Photo Credit: Jessie Oleson/ Cakespy Albert Einstein was kind of a genius. So was Thomas Edison. But I am handing out my "2011 Best Genius Award" to a woman who goes by the name of "Audrey M." She has apparently invented.... a whoopie pie cupcake! Doesn't she definitely deserve some type of award? Well, I think so. I thought that Cupcake Jones deserved the award for best cupcake with their ganache stuffed cupcakes-( ganache inside and frosting on the outside)- but a whoopie pie cupcake, I really can't begin to imagine how excrutiatingly tasty this must be. And how did I find out about this in the first place? Important book research. As I was writing this morning, it became very clear to me that I needed whoopie pies in my novel. Somehow, someway, they needed to be included. That led me to google, which led me to an wonderful website called Cakespy. It is the brainchild of Jessie Oleson who it turns out is a real life cakespy. She even has her own detective agency called the Dessert Detective Agency, which according to her website, is "dedicated to seeking sweetness (literally) in everyday life. We do this by writing about bakeries, conducting baking experiments, and picking the brains of bakers and food artists, and finding awesome products for lovers of baked goods." (She even has a store in Seattle...which is just a beautiful train ride away from Portland. I may have to go up there soon and do some "book research." If you have to eat different whoopie pies for book research, shouldn't those calories/points not count on Weight Watchers? That seems only fair to me. (By the way, if you ever happen to be in Portland, the very best, the ultimate in whoopie pies can be found at Back to Eden Bakery on NE Alberta. Anyway, in sadder news, no cake was had yesterday. There should be a big huge "X" marked across this cake! I did lose, but barely. Just a teeny miniscule bit, not enough to warrant cake. It was terribly sad. Laini wailed after her weigh-in. This is a photo of her I took right after....( I know, her hair went from pink to pitch black!) It was so sad. So sad. She had a very difficult time accepting the scale's findings. She dropped to her knees, her hands to her heart, and kept shouting, "Why? Why?? Whhhhhyyyy?" The Weight Watchers leader was so kind as she delicately led Laini away -on her kneetops -from the meeting she was disrupting. (Was it tasteless of me to take that photo of her in such a time of torment?) Well, we could have still had cake, if we'd wanted to. Afterall, you do get 49 extra points per week to spend as you wish but we weren't exactly inspired, so instead we went across the street and got egg white veggie omelettes- good, but certainly not cake. In other news, this is where I sit in the living room to write these days, laptop or notebook on my lap: The print above is by wonderful local artist, Lisa Kaser, who happens to have a website too. at http://www.lisakaser.com I'm going to interview her soon for a post.) Like many writers, my mind frequently drifts away to other things, other places. Especially to here, one of my favorite places of all I wish terribly to visit someday... If this doesn't look like one of the most dreamy places to live on all the Earth, then I don't know what would be. This little slice of blue heaven can be found at Moominworld, which is located on a little island off of the southwest coast of Finland. It is the recreated world based on one of my favorite children's book series of all time about a species of wonderful creatures called "Moomins" and their many various friends like Little My, the Snork Maiden, Snufkin, and the Hattifatteners. Written by Finnish author, Tove Jansson, in the 1940s and 1950s, for some reason I don't really understand, they have never been well known in the States even while across Europe, Israel, and Japan, they are very well known and popular. Whether you have children or don't, you really should consider checking them out. There are seven books in the middle grade series, two picture books, and five volumes of the comic strips translated into English. Jansson did all of the accompanying illustrations herself. Here are some samples from the books: Here below is Little My, tiny as a thimble but very, very mightly nonetheless.... And my favorite character, Moominmamma: So sweet and heartfelt. Whether they are finding magic tophats that turn into clouds they can float on or eating Moominmama's pastries or making plays in the middle of the lake, Jansson created this sweet, very moving world that is utterly its own. Do check them out for yourself. You won't be sorry. Then you, too, will want to go to Finland and visit Moominworld for yourself, plus there is an entire museum dedicated to the books filled with her original art and entire miniatures of all the characters and Moominvalley where they reside. Heres a peek..... sorry its so blurry! Ok, thank you for reading- have a wonderful day! or night! Photo Credit: Whoopie Pie - http://www.cakespy.com