Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
camp part 3
pre-camp Mac!My sweet boy is home and bathed. I think he had a really great time despite the following:
1. He threw up this morning. His teacher told me he thought it was from eating too many sweets. (My email buddy from the camp company also came over when I met the bus to make sure I knew.) The reason he looked sad in the breakfast photo I posted earlier is because everybody else got hot chocolate but he had to drink a tea to settle his stomach. The vomiting was a one-off experience, he did it in the bathroom with a counselor with him, and it didn't seem to slow him down after that.
2. I am a bad mother because I didn't send sweets and "everybody else" brought candy with them. A) I followed instructions and did not send candy, and B) you threw up from eating too many contraband sweets. DUH.
3. One of my favorite girls in Mac's class broke her arm last night. She tripped as they walked into the clubhouse and had a nasty break which apparently required surgery to repair. Poor girl.
4. Mac didn't shower or change his clothes, and he informed me that he brushed his teeth with finger. That makes me want to vomit.
5. He didn't complain too much about the food and he only ate a few peanut butter crackers when he got home. It was not the reaction I expected, although he listed all the things that he did not eat that were served to him.
6. Mac said that it was absolutely freezing last night. His sleeping bag and sleeping pad are so dirty that I'm wondering if he didn't realize you're supposed to sleep inside the tent?
post-camp Mac!
random musings about camp (aka Camp Part 2)
1. My email buddy from the camp company dropped the ball a little this morning on her updates. She updated at 7:30am when they had breakfast and then did not post anything again for something like 2.5 hours. I probably hit the refresh button about 87 times in that 2.5 hours alone. I almost sent her email to tell her to get with the program but restrained myself.
2. Speaking of breakfast, I don't think Mac liked what he was served.
In the photo above, Mac is sitting on the right side of the back table. I have seen that sullen expression on his face before. It usually precedes a complaint that goes something like this: "why did you make this for breakfast? You know I hate this kind of food. Why didn't you make me peanut butter toast? You know I always eat that for breakfast when you make this disgusting other stuff that I hate."
And then I look across the table at the poor camp counselor who looks like he's trying to convince him to just try it by saying something like "how do you know you don't like scrambled eggs? On your mother's dissertation that she wrote to get you enrolled in camp, she said you hadn't even eaten scrambled eggs since you were a baby. Maybe you like them now."
P.S. Mr. Camp Counselor, if Mac comes home and says he ate scrambled eggs, I'm going to find you and give you a reward.
3. Not that we were speaking of dinner, but here's a photo from last night's dinner:
Dinner was ajiaco, which is the wonderfully rich, filling, delicious Colombian comfort food soup made with a few types of potatoes, chicken and corn. I have found it to be mildly addictive and could eat it all the time.
Mac?
Not so much.
So when I look at this picture, I am pleased that his spoon is actually in the bowl and am hopeful that he's at least picking out the chunks of chicken to eat. I am quite sure the potatoes didn't cross his lips (again, there's a reward involved if they did). But I have prayed over and over that they at least had some bread that he could eat to help fill him up. Otherwise, he went to bed hungry - which is totally acceptable if it's because he won't eat the food that I've prepared, but is not acceptable if they were starving my poor, sweet, innocent baby. Jimmy suggested that maybe I should have sent some granola bars but they were very explicit about not sending any food or candy, so I, as the rule follower, did not send anything to eat. I have a feeling he's going to be starving at the 5:30pm pick-up this afternoon.
(For the record, Mac's food pickiness does drive me crazy and I know he'll eat if he's hungry enough. I just don't want his view of camp to be skewed by bad food if he enjoyed everything else. After all, isn't bad food a requirement of camp the world over???)
4. Of course, I did pack all the things that were on the list. Two changes of clothes, a raincoat, another pair of shoes, socks, etc.
I have studied the pictures from yesterday and today, and that boy has not changed his clothes. He still has on the same pants and the shirt and no doubt the same pair of underwear, too.
Thursday morning photo:
(notice the gray dinosaur shirt and black track pants)
Friday morning photo:
(notice the gray dinosaur shirt and black track pants)
This is exactly why I hate camping. If it's considered acceptable to wear the same clothes two days in a row, then I don't want any part of it. I bet the seal on the shampoo wasn't broken and if I hadn't seen a photo of some girls brushing their teeth this morning, I might have doubts about whether his teeth have been cleaned. YUCK. He will have nice, long shower tonight to get all the grossness off.
I am really happy that I struggled to get everything stuffed in that backpack.
2. Speaking of breakfast, I don't think Mac liked what he was served.
In the photo above, Mac is sitting on the right side of the back table. I have seen that sullen expression on his face before. It usually precedes a complaint that goes something like this: "why did you make this for breakfast? You know I hate this kind of food. Why didn't you make me peanut butter toast? You know I always eat that for breakfast when you make this disgusting other stuff that I hate."
And then I look across the table at the poor camp counselor who looks like he's trying to convince him to just try it by saying something like "how do you know you don't like scrambled eggs? On your mother's dissertation that she wrote to get you enrolled in camp, she said you hadn't even eaten scrambled eggs since you were a baby. Maybe you like them now."
P.S. Mr. Camp Counselor, if Mac comes home and says he ate scrambled eggs, I'm going to find you and give you a reward.
3. Not that we were speaking of dinner, but here's a photo from last night's dinner:
Dinner was ajiaco, which is the wonderfully rich, filling, delicious Colombian comfort food soup made with a few types of potatoes, chicken and corn. I have found it to be mildly addictive and could eat it all the time.
Mac?
Not so much.
So when I look at this picture, I am pleased that his spoon is actually in the bowl and am hopeful that he's at least picking out the chunks of chicken to eat. I am quite sure the potatoes didn't cross his lips (again, there's a reward involved if they did). But I have prayed over and over that they at least had some bread that he could eat to help fill him up. Otherwise, he went to bed hungry - which is totally acceptable if it's because he won't eat the food that I've prepared, but is not acceptable if they were starving my poor, sweet, innocent baby. Jimmy suggested that maybe I should have sent some granola bars but they were very explicit about not sending any food or candy, so I, as the rule follower, did not send anything to eat. I have a feeling he's going to be starving at the 5:30pm pick-up this afternoon.
(For the record, Mac's food pickiness does drive me crazy and I know he'll eat if he's hungry enough. I just don't want his view of camp to be skewed by bad food if he enjoyed everything else. After all, isn't bad food a requirement of camp the world over???)
4. Of course, I did pack all the things that were on the list. Two changes of clothes, a raincoat, another pair of shoes, socks, etc.
I have studied the pictures from yesterday and today, and that boy has not changed his clothes. He still has on the same pants and the shirt and no doubt the same pair of underwear, too.
Thursday morning photo:
(notice the gray dinosaur shirt and black track pants)Friday morning photo:
(notice the gray dinosaur shirt and black track pants)This is exactly why I hate camping. If it's considered acceptable to wear the same clothes two days in a row, then I don't want any part of it. I bet the seal on the shampoo wasn't broken and if I hadn't seen a photo of some girls brushing their teeth this morning, I might have doubts about whether his teeth have been cleaned. YUCK. He will have nice, long shower tonight to get all the grossness off.
I am really happy that I struggled to get everything stuffed in that backpack.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
NYR 2-3-11
For this:
I am truly thankful.
(Mac's in the blue hoodie on the 2nd row of the left side. This is the picture that was posted as the bus was leaving the school this morning. He does look happy to you, right?????)
I am truly thankful.
(Mac's in the blue hoodie on the 2nd row of the left side. This is the picture that was posted as the bus was leaving the school this morning. He does look happy to you, right?????)
striking fear in the hearts of mothers everywhere
When you think of four-letter bad words, you may have your idea of what the worst one is that you could hear your child say.
But I'm here to tell you what the very worst one is to a mother's ears:
C-A-M-P
I'm not talking day camp, my friends. I'm talking about full-fledged spend-the-night(away from your mother) camp.
Don't get me wrong - I've never had a problem with sleepovers. Mac has spent the night with friends and with family, but that's a contained, controlled environment where generally the adults in charge are not outnumbered so severely by the children in the house that they could, say, lose a child in the woods.
But full-fledged spend-the-night (away from your mother) camp? That's a whole different ballgame.
So when I got a notice from Mac's school last fall about this overnight camping deal, I was a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. Really more like neurotic, crazy lady, are-you-kidding-me nervous.
For the record, the camp for this age is one night and is located 45 miles away from Bogota. We are not talking China.
I went to the informational meeting for Mac's grade where I was the only American mother in attendance. The rest of the moms were uber-laidback Latina moms who just don't stress about these things because they inherently know that it's all going to be okay.
The school uses a camping company which arranges all the details of the outing. They're members of the US camping associations, they train their counselors well, and most importantly, they belong to an international search and rescue organization so the group always has a GPS with them which will be emergency-activated if, for instance, they get lost in the woods and need some group out of Colorado to come find them.
As you might imagine, I was the only person who asked questions of the camp representative. I am sure I was labeled by the guy as "Crazy Mom" and have a black mark next to my name in their records.
The camp rep said to the audience as he was looking directly and pointedly and only at me, "it's important for mothers to be able to let their children do age-appropriate things on their own and it's important for children to develop the confidence to do these things on their own." And supposedly this camp is going to do just that for both of us.
Yeah, whatever.
"Do you need a chaperone to go on the trip?" was what I wanted to ask.
The end result of the meeting for me was that I was impressed by the company and decided that I could not project my angst onto Mac. So I have been a font of camp encouragement since November. I've bought all the supplies, got him some new pants, I wrote his name in his clothes, I figured out how to pack it all in a little backpack, etc, all the while talking about how much fun camp was going to be, how he was going to be with all his friends, how I wish I could go because he was going to have all the fun, etc.
Last week, I filled out the very detailed form for the camp company about contact information, blood type, health insurance, medicines, etc. Of course, the most neurotic mother on the planet doesn't know her child's blood type - how does that happen? - so we had to get that tested last weekend. But I did write a medical school-worthy dissertation on his medicines. Remember he was on his sinus infection medicinal cocktail at the time? I should have just waited to fill out the form until that was done because boy, did I waste a lot of energy on that part. And that was before I got to the part about allergies. I'm pretty sure they're not going to feed him pistachios or almonds on the camp trip, but I needed to make sure I covered the potential gastric reaction he might have should they go fancy and serve him pistachios instead of hot dogs. He's never even had a respiratory reaction to a nut, but I needed to go into detail about how I was sending the Epi-Pen just in case.
N.E.U.R.O.T.I.C.
Okay, so then the actual packing began. The packing list was very specific and they said not to bring anything that wasn't on the list. I love a good list so that was right up my alley. Except that the list contained things like 2 pants (not jeans), 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, BUT NO UNDERWEAR. I'm sorry. Is he supposed to put on clean clothes with dirty underwear. Gross.
Also the packing list very clearly said that if your child takes medicine, you have to hand over the medicine directly to a camp company representative or a school official. Well today - camp departure day - was "No Car Day" in Bogota (an environmental movement) so the school said that everybody had to come to school by bus, which meant that even though I have diplomatic plates on my car and could drive on "No Car Day", I really couldn't.
You know I like to follow rules, but how was I supposed to get the allergy medicines, the inhaler and the never-used Epi-Pen directly in the hands of camp or school rep?
Needless to say I had to send an email to cover underwear and medicines. Here's the exchange:
Dear Zambo Travel,
My son Mac Story is registered for the Colegio Gran Bretana Year 3 trip to Guatavita on this Thursday and Friday. When I filled out his information sheet, I didn't know his blood type. We had it tested on Saturday and it was B+. Could you add this to his records?
Also, Mac is now off of the antibiotics that were listed on his form and is only taking the Claritin and Singulair tablets at night. I know the packing list said that I have to hand over the meds to the Zambo or school official but he will be arriving at the school with his camping backpack in the bus on Thursday morning. As it's No Car Day on the departure day, I can't drive him to school that morning to personally hand over the medicine. Is it okay if I just put the medicine in his wash kit? Also I will send his asthma inhaler which is only used as necessary.
Finally, on the packing list, a change of underwear isn't listed but I'm assuming we should send a pair???
I promptly got this response from the in-charge woman who probably had reviewed the files and knew that I was the "Crazy Mom" with the black mark by her name. (English is obviously not her first language but I was so grateful that she communicated in English.)
Do not worry about the blood group I will add to his medical record
Send me the medicines in his bag and write me a sheet how I have handled the medicines.
Do not worry, be aware of him
About the underwear send a pair, that’s fine.
If you need something else please let me now
So in an effort to be thankful and self-effacing, I sent this reply:
Thanks so much!! I know I'm the neurotic American mother, but this is his first overnight trip (other than sleepovers at friends and family) and I'm a little paranoid!! I know he'll have a wonderful time!
The subliminal message to this woman was "you better take care of my child because if he is traumatized from this trip or if he eats pistachios and you have to use the Epi-Pen that might have passed its expiration date, I will never forgive you."
She obviously recognized the limitless boundaries of my craziness because her response was:
Don’t worry, I understand.
I take great care
Keep in touch
I'm pretty sure she didn't really mean for me to stay in touch, but felt obligated to say that so the craziness would be quelled.
Suffice it to say that Mac left today for camp and by the pictures that are being posted on the camp company's website (courtesy of the nice lady who promised to take good care of him), he looks like he's having a marvelous time. I'm pretty sure I haven't crossed his mind at all since he got on the bus at 6:30 this morning even though I have hit the refresh button on my computer at least 479 times today to check for updated photos and twitter feeds.
Camp, Part 2, will be forthcoming. I'm signing off for now so Jimmy and I can enjoy date night without paying for a babysitter. There is at least one benefit to my least favorite four-letter word.
But I'm here to tell you what the very worst one is to a mother's ears:
C-A-M-P
I'm not talking day camp, my friends. I'm talking about full-fledged spend-the-night(away from your mother) camp.
Don't get me wrong - I've never had a problem with sleepovers. Mac has spent the night with friends and with family, but that's a contained, controlled environment where generally the adults in charge are not outnumbered so severely by the children in the house that they could, say, lose a child in the woods.
But full-fledged spend-the-night (away from your mother) camp? That's a whole different ballgame.
So when I got a notice from Mac's school last fall about this overnight camping deal, I was a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. Really more like neurotic, crazy lady, are-you-kidding-me nervous.
For the record, the camp for this age is one night and is located 45 miles away from Bogota. We are not talking China.
I went to the informational meeting for Mac's grade where I was the only American mother in attendance. The rest of the moms were uber-laidback Latina moms who just don't stress about these things because they inherently know that it's all going to be okay.
The school uses a camping company which arranges all the details of the outing. They're members of the US camping associations, they train their counselors well, and most importantly, they belong to an international search and rescue organization so the group always has a GPS with them which will be emergency-activated if, for instance, they get lost in the woods and need some group out of Colorado to come find them.
As you might imagine, I was the only person who asked questions of the camp representative. I am sure I was labeled by the guy as "Crazy Mom" and have a black mark next to my name in their records.
The camp rep said to the audience as he was looking directly and pointedly and only at me, "it's important for mothers to be able to let their children do age-appropriate things on their own and it's important for children to develop the confidence to do these things on their own." And supposedly this camp is going to do just that for both of us.
Yeah, whatever.
"Do you need a chaperone to go on the trip?" was what I wanted to ask.
The end result of the meeting for me was that I was impressed by the company and decided that I could not project my angst onto Mac. So I have been a font of camp encouragement since November. I've bought all the supplies, got him some new pants, I wrote his name in his clothes, I figured out how to pack it all in a little backpack, etc, all the while talking about how much fun camp was going to be, how he was going to be with all his friends, how I wish I could go because he was going to have all the fun, etc.
Last week, I filled out the very detailed form for the camp company about contact information, blood type, health insurance, medicines, etc. Of course, the most neurotic mother on the planet doesn't know her child's blood type - how does that happen? - so we had to get that tested last weekend. But I did write a medical school-worthy dissertation on his medicines. Remember he was on his sinus infection medicinal cocktail at the time? I should have just waited to fill out the form until that was done because boy, did I waste a lot of energy on that part. And that was before I got to the part about allergies. I'm pretty sure they're not going to feed him pistachios or almonds on the camp trip, but I needed to make sure I covered the potential gastric reaction he might have should they go fancy and serve him pistachios instead of hot dogs. He's never even had a respiratory reaction to a nut, but I needed to go into detail about how I was sending the Epi-Pen just in case.
N.E.U.R.O.T.I.C.
Okay, so then the actual packing began. The packing list was very specific and they said not to bring anything that wasn't on the list. I love a good list so that was right up my alley. Except that the list contained things like 2 pants (not jeans), 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, BUT NO UNDERWEAR. I'm sorry. Is he supposed to put on clean clothes with dirty underwear. Gross.
Also the packing list very clearly said that if your child takes medicine, you have to hand over the medicine directly to a camp company representative or a school official. Well today - camp departure day - was "No Car Day" in Bogota (an environmental movement) so the school said that everybody had to come to school by bus, which meant that even though I have diplomatic plates on my car and could drive on "No Car Day", I really couldn't.
You know I like to follow rules, but how was I supposed to get the allergy medicines, the inhaler and the never-used Epi-Pen directly in the hands of camp or school rep?
Needless to say I had to send an email to cover underwear and medicines. Here's the exchange:
Dear Zambo Travel,
My son Mac Story is registered for the Colegio Gran Bretana Year 3 trip to Guatavita on this Thursday and Friday. When I filled out his information sheet, I didn't know his blood type. We had it tested on Saturday and it was B+. Could you add this to his records?
Also, Mac is now off of the antibiotics that were listed on his form and is only taking the Claritin and Singulair tablets at night. I know the packing list said that I have to hand over the meds to the Zambo or school official but he will be arriving at the school with his camping backpack in the bus on Thursday morning. As it's No Car Day on the departure day, I can't drive him to school that morning to personally hand over the medicine. Is it okay if I just put the medicine in his wash kit? Also I will send his asthma inhaler which is only used as necessary.
Finally, on the packing list, a change of underwear isn't listed but I'm assuming we should send a pair???
I promptly got this response from the in-charge woman who probably had reviewed the files and knew that I was the "Crazy Mom" with the black mark by her name. (English is obviously not her first language but I was so grateful that she communicated in English.)
Do not worry about the blood group I will add to his medical record
Send me the medicines in his bag and write me a sheet how I have handled the medicines.
Do not worry, be aware of him
About the underwear send a pair, that’s fine.
If you need something else please let me now
So in an effort to be thankful and self-effacing, I sent this reply:
Thanks so much!! I know I'm the neurotic American mother, but this is his first overnight trip (other than sleepovers at friends and family) and I'm a little paranoid!! I know he'll have a wonderful time!
The subliminal message to this woman was "you better take care of my child because if he is traumatized from this trip or if he eats pistachios and you have to use the Epi-Pen that might have passed its expiration date, I will never forgive you."
She obviously recognized the limitless boundaries of my craziness because her response was:
Don’t worry, I understand.
I take great care
Keep in touch
I'm pretty sure she didn't really mean for me to stay in touch, but felt obligated to say that so the craziness would be quelled.
Suffice it to say that Mac left today for camp and by the pictures that are being posted on the camp company's website (courtesy of the nice lady who promised to take good care of him), he looks like he's having a marvelous time. I'm pretty sure I haven't crossed his mind at all since he got on the bus at 6:30 this morning even though I have hit the refresh button on my computer at least 479 times today to check for updated photos and twitter feeds.
Camp, Part 2, will be forthcoming. I'm signing off for now so Jimmy and I can enjoy date night without paying for a babysitter. There is at least one benefit to my least favorite four-letter word.
NYR 2-2-10
For going to lunch with the girls and ordering a supremely well-cooked piece of grouper with a balsamic reduction in a supremely landlocked city, I am truly thankful.
(And for finding out later that the restaurant is a project with USAID and so I was actually sort of doing a good deed by eating this divine meal, I was even more grateful!)
(And for finding out later that the restaurant is a project with USAID and so I was actually sort of doing a good deed by eating this divine meal, I was even more grateful!)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
NYR 2-1-11 - carrot cake heaven
I don't mean to sound like a braggart, but I really can't help it on this one:
I am a most excellent connoisseur of carrot cake.
I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but carrot cake is an extreme weakness for me and therefore, I have tasted more than my fair share of carrot cakes. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in the carrot cake department.
Today I saw the really, really, really good.
Let me start from the beginning.
On Saturday, Jimmy, Mac and I were out walking about, doing some errands, when I saw this woman carrying a very nice shopping bag. I'm not a big shopper, but I LOVE a good shopping bag. I have been known to buy something just to get a good shopping bag. You know the kind I'm talking about? The ones that you can re-use over and over before they are ripped beyond repair? Well this looked like one of those kinds of bags. Bogota's got nice shops, but you don't see shopping bags here like you do on the streets of NYC.
So when I saw this bag, I craned by neck around to see where it was from. And I saw this adorable script that said "Home Baked".
A nice shopping bag from a store called Home Baked?? My good fortune astounds even me.
I came home and googled "Home Baked, Bogota" and all I got (that I could understand because there was a lot in Spanish) was a Facebook page for an artisanal bakery here in Bogota.
I checked out the Facebook page, found out where the store is (within walking distance, oh my!), and looked at the most yummy pictures of cupcakes that I've ever seen.
I'm having a little breakfast at my house on Thursday to welcome a new wife into the neighborhood, so I decided to make a quick pit stop there today to see about ordering some muffins for the breakfast. They make adorable mini-muffins (as well as normal-sized ones) that I ordered for Thursday. But in the name of research - since I had literally never tasted anything from this bakery and needed to know what I was serving my guests - I bought 3 carrot cake cupcakes and 1 chocolate chip muffin.
I was sold on the packaging, I have to tell you. I am shallow like that. Everything in this store is pink and very cupcake-y. So they have this cute box that has four slots in it and they stuck the four things I ordered in their own little slots. These cupcakes were Perfection (with a big P) and you wouldn't want the icing and that adorable little marzipan carrot on top to roll around and get stuck to its sister cupcake on the way home. Then they sealed the box up with a cute sticker and they put another sticker on top that said the cupcakes had been prepared with fresh ingredients, no preservatives, etc and were meant to be consumed quickly.
They not only give you a fancy shopping bag to hold that cute sectioned cupcake box in, but they give you permission to eat the contents quickly???
Um, okay.
So I got home with the goods, Mac followed shortly and I served him a cupcake. He devoured the cupcake, but to his credit, he said my cream cheese frosting is better (I love that kid!), but they have cream cheese frosting at this bakery that tastes like cream cheese frosting is supposed to taste.
Do you know how monumental this is, living here in Bogota where Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a relatively expensive commodity?
Then Jimmy got home but had to leave almost as soon as he got home to go back out to a work function. He said he was starving and I said he should eat his cupcake. He walked downstairs and wasn't gone but a minute - surely not long enough to eat a cupcake - before he walked back upstairs and said that was the best carrot cake cupcake he'd ever eaten. I took slight offense but decided if I'd ever put a marzipan carrot on top of my carrot cake cupcakes, he might not have said that.
He left to go to his event, Mac and I ate dinner and I ate my carrot cake cupcake for dessert, and I have to tell you that it was in the top 3 carrot cakes I've ever tasted. We are talking yummy, oh-my-goodness delicious quality. Light, fresh, not-dense carrot cake with real shreds of carrot and lots of cinnamon topped with a big pile of smooth cream cheese frosting. Probably about 1500 calories of Perfection but worth every single one.
Tomorrow afternoon I go back to pick up my mini muffins for the breakfast, so I'll let you know how those are after the party (if they last that long). I got banana nut and red fruit. And while I'm there, I will surely have to buy some more flavors of cupcakes. They had all these yummy things like Rocky Road and key lime. Oh my.
I have a new purpose in life and that is to be the best customer Home Baked has ever had.
So today, for the blessing of Home Baked - with its fancy shopping bags and its customers who wander the streets of Bogota carrying the shopping bags so the rest of us can find out about the store - I am most definitely and sweetly thankful.
I am a most excellent connoisseur of carrot cake.
I don't have a huge sweet tooth, but carrot cake is an extreme weakness for me and therefore, I have tasted more than my fair share of carrot cakes. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in the carrot cake department.
Today I saw the really, really, really good.
Let me start from the beginning.
On Saturday, Jimmy, Mac and I were out walking about, doing some errands, when I saw this woman carrying a very nice shopping bag. I'm not a big shopper, but I LOVE a good shopping bag. I have been known to buy something just to get a good shopping bag. You know the kind I'm talking about? The ones that you can re-use over and over before they are ripped beyond repair? Well this looked like one of those kinds of bags. Bogota's got nice shops, but you don't see shopping bags here like you do on the streets of NYC.
So when I saw this bag, I craned by neck around to see where it was from. And I saw this adorable script that said "Home Baked".
A nice shopping bag from a store called Home Baked?? My good fortune astounds even me.
I came home and googled "Home Baked, Bogota" and all I got (that I could understand because there was a lot in Spanish) was a Facebook page for an artisanal bakery here in Bogota.
I checked out the Facebook page, found out where the store is (within walking distance, oh my!), and looked at the most yummy pictures of cupcakes that I've ever seen.
I'm having a little breakfast at my house on Thursday to welcome a new wife into the neighborhood, so I decided to make a quick pit stop there today to see about ordering some muffins for the breakfast. They make adorable mini-muffins (as well as normal-sized ones) that I ordered for Thursday. But in the name of research - since I had literally never tasted anything from this bakery and needed to know what I was serving my guests - I bought 3 carrot cake cupcakes and 1 chocolate chip muffin.
I was sold on the packaging, I have to tell you. I am shallow like that. Everything in this store is pink and very cupcake-y. So they have this cute box that has four slots in it and they stuck the four things I ordered in their own little slots. These cupcakes were Perfection (with a big P) and you wouldn't want the icing and that adorable little marzipan carrot on top to roll around and get stuck to its sister cupcake on the way home. Then they sealed the box up with a cute sticker and they put another sticker on top that said the cupcakes had been prepared with fresh ingredients, no preservatives, etc and were meant to be consumed quickly.
They not only give you a fancy shopping bag to hold that cute sectioned cupcake box in, but they give you permission to eat the contents quickly???
Um, okay.
So I got home with the goods, Mac followed shortly and I served him a cupcake. He devoured the cupcake, but to his credit, he said my cream cheese frosting is better (I love that kid!), but they have cream cheese frosting at this bakery that tastes like cream cheese frosting is supposed to taste.
Do you know how monumental this is, living here in Bogota where Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a relatively expensive commodity?
Then Jimmy got home but had to leave almost as soon as he got home to go back out to a work function. He said he was starving and I said he should eat his cupcake. He walked downstairs and wasn't gone but a minute - surely not long enough to eat a cupcake - before he walked back upstairs and said that was the best carrot cake cupcake he'd ever eaten. I took slight offense but decided if I'd ever put a marzipan carrot on top of my carrot cake cupcakes, he might not have said that.
He left to go to his event, Mac and I ate dinner and I ate my carrot cake cupcake for dessert, and I have to tell you that it was in the top 3 carrot cakes I've ever tasted. We are talking yummy, oh-my-goodness delicious quality. Light, fresh, not-dense carrot cake with real shreds of carrot and lots of cinnamon topped with a big pile of smooth cream cheese frosting. Probably about 1500 calories of Perfection but worth every single one.
Tomorrow afternoon I go back to pick up my mini muffins for the breakfast, so I'll let you know how those are after the party (if they last that long). I got banana nut and red fruit. And while I'm there, I will surely have to buy some more flavors of cupcakes. They had all these yummy things like Rocky Road and key lime. Oh my.
I have a new purpose in life and that is to be the best customer Home Baked has ever had.
So today, for the blessing of Home Baked - with its fancy shopping bags and its customers who wander the streets of Bogota carrying the shopping bags so the rest of us can find out about the store - I am most definitely and sweetly thankful.
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