Friday, July 24, 2009

Isn't it ironic?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word 'ironic' as the following:

ironic

/ironnik/

adjective 1 using or characterized by irony. 2 happening in the opposite way to what is expected.

So according to the second part of this definition, a lot of what we consider irony in reality just, well, isn't. Take the line in good ole Alanis Morrisette's song (you may or may not have heard it) 'Isn't It Ironic', that quips, "It's like rain on your wedding day." This, in fact, is believed to be good luck. So by the definition of ironic, rain on your wedding day is happening in the way as to be expected, if indeed you were looking for good luck.

I've told you that to tell you this. It's about a cupcake. A beautiful, sexy, overpriced and organic cupcake from Whole Foods. I'm not going to get into my belief in organic food, slow food, farm-to-table eating or any other (you might call crazy) thoughts on American eating that I have. I'll save that for another day and another blog entry. It deserves its own time in the spotlight... Even here, where my spotlight is more like a flickering match in a hurricane. Anyway, this cupcake was singing its siren song to me from the cold case in the Whole Foods bakery last weekend. She was of the carrot cake persuasion, all decked out with a luscious, full mound of cream cheese frosting and walnuts. I couldn't resist the $4.00 price tag (for a Gorram cupcake). I had to have it. I had to know if it tasted as good as it looked... If the siren song she was singing was, indeed, worth the detour into the murky and treacherous waters of the bakery to pluck her out of the clutching, sugary masses and take home to sample. See for yourself, it was certainly a looker.


It was encased in a nifty plastic pod-like device, certainly crafted to show off the finer features of this cupcake's design. Notice the gold embellishment on the bottom for extra, 'I'm-Worth-The-Four-Bucks' effect.

This cupcake sucked. When I say sucked, I mean it sucked.

First of all, the green frosting used to make the leaf decoration was flavored with intense green tea flavoring. Maybe some people are into that. It tasted like grass. I don't want grass on my cupcake. It's dessert, not a wheat grass shooter. Secondly, the orange frosting used to make the carrot was flavored like orange-- as in the citrus. Not a good combo with cream cheese, carrots and green tea. The cream cheese frosting was hard, and to top it all off, the actual carrot cake was dry and bland.

This is the definition of ironic: A falsely advertised little jewel. It looked so luscious and lovely and I thought it would taste like Heaven. Instead, it turned out to leave me with a bad taste in my mouth.

I should have known, considering my best friend makes the world's most fabulous carrot cake. Why try to top perfection?

*Bonus points if you got the Gorram reference.

1 comment:

  1. A carrot cake that has carrots made of orange and green icing as decorations or that hasn't been made by my own two hands is going to disappoint you every time. I promise.

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