And by kind of old, I mean REALLY OLD. Looking back on the archive, it appears that the last official Weekend Pickthrough was in AUGUST OF 2011. Since then, I’ve continued to harvest links in a hope that I would bring the feature back around at some point, but I was just never able to get it up.
Anyway, I apologize for my blogging erectile dysfunction. I am finally back in fighting shape again, and working hard to satisfy you. Here we go: Read the rest of this entry »
today has sucked from start to finish. and by start, i mean at around 1:30 am i threw up my hands in despair because the C3PO mask i had been attempting to make ALL NIGHT was officially and irreparably creepy and awful.
the last ditch puffy paint accents i had applied in delirium made my robot friend look like he had just participated in some elicit activities resulting in a face full of shiny golden robo-semen.
UNACCEPTABLE!
i don’t know why i thought that this task would be simple. C3PO masks are best left to vacuform machines and people with masters degrees in paper mache. i am neither of those. what i am is a person who needs a decent C3PO mask by friday and has run out of options.
this, and the lack of sleep caused by this would color my whole day.
i was cranky and emotional and punctuated my afternoon with occasional bathroom crying jags. sometimes things just go really wrong and you can’t seem to get out from under it.
i decided to drag my carcass around town on my lunch break in hopes that some fresh air might cure what ailed me. but half way across town, i realized that i had forgotten my debit card.
when i’m really bummed out, all i want to do is shop and eat. being unable to do either of those things crushed my spirit a little. it had never really occurred to me how much i placate myself with stuff. with consumption.
i imagined myself eating a big cookie and buying a new dress. i imagined myself feeling better. i didn’t. it was just me and my mood wandering the streets alone.
i still feel crappy. and my allergies are acting up. and one of my eyes is slowly puffing shut… but i’m strongly considering leaving my debit card at home more often. maybe i need to hang out with my sad sometimes- instead of trying to smother it with lattes and new lip gl0ss. maybe i would save some money and learn some new coping skills.
i don’t know.
on a related note, does anyone have a C3PO mask i can borrow for a few days?
i don’t remember a single kid in my entire elementary school that had a peanut allergy. maybe bees (epi pens look so fucking cool when you’re 7), but not peanuts- and certainly not gluten. as a matter of fact, i lived the majority of my adult life not really even knowing what gluten is, or that people even could be allergic to it. but there it is. all of the sudden, everybody and their grandma has celiac disease or is gluten intolerant… where there were once no food allergies or sensitivities, now even walmart has a gluten free department. wacky.
i hate to conjecture as to why there has been this apparent spike in food allergies and conditions (pesticides? medications? evolutionary failure?), because it will just make me want to enclose myself in a plastic bubble (and not the sexy jake gyllenhaal kind, the creepy john travolta kind). but the fact is that gluten allergy/intolerance is a new reality that many have to deal with every day, and it totally sucks.
i fucking love gluten. i can tear through a bread basket in the blink of an eye (no seriously, if you ever go out to dinner with me- DON’T BLINK if you have any interest in pre-show bread), so my heart goes out (way out) for anyone who can’t enjoy the glory that is starchy, glutenous goodness. that said, there are a growing number of products out on the market dedicated to our gluten repellent friends that are actually quite tasty. for example, i’m a big fan of the lucy’s brand cookies (specifically the sugar cookies). what i’m learning, is that gluten free baked goods can be totally kick ass, as long as they’re done well. unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.
to add another layer of suck, gluten free shit is FUCKING EXPENSIVE. can you imagine having to spend $6 every time you wanted to buy hamburger buns? so basically, there’s not much you can eat, and what you can eat is ludicrously pricey. and then what about things like birthdays and holidays? maybe you can get some gluten free mix or something from the whole foods, but it’s not hardly the same as having someone make you real cake or cookies from scratch.
therein lies the subject of our blog post/love letter today. cakeface contacted me about a week ago about doing a review of their startup gluten free bakery business. now, i get contacted semi-regularly to review things on my blog, and i don’t always say yes. what appealed to me about cakeface is the fact that they’re local, they’re vegan, and that i would get to eat cupcakes. sold! i headed on over to their website and ordered half a dozen peanut butter cupcakes, 3 blueberry scones, and 3 chocolate chip scones. the goods were delivered to my office promptly the next afternoon (they deliver to a good chunk of the southern maine area).
reason #1 to love cakeface– the people who own it are some of the best people you will ever meet. jj does the baking, simon handles the business end, and they are both ridiculously nice, charming, and completely genuine. i kind of want them to be my new best friends. basically, you can rest assured that your cupcakes will not be made by assholes.
i decided to share the scones with the people in my office, and hoard the cupcakes for myself (well, and possibly the boyfriend). everybody snarfed theirs down in record time, and the only complaint by one of my coworkers was “not sweet enough”.
reason #2 to love cakeface- they make smart food. as far as i’m concerned, people who who like their food overly sweetened have stupid tongues. too much high fructose corn syrup and processed snack cakes have made them unable to appreciate any flavor above and beyond twinkie level sugar shock. it’s tragic. i thought they were the best scones that i’d ever eaten (they are so not paying me for this in cupcakes or otherwise, i just thought they were kick ass scones). moist but not soggy, not too sweet, and with just a tiny bit of salty in there to make things more interesting. similarly, the cupcakes had a nice flavor balance (mildly sweet and nutty), were the perfect moist but not oily texture, and had exactly the right amount of jj’s killer peanut butter frosting (just ask the boyfriend who shoved down 3 of them in a sitting).
cakeface simon and i actually had a funny conversation today about how too much frosting can destroy a perfect cupcake experience. too much frosting for me is a clear sign that the cake portion of a cupcake can’t stand on its own. it’s showboating. excess frosting is full of lies.
reason #3 to love cakeface- they’re unpretentious. food that tastes good doesn’t need 4 inches of buttercream and a fondant daisy to make it worth eating. my cakeface treats came neatly packed in a brown bag, simply presented, without a ganache floret in sight. oh, and they also threw in a totally adorable bumper sticker, just because.
ok, so we’ve covered their charmingness, their taste goodingness, and their lack of showboatingness… all excellent and necessary qualities in a bakery. but what’s the bottom line on all this deliciousness?
reason #4 to love cakeface- you can afford them. i’m a girl who has (and will again) paid upwards of $5 for a single cupcake, and you might expect a company like cakeface that uses pricey ingredients like hazelnut flour and vegan sugar to be in the upper ranges of the cupcake market. not so! starting at $1.50 a cupcake, $1 a scone, and $.50 a cookie (less if you order more), you’d be lucky to get some gas station hydrox for the same price.
ok, before this lovefest carries on for too long, let me just say one thing- i know hardcore product/ pimping is not my general modus operandi, but when really good people are doing something admirable and worthwhile (and delicious)… i think they deserve a little shout out. along with throwing down an order of your own (what’s on their order page is just a starting point- give them a call for everything from birthday cakes to alternative scone flavors), if you want to help support cakeface’s future development (they’re working on a second set of dedicated cookware so that they can also offer nut-free treats), you can also donate to their kickstarter account to help assure that their venture gets started with a real chance. after all, it’s always the right time to get your cake on.
as i have mentioned before, i have been blessed with a cornucopia of excessively irritating, but non life-threatening conditions. allergies, athsma, acid reflux… and that ‘s only the As. i am insured, which is a g-d miracle, but in the last 3 years, 2 of my daily medications have gone OTC (that’s over the counter for those of you who don’t live at the drugstore). in some ways, this is good. i don’t have to fuck around with prescriptions running out or doctor visits. and in many cases, OTC medication is cheaper than its prescription counterpart. unfortunately, in some cases it is not, and there’s no insurance policy that can help defray the cost. for many years, i payed $50 a month @ full retail for my priosec (acid reflux) and zyrtec (heinous allergies). good luck finding $600 a year hiding in the couch cushions to pay for it all…
that is until rite aid and i took a roll in the hay. and this week, we’re rolling hard. 4 days, 100 pills of zyrtec (the liquid gels are the better deal), $.96.
it’s a very simple operation really, (especially if your rite aid happens to be across the street):
day one. buy one 25 count bottle of zyrtec liquid gels. using the $3/$15 coupon here. the $2/1 rite aid video values coupon here (sadly, you only get one). and the $4/1 coupon here.
day two. buy one 25 count bottle of zyrtec liquid gels. using the $3/$15 coupon here. and the $4/1 coupon here.
day three. buy one 25 count bottle of zyrtec liquid gels. using the $3/$15 coupon here. and the $4/1 coupon here.
day four. buy one 25 count bottle of zyrtec liquid gels. um… i think you get the picture…
next, go here and enter your receipts.
then, wait patiently for 6-8 weeks until you receive your single check rebate in the amount of $25 (thanks J&J), and your allergy rewards certificate in the amount of $20.
finally, enjoy 3+ months of allergy-freeness for practically no money.
for the non-believers, i present you the math:
4 bottles 25 count zyrtec liquid gels @ $18.99= $75.96
minus $16 in $4/1 coupons
minus $2 in video values coupons
minus $12 in $3/$15 coupons
= $45.96
wrap it up in a $25 single check rebate for purchasing $50 in johnson & johnson products & a $20 allergy rewards check for buying $75 worth of antihistamines…
bottom line: $.96
suck it allergies.
broke 207 