I Attended the L.A. Cupcake Challenge

Wayyyy back in mid April, I wrote a post announcing the L.A. Cupcake Challenge happening in May. Well, that eventful day arrived yesterday, and I was there to see how it all went down.

First, let me say, I loved it. I took a girlfriend and we waited almost no time in line on the Hollywood Blvd. sidewalk outside the Montmartre Lounge to have our names crossed off the list. We climbed the red carpeted stairs to the event, picked up an empty wine glass and a voting sheet, and began the tour de force of cupcake tastings.

Now let me admit, I could have planned better. There were two bakeries stationed at the entrance, then some white leather sofas for lounging, and then a giant room full of booth after booth of cupcake bakeries, displaying their concoctions and handing out mini-versions. I had no idea just how many samples I'd end up eating. So for the first couple of mini-cupcakes, I ate the entire things. I shouldn't have. As the afternoon rolled on, I too felt I would soon be rolling on... I ended up needing to cut back and take single bites of sample cupcakes in order to try as many as possible.

On a side note, as you can see above, I wore my cupcake tee for the occasion. The shirt says Make Cupcakes Not War. And because of that silly shirt, I was approached by three media outlets: LA Weekly, ABC 7, and the Food Network. In the pic below, I'm being interviewed for the Food Network. They made me promise to enter my own cupcakes in next year's L.A. Cupcake Challenge. What did I just get myself into!?


Returning your attention to cupcakes (and away from t-shirts), many of the cupcake flavors were traditional, such as red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla, though there were variations among even those. For example, one red velvet had sugar crystals, another was strictly vegan. Many of the cupcakes were creative, in both presentation, and flavor combinations. I was really pleased with the variety. Here are just a few of the cupcakes I sampled yesterday.

Mandarin orange cupcake with pistachio frosting from Sugar Jones

Chocolate cupcakes with a beer-caramel sauce from Lucky Devils

Lemon cupcakes from BabyCakes Baking Company

Root beer float cupcake complete with straw (so cool!) from Yummy Cupcakes

Peanut butter and jelly cupcake from The Oinkster

Red velvet, Elvis, and another I can't remember from Violet's Cakes

Strawberry cupcake from Leyna's Baby Cakes

Red velvet cupcakes from Hotcakes Bakes

Just some of the remaining scraps

I went home satiated, sick, vowing never to eat another cupcake in my life, and unable to do anything but lie sprawled out on my couch and watch my latest recorded Ugly Betty episode. But I have to tell you, despite all the queasiness post-event, the experience of being in a room filled with bakery booths - and all the sensory and mental happiness that comes with that - was one of the most amazing food experiences I've had.

Oh, and a couple hours after the event, I managed to eat an apple and a small cucumber. Still waiting for my sweet tooth to grow back...


Note: The winners of the L.A. Cupcake Challenge were not announced at the event so that attendees would have the full three hours to cast their vote. Check back later to find out who won!

Top Chef Casting Call

Here ye here ye. Top Chef, the popular reality cooking competition on Bravo, is coming to Los Angeles for casting calls! Want to be on Season 5? You have one week to prepare your shtick. Bravo's website says they're looking for both "self-taught cooks and those who have trained at top culinary schools."

Also be sure to submit a video of yourself. Download the application. You might want to get started on that, like, today. There is a laundry list of things to include in the video.

But how cool would it be to make it to one of the biggest shows on television and cook your way to the top. As far as reality shows go, this is a real winner. The journey to the finish line is just as good as the prize. Along the way, you're meeting famous chefs and foodies and getting to use state-of-the-art kitchen equipment - or is that only my dream? And that prize...oooh la la. The prize for Season 4, which is already underway, is $100,000 in seed money to use toward opening your own restaurant. I couldn't say for sure if Season 5's prize is the same. My question is, does a bakery count as a "restaurant"? Cuz Marni Bakery would be the business I open. I've already started on the cake boxes...

Fast Facts
What: Top Chef Casting Call
When: Monday, May 26th, 2008 from 10am to 2pm
Where: Cicada Restaurant, 617 S. Olive Street in Downtown Los Angeles

Win an Ice Cream Neighborhood Block Party

I'm slow to learn of this contest, but it's not too late! It started March 11, but you still have till May 30 at midnight Eastern Time to enter. Dreyer's is holding the Dreyer's Slow Churned Neighborhood Salute. I love this idea. You write up a short essay (350 words or less) explaining why your neighborhood deserves an ice cream block party, and then cross your fingers that your dreams come true and you are selected!

If you think this already sounds good, it's about to get better. Get this: Dreyer's is selecting 1,500 (you heard me right, that's a LOT of winners) essays for the grand prize.

And about that grand prize...
You'll get 12 cartons of Dreyer's Slow Churned light ice cream delivered to your doorstep, 4 boxes of Dreyer's Slow Churned light ice cream bars, and a party-in-a-box, including ice cream scoops, napkins, spoons, nametags, disposable camera, etc...). Dreyer's says that's enough for about 100 normal people, but they haven't considered that it would only feed about 10 ice-cream-aholics who don't mind a tummy ache.

The judging rubric is as follows:
Originality/Creativity - 50%
Enthusiasm - 25%
What makes your neighborhood special - 25%


I'd better get going on my essay. I need to come up with an amazing hook, that first line that ensures I'm one of the lucky 1,500...

The Other Kind of Dog Food

Sooooooo. There are two things in the above photo - a dog, and Kibbles. Here's the question: Are both considered dog food???

I have something to get out of my system before moving on.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Grossssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

And the answer is: YES!

Duncan Riley, who you might know as one of the (now former - he resigned) writers for TechCrunch, but whose impressive resume goes way beyond writing for the fourth (?) largest blog on the Web, posted the following DISGUSTING slide show yesterday to The Inquisitr, his newest (and really cool, I might add) project. The site covers tech, pop culture, and a bunch of other stuff.

Riley titled his post "So You Think You're An Adventurous Foodie?" But I'd be more likely to call this post "How to Become a Vegetarian in 20 Pictures" or "If You Were Stranded on an Island, or China, Rather, Would You Prefer Turkey Vulture Schnitzel, Dog Brain Soup, Goat Lung, Mixed Cow & Horse Stew, Grilled Snake, or Scorpion on a Stick?"

While the thought of dog food with dog in it is a bit (euphemism for extremely) disturbing, this is a great slide show of what you could be fortunate enough to enjoy if you visit Beijing, China. For those of you who have tasted and enjoy dog, and I'm talking to YOU, Anthony Bourdain, sorry if I offend.

BeijingFastFood - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: BeijingFastFood

Foodie Fight: A Trivia Game

I need this. A trivia game designed just for foodies. You see, I play Trivial Pursuit on occasion, mostly when there's arm twisting involved (my arm). That's because the only questions I can really answer in Trivial Pursuit are food-related. Otherwise, I stink.

So imagine how my eyes bugged out (see below pic) when I heard about Foodie Fight! It's a deck of cards with over 1,000 foodie questions. Topics include culinary science, celebrity chefs, food history, exotic cuisine, and more. Check. Check. Check. Check. And check. I can handle all that.

My eyes bugging out

Now for the fun part...
Let's try a card. Answer these:


Now check your answers. How'd you do?

I did (surprise surprise) well. 5/6 and the one I missed was the SNL question, which obviously belongs more in Trivial Pursuit. This is my kind of game.

King Arthur Flour Fudgy Brownies

In King Arthur Flour's Cookie Companion cookbook, they give you options. If you're looking for a chocolate chip cookie, choose between The Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie or the Classic Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookie. I personally would always prefer chewy over crunchy, but I have plenty of crunchy friends who aren't from Berkeley. With brownies, choose between fudgy and cakey. Honestly, you can't go wrong with brownies, but since we're nitpicking here and we are in the auspicious position to have exactly what we want, I made Fudgy Brownies. The name couldn't be more spot on. Fudgy with a capital F!!!!

Fudgy Brownies
Recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
Yields two dozen 2-inch brownies

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks, 6 oz.) unsalted butter
2 cups (14 oz.) sugar
1 cup (3 oz.) Dutch process cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup (4 1/4 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 oz.) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup (6 oz.) chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch pan.

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a medium saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it's hot (110 to 120 degrees F), but not bubbling; it will become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs, stiring until smooth, then add the flour and nuts and chips, again stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the brownies for 29 to 32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a tiny amount of crumb clinging to it. The edges of the brownies should be set, but the center still soft. Remove the brownies from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

I Want to be a Food Snob

One of my favorite books of all time

I came across an article in Slate Magazine called "The Agony of the Food Snob," and while what I'm about to say has nothing to do with the real point of the article, it got me thinking: Do I count as a food snob? Not based on author Daniel Gross's definition...

We food snobs buy dried Italian pasta rather than Mueller macaroni, artisanal fizzy lemonade from France, not Hi-C. And then we prattle on about it ad nauseam. Of course, our organic, imported, steel-cut, Meyer-lemon products taste better than their domestic, industrially processed analogues. But they're also important cultural markers. The foods we buy signal to others that we don't just subscribe to Gourmet; we ingest its message of seeking out the finest ingredients. Food snobs know that food isn't simply fuel to get you through the day: It's an expression of taste, refinement, and global consciousness. And thanks to the expansion of trade, the construction of superefficient supply chains, and the Internet, the opportunities for being precious about food have never been greater.

That doesn't sound like me. And so I feel left out. I actually want to be one, probably because I'm thinking, How can I be a true foodie, without being a food snob? And I swear to you, I am a true foodie.

Here's how I see it. I have an appreciation for the finer things on the shelf. Sure, I'd enjoy fancy macaroni over generic. But that doesn't mean I partake and buy the fancy stuff all the time. Sure I like fizzy lemonade. But am I not allowed to like Hi-C, too? Is it one of those either/or situations? Alert the logical fallacy police. With chocolate, I need it every day; I will take what I can get. If I have to eat the grossest kind from Long's Drugs, so be it. If I can get my hands on some Charles Chocolates or Recchiuti Confections, obviously I'll go for that instead. Am I less of a food snob because I'll eat Whitman's?

One time at a restaurant on Santana Row in San Jose, CA, my party ordered all the different chocolate desserts off the menu, and we tasted each other's. I identified for my friends, after taking a nibble, what brand of chocolate was used in each dessert. My friends, in disbelief, called the waiter over, who then took it up with the pastry chef for verification. Sure enough, I was right about every dessert. I know my chocolate. I think that makes me a food snob. Don't you?

All I'm saying is, cut me some slack. Let me be a food snob simply by preferring the better versions of anything. But don't kick me out of the category because I often opt for the more affordable, more readily available, less tasty counterparts. I want to be part of the club!