My friend Lauren is on a cupcake jag right now. She’s been uploading a steady stream of mouthwatering photos of all these delicious cupcakes she’s been baking– pumpkin spice, red velvet, coconut, vanilla, gingerbread, all with the perfect icing, perfectly frosted, with adorable themed toppers like sparklers and hula girls. She’s one of the best cooks I know, but it’s funny how we sometimes get a taste for one thing, and only that one thing will do.
I was convinced for awhile that my friend Becca was going to bake every chocolate cake Nigella has ever made. This winter, we were on a pot roast jag for awhile, making it every other week, at least, and last summer I went on a pound cake jag. I don’t know why pound cake seems like such a summery cake to me– maybe because it goes so well with berries, or maybe because my stepmother used to bake it for my birthday in August for me. This past summer it went especially well with homemade peach ice cream. Lately I’ve been on a Crash Hot Potatoes jag, making a pan at a time and eating the whole thing myself.
Since my life has always been ordered on the academic calendar, this is the traditional time of year when I start to feel a bit frantic. So much needs to be done before the school year ends, which seems at once so distant and yet terrifyingly close. I start to slack off on meal planning, cooking and baking while I deal with piles of grading, plans for the next year, the distressing state of my house, dreams of summertime and all the ways I’ll be a better teacher next year. I’m really missing cooking and baking, so it’s nice to go on a virtual jag, watching Lauren’s cupcakes scroll by and knowing I’ll be baking again soon.
