlotte, the Queen City I had just exited three days prior where my Nana lay just outside Heaven's gates, life slowly leaving her. Taking my new routine's usual right on Gervais, left on Lady, right on Lincoln, squeezing into a parking spot, passing the Cupcake's inviting sign, enroute to Starbucks. Passing the homeless man who has had a knee brace on now for about 3 weeks, I suddenly stop and reverse my route, creating a fission in the fabric of everyone else's routine. Something different. Today I'm going to pop in the Cupcake store. It's about time we do another taste test on more flavors, don't you think? I resolutely order the four flavors of the day, faltering over the mocha chip (blech!) and quickly text the family that I'm bringing cupcakes with me.

Much later, after a visit to the nursing home, after a quiet dinner where grief has pulled up a chair, I whip out the cupcakes and cut them into tiny, bite sized pieces. We all know a taste test is serious business and we promptly get down to it.
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We are all forced to try the Mocha Chip for the integrity of the blog. Mom pops the coffee bean topper into her mouth with the passion one would express with a chocolate chip. "Erg!" Quickly she is choking, spitting it out. "That wasn't chocolate," she gasps. "No.... No," I say, "That would be the mocha part of Mocha Chip." We all try the Mocha Chip to get it over with. "I'll try it," Lisa agrees, "if I don't like it, I'll put it on someone else's plate." But the Mocha Chip surprised us all. "Wow," Lisa shakes her head, "It's not too bad. If it's all they served, I'd eat it." Steve said the flavor isn't over powering, very moderate, while Dad, on the other hand, moaned in ecstasy, his perfect cupcake!


Next we bit into the watermelon. Right. Watermelon Cupcake. It consisted of a green vanilla cake with watermelon flavored pink icing sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. Very cute. Tom swallowed, "Tastes like a Now & Later." Mom shook her head, "Not for me. The good part is the chocolate chips." I thought it had too much of an artificial, fake flavor, you know, like cough medicine. A forced fake-happy flavor. Like when a kid forces an unapologetic "I'm sorry" out his mouth. Fake. Steve said he'd like the watermelon maybe one time a year while Lisa said it very well could be her favorite cupcake. Go figure.

The third taste was the White Chocolate Raspberry. You know it. Sweet mercy. A vanilla cake with raspberries baked in, white chocolate icing in pink and sprinkled with mini white chocolate chips. "Mmmmm," Lisa moaned. "Wow. Mmmmm. Wow," and she closed her eyes. Mom thought it was awesome. Dad grumbled, "And we paid for this??" Meanwhile, Tom announced that he could eat one every single day for the rest of his life.
 


Our final flavor for the evening was Mandarin Orange -- a chocolate cake with orange icing and an orange candy proudly atop (not unlike the Creamsicle one that I, in a rare moment of wild abandon, declared my favorite). "Mmmmm," said mom, "It tastes like a creamsicle." Dad said it's a little too overpowering. Steve said it'd be better on a vanilla cupcake. (I disagree) Lisa would certainly eat it again. Tom says, "Nah, too orangey -- too much zest, I taste orange peel zest." Dad said the chocolate cupcake was too rich, "I want my cupcake to be mild and sweet like my women." To which mom piped in, "Well then what are you doing married to me, you old fart?"

Taste Test Results:

White Chocolate Raspberry gets 3 votes as favorite.
Mocha Chip gets 1 vote was favorite.
Orange gets 2 votes as 2nd favorite.
Mocha and Watermelon tie for 3rd and 4th place, a cupcake we'd eat if we had to and we really wouldn't want to pay for it.

See a previous cupcake review here.
Believe it or not, we have found a cupcake we don't like. Read all about it, here.

Creamsicle is now no longer my favorite (replaced by White Chocolate Raspberry), but click here to find out my previous #1 favorite, now dropped to #3. Click here for the Cupcake website, current daily flavors and locations.

Cupcake, Columbia, SC: Take 4

OK, my hungry little readers, we did it again . . .

Jen and I graciously visited the Cupcake Shop to review some more flavors for you. All for you, my friend, we sacrifice just for you.
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This little, sweet thing is now my favorite cupcake.

Creamsicle.

And no, I'm not a creamsicle fan with all these warm, fuzzy childhood memories of creamsicles. I was skeptical right from the start. Creamsicle? How cliche -- the old person wanting a happy little memory from his/her childhood. But I tried the creamsicle for Tom S and Steve H, both of whom are creamsicle fans. The creamsicle flavor is all in the icing. It is served on a vanilla cupcake and we think that is the secret to making it so good -- the icing has so much flavor, it has to be balanced out with a plain cupcake. There are little bits of orange candy scattered in the icing with an orange gumdrop on top. Delish! Want to kick it up a notch? Pair it with a chocolate drink like, oh, hmmm... say..... an iced mocha from Starbucks, conveniently located next door.
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Jen had the double chocolate lemon. See our previous review of it here. It was a little too sweet for Jen. She suggested it was the "double chocolate" that was too much and perhaps she would like a single chocolate.

Believe it or not, we have found a cupcake we don't like. Read all about it, here.
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Creamsicle is now my favorite, but click here to find out my previous #1 favorite, now dropped to #2. Click here for the Cupcake website, current daily flavors and locations.

Cupcake, Columbia, SC - Take 3

OK, my hungry little readers, we did it again. We nabbed some more cupcakes from Cupcake and tried a few new flavors for you. I am happy to report that this trip, my friend, this report will definitely save you some time and money: We found a cupcake we don't like. No point wasting your hard earned money.
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It's that innocent looking one down in the bottom right-hand corner. A pleasant little chocolate cupcake with a hideous peanut butter frosting and a delightful little Reese's peanut butter cup adorning the top. This poor thing. When we had completed our taste-tests, 30% of this cupcake remained on the table uneaten. Nobody wanted to finish it off.
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If you read no further, Read This: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake is to die for. 2nd only to the unforgettable Turtle, which holds the #1 reigning title.
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Today's Flavors: Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, Red Velvet, Lemon Blueberry and Chocolate Peanut Butter (which is probably really fine if you like peanut butter a lot).
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I was looking forward to the Blueberry Lemon for awhile now and was so disappointed, but I should have known it wouldn't be my fave: I don't like fruity cupcakes.
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Fruity muffins: Good.

Fruity Cupcakes: Bad.

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So here's Bob, we dragged him into this cupcake taste test because it was Tom's birthday and he said Bob had to do whatever Tom wanted him to do. Drum roll, please. The results:
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Tom's Ranking:

1. Lemon Blueberry. (but maybe it's his fave because it was the first one he sampled?)
2. Red Velvet
3. Peanut Butter
4. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Bob's Ranking:

1. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
2. Lemon Blueberry
3. Red Velvet
4. Peanut Butter

Valerie's Ranking:

1. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
2. Red Velvet
3. Lemon Blueberry
4. Peanut Butter

Click here for our review of Key Lime, Peach, Chocolate and Turtle (a #1).

Click here for our review of French Toast, Double Chocolate Lemon, Tuxedo and Strawberry.