Cupcake Wars

It has to be the biggest event ever in Murphys, California, at least since the brothers John and Daniel Murphys struck gold in 1848. 


My friend, Karen, went to LA to compete in the Food Network Cupcake Wars. Karen has a catering business and cupcake coffee shop, named Lila & Sage, that is located on Main Street in Murphys, now a bustling town of 2,000 residents. She invited 300 of her friends to a golf club restaurant, Camps, in Angels Camp, to view the show. I think everyone knew she'd won, but we all pretended we didn't.  My sister had seen it three hours earlier on the east coast and told me. We had fruit and cheese, and the finest of Murphys were there. Many beautiful women wore gowns (no man wore a tux); my friend Kate and I thought we might be overdressed in a summer dress! There were televisions strategically placed around the crowed room and at 8 o'clock, the show began. We watched breathlessly, and cheered enormously, as one by one, the four contestants, with their assistants, baked and presented beautiful and delicious cupcakes (where is smell-o-rama when you need it?), and as, one-by-one, the four were down to the final two, and the winner, Karen, of Lila & Sage, in Murphys, California! Then we all had cupcakes and all went home, replete with glitter, excitement, drama, tension, and the celebratory chatter of good friends.