This afternoon, Independents Hall hosted cupcakecamp, an event inspired by the successful distribution of "open source cupcakes" at barcamp. I missed barcamp, and nearly missed cupcakecamp as well. While I suspect others (notably Roz and nohx) had mentioned it in my hearing, it never quite sunk in as something I needed to do.

Then Alex Hillman tweeted about it at 1pm today, and suddenly I was arrested by a deep and abiding need to be There. At. 3pm. With. Cupcakes. So I did that thing.
( Cell phone pix, details of my boozetastic contribution, commentary on fine cupcakes offered. )
This event was awesome. And free. And full of cupcakes.

One comment: phrases like "open source cupcakes" do lead me to expect sharing of recipes and other open source-y activities. I was surprised to find that no one else had brought their recipe along. I'm not particularly concerned about cupcake vendor lock-in, though, and if it's a monopoly, it's a delicious one.

Tags: cupcakecon, cupcakes, dessert, indyhall, philly

Tags: dessert, food, photos, punk, punkave, work

Method: melt one leftover square of valrhona chocolate. Stir in a half-glass of leftover sauvignon blanc.

Verdict: exciting on the tongue. Makes the brain feel warm and happy in a hurry, to be sure. The mouthfeel is a little odd— some might even say gross, or at any rate complex— because the chocolate never fully submits to mixing smoothly with the wine. The beverage is, of necessity, served warm, and this would probably go better with a red wine. Nevertheless, an intriguing taste experience easily achieved with the leftovers in my kitchen. I am officially into the just-relaxing headspace I try to find every Sunday, at least for a while. Pity I'm going out dancing in a couple hours. Okay, no, it's not such a pity.

Tags: chocolate, dessert, drinks, wine

So I was reading the Wikipedia article on marathons this morning, to get my facts straight before blatantly comparing my weekend's exertions to same (*), and paid close attention to the section on glycogen and "hitting the wall." They mention that some marathoners eat things that would normally be considered unhealthy during the marathon in order to give their muscles a rapidly available source of energy: "... solid candy, cookies, other forms of concentrated sugars, or any food high in simple carbohydrates which can be digested easily by the individual runner." I said uh-huh whatever, what I need is a proper lunch.

About an hour after lunch I served my daughter a big scoop of ice cream and the desire to eat half a box myself was almost overwhelming. Almost, because I know all that dairy would not be my friend.

Then I realized I had leftover homemade peanut butter choco soy ice cream in the freezer.

[Scene of frightful devouration elided for the sake of the children]

Ghods I feel better. You have no idea.

Now my daughter is at a friend's for dinner and I am supposed to be practicing with the video cameras and I will. But I need to physically stop moving for a while first. Which would be more appealing if I could find my copy of Freedom and Necessity.

(*) 1.5 mile ride to train station + 1 mile walk to play + 1 mile walk back from play + 2 hours salsa + 1.5 mile ride home + 1.5 mile walk to ceramics class + 1 hour salsa + 1 mile walk across Media + 1 mile walk back across Media + 1 mile walk across Media AGAIN + unpack kitchen for three hours + 1 mile walk across Media YET again + 2 hours salsa + 2 hours salsa = whoah there slowdowncowboy

Tags: dance, dessert, exercise, food, health

"The Epic Tale of Rodney & John, Two Girl Scout Cookies in Love," by bitter_crimson.

Technically, this is Stargate Atlantis fanfic. But you really, really don't have to know who the frick Rodney and John are to enjoy this story. You don't even have to know their gender. Or species. So please don't let your internalized bigotry get in the way of cookie porn.

Ganked from solestria, not smittywing, which was very confusing.

Tags: cookies, dessert, fanfic, girl scout cookies, sex, stargate atlantis

3 cups soy milk
3/4 can coconut milk
One teaspoon Chinese five-spice
1/4 cup sugar
A shake of vanilla
A belt or two from that bottle of sake you've got lying around

Thoroughly mix the above. Pour into your ice cream maker. Really tasty.

It's conceivable that the sake prevents it from freezing as well as it might, but I doubt it as the overall alcohol level is quite low. It would certainly work just fine without the sake.

Tags: dessert, recipes, vegan

By combining the best features of Thin Mints and Oreos, "hint-o-mint Newman O's" threaten the girl scout movement and all it stands for!

And they're delicious!

Tags: cookies, dessert, food, organic

( Olive oil gelato. Eight-wheeled exploration. Wedding-oke. Eight-wheeled apotheosis. The shayna maidel is also a pretty damn fine actress. Playback improv comes face to face with the crazy. My weekend has kemidra bookends. )

Tags: dessert, food, karaoke, theater, tom's life

Okay, so I did leave the house. For half an hour. To eat cake.

I hit the Royal Tavern and, in lieu of booze, consumed a slice of their cookies 'n' cream cake. With just a few spoonfuls of obscenely delicious chocolate sauce which very probably contained coffee which is my kryptonite but I don't care because it was so very good.

The whole thing was so very good. And, evidently, vegan. But without that "OMG we're insecure about the tastiness of our vegan dessert so we will SMOTHER IT IN SO MUCH SUGAR THAT YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD" problem so common in vegan baking. I very much doubt that any non-vegan customer would complain after being served this cake. But if they did, well, that would be more for me.

The Royal Tavern is located at 937 East Passyunk. That's near Seventh and Carpenter streets. Open seven days, serving food till late and, duh, booze till late too. Living three blocks away = awesome.

Tags: dessert, food, philly, south philly, vegan

Disclaimer

This is not the New York Review of Nooks. The New York Review of Nooks is a glorious blog written by an alternate-universe boutell who actually lives there. His NYC adventures are paid for by advertising revenue. Like, 800 times over. And he blogs about them as soon as they are done happening. Maybe before. Not in several installments, beginning three days later when he finally gets two seconds to rub together.

No, this is just the New York Review of Nooks... TRIBUTE!
( So yeah: I spent Tuesday crawling NYC. And there were doughnuts. And cupcakes. And chefs in babydoll dresses... )

Tags: books, dessert, food, new york city, new york review of nooks, nyc, roller derby, tom's life