Sunday Fun at Whole Foods

Because the human residents of Chez Boeckman-Walker spent most of last Saturday cleaning, I decided we should treat ourselves to a bit of Sunday fun by hitting the South Lamar Half-Price Books and the flagship Whole Foods. Fun was sure to be had since the trip required us to go by Zilker Park and the surrounding area, which was lousy with ACL Festival goers who were on foot, on bikes, in pedicabs (pedicabs that were using the center turn lane as their own personal lane, mind you--dumbasses), half-dressed, too tightly dressed, shouldn't be wearing that dress and other variations of nouveau wannabe hippiedom.

A Trip With Purpose
The boy trotted out Sunday morning with news that we had to celebrate Baby Crocagator's birthday that day. We've already celebrated arbitrarily determined birthdays for Pumpkin the
jack–o'–lantern t-shirt-wearing bear and Pike the black lab puppy, so, hey, why not celebrate another arbitrarily determined stuffed animal? To make it extra special, I put forth the idea of picking up something special from the Whole Food's sin bar (aka, the dessert bar), and not only was the boy 100 percent in favor of the idea, his father, who knows well the sins of the sin bar, got on board toute de suite aussi.

Luckily that plan was fluid. When we came to the bakery, we began drooling and bemoaning our lack of money and need to stick to certain nutritional limits. And then we saw it--the perfect confection for celebrating Baby Crocagator's birthday, the pièce de résistance for this arbitrarily determined celebration. See for yourself, Gentle Reader:

While this cupcake is quite adorable with its frosting art (my inner Wilton wannabe was just screaming in delight and envy), the food itself was very disappointing. The chocolate cupcake under all that frosting was bland and a tad on the dry side. Or maybe that's how chocolate cake is that didn't start out as a powder in a box with Betty Crocker's or Duncan Hines' name printed on it. The frosting wasn't that nasty whipped grease grocery store bakeries are so fond of smearing over everything (nothing that comes out of a five-gallon bucket can be tasty, mind you), but it wasn't all that edible either. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled by the frosting that Central Markup uses on its cakes--now that's frosting, mes amis!

What I thought of the cupcake really is beside the point. The purchase was about indulging a little boy who clearly needs friends--human ones--or siblings--human ones. And the boy loved Baby Crocagator's cake and ate every last crumb of it.

A Yummy Discovery
The crocagator cupcake wasn't our only delightful food find in the bakery at Whole Foods. In a stunning coincidence, we discovered the store had apple cinnamon challah on sale.

Why was this a coincidence, you ask, Gentle Reader? Because last Friday, I received an email from the King Arthur Flour Company that contained a recipe for apple challah. Intrigued but inexperienced, I forwarded the email to my sister-in-law, who has honest to goodness real flair and experience with all things culinary and who happens currently to be living in Israel. I was curious if she'd ever tried her hand at making challah (instead of buying it at her local store) and, if so, could she confirm the recipe's warning, "Though the process is messy, the result is well worth it!"

Upon seeing the challah in the bin at Whole Foods, I decided, Screw the mess! I'll plunk down the four-fifty to enjoy a finished product that I don't have to slave over--and probably screw up badly. Given that the husband is as much as sucker for anything apple-cinnamon the way I am, how could I pass up this opportunity? Especially considering this loaf of apple-cinnamony goodness is bigger 'an a baby's head!

Unlike the cupcake, the challah is full of flavor. The apple bits tucked inside the outer band of bread are tender, not mushy, and the bread itself isn't sickeningly sweet like some cinnamon rolls are these days. It almost inspires me to try the recipe myself. Maybe one day....