Cupcakes, economics, and solutions for mending a broken heart

Daniel Gross at Slate has urged us to consider that the "cupcake bubble" may soon burst. While it's true that consumers are bombarded with the variety of cupcakeries that have sprung up recently, I'm holding on for dear taste to the hope that the best of them will survive. If I have to make a cross-country pilgrimage to New York's Magnolia Bakery in an act of bold support, I will.

While trendy bakeries may come and go, I firmly believe that some cupcakes have serious staying power. You've tasted them before and their frosting has spoken to your heart. They've provided a perfect, sticky, finger-licking conclusion to your picnics. They've gotten you through bad days, rainy days, days with too much traffic, and days where your work continues long after 5 o'clock.

Perhaps most importantly, they've helped to mend the heartache of friends after bad break-ups (particularly after your computer crashes and you have to find a replacement for that melancholy break-up mix CD you were crafting. If you were planning on helping your heartbroken friend to "forget about life for awhile" via the lyrics of Billy Joel, consider that small cardboard bakery box full of cupcakes as an equally legitimate form of escapism.)

Sure, we could bake our own cupcakes for the heartbroken, but we'd like to go on living in a world of great cupcakeries if possible. However, if the Daniel Gross cupcake burst omen comes true, I've developed a list of alternative solutions for mending broken hearts:

Option 1) Famous film breakups marathon, with heavy emphasis on the John Cusack-- please highly consider High Fidelity and Say Anything. If the night gets long, turn to Swingers for a little comic relief courtesy of Vince Vaughn. (Stray from Vince Vaughn in The Breakup, which is too obvious of a choice.) If things are really bad, you may have to break out Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Transition into lightening up that angst with hopeful or non-threatening romances with inconclusive endings. See Juno, Paper Heart, Ghost World, and The Royal Tenenbaums. A variety of Woody Allen movies can also be helpful. For some, Match Point can make most reasonable people seriously reconsider ever dating again. Of course, adjust all screenings based on personal taste and genre preference.

Option 2) Haagen-daas

Option 3) Spring for some of the good stuff and make a celebration of it.

Option 4) Any combination of the above three.

This urban pie-hound is taking a stand

The scene: a recent vacation in a peaceful mountain town. My quest: the perfect piece of fresh fruit pie. The dilemma: Everywhere I turned, food vendors confessed their pies were made with frozen or canned fruits. And where there's smoke, there's fire. After such admissions, one must assume the worst about the crust. (In a recent post, the blog At the Very Yeast confirms this store-bought crust suspicion.)

It's not that a pie with pre-made, frozen, or canned ingredients can never be tasty. But when you're used to living in Los Angeles, with everything at your fingertips, you become a bit fresh-ingredient obsessed. So I'll ask you this, readers: When it comes to frozen fillings and pre-made crusts, what's an urban foodie to do?

Call me the city's most discerning pie-hound, or just call me plain practical: if you're consuming all those calories, why not eat the best of the best? When it comes to a great piece of pie, I prefer to make no compromises.