Delishous

I have definitely been slacking on these cupcake reviews. To be honest, I have no excuse. Better late than never is what I always say. Kind of.



So last month, Hoan and I went to Delish, a bakery on 3rd Street. The area itself is a bit, oh how should I put this, haughty? No, that's not it. Just a bit more polished and sophisticated than I'm used to. But what can I say, I'm less of a city girl and more of a suburbanite. Not by choice, however.

Back to the cupcakes: Hoan got the Black & White, a chocolate cupcake with a Mexican vanilla buttercream, while I tried out their Red Velvet. Not too bad. The cakes themselves were very moist and we ate that up. But once I was finished, I realized I had about half of the frosting leftover. Now maybe this is just a personal issue, but I have yet to find a cupcake with the perfect frosting-to-cake ratio. I can't eat frosting on its own, and even having paid 2.75 for a cupcake can't justify me putting all of that excess sugar in my mouth.

Aside from the cupcakes, the bakery itself was very aesthetically pleasing--tall windows, dark color scheme, clean lines. However, the seating wasn't very efficient, with few places to sit down and enjoy my dessert, save for a red lounge chair and a few feet of counterspace.

Delish definitely blends in with its downtown surroundings. If you're looking for a cupcake to quickly grab-and-go, then I'd definitely recommend them. However, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone hanging out and having a conversation with friends here. That is, unless they don't mind standing.

Happy flip (gah, so many puns)

I finally got around to eating at Flip Happy Crepes, something I had planned on doing for a really long time, ever since I saw them throw it down with Bobby Flay. He lost. But I don't know what that means, seeing as how I'm not an avid watcher of the show.

Okay, so back to Flip Happy. I got Nutella with strawberries.. Not very exciting and I guess you could say I wasn't feeling very adventurous, but to be honest, it really hit the spot. Nutella + strawberries is an undeniably perfect combination.


Hoan got roasted chicken with.. pesto.. and other things I can vaguely recall. It looked and tasted pretty good, but it was a bit too heavy for my liking. Only because I wasn't very hungry. Otherwise, I woulda been all over dat.


Yeah so.. I haven't gone to a cupcakery in quite a while. I'm not sure why.. just lazy and busy, I guess. Am I allowed to be both? I know, I know, no excuses! But by the end of October, I'll do another! Pinky swear!

Mt. Bonnell

Hoan and I went to Mt. Bonnell today in the late afternoon. I was extremely disappointed by the view at first, but that's before we found the "spot." It really was beautiful up there. And I honestly don't throw that word around very often.


He's like a Toms model.



This was when he was writing our initials on one of the rocks because I told him that's what all the OTHER couples did when they visited Mt. Bonnell.


Ha, you can't even see it. And it'll probably fade away by tomorrow. How sad.



Hmm. I really like this one.



And of course, the obligatory couple picture..


..which we're so obviously not good at.

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.