just another day

Books were due at the library, so we headed to the OC. Luckily we were against the traffic, but I still jumped into the carpool lane. It is actually cool to take the carpool lane when you can exit to another freeway without leaving the carpool lane. I took the 57 to the 5 to the 55 to the 405, all without leaving the carpool lane. Saved us a good 15 minutes.

Once the books were dropped off, we stopped in at Sprinkles. There wasn't a line, and the women working were not as snotty as usual. They have Thanksgiving flavors coming out for the holiday, but I think pie is more a Thanksgiving dessert.

From there we headed to Fashion Island. I bought a shower curtain. Why are they so expensive? Even with a 20% discount, it was still pricey. Restoration Hardware is having their big Friends & Family sale. They have coupons at the check out lane, although we printed one out. Sale is also good on line (coupon code there too), and ends the 16th of November.

We had dinner at Cafe R&D. They are part of a group that owns Bandera, where we had dinner last week. They had the veggie burger. I had the Newport Chicken Salad, which is served deconstructed. Even though the waitress warned me, I almost thought the wrong order had arrived at our table.

Last stop was Whole Foods. B found this recipe for Butternut Onion Galette. I will make it this weekend. I also got another pumpkin, so I can make pie for Thanksgiving. We actually checked out around quarter to ten. It was surprisingly busy.

Driving home the winds were pretty gusty. The civic got blown around a bit. We are not under one hundred miles from the 200,000 mark.

Arrived back at the house to turn on the news and see that Slymar is on fire. Pretty scary. We can smell the smoke from the other side of the San Gabriel Valley.

on the night stand :: A Penguin Story

how many photos of cupcakes can i take

I admit that I have a love of cupcakes. There is something sweet and simple about them. What I am falling out of love with is the bakeries that are popping up, charging upwards of three dollars a cupcake, and hiring some of the least customer friendly people.

When we were last up in the bay area, we finally made it over to Kara's Cupcakes. They are located in Ghiradelli Square, which at the moment is undergoing a fairly intense makeover. When we got back to LA, we stopped in at Sprinkles (Newport Beach location) to check out their BOO cupcakes for Halloween. I get the Sprinkles email and was very excited to see cupcakes marked with little brown "b"'s. Now that I have tried both, I thought I would give my recommendations.

At Kara's we bought a Buttery Buttermilk Vanilla, a Raspberry Dazzle, a Ghiradelli Chocolate, and a Fleur Del Sel. Let's start with the icing. At Kara's they use a true butter cream frosting on many of their cupcakes. You can actually taste the butter. B liked this over Sprinkles. I also liked it, although I do like cream cheese frosting too. The Fleur Del Sel had a ganache frosting, which was delicious, although messy.

The cupcakes themselves were also quite tasty. The cake was quite moist and the flavors were true to form. The Fleur Del Sel was actually filled with caramel. Sprinkles doesn't offer filled cupcakes.

The service at Kara's was okay. We were there on a weekday afternoon, so there weren't any other customers. The woman behind the counter was friendly but not overly helpful. She didn't complain when I took a photo. She seemed bored, honestly. B had to go back to ask for a bag - I know, bad for the environment, but it does keep the box of cupcakes balanced.

The service at Sprinkles is a bit uptight. I don't know how else to describe it. As I said, I was quite excited about the "B's" as it is b's initial, and his name isn't common, so growing up they never had his name on pencils or license plates at souvenir shops. When I ordered our four cupcakes (red velvet, banana chocolate, strawberry and caramel apple (limited edition)), I asked if I could have one with a "B" on it, and the woman didn't even wince. Then while we are waiting, another woman calls me over and explains that the "B"'s are only if you buy the complete "BOO". I managed to explain, and she gave in, but still I felt like it was way too much work for cupcakes.

On a previous visit I watched as a little girl in front of me (about 7 years old), reached behind the plexiglass and starting fondling one of the cupcakes. She then jumped up on the counter and had her shoes on it! The ladies working didn't even wince, let alone tell her mother to get control of her daughter. Instead they scolded a patron for taking a photo. It was such a bad experience I would have left, had I not waited in line for 20 minutes because their system is not speedy. But let's move on.

Most of the icing at Sprinkles is cream cheese based. It is a perfect pairing with the red velvet. I think my favorite is still the strawberry. It tastes like fresh strawberries, plus it is a perfect shade of pink.

The cake is also good at Sprinkles. I really like the apple caramel. You could taste the granny smith apples. I still don't see the appeal of red velvet, but it is tasty despite that it has red food coloring in it.



on the night stand :: Cupcakes!