The kitchen is one of my favorite things about the WYA house. I can fit two cupcake pans in the oven. They have nutmeg, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar! They have a dishwasher! Whee! I am so happy! Therapy sessions have never been so well-equipped. What was supposed to be a one-time thing (I wanted to welcome my fellow interns, who came from all over the world), became a weekly, and sometimes twice-weekly affair. Maria, who is our Director of Development and has excellent taste, tried all of these first as a means of Quality Control.
Being Filipino, I naturally took pictures of everything I've baked before handing them to people:
Vegan Organic World Youth Alliance Smore's Cupcakes
The lettering alone took two hours since I had nothing else but a teaspoon to use. I wanted to do the logo as well, and after three attempts, I got so frustrated that I ate them. This explains why there are only 21 here.
Organic Semi-Vegan Pistachio Rosewater Birthday Cupcakes for Theo
From this fall internship of eight people, 43% were Sagittarians and I had to whip up a batch for every celebrant, and the unwritten rule was that it had to match the person's tastes and personality. This batch was for Theo, a lit major from Canada. I thought that it was a very poetic and romantic recipe, and I never realized that rosewater could be used for baking before. It was also at this point where I realized that margarine really is bad for you, hence the term 'semi-vegan,' because I switched to butter.
This was the most painful of all cupcake recipes, since I had to squeeze out the lime juice by hand, and I just had a manicure the night before. (Geez, that's a sentence I never thought I'd write.) These were the prettiest cupcakes from the book, which I thought were perfect for a guy who was the gourmet chef in the house. I say "foiled kidnapping' because we were supposed to kidnap the guy on his way back to the WYA house, but we chickened out at the last minute.
Organic Semi-Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Color-Coordinated M&Ms for Patrick
These are hands-down the happiest cupcakes I've ever made. I was mercilessly mocked for arranging the M&Ms in my naturally obsessive-compulsive fashion. Altogether now: Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green, Red, Brown. Blue, Orange, Yellow, Green, Red, Brown. I made them for Pat because like him, they're crazy, happy, maybe a little bad for you, but they're so damn good that they're worth every calorie.
***
Ten weeks later, I wanted to mark the end of the internship by another batch of cupcakes. To demonstrate democracy, I held a Cupcake Elections to hear the voice of the masses. Man, what an indecisive bunch! Three elections, later, it was a tie between Coconut Lime and Banana Peanut Butter.
Let us try a new literary device. Below are some e-mails we send out when we're not covering UN Commissions, arranging conferences, and doing research on stem cells and HIV:
To: WYA New York Office
From: catherine@wya.net
Dear WYA Interns and International Staff:
It is with great pleasure that I announce the first Cupcake Floor Debate! Due to the unprecedented impasse brought about by yesterday's Cupcake Elections (and Re-elections), I am allowing the following representatives to submit, in writing, why I should bake the said cupcake:
The Honorable Andreas Pergher, representing the Great State of Indiana, "a shining jewel in the Union," will represent those in favor of the Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Organic Vegan Cupcakes with Color-Coordinated M&Ms
and
The Honorable Philip Hunt, representing the great Mother England, will represent those in favor of the Organic Semi-Vegan Coconut Lime Foiled Kidnapping Cupcakes
No more than 100 words please, and submit them to me before Thursday's wine-tasting party. After the party, we will have an oral debate between the two representatives, to be presided by myself and mediated by my colleague, Carlos David Aguilar, our Ad-Hoc Adjudicator.
Don't kill each other.
Cupcake Power! Bring It On!
Catherine Sarah Young
Chairman
Cupcake Caucus of the WYA Senate*
*I just got promoted! Yay!
P.S. Please don't rip my cupcake cookbook apart.
From: Andreas
To: catherine@wya.net
On behalf of the great state of Indiana, crossroads of a nation, and land of amber grains, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing such a distinguished body on the hotly contested topic of cupcake reform. It saddens me greatly that the Honorable representative of England would risk both the well-being and treasure of his fellow colleagues in a shortsighted attempt to achieve meager tropical gains. I urge my fellow coworkers to vote NO to the proposed "Limey" Amendment. Let us strive to create a more perfect union at the World Youth Alliance, one that embraces the culinary harmony of both peanut butter and banana.
From: Philip
To: catherine@wya.net
My esteemed colleagues, cupcake lovers, and fellow housemates, it is with great urgency and a profound sadness that I write to you today. For many years World Youth Alliance has been a peaceful coconut lime foiled cupcake loving community, however there are some among us who would forsake our proud tradition of cupcake sophistication for gaudy, banana-flavored, color-coordinated imitations. Let us not bow to their demands, let us not abandon our heritage, we will stand proud and firm, and we will not rest until this scourge has be purged from our society. Long live World Youth Alliance!
***
The debate never happened, because they settled for something completely new:
Organic Semi-Vegan Maple Cupcakes with Creamy Maple Frosting and Sugared Walnuts
I missed taekwondo class to bake these. It must be love. Yay! I love these wonderful happy people who don't want to kill each other for tenure!
Fall Internship 2007 (L-R): Me, Desiree (Philippines), Philip (UK), Andreas (US), Patrick (US), Shannon (Canada), Carlos (Mexico), Theo (Canada), Kris (US)
***
You have no idea how happy I am to not be decapitating rats at 8:00 in the morning anymore, then get my dignity stomped on 16 hours later.
3 comments:
hahaha. your friends are so funny! sounds like a crazy bunch!
the cupcakes look so yummy. but i must admit though, my mouth waters most for the m and m and maple cupcakes.
i wish you had your existential crisis a bit earlier so your blockmates could have tasted your cupcakes as well (kidding) :D
write more often cathy!
Kurt! Most of them I had to make up as I went along. Everyone who's eaten them seems to be fine, though. :-)
I didn't know that quarter life crises began at 23! I thought it was supposed to be at least 25? Geez. Glad it's over though. :-)
Cathy! At last, I see ye bloggin'! And welcome to the non-science world:) I'm here in Purdue, doing non-science stuff, and I can so relate to your, ehem, coming out. Mwahahahah! Long live us!
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