The Reluctant Runner

A snippet of my internal monologue on Friday evening:

I should go for a run now, just a short 6k.

But I’m kind of hungry and it is dinner time. But if I eat dinner now then I’ll have to wait a bit before I head out to run, and then it’ll be dark and I don’t like running alone at night.

So I should just have a snack and then run, and have a late dinner.

But I don’t have anything proper to snack on.

So forget about running tonight, I’ll just go for a run tomorrow!

But will I really go for a run tomorrow? Yes, yes, I definitely will because I’m going to skip my run tonight so I’ll have to go tomorrow to make up for it.

But I wanted to give my eyes a break from contact lenses this weekend, and there’s no way I’m running with glasses on. So I really should run now.

But I really am hungry now, and a little tired. So why don’t I just eat dinner and run tomorrow?

Oh yeah, I wasn’t planning on wearing my contact lenses tomorrow…

And on and on it (or rather I) went, probably for about 10 minutes or so.

And in the end, what did I do? I went out for a run, reluctantly, after chowing down on a handful of tortilla chips and guacamole (I really didn’t have any proper pre-run snacks around!).

But in all honesty? The thing that really got me to pull on my runners and head out for a run? The fact that I had this maple bacon (yes, that’s bacon sprinkled on top!) cupcake from For the Love of Cake to eat that night for dessert.

And it was soo worth it.

6 Comments July 7, 2010

Comfort me with cupcakes

I’ve had a rough two weeks — too many deadlines, too little sleep — and I’m not proposing that it’s a good idea to use dessert to lift your mood (I am sure going for a run would’ve cleared my head and refreshed me just as well and certainly in a much healthier way) but two Fridays in a row, I’ve found myself at Sweet Bliss Baking Company in Leslieville picking up a cupcake as a special treat.

And let me tell you: the cupcake’s super light cake topped with the freshest icing (in just the right frosting/cupcake proportions) did its job fantastically. Maybe it was just the sugar high, but I definitely felt ready to tackle everyday life again after devouring it.

Husband-and-wife team Chris and Christina opened Sweet Bliss four years ago. The top sellers are the cupcakes — chocolate and red velvet in particular — but they also sell the city’s best cinnamon buns (according to Toronto Life), brownies, butter tarts and other treats. “Regulars like to stick to their favourites,” says Chris, noting that they’ll walk out if the brownie or tart they’d come in for are sold out.

I sure wish other customers would branch out a little as two of the best cupcakes I have ever had were from limited-edition batches I happened upon at Sweet Bliss. Last week was the whoopie pie cupcake: a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow cream frosting. As a rule I don’t even like chocolate baked goods (people always seem shocked by this — a woman who doesn’t love chocolate cake?!)  but I could tell just by looking at this cupcake that it was something special. Maybe it was the way the cupcake glistened from being so moist. And I wasn’t even sure I’d like the frosting but let me tell you this, the flavour of it almost makes me want to go pick up a jar of Marshmallow Fluff (which I always admire on the grocery store shelf for its retro design, but shudder on inside at the thought of what I assume to be very unhealthy and unnatural chemicals and preservatives in the jar).

The other damn good cupcake flavour was an apple cupcake with cream cheese frosting I had a few years ago. Ever since that day, every time I go into Sweet Bliss I am hopeful Chris has made a batch of them again, but alas, he has to stick to what the majority of customers will buy (you know, having to stay in business and all). This apple cupcake is something me and a girlfriend still wistfully talk about, its awesomeness lingering in our tastebud memories. It was that good.

I’ll try to make it through the upcoming week without a cupcake pick-me-up, but I’ll just take it one day at a time (although right now a cupcake sure would help dealing with losing an hour to daylight savings time a little easier…).

Sweet Bliss Baking Company, 1304 Queen St. East. Open Fridays and Saturdays, 9-6; Sundays 10-4.

7 Comments March 15, 2010

Choc one up

It’s National Chocolate Cake Day south of the border today — what an bizarre occasion to celebrate, but I certainly am not complaining! Good enough a reason to take this journal’s* message to heart this lovely Wednesday. An interesting health topic to research? Looking into whether using this journal increases one’s cake consumption…

*Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake journal, $9, available at Indigo and Chapters stores nationwide.

1 Comment January 27, 2010