Yum!

The DCist blog reports that Tangysweet’s Dupont Circle location will be offering free mini cupcakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery from noon until closing tomorrow (Friday, 31 July 2009).

Swing by and start your weekend with a little something sweet!

This is not at all wedding-related, but it’s Friday.  And maybe some of you who are stressed out with wedding planning and need a break can find it here.  So maybe it’s wedding-related after all?  Hey, I’ll take it.

One of my Texas friends sent me the link to the Shiba Inu Puppycam.  Before you click on it, I have to warn you:  Once you start watching, you’ll be sucked in and will get no more work done today.

Enjoy!  And have a happy weekend.

We got tagged this morning by Laura over at Wish Special Events. Thanks, Laura! I haven’t seen this one before. Here goes:

Four things I did today:
1. Finalized the floral order for one of my October weddings
2. Chased my one-year old down the hall naked (him, not me)
3. Measured the lawn at the Lloyd House with my cool new 300′ (wow!) tape measure
4. Put the finishing touches on Courtney and Tom’s wedding day timeline

Four things on my to-do list:
1. Revise my budgeting spreadsheet so it’s easier on the eyes
2. Make flower cones for Mai and Joe
3. Pre-attach monofilament to a bunch of paper lanterns so I can hang them quickly onsite
4. Housework. Oh, the housework.

Four of my guiltiest pleasures:
1. Guinness Extra Stout. It’s good with everything. Especially…
2. Ice cream. Yup. Vanilla ice cream & Guinness floats are amazing. You should try it.
3. Mousehunt on Facebook. Such a waste of time, but fun!
4. Bad 80s synthpop music

Four random facts about me:
1. I used to do a lot of biking, but lately I haven’t had time. I’m hoping to get in some good cycling this winter after wedding season winds down.
2. I can wiggle my scalp
3. I’d love to live in Germany
4. My favorite number is 13

Now I have to tag four other people… Hmmmm… Okay you four, it’s your turn!

1. Pernell and Karen at Blue Square Productions
2. Kay at Howerton-Wooten Events
3. Kathi, my favorite vicar
4. Letetia Nicole at Simply Beautiful Concepts

Last night’s rainy weather didn’t dampen the fun at the First Annual DC Cupcake Contest one bit! Those of you who missed it, I’m sorry to say, missed out on a sweet evening.

In my excitement over the cupcake onslaught that was to come, I completely forgot to pack my camera (bad blogger!), but a few of the other judges were better prepared in that area and I’ll link to their pictures as they’re posted.

A note about judging a cupcake contest: Nothing could have prepared me for the sugar coma brought on by sampling nearly 30 different cupcakes in less than two hours! I love cupcakes, and even I was relieved when my fork sank into the last one. I was pretty sure I’d never want to see another cupcake, but you know what? I was wrong. I just don’t want to see 30 cupcakes all lined up with my name on them again for a while.

On to the important stuff: Who won?

In the professional category, which was a very close competition, top honors went to Nostalgia, a soon-to-open Annapolis cupcakery. Owners Robert and Sharon White brought fine examples of their basic chocolate with white icing and yellow with chocolate icing cupcakes — both were delicious. Their signature cupcake, though, rocked my cupcake-loving world: It was a chocolate cupcake with a mound of bittersweet frosting on top and just the right amount of bittersweet chocolate goo melting out of the center of the cake. It would totally be worth the drive from Alexandria to Annapolis just to get another one.

I happened to be standing right behind the Whites when we were getting our cars from the valet, and they were thoughtful enough to leave a big plate of cupcakes in the valet’s office. That makes points with me, too: Nice goes a long way.

Nostalgia hasn’t launched its website yet, but you can read all about the bakery and catch an interview with Sharon White at Danielle Buckley’s Delleicious blog, which should be required reading for all cupcake lovers.

In the amateur category, the winner by a wide margin was Mollie Ohlhaut. Her signature cupcake was a very yummy chocolate cupcake with raspberry filling, topped with chocolate frosting laced with raspberry liqueur, and decorated with a fresh raspberry and a chocolate wafer. (That single fresh raspberry was the healthiest thing any of the judges ate all night!) Her other submissions were just as delicious. You can read more about Mollie and her cupcakes at www.molliecakes.com. It looks like she’s opening a business, and we wish her every success!

A big thanks to the fabulous Washington Club for opening its doors to this event, to all the wonderful waitstaff who kept the event running smoothly, to the competitors for their delicious submissions, and of course to organizer Jenni Collins! Thanks, Jenni, for starting such a tasty new DC tradition.

Don’t forget: DC’s first annual cupcake contest is tomorrow night! It’s shaping up to be a fun event you won’t want to miss. And I’m honored to report that I’ll be one of the five judges helping to crown Washington’s first cupcake king or queen. (Yeah, my job is really tough sometimes…)

I had the opportunity today to talk with Jenni Collins, the creative force behind the contest, about cupcakes, weddings, and how the contest came to be:

Why the contest? You’re already busy planning your wedding. What prompted you to take on yet more planning right now?
I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew sometimes – this time it happened to be a cupcake! Seriously though, my wedding planning is pretty buckled down so that really isn’t that big of a factor at this point. I was originally planning to have cupcakes at the wedding in place of a traditional cake, so cupcakes have been top of mind for me all summer. Additionally, I am surrounded at work by a plethora of cupcake connoisseurs and we often try new cupcakeries. Since several new ones have opened in the wake of Georgetown Cupcake’s momentous debut, we debate which ones we each like best. That is pretty much how the idea started and it kind of took off from there. I really had no idea that I would get such tremendous response as I have.

Why are you interested in cupcakes instead of cakes?
Honestly, I don’t like cake. I know that sounds a bit crazy! With all the recent hype over cupcakes, I have decided to tip-toed toward cake again and cupcakes are just baby-steps on the way until full cakehood. Plus, they are a lot cuter. I have until May (my wedding) to re-acquaint myself fully with cakes. In the meantime, bring on the cupcakes!

What other special, personal touches are you adding to your wedding?
Can’t divulge at this point in time.

What’s your favorite cupcake flavor?
My favorite cupcake flavor – that’s hard!! I have to say that I do love PattyCakes (Bryn Mawr, PA) TastyCake cupcake – its peanut butter and chocolate – who doesn’t love that?!? I also really like the strawberry cupcake at Baked & Wired here in DC. And, of course, pumpkin with cream cheese icing. I’m hoping to find a new favorite flavor at the 1st Annual DC Cupcake Contest.

What are your favorite wedding planning resources?
My favorite wedding planning resources? Hmmm – that’s a great question. I’d have to say the blogosphere. I voraciously read multiple wedding planning blogs – I’ve got them all loaded into my Google Reader and I keep adding more. Outside of that, I do love the Knot’s budgeting and invitation management software on their site. Its the best I have found. I’ve abandoned the paper bound planners available at all the bookstores. None really fit my needs perfectly. That might need to be my next venture…

Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of DC’s newest tradition! The First Annual DC Cupcake Contest takes place tomorrow night, September 25th, at the beautiful Washington Club at Dupont Circle. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. You can find all the details, including a list of participating bakers, at Jenni’s blog.

Replacing the traditional wedding cake with a tower of cupcakes is a trend that looks like it’s here to stay, and for good reason:  Cupcakes are fun, delicious, and often less expensive than a more traditional multi-layered wedding cake.

While hunting for information about cupcakes for one of my brides this afternoon, I stumbled upon this blog post about a cupcake contest to be held right here in DC next month!

It sounds like all the details aren’t yet in place, but here’s what’s posted so far:

Date:  Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Time:  TBD, but sometime after working hours
Place:  The Washington Club at Dupont Circle

Entries will be accepted from professional, amateur, and out-of-town bakers, in the following categories:

•  Vanilla with chocolate icing
•  Chocolate with vanilla icing
•  Wildcard – where creativity counts

Now, I’m not suggesting that all you brides-to-be (or grooms-to-be) get started on developing the Great American Cupcake Recipe, but this sounds like a really fun opportunity to see what area bakers have to offer in the cupcake department!  Plus it’ll be a fun night out for you and your fiance, or for your and your bridesmaids.  And the Washington Club is a lovely venue that’s available for wedding receptions — maybe you’ll find the perfect cupcake and the perfect place to serve it!

While we’re on the subject of cupcakes, they’re not just the new wedding cake. Cupcakes make excellent wedding favors, are a delicious addition to an out-of-town gift basket, and are a welcome surprise when brought in for your guests to enjoy as a midnight snack at your reception.  I’m sure you can think of other great ways of incorporating cupcakes at your event.

Back to the cupcake contest:  I think Mr. Husband and I will try to make it to this. Anybody else in?

Yesterday I attended a floral design class at my local Pottery Barn store.  It was so much fun!  The store opened an hour early just for the class attendees, and as it turned out, the class covered a lot more than just floral design.  The leaders discussed how to choose the right dining furniture and accessories for your space, creative table-setting ideas, fun ways to dress up plain tableware, and yes, how to create beautiful floral (and nonfloral) centerpieces.  These classes would be great for brides trying to figure out how to approach creating a gift registry, and when I spoke with the store manager after the class was over, she told me they’ll even schedule private shopping time before the store “officially” opens for brides who’d like the extra guidance.  Being a bride has some really good perks! 

This is the beautiful table, set for Easter or a spring-themed event, that was used as an example for our class:

And here’s a close-up of one of the table settings:

The table’s all set with plain white dishes, except for the egg-shaped salad plates with the ruffled edge (you can just see a yellow one peeking out from under the napkin in the picture above).  And I love the little china Easter basket.

The best thing about the class and the private shopping service is that it’s all free!  Keep an eye out for similar offerings at your local stores, and be sure to take advantage of them if you have the time.