Melissa Bykofsky

surisburnbook:

Free Penelope Disick.

buzzfeed:

We’re sad to report that PEOPLE magazine has once again voted someone OTHER than Ryan Gosling as “Sexiest Man Alive.” Which is wrong.

1990s culture continues to make a comeback. The bestselling The Baby-Sitters Club series is set for a rerelease on ebook readers, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Scholastic will rerelease the first 20 books of Ann M. Martin’s original series on Dec. 1. Fans can also download the series’ new Facebook App and relive their memories with memorabilia, book previews and quizzes.

As if you could forget, the novels feature a group of tweenage girl friends who had the great idea to set up a babysitting club. The series ultimately contained 217 novels — 131 regular editions and 15 Super Specials. The Baby-Sitters Club feature film hit theaters in 1995.  

Martin’s series is not the only piece of ‘90s history to find its way into today’s culture. Boy Meets World is set to produce a spinoff called “Girl Meets World” focusing on the life of Cory and Topanga’s pre-teen daughter. 

mattbraunger:

katherinespiers:

“The well-meaning staff seems to realize that this is not a real restaurant.” 

Oh man. Read this review.

He badly needs @Dadboner’s recipe help. Also, MAN.

If I don’t acknowledge the break-up that means it never happened…right?

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez reportedly ended their relationship on November 9 after dating for two years. A source close to the couple told Us Weekly that their crazy schedules and trust issues are to blame for the split. 

Then again, if Justin is checking out other ladies, maybe Selena should listen to her BFF Taylor Swift and tell him “we are never, ever, ever getting back together.”

This is like the Justin Timberlake/Britney Spears split all over again. Do teen pop star romances ever last?

surisburnbook:

Politics aside, this election was a win for tween fashion.

Sasha and Malia — four more years.

Beyonce voted today, did you? 

It is election day and your favorite celebrities hit the polls to vote for the next president of the United States. They took to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and their personal websites to let their fans know that they voted and encourage them to do the same. 

Check out a slideshow of celebrities voting and the tweets they wrote to support the election. 

OMG ALERT: A BOY MEETS WORLD SEQUEL IS IN THE WORKS! 

The Disney Channel is in early stages of producing a sequel to “Boy Meets World.” Is this not the best news ever? I found this out on Saturday but with limited internet access over the weekend (thanks Sandy!) I could not freak out about it until today. 

Every life lesson I learned in the 90s came from Mr. Feeny. I own all seven season of the show on DVD. I am known to quote Cory and the gang way too often. Yes, I cannot wait until “Girl Meets World,” the story of Cory and Topanga’s daughter, airs. 

I did my share of internet stalking to make sure the news is true. Will Shawn and Eric be part of the show? Who will play their daughter? Will her name really be Chewbacca or Plankton?! What I found is that Danielle Fishel enjoys messing with her twitter followers. 

How excited are you for a “Boy Meets World” Sequel? 

As you prepare yourself for tonight’s premiere of Breaking Bad on AMC, check out the highlights from last season.

tvhangover:

AMC is starting a late night marathon of Breaking Bad beginning on Monday June 11th with the Pilot episode and continuing to the end of season 4. Check out AMC’s schedule here. Season 5 begins July 15 at 10pm.

There has not been a female winner of “American Idol” for five seasons. It also came as no shock that this season’s winner of “The Voice” was also male. Actually, there has yet to be a female winner on “The Voice.” Do Americans only idolize men?

I always wonder what influence the industry has on who wins, and how much is really America’s vote. Males already make more money in entertainment then women do. I think it’s about time women get the recognition they deserve. “American Idol” 2013, maybe?

popculturebrain:

Demi Lovato joins Britney Spears as a judge on “The X Factor.” 

Britney Spears is officially a judge on “The X Factor.” 

Another former pop sensation and Mickey Mouse Club member makes her way onto a television music contest. Christina Aguilera and Tony Lucca weren’t enough for prime-time. (Even with all their drama on “The Voice.”) Will Justin Timberlake be next? 

But seriously, it was announced that Spears was offered $15 million to judge one season of the show. A source close to Spears told E! that the contract was signed. 

“There’s been a lot of back and forth over the past few weeks as they negotiated the small details, but she’s on,” the source said. “It’s all completed and Britney is beyond excited…She’s ready for this.” 

“The X Factor” returns to Fox for its second season in September. 

This Is 40

The trailer was released for Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40.” The movie is described as a sort-of-sequel to “Knocked Up.” 

What do you think of the trailer? Is it too serious? Will you go to see it? 

I tried another recipe last week, this time one of Giada De Laurentiis’ masterpieces from FoodNetwork.com: Eggplant Rollatini. 

The recipe was very easy to follow and took less time than I expected. The most important thing to do is to sauté the eggplant slices in extra-virgin olive oil until they are soft. If the eggplant slices are not soft you will not be able to roll the cheese mixture inside. 

The one thing I would do differently next time is to peel the eggplant before slicing it. With the skin on the eggplant, it was difficult to cut, and tougher to roll after it was cooked.

I served the eggplant with angel-hair pasta and it made the perfect meal. I made 10 pieces of eggplant and that served three people with still some left over for lunch the next day.  

I am not a chef, nor am I exceptionally talented at cooking or baking, but I was in the mood to try out a new recipe and came across this tasty treat while Stumbling.

The dessert I had in mind was the ‘Ultimate Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie n’ Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar’, a mix of oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies and oreo-stuffed brownies first created by Amanda Green Bottoms on her website www.kevinandamanda.com. The pictures on the recipe website looked so delicious there was no way I could pass it up. 

The recipe called for basic dessert ingredients: Cookie batter and brownie batter. While it recommended you make the chocolate chip cookies from scratch, I am not the best baker, and did not have the time, so I decided to take the easy way out and buy bagged cookie batter that you add the eggs, water and oil into. 

Otherwise I followed the recipe to the tee. It can be found at Kevinandamanda.com

As I said, I used store-bought cookie batter, similar to the brownie batter, which cut my prep time down to about 10-15 minutes. But I realized while cooking that this change created a cooking problem. The directions on the cookie batter says to bake it for 10-20 minutes, when the brownies needed to be baked for 30-45 minutes. 

I started to worry that my bottom cookie layer would burn and my top brownie layer would be undercooked. Before I even had to come to a decision on when to turn the oven off, I noticed that the middle layer of oreos, strategically placed on top of the chocolate chip batter and covered in the brownie batter, began to pop to the top of the brownie batter while it cooked. I continuously opened the open and used a knife to push the oreos down further into the cookie dough. Once the brownies began to thicken, the problem stopped. 

I cooked the entire 8x8 pan of layered desserts for 40 minutes then took it out of the oven to check its progress. The cookie was clearly finished, but the brownie seemed a little gooey, but I decided to keep it out of the oven to let it cool. 

My solution to the undercooked brownie was to put it in the oven for another few minutes before eating. It was good to eat the bar warm anyway so the oreo would get a little gooey between the cookie and brownie layers. 

The recipe definitely passed the test when both my dad [the biggest chocolate lover ever] and boyfriend had raving reviews. 

I luckily got to save one for myself! It was definitely as good as it looked. 

Thanks for the recipe Kevin and Amanda! 

Although I do love the fads, trends and pop obsessions from time to time„ there are just some parts of pop-culture I will never understand and hate to admit I love. One of these is Jersey Shore. 

I started watching a few weeks into the first season because I was really curious what “the situation” was. Now, seasons later I will be the first to make fun of my friends who love it, yet I will find myself in front of the TV every Thursday night [more likely the DVR on a Sunday afternoon] and catch up on the guido drama fest. I guess MTV is a genius in that way. They find the train wrecks and make millions off of them. 

Though the characters fight, and make huge idiots out of themselves week after week, they do make me laugh and seem to be entertaining individuals on and off the J-Shore set. 

Check out Vinny Guadagnino’s dance to Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks.”

I first saw this on http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/08/pumped_up_kicks.html

Home sweet home in New York. Ok, maybe I don’t exactly live in NYC but it’s a lot closer to home than the West Coast. After all of my travels it was nice to be back in the familiar city, but give me a week and I will be sick of it. Especially once I start attending school in Times Square (I start Wednesday, too soon.) I’m still not over my touristy ways and felt that taking a picture of Times Square was a necessary close to the travel part of my blog. After seeing the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Discover Times Square Museum (amazing, I highly recommend all HP fans go) and seeing Wicked for the third time (I’m a fan, don’t judge me) I think I fit in the tourist category. I guess now it’s time I start the next chapter…

This is one of my favorite pictures I took on the trip. It’s a great shot of the Golden Gate Bridge taken from the ferry to Alcatraz Island. Though it looks black and white, it was taken in normal settings on my Cannon PowerShot and just shows how intense the fog is in San Francisco. 

Five weeks went by too fast. The campers who were headed to New York left on the bus around 9 to catch their 11am flight. It was really depressing to say goodbye. Whitney and I have a 3pm flight to JFK since we had to bring the 4 campers heading to Florida to the airport. Although I don’t mind traveling, once I know I am heading home I just want to be there already. I won’t get to Long Island until midnight Eastern time. Tomorrow will definitely be full of sleep, laundry and entourage.

The last night of the trip we went to a Giants v. Phillies game. We left at the bottom of the 8th, but the Phillies were up 9 to 2. Back at the hotel we all met at midnight for a final group bonding session. We all shared our favorite memories, had an auction and stayed up all night in preparation for our 7am wake up.

ca(Post is out of order because tumblr deleted it) Going to Alcatraz at night was not as creepy as I thought it would be. We took the ferry ride out there and I got a lot of cool pictures of the island (sorry, no muploads since my phone died at the time). Once we got to the island we went on an audio tour of the prison. We saw the cells, the solitude area, the dining room and the rec area. It was interesting to hear the tour from the perspective of guards and inmates. One inmate even said that he came on the tour after the prison was shut down. I can understand why people think the prison is haunted since we learned about the escape attempts, and how 5 men possibly escaped, but were never seen again, and how guards and inmates were killed during a different escape attempt. I’m glad I did not live in the Bay Area at the time!

We walked the 1.7 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s funny how the climate changes across San Fran. The weather on the bridge was windy and foggy, but the second we got to Sausalito it was sunny and hot out. One of my life goals was to walk across a bridge (I don’t judge your life goals so don’t judge mine) and I finally got to do it. We just drove across the bridge a few hours after we walked it and it was completely engulfed in fog. I guess we are lucky we crossed it when we did!

What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V You miss your old familiar friends, but their waiting just around the bend. Everywhere you look (everywhere) There’s a heart (there’s a heart) A hand to hold on to. Everywhere you look (everywhere) There’s a face of somebody who needs you. When you’re lost out there and your all alone A light is waiting to carry you home Everywhere you look.

We spent the afternoon walking around Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39 for dinner. We are about to round up the kids to get on a boat to Alcatraz (which I accidentally keep calling Azkaban…whoops.)

China town in San Francisco is pretty intense. I’ve never had to stop 15 year old boys from buying swords so many times in one day. For lunch we found a sushi restaurant that had a conveyor belt of sushi circle around and you chose what sushi you wanted as it passed. Best $11 I ever spent. The stores were a little crazy. I was able to bargain for a jade bracelet, but I’m pretty sure one of the group owners tried to buy me for $9. Glad I was worth that much.

Ice cream is my weakness. We stopped at Ghirardelli for some dessert. I got the Mint Bliss: mint and chocolate ice cream with hot fudge and whipped cream. Delicious!

Today we drove from Lake Tahoe to SF. On the way we stopped by Berkley in Oakland for lunch and some shopping. Of course I bought more clothes, and ate at Smart Alec’s.
We just left a teen club, or the infamous ‘disco’ of the trip. Our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe with some red bulls was the appropriate ‘pre-game’ for the occasion.
The teen club was the sweet 16 I never had, (with way too many hus & breaking hus). Oh how I don’t miss being 15 and awkward. Well, as Rina would say, I never stopped being awkward…SOA!
See ya in china town tomorrow.

Fire pit by the lake in Lake Taho, California. Bonding with only 4 days left :(

I am in love with Lake Tahoe! The lake is 22 miles x 12 miles and parts of it fall in Nevada while the rest is in California. It is so hot here yet the lake is surrounded by snow capped mountains. Not only do I get to lie out on the beach drinking a smoothie, but I got to go out on Don’s boat twice, once with a group of the girls for them to go water skiing and once with the boys for tubing. I didn’t go skiing since I wanna try out snow skiing first, but it was fun to watch. All four of the girls I was with were able to stand but toward the end the water got pretty rough and it became more difficult. Tubing is not my favorite thing. Not only did I get to watch the boys completely wipe out in the wake, but I got to fly on the tube without falling off! The boys all went on their stomach on the tubes in a superman face but I sat on it so the water wouldn’t splash and I got so much height on the waves. Now I get to lay on the beach until dinner when the campers are battling top chef style to cook dinner!

Yesterday afternoon was a day full of fish and sea otters at the aquarium. I only saw one shark and no dolphins, but I saw more sardines than necessary in a lifetime and touched a starfish! I also saw a ton of jellyfish and octopi. Did you know that jellyfish light up in the dark! I felt like I was in an episode of sponge bob. We went to dinner at Bubba Gumps in town (not nearly one of my faves, though they did Forrest Gump trivia with the group) and then went bowling. Don’t try to buy post card stamps on Cannery Row because no store sells them. I apologize to all of my friends who will be getting post cards hand delivered to them once I return…

Tonight we went out in town in Monterey for dinner. I did my historical research during dinner and the town is famous for canning sardines during one of the world wars. (Ok, so my research was not that extensive)
Now the town is just famous for romantic hotels (according to the brochure) and seafood restaurants. Not to mention they have a dipin’ dot store front. Let’s get one of those in nassau county!

Catalina Island reminded me of a scaled down version of Bermuda. While the stores were more touristy and beach shops than name brands, the houses were all on hills and had the same colorful, island look to them. (And no, I did not attend the Catalina Wine Mixer, but I finally saw Step Brothers this week so I get the reference now.) I got to snorkel while on the island, but only for a minute or so since I had to help with some mask issues, then when I got back some of the campers were ready to go back to the town. In my one dip I saw some pretty big fish though. We had to take an hour ferry ride to the island and back. It would be a cute place to stay for a long weekend, which many people seemed to be doing, rolling their luggage off the boats. It could be like the Fire Island of Cali, just less nude. We are now heading to Monterey. Five hour bus ride, and I have no idea what to expect when I get there. Has anyone been to Monterey?

Wow, what a long day. We started the day with the campers doing laundry in the dorm laundry room. Surprise, surprise, one of the boys didn’t realize he had to push start on the dryer and an hour later his clothes were still soaked. While everyone else’s clothes were actually drying’ we went to the UCLA book store. Some of the kids spent more than $200 there, and they have no interest in even applying to the school! After the morning on campus, we headed to the Santa Monica Pier where the kids shopped and the counselors ate. It was such a nice area, I wouldn’t mind going back there with more time to walk around. From the pier we went to Universal Studios (woohoo). This time I actually got to go on two rides! The Mummy roller coaster and The Simpson’s virtual ride. The Simpson’s ride was really cool, it was like being in a car in an IMax theater but the effects made it seem like we were moving. From there we went for dinner at Wolf Gang Puck’s in City Walk. Yumm! (I had the four cheese macaroni, for those who wanted to know how unhealthy I am being.) After dinner three counselors brought half of the campers to Diddy Ries ice cream place. They are famous for their create-your-own ice cream sandwiches, and by famous I mean the line was wrapped around the block! I got mint chocolate chip ice cream in two white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. As you can see, today was full of food, as always. Hello Planet Fitness in 8 days.