Monday, April 19, 2010

The funny thing about homesickness...

Saturday when Steve and I stumbled upon the exciting imported goodies, I decided to pick myself up a Duncan Hines cupcake mix. It was expensive (think $10ish for one box) but it was one of those rainbow mixes that has the colorful bits of who-knows-what-they-are throughout it. You can't get those in Australia, in fact, it's only been recently that you can actually even buy mixes for cupcakes. I know, that's just crazy but totally true. So, I decided to make the cupcakes as a little treat for the girls at work tomorrow and BAM! right in the middle of making those cupcakes, I got incredibly homesick. It was just so comforting to read instructions that said to bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, not a 200 degree Celsius one. To read instructions in cups and tablespoons, not grams. I didn't have to google a single quantity in one of those online measurement converter things!
Everything just felt so...familiar.
Not to mention, I had forgotten what the cupcake mixes at home are like. Seriously, these are the fluffiest, lightest, most tastiest cupcakes I've eaten in over 3 years! AND they had confetti bits, or rainbow bits, as I like to call them:)
Just look how perfectly raised and rounded each one is. How beautifully golden they are, with the pretty little crack over the tops. AND they made a perfect 12 cupcakes, unlike Aussie mixes that make an awkward amount, requiring you to bake 2 batches. Sigh. Seriously, the more I marveled, the more homesick I felt.
It's funny you know, birthdays can come and go, holidays, you name it and I'm fine. I accept that it's all just a part of choosing to live far away. But, you give me a $10 cupcake mix from North America and I'm wanting to call my Mom and chat for hours. I'm daydreaming of baking cupcakes in a cozy kitchen on a freezing cold snowy day in Canada.
Crazy, eh? But seriously, I'm tellin' ya...they are some darn good cupcakes!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn, those look good. You will have to come home to bake for us! You might as well come for a month next time!!

Tracey said...

I can get Duncan Heinz mix for $1. Seriously. One American Dollar. I could ship you a case for the price they are charging you.

And what is it with Australians and their odd batch sizes and no boxed mix? That's just crazy.

Cari said...

$1. That's just depressing!