cupcake connoisseur

So one of my goals in life is to own a bakery/cafe. Yes, this is completely opposite from my current plan to go into healthcare, but knowing me, I'll want to try lots of different things in my lifetime. This is one of them.


I've already got a few business partners in on the idea too. My sister and friends are taking on roles as marketing, baking, building, and taste testing specialists. We have actually spent legitimate amounts of time discussing the details of this endeavor. My own specialty is narrow but very important: I'm making the cupcakes. I don't really know how I fell into this line of baking, but lately it has become an obsession... one that my sister has undoubtedly fueled with appropriately themed Christmas gifts of cupcake cookbooks and hordes of decorating supplies. She even got me a t-shirt from this cool maker called Johnny Cupcakes. They have a store on Melrose which I still need to check out, but they're gig is a clothing store set up to look just like a retro bakery... with apparel displayed in fridges and bakery display cases. My favorite gift however was this sweet cupcake stand made to display our creations. My sister and I made cupcakes that evening to test its structural integrity... ok not really. We just wanted cupcakes!





I think my favorite thing about cupcakes is the unlimited decorating possibilities. No two are the same. You really can't say the same about cookies and brownies. I probably could have dedicated an entire blog to the discussion of cupcakes, but for now I'll just settle for maybe posting some of my creations once and a while. That way they'll be documented when the day comes to introduce them to the world through my cafe!

i hope they serve jager bombs in purgatory

When we first went apartment shopping, my only requirement was that we be within walking distance of a coffee shop. We lucked out, because not only did we get that, but we also found ourselves within walking distance of the coolest little bar ever. It goes by Saints and Sinners, but I can rarely keep the order straight, so sometimes its Sinners and Saints, S & S, or just "our bar". Let me see if I can even attempt to describe this place.

Our first introduction to S & S was not the most reassuring. In fact it made me certain that its flashing sign was merely an indication of another trashy dive bar. Jackie and I were walking home from the bus late one night looking fugly after a day of work and class, and we were passing by the little building panted completely black, when the bouncer by the door tried to coax us in. Um... is that not a COMPLETE indication that they were probably just a bunch of creeper guys inside? We thought so. But of course, much like our cats, we were curious. Eventually we decided that we'd try the place out. One night we swore we'd just go in for less than an hour, enough to sit and have a drink and be home in time to get a decent nights sleep. Yeah... like it ever happens that way.

Pretty casually dressed, Jax and I hop over to S & S and hesitantly step inside. Boy were we surprised. The interior was dark but chic. There was a fireplace in the center, lots of places to sit, ecclectic chandeliers hanging above the bar, and... it was packed! We ordered drinks from the bartender, Ian, who turned out to be super cool. We sat down and chatted for a while and made friends with a teacher from the valley. Before we knew it, we were talking to a bunch of other people who were all buying us drinks! The shots kept coming and I stopped keeping track of the time (try the 'hellfire'- its cinntastic). Oh! And did I mention that at least once a night Ian breathes fire!? You'll have to come with us some time to see firsthand. To be honest, I don't remember much of the later half of the night, but I know we returned home hours after we had intended, stoked about our newest hang out three minutes from our house! That night we also decided that we would become regulars. Now this is not a position we were very familiar with yet. Since I turned 21, my only goal really was to get out to as many different bars/clubs/scenes in LA so I could consider myself fully cultured. But this is a new chapter of my life, and while I'm in no way settling down, it might be nice to have that one place you can always come back to (and not have to worry about finding parking). Of course becoming regulars takes an ample amount of time and dedication, but I think we're willing to take on that challenge. Since that fateful night, we've done pretty well so far.

Christmakkah in SoCal

As my roomies and I began discussing the impending necessity of dismantling our Christmas decorations, I suddenly realized how quickly the holidays flew by this year, and how untraditional my own Christmas is in general. I think the holidays take on a different meaning for me than most since 1) I live in southern California where we get exited by hail because snow isn't even part of our vocabulary (sometimes I think sunshine just isn't as conducive to holiday cheer as a good snowstorm), and 2) I was raised Jewish.

Let me qualify that last statement. When I say I was raised Jewish, I mostly mean we had a menorah instead of a Christmas tree once a year. And thats about it. We tried going to temple for a year or two, but I was deathly afraid of the old woman who tried to teach me Hebrew in Sunday school and I guess my parents weren't sold either, so we peaced out. Yet we still continued to light the candles and sing the only prayer I ever learned every Hanukkah. Now that I've been living on my own for a few years, my traditions have slowly shifted. First it was adoption of the "Hanukkah bush". Later, I gave in and started hanging Christmas decorations and buying Christmas gift wrap to be consistent with my non-Jewish roommates and because I personally think there is a severe lack of creativity when it comes to stylish Hanukkah wrapping paper. This year our apartment was quite festive. While we didn't have space for a full size tree, we made up for it with multiple mini trees, though the cats have knocked off most of the ornaments and batted them under the couches by now. I also hung ornaments from the fake palm tree in our living room. Nothing says Christmas in LA like an adorned palm tree. Jackie decorated stockings for our family (cats included) and appropriately decked mine out with a Jewish star.

On the home front, Chanukkah and its endless spelling permutations has faded as well. Maybe its because my parents, being empty nesters now aren't really concerned with continuity, I'm not really sure. But since my sister and I have gone, they too have suddenly gone over to the green and red side, leaving behind gelt and latkes for a large pine tree.

I'm not complaining though. In my mind, the holidays are just about being with the people you love, enjoying the season, and of course giving/getting gifts. How you go about that doesn't really make a difference, as long as the reason behind it is the same. I love the holidays no matter how I celebrate it. I love how Starbucks uses those festive red coffee cups and adds peppermint to everything, and how you can't escape Christmas music no matter how hard you try, and how even in SoCal, you can sometimes walk outside in the morning and see your breath. This is what I look forward to every year and am sad to see disappear so quickly. Goodbye merry wreath on our door. See you next year.