Cupcake Dilemma and Comfort Food

You know your perfectionism might be problematic when your car is overheating in 92 degree weather, and as you turn off the air conditioning and switch the heater on full blast to try to drop the engine temperature, all you're really worried about is the tray of itty bitty chocolate cupcakes on the backseat.

"Oh my God, the cupcakes!" is probably not the normal response in that situation. Yet your heart is sinking at the thought of the August heat melting all the little cupcakes that you baked, frosted with swirls of chocolate buttercream icing, and decorated with tiny ribbons. Cupcakes you baked along with the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club before realizing you hadn't planned ahead for what you were going to do with 4 dozen diminutive treats. Cupcakes, a dozen and a half of which you sent home with a friend who has children. Cupcakes, the remaining ones with which you are now trapped in a hot car en route to taking them to a friend of a friend who is moving and has a crowd of family/friends helping her (and what volunteer movers don't like cupcakes?).

So there it is. The car is sweltering. Looking in the rearview mirror, you see your face is fiercely pink and your ponytail is becoming disheveled. And the car is beginning to smell like chocolate in a way that goes beyond sweet, beyond tantalizing, straight to sickeningly rich. You can actually taste the chocolate in the air. You are sure that Martha Stewart never has these kind of baking-related incidents, and you wonder what she would do to save the buttercream swirls from melting. What would Martha do?

Luckily, the heater going full-blast (and scorching your feet in open toe sandals) is keeping the heat gauge down enough to hover near the top of the normal zone, so you're able to drop off the cupcakes. But you have to do a quick curbside delivery, handing the tray over to a friend of a friend and calling over your shoulder something about putting them in the refrigerator to firm up the frosting. And then you're back in the car and driving off before it reaches full overheat. As you drive away, people stand in the front yard with moving boxes they're carrying and wonder what that bizarre cupcake drive-by was all about.

So... Three Things I Learned This Weekend:

1. Before baking 4 dozen of anything, it is wise to plan in advance who exactly will be eating 48 what-nots.

2. YouTube is not just for watching silly videos your inappropriate colleague insists on forwarding to you. YouTube tutorials you can teach you how to: a) safely check your radiator fluid without suffering disfiguring steam burns, b) locate and check your coolant reservoir; and c) mix the coolant and water in the correct proportions to fill the reservoir.

3. And the third thing I learned? Well, it's that when one needs the comfort of Breakfast for Dinner, oeufs en concotte (Julia Child's recipe, with spinach & a little butter on top), a mini pot of tea, and whole wheat toast is the perfect comfort food-- so delicious I actually found myself making little "mmm" sounds while I was eating. Ahh, just what I needed! I may be ready for the next cupcake bake-along!

La musique du jour...

Music for a relaxing Sunday evening: Norah Jones' "Come Away with Me"