It's bloody hot, and I'm working from home today, reading slush and setting up the dominoes for tomorrow's Night Shade Books half price sale (yes, you heard right – consider this an advance head’s up). But it's bloody hot, so part of me is wishing I was down in the City, enjoying that ocean breeze in the scenic Sunset.

But Maddie and I are making the best of it, hiding from the sun, drinking lots of water, and taking turns lying on the cool tile floor of the bathroom.

At the same time, I'm trying to get myself psyched up for tonight's reading at the Phoenix. I'll be reading "Jennifer Army", a piece from my Chick Bassist story cycle (i.e. my Master’s thesis) that appeared in the last issue of Satellite Fiction. The show’s free, and we’ve got cold water, so stop on by if you can.

Yesterday, Jennifer and I were out running errands up in the Rohnert Park/Cotati area, making our monthly pilgrimage to the Comic Book Box, among other things. As we were getting on the freeway, heading from point B to point C, she spotted Sift, the brand-new cupcakery in the area. We took a quick vote, and cupcakes won, so we doubled back, then back again when I missed the parking lot entrance, finally arriving at the cupcakery. Owner Andrea Ballus greeted us when we walked in, and after our eyes adjusted to the astonishingly-pink color scheme, cheerfully gave us the grand cupcake tour, which is rather impressive.



We ended up picking up four cupcakes (at $2.75 each), the “Bugsy,” a carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting, an “Irish Car Bomb” (Guinness chocolate cake and Irish cream frosting—a tasteless name for a drink, all things considered, but a tasty cupcake), the “Ooh-La-La” (red velvet cake), and the hit of the bunch, a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting that I’ve since forgotten the clever name for, thanks to the sugar coma I fell into shortly after we got home and sampled the lot. Great stuff all around, so I’m sure we’ll be heading back to Sift soon (but not today, since they’re closed for a bit of construction). After all, there’s Limonata and Key Lime Bliss yet to be tried!


Peanut butter frosting FTW.

(Hey kathputli_girl, is a cupcakery enough incentive to come north and visit?)