Monthly Archives: August 2008

Well,it’s 2:00 and I’m thinking about cupcakes.  See those cupcakes up there?  See that look of sneaky joy on my face?  This picture was staged for the cupcakes that we had for Drew’s graduation–it’s hard to tell from here, but they are powdered with edible glitter, and embellished with sugared flowers.  You also might not be able to tell that they’re pound cake cupcakes with homemade chocolate and vanilla butter cream frosting from here, but they are (were) and I miss them.  I would love to take credit for such pictures of perfection, but these came from a spot near my office called Cappellino’s Crazy Crakes (he makes cakes with edible hinges among other things!) and it’s 2:00 and I’m thinking, “man, I could really go for a cupcake right about now”.

Oddly, for me, looking at pictures of deserts is almost as satisfying as making them, or hopefully eating them.  I really don’t care for the grocery (please let me express for the 1000th time my extreme gratitude to Drew for largely being the one to navigate those foreboding aisles!) but when I do go, I always have to walk by the bakery counter and just look at everything.  Of course I would love to be looking at beautifully constructed and creative confections with fresh flowers and glossy chocolate ganache, but I’m not going to lie, those cakes with the race cars and unicorns airbrushed on top are a fine substitute.  People talk about endorphins being released from exercise etc, but I think I have a similar experience when I looked at well-crafted food.  Tiny torte shells!  saturated raspberries dancing on butter cream!  Delirious swirls sweeping across the face of a cheesecake!  Cheesecake!  A bakery is, for me, a lot like a museum.  It’s an emotive experience where I can see professional creations that I not only enjoy looking at, but on some level aspire towards creating one day myself.  Ok, well I don’t think I will ever sculpt or paint, but just maybe I’ll make that wedding cake.  It’s weird, but I honestly love it.  So, my point in all of this is: It’s 2:00, I want a cupcake, but the indulgence of the last month is suggesting that I go for something a little more, ahem, healthy and so I am satiating myself by looking at a desert that I really really enjoyed.  Some might call it crazy, I call it…well, crazy.  And there’s nothing wrong with that!

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

3. The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.

4. We must polish the Polish furniture.

5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7. Since there was no time like the present, he thought it was time to
present the present.

8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10. I did not object to the object.

11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12. There was a row among the oarsmen on how to row.

13. They were too close to the door to close it.

14. The buck does funny things when does are present.

15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.

19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

This long introduction is all to say that Drew’s graduation was, ahem, really fun! and I suspect that as I process the details, the weekend will become a lot like pictures of my spare little tomatoes and Grace on this blog: plentiful and maybe a little too much.  We cherished every single second having Jo Ellen here, it was really wonderful to be able to share a landmark with family and to get some good Baton Rouge energy in our house and lives.  Drew was gracious and lovely and I’m sure that I came as close to bursting with pride as a woman can.

As I was off of work for a few days, we spent the majority of Monday in silence–that perfect home sweet home kind of silence–while I read a book (Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl, great foodie memoir!) and Drew played chess.  We finally shook ourselves out of our lazy day fog and headed to the local fish guy to get supplies for sushi (oh yes, I took pictures, just you wait) and came home and quietly rolled sushi together.  The best surprise was that while I was looking in the fridge for more things to roll up in the nori–mmm, leftovers in the sushi!– we decided to roll in some left over cole slaw and man was that a happy surprise!  I know it sounds gross, but really is was a fantastic addition, especially with the tuna.

In much the same vein as my feigned silence on the subject here, Drew and I didn’t really start talking about the weekend and the implications of Drew being “finished” with school until last night over dinner.  In the way that only young people can, we’ve regarded the graduation not so much as a doorway, but something of a steel wall at the end of a very fast approaching train that we’ve been strapped to for just under 3 years.  It sounds dramatic, but I kid you not, it has been a little surprising to step through a door and stand looking around in this new space called Future.  Ahhh, hello Future, I didn’t see you lurking there.  I am entering into the home stretch of my final tenure with The Hook (3.5 weeks and counting) and Drew is getting ready to be a nurse and somehow it seems like there is an awful lot of air in the air all of a sudden.

One thought in zen philosophy is that water heats gradually and boils suddenly–it is a gradual process which may make it seem slow, especially with a furrowed and impatient brow, but when the change takes place, it takes place instantly.  Knowing that doesn’t shake the surprise, especially realizing that each new day will still be a march forward with one foot in front of the other marked, for me, with an infinite amount of hope along the way, but it is fun to think that perhaps in the arena of this one pot, we’ve just come to a boil.