A Spring Cake!

This cake, made from a Bon Appetit recipe from last year, rocked Patty's 65th Birthday party last night! The cupcakes, which are barely visible in this photo, came also turned out marvelously with white chocolate "65"s that I made myself. The lime and chocolate tart was store-bought by a guest! Phooey to it!

The Art of Procrastination

In case you haven't noticed, I've been a little reticent lately, to say the least. Blame it on mismanagement of my procrastination time. Usually, when I'm motivating myself to hit the books, I try to find all the other things that I can possibly do to avoid actually doing the thing that I must most imminently do. From what I can tell, this is a universal phenomenon. As an undergrad, I used to get much better results. If I had a paper on Alexis de Toqueville due in 12 hours, what better thing to do than sit down in front of the computer and write poems. That's what got me into Iowa in the first place!

Lately, however, I've reached another level of "burntoutdom," which forces me to distract in whatever ways possible, even from pleasurably creative endeavors. Yesterday, I drank way too much chai and drove down San Pablo Ave across many cities--Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo--looking for containers that hold cupcakes at Smart and Final. Guess what? They didn't have them. (I'm accepting suggestions for online restaurant supply stores that people use . . . ) On the way back, I noticed that the party store, only in El Cerrito and not way the hell over in San Pablo, had already closed. I wandered aimlessly, accomplishing little in the way of writing or cooking with my wasted caffeine high.

Blame it on the notion of cupcakes. Ever since my friend, Laurie Koh, alerted me to the article in the SF Chronicle about cupcakes, I've had non-stop thoughts about making them, storing them, transporting them, and, of course, devouring them. I'm particularly obsessed with Chockylit, who is not only an admirable cupcake-aholic and inspired baker, but also posts gorgeous photographs.

This week, I'll be trying my hand at her Devil's Food with Chocolate Buttercream cupcakes for my mother-in-law's birthday. I'll also be putting together a layer cake with lemon curd filling and whipped cream frosting to celebrate the co-occurring events of spring and Patty's 65th birthday!

And if I don't get too lazy about it, I promise to take a few photos. But I'm still a little technologically deficient in this realm. Any help or donations of good cameras is much appreciated!

Turn that jello-mold on its head!

This week, I was forwarded a call for entries . . . about the glorious possibilities of food intersecting with art.

Call for Entries--Detourned Menu
The LAB
2006

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Detourned Menu: Activism in the Form of Food
Seeking new work by artists who concoct edible provocations and savory interventions to infiltrate contemporary visual culture and everyday day life. This exhibition seeks to address politics through the medium of food.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 10, 2006
All genres and media accepted.
Exhibition scheduled for late October-November, 2006 at The LAB, San
Francisco.

Send:
--35mm slides (no more than 10), DVD, audio CD, or CDROM (max file size 1MB.
Jpg, gif or png accepted. No more than 10 images per artist)
--Related info (artist bio, statement, CV and contact info)
--Self-addressed stamped envelope (optional for return of materials) to:

ATTN: Brianna Toth
The LAB
2948 16th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103