It's no secret that my favorite writer at The Stranger is Megan Seling because she never makes jokes at my expense or puts words into my mouth. And she's really good at baking cupcakes. Especially the cupcake thing. As you know, cupcakes are the number one economic engine in our state. They are a private-sector industry—we haven't seen a socialist takeover of the cupcake industry yet, although government panels controlling cupcake manufacturing are surely not far off—and they are made of carbohydrates, which are literally a form of energy, and you need energy if you're going to go out and buy things. Also, all women love to be called "cupcake," as in, "Oh, Cupcake, thanks for making me cupcakes. But it's kind of dirty in this kitchen. Did you forget to sweep? Broom's over there."
Anyway—enough about last night at my house! What I'm here to say is that Megan Seling has completely innovated her private-sector way toward a new kind of cupcake that I really identify with. On the outside it looks like one kind of cupcake, but on the inside it's something completely different than what you thought. Like, for instance, she has this cupcake that looks like a totally normal, inoffensive, plain-vanilla-flavored cupcake on the outside—who doesn't like that?—but once you bite into it you see there are all these other flavors you weren't expecting inside, at the center of things, at the core. This is really smart, because you can sell the cupcake to people who don't even like pumpkin pie, thus broadening your customer base. Even people allergic to pumpkin pie might buy one, not knowing what they're getting. Brillaint! And good for business.
As you might have heard, Seling is so good at baking cupcakes that she's shattered the glass ceiling on women being authors. She has a published cook book (that she's reading from tonight at Elliott Bay Book Company at 5 pm) that tells you everything you need to know about cupcakes that are one thing on the outside and something very deviously different on the inside. Confidental to Megan: We have a kitchen down here at McKenna HQ! Come work for me?
