Will walk for cupcakes

Oh cupcake, how I love thee. You're so sweet and delicious, I could

just eat you up.

Last Saturday after walking/dodging raindrops at the American Brain Tumor Association 5k with my friends, we went on a mini cupcake crawl around Chicago. We overeagerly planned to walk to our destinations...all 5 of them. Unfortunately, none of us took into account how much our legs/ankles/hip flexors (in my case) would HATE us for all the walking we did (guess we forgot about that 5k earlier in the day). By the time we got to our third stop, we were literally crawling. 

But despite the minor pain and cramping, the cupcakes were AMAZING. And I think the only way to describe my euphoric frosting-topped tour would be through photos. Yikes, I might start drooling a little...

Sidenote: I am going to try my hardest to describe these cupcakes without using my least favorite words (moist, creamy, gooey). Unfortunately, those words often apply in this case. 

Stop 1: Swirlz

A delicious peanut butter crunch cupcake. Yes, the photo is a little off, but I was just so darn excited to eat it, I couldn't waste time with my silly camera. It was SO good. The perfect blend of chocolatey cake and peanut butter frosting. It tasted like a giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup...only better.

So excited to eat cupcakes. This was the exact moment I wished I could pull a Zack Morris and call a time out to freeze the scene. I would have jumped over the counter and stuffed as many of those cupcakes into my bag as I could. Sometimes I really wish TV "special" effects applied to real life. (Please excuse the hair...it was raining and gross that day)

Stop 2: Sweet Mandy B's

The sun made a brief appearance when we got here. It was a sign that we were about to experience a little piece of cupcake heaven.

A hastily taken photo of the display case. I got one of those white ones—the Snickerdoodle cupcake. The frosting was a bit too...creamy (ugh, I had to say it) for me, but I loved the cake part of it. It was the pinnacle of cinammony deliciousness. 

Stop 3: Molly's Cupcakes

Best. thing. ever. I love sprinkles. I think they present a great philosophy for life: Sometimes all you need is a little color to make life sweeter. 

 

A glamour shot of my mixed berry cupcake. I think I fell in love with it a little bit before I ate it. It was filled with blueberry and raspberry compote and was topped with blueberry frosting. It was amazing. The frosting was so light and whippy (yes, that's a word) and it complemented the cake perfectly. 

From there, we were supposed to go to Southport Grocery and Dinkel's, but we were all way too tired. Plus, we were all spiraling into sugar-induced comas at that point. But it was so worth it. My favorite? Probably Molly's. But Swirlz was a very, very close second. And so was Sweet Mandy B's. I loved them all. 

Before we went home, we made a quick stop at Pocket Puppies, a pet store that specializes in teeny tiny dogs. The dogs were adorable, yet freakishly tiny. I was afraid I was going to break them. 

Cutest. dog. ever. This was a 9-week-old Yorkie. Normally I'm not a fan of pet store puppies (the thought of puppy mills makes me so sad), but we couldn't resist holding some of these little guys. They were so cute. I hope they all get good, loving homes soon.

So then I went home and passed out. I literally took a 3 hour nap, woke up and got ready to go out, found out my plans were cancelled due to exhaustion, and went back to bed. All that walking and sugar killed me a little bit. But I loved every sugar-coated second of it.

Hmm...now I want a cupcake.

Workin' on a sugar buzz

Ross: Someone sent us a basket at work once, and people went crazy over those little muffins. It was the best day.
Chandler: Your work makes me sad.


Welcome to my office.

Whenever anyone brings in candy or some kind of baked good, people go NUTS. It's like they've never seen food before. Everyone gets all cheerful and chatty and it becomes the talk of the office. It's pretty funny.

So that lovely little quote from Friends was running through my head all day as I watched my coworkers go bananas over the plethora of sweets in our office today.

Of course, I was right there with them. And even worse, IT WAS ALL SITTING NEXT TO MY DESK.

At 8:51 this morning, I got to the office, walked to my cubicle and stopped dead in my tracks. The counter space next to my desk was FILLED with candy. I nearly went into a sugar coma just looking at it. There was a huge bowl filled with all the Halloween candy rejects and leftovers from my coworkers' kids and houses, etc. It was overflowing with big bags of peanut butter M&Ms and candy corn and cookies...the counter was completely covered.

And then I heard my coworker laugh. She must have seen my shocked expression. She just smiled and said, "Check out the kitchen, Pam.".

So I quickly grabbed my "healthy" Lean Cuisine to throw in the freezer, and practically sprinted to the kitchen.

And there on the kitchen counter was the most beautiful display I have ever seen before 9 o'clock on a Monday morning. There were BOXES of huge cupcakes covered in creamy chocolate and vanilla frosting and dotted with lovely little sprinkles. There was half a vanilla sheet cake with chocolate fudge in the middle and topped with chocolate icing and bright white whipped cream frosting. And there was a huge bag filled to the brim with dark chocolate-dipped marshmallows. Amazing.

Needless to say, my mouth was watering. I've never wanted a cupcake so badly in my entire life.

But like a good girl, I stayed away all morning. Actually, so did all my coworkers. Every time I was in the kitchen, there would be at least 3 other people staring longingly at the heavenly assortment, commenting on how delicious it all looked. But no one would touch them. I think everyone was overwhelmed. There was literally enough food to feed 100 people (my company only has 25).

The mystery of the baked goods was soon resolved. Apparently one of the senior people in my company threw a huge birthday party for herself and had so many leftovers she decided to bring them in to share. I didn't know whether I should thank her or beg her to take them away.

So instead of eating a cupcake, I thought I'd just eat some candy instead. Bad idea. I ate waaay too many fun-size Snickers and Kit Kats and Reese's Whips (which are weird, by the way). And since I sit next to the candy bowl, every time I heard someone reaching in to grab something, it made me want another piece. I have a huge weakness for Halloween candy, I can't help it.

Finally, after lunch, I saw my coworkers finally eating the cupcakes and I decided to give in and try half a vanilla cupcake...and a tiny little sliver of the sheet cake.

Surprisingly, I didn't like the cupcake at all. It was waaaay too sweet, and for someone who loves sweet things as much as I do, that's really saying something. It was no Magnolia Bakery cupcake, that's for sure. I only took two bites and then threw the rest away (hey, there were still 50+ uneaten cupcakes in the kitchen!) But the sheet cake was AMAZING. It was the perfect level of sweetness. Yum...I hope there is still some left tomorrow.

And now after I've spend the entire day eating candy, I still feel like I have a sugar buzz. But oddly enough, I'm craving something sweet now. Ugh.