So a friend of mine recently asked me why I never talk about how delicious my cupcakes are on my blog. I don’t know, I guess I just don’t feel like I need to do that, they just speak for themselves, you know what I mean?? When I started this blog it was not my intention to talk day in and day out about how amazing our cupcakes are. I mean, how many times and in how many ways can I say that cupcakes are the world’s most perfect dessert, especially ours??? Plus, I am really into karma and putting a positive energy into the universe and all of that stuff so it just seems counter-intuitive to be bragging about how Crushcakes really are the best cupcakes ever made (see how I still got that in there, I am sly like that!).
When I started this blog it was because 1) I love to write and have been writing since I was old enough to hold a pen, 2) it is a great stress reliever and way to get things off my chest without alientating all of my friends and family with stories about work, and 3) I have a secret ambition to write a book so I figure if this keeps me writing, maybe it will one day turn into something more…
But here is the thing, last night I brought our lovely cupcakes to a dinner party. One of the girls at the party grabbed herself a chocolate chocolate cupcake and dug in, all the while making these gutteral groaning sounds so loudly, everyone just stopped to watch and listen. It went something like, “mmmmm…. this is sooooo goooooood…..mmmmmmm….so goooeeeeyy and moist…mmmmmmm……I have never had anything like this….mmmm…..mooooore pleeeeaaase…” I just couldn’t resist and had to get one for myself. And now I am here to tell you with completely no prejudice and risking a little bragadosciousness, Crushcakes really are the best damn cupcakes ever created!!!
peace.love.food.
SN
So its summer in Santa Barbara and its been a hot one! Our normal dress code here is the Crushcakes tee and jeans or shorts…but appropriate ones. I mean this is a family establishment people! As the summer has continued on, so has the shorts, up the leg that is! Kara started the trend with the first pair of daisy dukes for the summer, but we hesitated on saying anything, as she received the record amount of tips ever collected in one day while wearing those shorts. Coincidence?? I think not.
But now we have another employee who likes things tight and tiny, but she seems to have a preference for skirts. This would be ok except that her skirts are getting so short that they barely cover her ass. This Saturday I took the day off with the kids but got a call from Jasmine just so that she could describe the skirt to me in great detail. Apparently one wrong move would have given little Jimmy quite a peep show while waiting for his cupcake. More then mom bargained for when coming to Crushcakes for an afternoon treat…
So that brings up some questions…. the daisy dukes definitely look better on some then on others, do we make some kind of determination as to who can wear them and who can’t? Or do we turn into old school nuns and get out the ruler to measure the inches between the employee’s knee and the bottom of her shorts or skirt?? Or, better yet, do we just turn a blind eye to it and hope that we are not offending anyone? I mean Crushcakes is the place for crushes after all….why not have your first crush at Crushcakes? And maybe it all starts with a just a little afternoon treat…
peace.love.food.
SN
So I have been looking for ideas to reward and motivate my staff here and finally thought, “Aha, take them out for happy hour! Its not too expensive, its fun and its a good bonding experience!” Right??? The only problem with this brilliant idea is that when everyone drinks, everyone also comes in to work the next day completely hung over. Difficult to run a business while everyone is either vomiting, wanting to vomit, or are just recovering from vomiting. I know because we have done this before, Dana and Alex’s going away party, Susan’s going away party, our last “just for fun” party… it is never pretty the next day.
But its completely unavoidable, especially during summer in Santa Barbara. So here are some strategies we have used here at Crushcakes in order to deal with the hangover situation while at work. The most common one is The Ramp. If you have ever been here then you know what I am talking about…the huge black handicap ramp that starts in Crushcakes and ends in the Cafe. This ramp used to be a sore spot for me, as I had hopes of putting a big leather couch along the windows at one point. Think of how nice that would have been, sitting there in the afternoon sun, sipping your Intelligentsia Coffee and eating your delicious cupcake, you never would have wanted to leave this place. But no, the city nixed that idea and told me I had to put a 12 foot handicap ramp there instead. Oh well, it has come in handy from time to time I can tell you. Although my bakers usually make it here in the morning on time after a long night of drinking, they like to wonder over to the ramp and just lay down for a rest. Apperantly it has just the right amount of slope to keep the vomit at bay.
Then there is the jumbo sized bathroom we have in the cafe. Remember I mentioned this one before? Its so big it sometimes doubles as my office when needed. Anyway, again it is large enough that one can pray to the porceline god in private, while having the ability to stretch out for a quick nap when needed.
Then of course we have just the right food at the Cafe to get you over the nausea, good bacon, cheesy potatoes, burritos, tacos…we actually have a sandwich in the cafe called the Hangover Helper! It always makes me laugh when our customers want to order it but they also insist on making a point to tell me that they are ordering it because they “want” it, not because they “need” it. I tell them I don’t ask any questions, I just take the orders and smile… 
Ok, and here is the doozie of them all. And I am going to share this to you now even though I am ashamed to admit this. But it makes such a funny story, I just must. So, on my big night of drinking downtown, I got that kind of drunk where you have no idea where you are and who you are with. Somehow I managed to get myself and friend into Crushcakes. I laid down instantly, stretching myself all the way across a prep table in the kitchen, while my friend sprinted into the bathroom. I somehow had the wits about me to text a sober friend and ask her to come and pick us up. Its a good thing she came when she did because there would have been a very big mess in that kitchen to clean come next morning and I would have had a lot of explaining to do. Or I guess I could have just played it stupid, “who made this mess in here???” and then blamed an employee I don’t like. Instead, an empty Crushcakes bucket became my lover for the evening…Ha! And did I need the ramp the next morning, you know it!!!
peace.love.food.
SN
So last we spoke I had a couple weeks of crushcakes craziness… and we still anticipate more since this week is Fiesta in Santa Barbara. If you have never been a part of this experience, I would have to say Fiesta in SB is something everything should take part in at least once in their lives. It probably ranks up there with Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Carnival in Rio…you get the gist. A lot of drinking, dancing and dining with a whole assortment of random insanity. When I was a kid I used to love the festival rides and food booths and parades, but now as an adult its a different story. I don’t seem to be as fond of big groups of drunken people as I used to be.
So in an effort to clear away the past weeks of bizarre events and have a fresh outlook for the upcoming mass mayhem, I went away on a yoga retreat last weekend. It is the third time in the past two years that I have attended this retreat. The first two were literally life changing so I had very high expectations this time around. What kind of epiphanies would I come away? The first retreat was Crushcakes…while I was meditating I was conceiving cupcake flavors. The second retreat was my divorce…how amazing would life be on my own after being unhappily married since I was 20.
What I really wanted was to come away with was a certainty that I am on the right path…the right path with Crushcakes and the Cafe, the right path with my kids and family, the right path for dating, and the right path for ME. I am often asked if I have interest in growing Crushcakes and opening more stores. I have thought about it but really want to focus on what I have right now and making it the best it can be before considering growth. As far as kids and my family, well they couldn’t be better. Dating…hhhmmm…does one bad date count??? So how about me…well here are some nuggets that I took away from Sonoma that I thought I would share with you. I mean, what good is really amazing realizations and random thoughts without passing them on for others to enjoy? So read on or not but here they are…
1. Like in mountain pose, stand strong in life in order to always stay grounded.
2. Each difficult thing we go through is tuition for the university of life, we have to pay for it but in the end, we are that much more intelligent (I have to attribute this one to the amazing Lolly. At 79 she still looked better then most of us thirty somethings…)
3. Try to turn up the corners of your mouth while doing something difficult, it will make whatever you are working on so much better.
4. Let go of your old story and create a new one.
5. I am that…
So there it is, some morsels of what I came away with. Because cupcakes can’t always solve everything…
peace.love.food.
SN