crushblog

We were contacted about a week ago by a representative from the food network inquiring if we were interested in being a part of one of their new shows, Cupcake Wars.  Although I had heard of it, I had never seen it before.  Apparently similar to Top Chef, 4 cupcake bakers battle it out over several episodes for the best of the best in cupcake making.  Since we have the best cupcakes ever, should be no problem right? I asked a couple questions, thought it through for a minute or so then replied,” Sure, what am I doing?  Why not?”

Monk and I drove down to Hollywood last week.  Both of us a little anxious, not sure what to expect.  We had a box of our dozen best to drop off to the producers to be judged.  Monk dressed in his usual black from head to toe, stoic look across his face the entire drive.  Until we hit traffic.  Panic took over as my LA driving kicked into gear.  “Shannon”, he said nervously, “I need to remind you that I just had a baby.”  He gripped the oh-shit bar tightly as  I swerved quickly past slow moving cars, passed others on the right and almost hit a Mercedes as nearly drove the wrong way down a one way street.  We finally made it, a little harried, but there nonetheless.  Both of us were whisked into a screening room and interviewed on camera, Monk taking the hot seat first.  The food network girl smiling and cooing, “Oh, I really like your look, you will do well…”

She started with, “Why cupcakes?” and got something along the lines of, “Because its the first job I got after the monastery burnt down.” No emotion.  No smile.  No more details.  Just straight forward facts.  She soon realized that his looks may be as good as it gets.

Food network girl:  “Which cupcake is your favorite?”

Monk: “All of them.”

Food network girl: “What do you like about cupcakes?”

Monk: “They taste good”

Food network girl: “What do you think you are best at and why?”

Monk: “Decorating”

Food network girl: “Can you tell me more about that?”

Monk: “I like decorating cakes.  I’m an artist.”

“Well”, she said, “I really like your look, but lets try her.”  Does that mean that she doesn’t like my look???

If you have never met me in person, maybe you can tell by my blog,  I can be quite expressive.  In fact, my mom often tells me that reading my blog is just like talking to me.  Even the smallest details can get me going.  So when someone, anyone, asks me about my business, the thing I am most passionate about, I can talk for hours.  When food network girl starting interviewing me, she couldn’t shut me up.

Food network girl: “What is your favorite cupcake?”

Me: “Well, that is so hard to answer.  I mean the chocolate is so rich and delicious, with the dark chocolate melted inside, a huge shot of Intelligentsia espresso added into the batter… then there is the coconut with the real coconut extract, fluffy coconut cake, creamy coconut frosting… Oh and what about the buttermilk crumbcake with the cinnamon swirl and brown sugar frosting…”

Food network girl: “How do you and Monk work together?”

Me: “We are a great team.  We collaborate on everything, I’m always having new ideas then we talk about it and can always find a way to make things work.  Like the cosmo cupcake, our newest flavor.  Real raspberries in the cake, vodka lime raspberry frosting, amazing!  And its that way about everything, I am always coming up with crazy ideas and between us we just figure it out.  Sometimes him or I get stressed out, especially during the busy times, but we can always find a way to make each other laugh, or cry, depending…haha…”

Food network girl: “How do you two deal with stress together?”

Me: “Well, he clams up when he stresses out.  That is how you can tell when he is in a bad mood.  He doesn’t talk, just this look on his face that says don’t come near me and don’t talk to me.  Then I am the opposite.  I turn into the cupcake monster.  He hates the cupcake monster.  I run around screaming at all the kitchen staff, we need more cupcakes, we need more cupcakes!  He is cool and I am fiery, a perfect match!”

She liked that one.  “Can you repeat that line again for the camera, that was good…”

After an hour of questions and a photo shoot, we left our cupcakes in their care and took off.  3 to 4 weeks from now we may hear from them.  We’ll see, however it turns out,  it was an interesting experience. But I can tell you, when they opened our box of cupcakes to ask us about the flavors and the aroma of sugary goodness escaped, I was thinking, oh yeah, those babies are beautiful.  So if we don’t get on the food network, definitely don’t blame the cupcakes!

peace.love.food.

SN