Enough with the cupcakes. (an entry with the possibility of smugness)

I was introduced to the cupcake phenomenon two years ago when I visited my friend Ed in Greenwich Village. He's an old friend of my dad's. Short guy, with a vibe I can only trace to my fictional composition of what Bob Dylan must be like away from the cameras. He has tousled grey hair, lives in a loft that he's owned since the early seventies and has a Korean artist for a wife. When I arrived at his apartment we chatted for a while, browsed his record collection, I sat on his futon while he fed his dog, and then we watched layer cake together. After this he insisted we try the local cupcakes from magnolia bakery. So we leashed up his dog, lit him up a cigarette and started walking.

Ed hated this shop. He ranted the entire way about the history this bakery had gone through with law suits in regards to ingredients, the long line we had to wait on, the way cupcake vendors had erupted into chains all over his neighborhood along with the yogurtlands, and his ultimate dissatisfaction with the product. Even so, he wanted me to "experience the hype."

I thought they were pretty good, though I would much rather have indulged in a scoop of corn ice cream from the local Cones ice cream shop, or a Levain fist size (right out of the oven cookie). These were fair.

And so it began. From that point on I have seen cupcakes all over the place. They've gained rule over cookbooks, little lots dotting every neighborhood up to the Heights, friendly conversation, even blogs. Oh, the blogs I have read. Is this for real? Are we all really that into cupcakes, or is this just a quarter-life equivalent of the Pokemon/pog phase? A way of showing off how careless we are with our eating habits? I'm overwhelmed by the cuteness of it all...the way it flirts up the profile of a woman like butterfly clips and gel pens did the girls in middle school. And I usually love cutesy.
Enough.

Lets get back to the real goods. Let's go crazy about the ginger cookies dad makes as a gift to us for his birthday, or the pie that you can only find midtown, or the berry pound cake you discovered after scavenging through cookbooks, and made perfectly.

Maybe this proposition is just as romantic. Oh well :)

my favorite accessible treats (in manhattan)
1. Levain cookies of any kind
2. Cones Ice Cream preferably Corn with Cinnamon, or plain yogurt
3. Little Pie Company
4. The Grey Dog's Coffee- Massive Cheesecake Marble Brownie
5. ChikaLicious desert meal