By kyuyoun0702
One thing I realized during my stay in DC is that CUPCAKES ARE SO AWESOME!
It is not an exaggeration for me to say that about 90% of my energy comes from sugar, and cupcakes are excellent energy resource for me. It had been this way forever, and I don’t regret the fat cells that came along as a side effect (Well I actually do).
Therefore, my quest for sweets served as one of the most important missions for me in my life. Every weekend, I went hunting for sweets that would be both satisfactory in taste and helpful in accumulating energy that would help me survive for the rest of the week. I searched for blogs and reviews before visiting so that I would have an idea of what the sweets are like in that particular shop, and to get an idea of what is recommended and what is to avoid.
When I first came to Washington D.C., my parents greeted me at the airport (my family lives in D.C.), hugged me, and whispered “Kyuyoun! You look so healthy!” As soon as I heard this, I immediately sensed that this is a euphemism for “Kyuyoun! I think you gained weight and its obvious even at one sight!” In actuality, I gained 5kg (11 lbs) in total because of the stress I received last semester and the consequential increment in my sweets consumption. I was so determined NOT to get any fatter, and I decided to say goodbye to my sweets-oriented life.
But shame on me…My visit to cupcake shops in D.C. totally nullified this idea - they are just so awesome! I didn’t have to do any googling for these cupcakes; no matter what cupcake I picked, it didn’t fail to surprise me every time.
The first cupcake shop I visited was Baked & Wired. Baked and Wired is located in Georgetown, which is about 15 minutes walk from campus. After having a decent lunch at a seafood restaurant in Washington Harbor, I realized that Baked and Wired was just around the corner. I thought it was a great idea to visit Baked and Wired to get cupcakes for dessert. The bakery itself was pretty small, but the cupcakes were actually enormous in size. I chose Red Velvet cupcake which I believe to be the best choice. The frosting on the top was pleasantly sweet, which went along well with the cake that was spongy and mild.
The second cupcake place I visited was Red Velvet Cupcakery. I liked how its name was so concise - I could tell that it sold Red Velvet cupcakes, and my sixth sense detected the “We are good” aura that surrounded this shop. It was unique in that they sold low-calorie cupcakes. Even though my parents thought that low caloried ones wouldn’t taste as good, I decided to try it. My parents were wrong; it was AMAZING. Personally, I liked this cupcake more than that of Baked and Wired. First of all, it was not so big (which allowed me to try other flavored cupcakes as well), and secondly, it balanced out sweetness and mildness pretty well throughout the whole thing. I am actually planning on taking my fellow exchange friends here since it is not as famous nor renowned as it deserves!
It is not that I gave up on losing weight. This is my logic; after a semester of being in this cupcake heaven, no other Korean desserts would satisfy my upgraded criteria in evaluating sweets. Therefore, I wouldn’t be as attached to sweets as I was, and I will eventually lose weight! Well, humans are animals of adaption and I am pretty sure I will continue to eat a lot in Korea, but it is better to think this way to justify my reason for conquering cupcakes shops in D.C.. My next stop: THE Georgetown Cupcakes!