Well, it started out as a typical afternoon for sure. I picked the kids up from school, we chatted in the van about their days and enjoyed the music on the radio. We had a very busy night ahead of us with homework, dinner, piano practice, spelling tests to study for, and a meeting at the Fire Department. Because the evenings are so busy, I rarely make any stops on the way home from school. Yesterday afternoon however, I spontaneously decided to stop at Pixie Cakes, a new gourmet cupcake and cakery near our home. I've wanted to stop there many times, but hadn't had the opportunity to do so yet. I needed a special gift, so I gave it more than a passing glance this time.
The cakery is inside of a quaint old Catholic church that had closed it's doors a few years back. A Parishioner of the church ended up buying it and opening up a scrap booking shop on the main level and renting out the lower level to the other business. The minute you open the main door of the building you can smell the sweet aromas of the cakery wafting up from the lower level. If you look up the stairs you can see the stained glass windows peeking over the tops of the racks of specialty papers, stickers, and other delightful scrap booking supplies of the main shop. As inviting as it was to take a look-see into that shop, what we needed was to the left and down a few stairs. So, down we went.
The kids were a bit hesitant, as they always are when something is new to them. We walked through the bakery door to a bright, cheery little shop with crystal clear, domed display cases filled with the fresh confections of the day. Looking around we could also see other specialty items as well. On a high counter were organic soaps and cleaning supplies ( with the kind of fancy labels on them that make you want to buy whatever is in the bottle just because it looks pretty.) There are also some shelves around the room displaying what seemed to be hand crafted items on consignment from local artisans. It is such a cozy room that the kids started to get a little excited at all the "sensory candy." My daughter began skipping and singing about in this happy little place. I was sad to have to discourage that, but let's face it, one good bump into the glass jewelry display and I would find myself working at that lovely bakery for months to pay for all the broken glass beads! As if on cue, a nice young woman comes from the kitchen area of the bakery and greets us with a big smile. We let her know that we are there to pick out some birthday cupcakes for my son's teacher. She directs our attention to the array of cupcake delights that she has prepared. We really wanted to pick out something fabulous because this teacher is phenomenal!!!! Our attention is immediately drawn to what the baker called her "Over The Rainbow Cupcakes." Here is a photo of this wonderful creation:
Now, how in the world could you resist that??? You could select vanilla or chocolate so we decided to get both because the decision was just to difficult for us. We ended up picking up five of them for our favorite teacher and her family. We also picked out some fabulous ones for ourselves: two Shamrock Shakes, one Chocolate Peanut Butter, and one Lucky Charms! The nice woman put the gift cupcakes in a bakery box and tied it up with a pretty red bow. I paid for our purchases and went to pick up our coveted boxes, but much to my dismay the kids were already holding one box each. This made me somewhat nervous of course, knowing that our lovingly prepared dreamy confections were in the hands of my two anxious kids, but I gave them the opportunity to try to get our boxes to the van. There was a lot of pride exuding from those kids in getting to carry those boxes! I am happy to say that boxes, kids, and Mom made it to the car safe and sound.
A few short minutes later we had arrived home and I parked the car in the driveway. I barely had the car off and the kids were off into the house with the two bakery boxes! You see, these kinds of treats are REALLY special around here. My son is gluten, dairy, and soy free and my daughter is dairy and soy free. We go the majority of the year, through holidays, birthday parties, and BBQ's not able to have what everyone else is eating. It is a RARE occasion that I allow "cheating." Well, the two cahoots knew they were about to strike gold and there was no turning back now. I was left in the dust to carry in all the back packs, bags, and coats as they bellied up to the proverbial bar and dug into their precious contraband.
I set down the heavy load of paraphernalia and asked in my out-of-breath voice: "Can you try to eat just HALF???" I was a little concerned as we were all going to the Fire Department later for a big meeting and, (yes, not my smartest parenting moment), I was concerned that I was prepping for a meltdown! Now, mind you, my son has NEVER eaten a cupcake in it's entirety, EVER. Not a regular one, not a gluten-free one....nothing. The most he has done is eaten the frosting off the top. hand, happily devouring the delicious treat. He was saying something that sounded like: "Oh Mommy....I CAN'T! It's so good I just HAVE to eat the WHOLE THING!" This was a moment let me tell you. Moms of picky eaters can relate right here I'm sure. It was at that moment that I didn't feel bad about letting him cheat a little bit. Every kid deserves to have a delicious cupcake in one's lifetime, wouldn't you agree? Now I should note here that the baker told me they sell gluten-free and vegan cupcakes every Saturday. Oh thank you lovely cakery lady, THANK YOU!!!!!
My daughter was a little more methodical with her devouring of her Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcake. She ate only half so that she could have the rest later! She enjoyed each delectable bite and was very surprised to find the shape of a circle inside her cupcake. "Mom LOOK!", she said. "There's the peanut butter!" It did look delicious, but i didn't have the heart to ask her to let me try a bite. Instead, I opened up the box to enjoy my own delight, the Shamrock Shake cupcake. Oh yes...it was beyond good, and tasted every bit like a full-fledged Mc D's Shamrock Shake. Yes, I bought the Hubs one too, but he hasn't had an opportunity to try it yet. Hope he does before I feel the need to indulge again!
So glad that I decided to make a little detour yesterday afternoon. Thinking how how blessed we are to have such a wonderful gourmet cakery so close to our home. You've got to find those golden nuggets every day that bring a little joy to your life. We found another one yesterday in Pixie Cakes. Gourmet cupcakes are their specialty, but they also make high-end wedding cakes, birthday cakes, cake pops, and other delights. Here's the link to their Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/pixiecakegirls
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