My Queens Of Cupcakes
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
My Queens Of Cupcakes
There is something incredibly sexy about the kitchen, and it has nothing to do with the utensils or the pots and pans. I guess it is the idea, or the very traditional idea, of a kitchen being a woman's territory rather than a man's. It is true that the top chefs around the world are men, but I daresay that there are definitely more female cooks than male ones around the world. It's just the idea of a woman in the kitchen, the image just fits so perfectly into one another. That is not to say that a man should never enter the kitchen, but something just fits better than the other of course. It's kind of like chocolate and vanilla ice-creams being the essence of ice-creams. There are strawberry flavored ones, mango flavored ones, and even durian flavored ones. But at the end of the day, it is always the chocolate or the vanilla that rules the day, because they just taste better than everything else. At least that is my opinion, and it shouldn't be taken as the universal truth. Nonetheless, I still think that a woman wearing an apron - whether or not it is only an apron or with other clothing, doesn't matter - in the kitchen is definitely one of the sexiest things in the world.
There is something incredibly sexy about the kitchen, and it has nothing to do with the utensils or the pots and pans. I guess it is the idea, or the very traditional idea, of a kitchen being a woman's territory rather than a man's. It is true that the top chefs around the world are men, but I daresay that there are definitely more female cooks than male ones around the world. It's just the idea of a woman in the kitchen, the image just fits so perfectly into one another. That is not to say that a man should never enter the kitchen, but something just fits better than the other of course. It's kind of like chocolate and vanilla ice-creams being the essence of ice-creams. There are strawberry flavored ones, mango flavored ones, and even durian flavored ones. But at the end of the day, it is always the chocolate or the vanilla that rules the day, because they just taste better than everything else. At least that is my opinion, and it shouldn't be taken as the universal truth. Nonetheless, I still think that a woman wearing an apron - whether or not it is only an apron or with other clothing, doesn't matter - in the kitchen is definitely one of the sexiest things in the world.
With that said, the girls did not bother too much with aprons yesterday while they were all crammed up against the kitchen counter, blending water and flour together in an attempt to make cupcakes. I am not sure where the idea first emerged, but I guess it was somewhat of an interest to the girls as they talked over dinner one evening in town. It's probably in the genes of most girls out there to be interested in cooking, or maybe just baking to be honest. Some say that it is the toys you give to your children while they are young that instills the kind of interest and talents in their later lives. While I do not completely agree with the statement, I do believe that it has some degrees of truth. My sister grew up with a toy frying pan that had holes in the bottom of it, so that whenever you press an air pump linked to the bottom of the pan, bubbles would be pumped out of the bottom to make it look as if it is frying the plastic egg. It was an awesome toy, and that is probably why my sister is infinitely intrigued by cooking late suppers at night while everybody else is asleep. It is not so much about satisfying her hunger, but the joy in eating something you've created with both your hands.
Baking has never been a thing in my family, and the oven underneath the stove is really just there because...well, it's there. I would have asked the girls to come over to my house for the baking, but then it's not like I am very sure about the oven being in perfect working conditions either. Besides, the only blender in the house is used for blending oranges, so I don't suppose my house is very conducive for any baking action. Anyway, we managed to set the venue to be at Jeannie's place yesterday, with most of the boys just there for the sake of being there. That is not to say that we were there reluctantly, but I guess most of us, like MJ and myself, just really wanted to get out of the house, and at the same time enjoy the cupcakes made by the girls, and a guy called Sean, on a nice Monday afternoon during the holidays. So the five of them squeezed into the kitchen while we munched on our McDonald's lunch, since the idea of filling up our stomach with cupcakes as lunch wasn't the best idea in the world.
My intentions at Jeannie's house was really to be with the great company, hang out a little bit, while checking out the new renovations around the house and the bed in her bedroom she talked so much about. In the claustrophobic space in the kitchen was where most of the action happened though, while Naz and I pretty much went around to rearrange decorations in the house, which included pitting a plastic Godzilla figurine against a small wooden sail ship on top of the television, as well as taking multiple pictures of Jeanne's old photographs as a child, though she looked like she was over sixty years old. Seriously, she was probably the oldest ten year old in the picture, and I swear her brother looked somewhat like her grandson. Anyway, the action happened mostly in the kitchen, and the voice that rose above most of the other voices was Pao, and sometimes Kania in all her excitement and natural ability to be loud. She said that it's an Indonesian thing, but I think it is just her.
I don't suppose I should be in a kitchen with so many potential cooks around. Having too many cooks is definitely going to spoil the broth, as the old saying goes. I don't suppose I have a talent in making anything in the kitchen, especially when my talents lie in the field of consumption. Therefore, I merely walked about and inspected their work, made sure that everything was working fine, that everything was going smooth. I didn't know what was happening half of the time, but it was still fun to be shaking my hand furiously for the dough to fall into the paper cups that'd eventually turn into our very first set of cupcakes. They tasted absolutely awesome by the way, and it was amazing what those girls were able to achieve with the limited amount of ingredients they bought and the kitchen no bigger than my bedroom. The mess in the kitchen was a horror to behold, but the cupcakes that came out from there provided a sudden contrast to everything else. Small little brown cakes of perfection, steaming like a hot bath in winter, smelling like Heaven.
I am sure that if there is a section in Heaven that is filled with pancakes, cupcakes, muffins and other pastries, it'd be filled with the cupcakes made by my queens of cupcakes: Pao, FangXun, Jeannie and Kania. Sean was in the kitchen most of the time to learn from the pros, but he was still an apprentice, and thus not included in my list of "Queens". Either way, I am sure his enthusiasm helped in the perfection of those beautiful cupcakes. It was the decorations on the cupcakes later on in the day that truly defined who was who in the world of cupcakes to me. I mean, Pao was being the artist as she is, making beautiful paintings on those little cupcakes like she was born to do it. Fangxun was pretty good with her designs as well, and both of them were pretty natural at the job in the kitchen. Whoever that made that cupcake with the tic-tac-toe design though, that was my favorite of all. Sean, on the other hand, made a mess with his design. If I was the judge, I would have failed him simply for the overuse of decorations and messing up the beauty in the cupcakes. He simply used too much, and there was this particular cupcake that he made, that looked like one of his sexual fantasy - or something along the lines of that.
Imagine a cupcake surrounded by small little circles of sugar coated candies. Covered on top were shredded chocolate beads over a hundred different colors, and two gummy bears in the middle of the circle of sugar-coated goodness, one standing up and one crawling towards the other, mimicking a seductive cat. It was a grotesque looking cupcake, and I named it "The 'Beary' Good Fantasy", because it looked too much like a sexual fantasy of sorts, a female bear trying to seduce the male bear amidst a forest of chocolates and cupcakes, imagine that. But anyway, I don't think anybody actually tasted that cupcake, so I don't think anybody can tell you how close the taste is in terms of its sexuality. Nonetheless, baking seems like a really fun thing to do in the kitchen, especially coming from a guy who helps out his mother in the kitchen to do the normal kinds of dishes most of the time, rather than baking. It was fun, at least it looked that way, and everybody enjoyed themselves.
Topping off the day was a healthy dosage of The Office marathon and an unhealthy dosage of popcorns. Jeannie was infinitely fascinated with microwaved popcorns, and the exploding corns in the bag made her take refuge behind a slab of wall, even though those explosions were incapable of punching through the glass on the microwave's door, let alone punch a hole in her skin. Anyway, freshly made popcorns may feel like Hell - since they are scorching - but they sure as hell taste like Heaven. Even better than those cheap popcorns at the cinemas, these popcorns tasted so very good as we sat together in the living room to catch The Office. I've already watched this season, but it doesn't stop me from laughing out loud every once in a while. It was a great day spent with cupcakes, popcorns, junk food and a great company. Jeannie wasn't able to join us for the dinner later on, but she did allow us to bring back a truckload of cupcakes that we made in the day, or rather, they made.
Compared to the cupcakes at her place, the food at the hawker center just looked too cheap to be called food. I mean, they weren't even all that great, the piece of beef in my soup tasted more like small chunks of bricks. Still, I was hungry and I needed food, and that is not to mention the sugar high that hit me halfway through the trip down to the hawker center for dinner. I kept talking and singing, which is really the normal kind of state Pao is usually in. Anyway, the dinner ended pretty late after trying to recall old army songs with Naz, and FX telling the rest about this voluntary work she'd be involved in during the holidays. Sounds like great fun and something really rewarding and meaningful, but it is quite a commitment really, and I'd rather do more voluntary work at the SPCA - oh, those cute little stray dogs and cats. Before the next gathering is planned, I shall continue to rot at home and dream some more about those dancing cupcakes in my mind, not to mention the next round of sugar high.
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on Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at 5:32 PM.
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