Hey hi hello!

Hoan surprised me with this book! And I love it! Flipping through the pages made me extremely happy and anxious. I'm so excited to try out some of the recipes, tricks and techniques, but that will probably have to wait until the madness of school dies down a bit. I'm going to have a busy couple of weeks.

Dawww, boyfriend.

One-year old Mama

This Saturday is Sugar Mama's birthday! I hope I can make it! I mistakenly told Hoan it was last weekend. Hmm.. maybe I did it on purpose.. subconsciously.

Nah.

Polkadots

It was 7:30PM when we got to Polkadots. Thirty minutes before closing time. Maybe that's why. Maybe I should go again during the daylight hours. Maybe all the goods were long gone by then. Maybe it was just a long day for everybody. Maybe.

There was no one else in there when Hoan and I arrived, but I didn't take that as a bad sign, seeing as how it was a weekday and school hadn't started yet, meaning the clientele for this location (Rio Grande & 21st, smack dab in the middle of Longhorn-ville) was still on vacation or busy moving into apartments, dorms, etc. I preferred it that way, thinking I'd get a better feel for the place and its employees without other customers around.

Not so much.

The woman behind the counter gave us our Mint Chocolate Chip and Vanilla-Chocolate cupcakes with a timid smile and not much else, retreating back to the kitchen as soon as she got the chance. The cupcakes were also lacking, considering the ratio of frosting to cake was about 50/50. Personally, I prefer more cake. The prices were also a bit steep--I paid almost seven dollars for two cupcakes.. okay, there was a dollar tip, but I digress.

Like I said, maybe I just came on a particularly bad day. Maybe all the people who have raved about this place were right. Maybe I should give it a second chance. Maybe I will.

It's a good thing I don't put much value in first impressions because if I did, I know for a fact that I would not come back, no "maybe" necessary.

I didn't like ANY of the photos I took, so here's just one. Whoops. I'll try harder next time.

Crrrrafty

I'm going to mark my calendar for this one because it's not until September 5, but holy handmade, it looks like lots of fun. It includes a craft fair, screenings of Handmade Nation, and a post-screening "shabang." Sounds very much worth my while.

More info.

Sugar Mama's

I've begun my scavenger hunt of local Austin bakeries, starting with one closest to me on South First Street: Sugar Mama's. The name is cute enough, but seriously, once you step inside, you are bombarded with cuteness--the cute decor, the cute people, the cute cupcakes, not to mention the owner's cute cute son with cute hair and cute blue eyes. What a cutie.

But anyways. The cupcakes.



This one, the Fluffernutter, was the most aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion. It's a peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cake with marshmallow frosting. It's too cute for its own good, I tell you, because both Hoan and I thought it fell short of what its looks brought us to expect. Oh well.

We also tried the Black and Tan, a moist and heavenly Guinness-flavored cupcake with cream cheese frosting (A+++), and the Pin-Up, which was your basic chocolate buttercream over vanilla. Of these three, the Black and Tan definitely takes the cake.

Huh. There's a title name for you. Takes the cake.. "Taste the cake?" I need help titling this baking adventure of mine.

Overall, I think Sugar Mama's has this awesome, friendly, laid-back, Austin vibe going for it. It's in close proximity to a handful of cafés and local vintage stores, and they even sell aprons that are, what else, really cute. I'm definitely coming back, if only to try the Southern Belle (red velvet + cream cheese) and the Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip.



A bit off topic, but Hoan ordered a birch beer, which got him a lot of attention because apparently, everyone is really curious as to what the hell birch beer actually is. The question was left unanswered.

Technicalities

This is not a baked good, but I thought it was funny. It's a cupcake.. in a CUP. Cup. Cake. Get it? Well, technically, it's a mug, but love, not labels!

Too bad it wasn't that good.. I put too much baking powder and not enough sugar. I should've added more milk. Or maybe buttermilk? Whole milk? No, never whole milk. But my mom and sister had it with some leftover frosting and thought it was fine.

Anyway, here are the pictures from last night!

The last one

I have a whole bunch of pictures from tonight, which included a trip to the Domain, dinner at NoRTH, and a riveting game of couples' Apples to Apples. It was Ara's birthday on the first of the month, so this was our celebration.

I made her rainbow cupcakes because, I don't know, I feel as if they fit her personality extremely well--colorful, bright, pleasing. But I didn't know she wasn't fond of cream cheese frosting. Yikes.. my bad.



I'll post more pictures later. Because I have a lot of them.