Matcha
Green tea cupcakes are a go, though I suspect I’ll leave the marzipan decorations uncolored. (Not sure how I’ll cut out the decorations, not having tiny cookie cutters. Perhaps they’ll just be free-form.)
The next time I say blithely that I’ll just run over to Teavana, someone please hold me down and slap some sense into me — at least if the planned trip is on a weekend. The crowds were horrible, traffic was ghastly, and I thought I was going to scream several times. It’s been ages since I was in a mall, and I’d forgotten how it’s nearly impossible to walk anywhere at a meaningful pace. Everyone else is moseying along, five or six abreast, stopping in the middle of the floor with no warning, and just generally being as solipsistic as is humanly possible. When you try to dart and weave around them, half the time they take off again and block you a second time. My particular favorites are the ones who meander toward a store and then stop abruptly in the actual freakin’ doorway, gaping uncertainly at the store’s contents as if unsure whether it’s safe to go in. If you’re going to gape, please do it somewhere other than in the actual doorway. Do not block the entry, or I will sic the fire marshall on you for blocking evacuation routes. Honestly, just have a little freakin’ awareness of the world around you, and the slightest tiny bit of consideration for the other gazillion human beings milling around you.
If I can’t find an independent local source of matcha, next time I’m definitely mail-ordering. It’s just that I left it too late this time, and the only tea stores I know around here are, unfortunately, in the malls. (They also seemed to do most of their business in selling iced tea. The clerk seemed a little startled that I wanted to buy actual non-liquid tea.)
Also, may I just say that $16 for 30 g (1.1 oz) is helluva expensive for me? I know the cupcakes will be worth it — it’s an Isa/Terry recipe, after all — but I’m still cringing over the price.
