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.

Follow that cupcake!

Bakery hunting sources in Connecticut recently tipped us off to The Cupcake Truck, a mobile cupcakery that updates cake-seekers on their daily location. If you're in the Connecticut area, navigate to the Cupcake Truck using Twitter updates or their blog Food-Driven. One can't help but feel enticed by the descriptions on their site: For $2, you can purchase a "chocolate ruin" cupcake. The good people at the Cupcake Truck suggest that the deep, dark chocolate buttermilk cake "may be your downfall."

You have to appreciate the philosophy of these Cupcake Truckers, who write: "We're just two people who love good food. We also love making people smile. And we've learned that nothing makes people smile like good food. That's why we do what we do. Because this complicated, challenging world could use more smiles."

Keep on truckin' Cupcake Truck! The Great American Bakery hunt salutes you!

the President of TGABH's Pasadena Chapter takes us on a visit to Europane

Mmm Europane Bakery in Pasadena. I recently accompanied the President of the Pasadena chapter of The Great American Bakery Hunt to hunt at Europane the other day. Nothing like a blueberry tart, a cupcake, and some piping hot tea while sitting in the crisp air of the California quasi-winter. And it's a good people watching spot too. Thanks for introducing me to this one, Kim.

Santa Monica: The bakery hunt begins!

After my all too prolonged separation from the hunt, I'm back to posting regularly. I had the day off today and explored a few local bakeries in the Santa Monica area. I started off at breakfast with a kiwi, raspberry, and strawberry fruit tart at Le Marmiton on Montana Avenue. Le Marmiton is owned by Jean-Marc Kiffer, who also began running a restaurant in Marina Del Rey following the success of his first operation. While usually I am partial to fruit tarts with minimal custard, the vanilla custard in this fruit tart complimented the fruit beautifully. Now, I wouldn't say that ordering a tart here is easy on the billfold, but to be fair, the fruit portion is quite generous and is clearly very high in quality. Plus, I firmly believe that you can't put a price on a good, authentic French tart these days. There was also a savory onion tart in the display case that looked delicious, but I have to save that one for another day.

My second bakery stop for the day was in the late afternoon, at Yummy Cupcakes on Wilshire (right near the 3rd street promenade). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this cupcake shop. The plump cakes had the taste and feel of the much- praised Magnolia Bakery cupcakes: honest, simple, warm creations that hold universal appeal and keep people coming back for more. Yummy cupcakes wears its heart on its sleeve: it wasn't trying to sell me based on fancy shmancy imported ingredients. In an age where each trendy cupcake shop seems to resemble the next, Yummy cupcakes feels like more. It has more of that friendly neighborhood quality to it. When I stood there deciding what to order, I could watch them frosting and making the cupcakes right in front of me. And as I left the shop, there was no branded box to carry my cakes in as I strolled down the promenade- only a simple, unpretentious brown paper bag. As Yummy's finger lickin' super sugary icing coursed through my veins, I experienced pure unfiltered joy! (My only gripe is that this bakery, along with so many others, sells clothing for dogs, an exercise in cross-promotional absurdity I will never comprehend.) Yummy, please keep Santa Monica honest: If you don't, who will?

The Great American Bakery Hunt is moving on up...

In the legendary spirit of The Jeffersons, the Great American Bakery Hunt is movin' on up-- but not to the East side, and not necessarily to a deluxe apartment in the sky. I'm moving to West LA, where I will not only pay homage to the great sitcoms of the 1970's, but also find and conquer every delicious bakery around. I will spend a small fortune on rent, and a slightly smaller fortune on new bakeries.

(sidenote: I'm not sure why semi-obscure retro television/musical references bring such joy to my life, but that's probably why I so wholeheartedly appreciate Chuck Klosterman's pop culture inspired rants.)

Anyway, I've been roaming around this week looking for places and enjoying the LA culture-- mostly via its eateries. First I met up with my old friend Kim, an uber-talented yet relentlessly modest car designing art student and fellow bakery enthusiast. After eating some curry in the Sawtelle area, we wanted to hit up the bakery Doughboys-- but when we arrived, they had closed up shop mysteriously. Kim lamented that her favorite LA bakery is now closed, so please, send her your sympathies!

We opted for Toast instead, a bakery/cafe whose counter includes a variety of cupcakes-- the very thing I was craving, naturally, after a meal of curry (and a short, yet unavoidable Pinkberry diversion). After our bakery raid, Kim and I parted ways and I met up with Peter, a college buddy who shares my love for absurd comedy, food, history, and graphic novels, just to name a few. We tried unsuccessfully to eat Greek food (things close on Sundays apparently!), then sang the praises of never-closed delivery Thai, watched Flight of the Conchords on HBO OnDemand, and feasted on the cupcakes from Toast.

I didn't find an apartment yet, but it might have been the perfect LA day.

Happy New Year....

"Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever." ----Mark Twain

This year, my New Year's resolution is to refrain from making any New Year's resolutions. Naturally, I have hopes for the future (you might even describe them as high in the sky apple pie hopes).

But I am not going to let a few fleeting resolutions govern my aspirations for 2007.

(It must be my Scandinavian side coming out again: The Official Denmark website reports that only 20% of Danes will make New Year's Resolutions this year, making the Danes the least likely Europeans to try to make a change in 2007).

Whatever the influence, my outlook is simple: When it comes to 2007, and every year thereafter, I want my life to remain a big, long adventure-- full of great food, hard work, excessive comedy, and entertaining people.

I worked on New Year's Eve, at a nearby hotel restaurant where I have taken on some night shifts. While it wasn't the most eventful New Year's, there's something to be said for making sure others are full of champagne, fed, and off to bed. Plus, I had my own feast to look forward to the next day!

On New Year's Day, my family and I had our traditional holiday feast. We were joined by some very close family friends, including one who flew in from San Francisco that morning just to partake. The family has two daughters, one older than me and one younger, and we have all grown up with one another since the very beginning. Ever since I can remember, we have gathered together on New Year's day to eat, lounge sleepily, and watch football. Of course, I have always been partial to the first two.

Not only did this weekend kick off the New Year, but it also marked the 21st birthday for the youngest of the childhood trio. We finished the New Year right and got in the birthday spirit by celebrating with a night of karaoke at a local Japanese restaurant. All the stars were out that night--Pat Benetar, Beyonce, Queen--the list goes on. We sang like champions, the last great performances of 2006.

You will never find another with more love for karaoke than I! It rivals my love for bakeries, and I'll prove it to you: every time I go out to karaoke, I get so excited to sing that I forget to eat dinner. (And when I forget to eat, it's not without good reason). The restaurant had closed by the time I remembered I was starving, but luckily I sweet-talked one of the waitresses into getting me a bowl of cold edamame. It was all I needed to keep the tunes going--- a little soy bean magic, a sake bomb, and I was ready to rock.

Today, we recapped our outstanding performances for the rest of the family, while baking up a storm in the kitchen, feasting on a huge New Year's spread, and toasting our good health.
Nothing says New Year's Day like toasting some champagne and baking up some Cranberry Orange Scones! A simple yet delicious recipe!

Mixing it up with some gingerbread cupcakes Gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
From all of us at The Great American Bakery Hunt, Happy New Year!
"It's been a long December and there's a reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last...can't remember all the times I told myself to hold on to these moments as they pass"--Counting Crows