Soap Opera Supercouples: The Love/Hate Relationships We Love

By Meredith Schorr

 

Back in elementary school, when my friends and fellow classmates were going to Brownie meetings or for ballet lessons after school, I rushed home to watch my favorite soap operas with my Nanny Tessie.  In hindsight, my grandmother probably should have encouraged me to play outside or at least do my homework, but she was so happy for the company, she'd probably have let me watch porn. Ok, maybe not porn, but something not quite "age appropriate."

 

We were fans of the ABC soaps, and back then, there were a lot of them:  Ryan's Hope, All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital and The Edge of Night.  When The Edge of Night and Ryan's Hope were cancelled, new soaps, like Loving and later, The City took its place.  My faves, however, were All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital, especially General Hospital.

 

What sucked me in were the love stories, more specifically, the love/hate stories.  Soap operas are famous for "supercouples" - those couples who are destined to be together but due to circumstances out of their control, break up, dramatically reunite months later, break up again, get back together and the cycle continues indefinitely.  Although I have never watched The Young and the Restless regularly, Victor and Nikki Newman are one of the longest lasting supercouples in soap opera history.  Last I heard, Victor was sleeping with his son's ex-wife who also happens to be his other son's ex-lover.  

 

The circumstances surrounding the breakup of a supercouple can vary but are often one of the following: a) one half of the couple suffers from amnesia, b) another woman claims to be carrying the man's child, c) the woman witnesses another woman (usually a slutty one) throw herself at the man, walks away before she can see him turn her down, ends up sleeping with another man in anger, the two make up without the woman confessing her infidelity and the woman later finds out she is pregnant and unsure which man is the baby daddy, d) one of the characters is believed to be dead but actually living on a secluded island, either in a hostage type situation or suffering from the aforementioned amnesia.  After initial grieving, the "living" half of the couple falls in love with someone else only for his thought-to-be-dead ex-lover to return, interrupt the wedding and ceremoniously faint in the church.  

 

Sometimes the only reason a supercouple is broken up to never be revived is when one of the actors wants to leave the show, for example, Laura of Luke and Laura on General Hospital.   A more infrequent occurrence is when a new character is introduced solely to instigate a temporary break-up but becomes a permanent fixture when the writers (and readers) decide the "temporary" couple has more chemistry than the original couple.  This happened on All My Children when Dr. Maria Santos was introduced to cause trouble between Brooke English and Edmond Grey and viewers ended up liking Maria and Edmund as a couple much better. (The actors who portrayed Maria and Edmund started dating and eventually married, which probably explained their off-the-charts chemistry on-screen.) 

 

Some of my favorite supercouples through the years include the following:

 

Luke and Laura - General Hospital - Remember when they ran away together and hid in Wyndahms Department store trying on all of the clothes and dancing around the aisles?  And when Laura donned the black wig in Beecher's Corners disguised as newlywed Lucy Johnson?  My friend Ronni and I cried tears of joy when the couple finally got married.  Even the late great Elizabeth Taylor was in attendance for the nuptials!

 

Tina and Cord - One Life to Live - Before meeting Cord, Tina was a classic gold digger.  Tina fell genuinely in love with Cord only to discover that he was an heir to a fortune and hence she could have it all - love AND money!  But first she'd bed down a few other people, break up a wedding, get arrested for murder and risk her life in a water fall.  No one said love was easy!

 

Mason and Julia - Santa Barbara - I don't know what it was about him, but I had a wicked crush on Lane Davies when he played brooding attorney Mason Capwell.  A lawyer as well, Julia kept him on his toes, but between alcoholism and a wandering eye (as well as other "wandering" parts), this couple did not have it easy.  When Santa Barbara was cancelled, the writers did the right thing and allowed Julia and Mason to be a couple for eternity. 

 

Jenny and Greg - All My Children - Star-crossed lovers, Jenny and Greg fell in love in High School but Greg was rich and Jenny was from the wrong side of the tracks.  Despite attempts by slutty Liza, Greg's snobby mother and Jenny's seedy father to tear them apart, the two wed.  And then the actress who portrayed Jenny, Kim Delany, decided to leave the show and Jenny was killed off.  Life's a bitch, you get married and then you die. 

 

This list is certainly not exhaustive.  I felt true agony watching many other couples get torn apart during my daily "Love in the Afternoon" ritual, including but not limited to Leo and Greenlee (All My Children), Jagger and Karen (General Hospital), Liz and Lucky (General Hospital), Vicky and Ryan (Another World) and many, many more. 

 

Today, only three soap operas still remain in first run: General Hospital, Days of Our Lives and Young and the Restless, but sadly, I do not find any of them worth watching anymore.

 

What about you other soap opera fans out there?  Who were your favorite supercouples?

 

Meredith Schorr lives in New York City and works as a trademark paralegal at a prestigious law firm. In addition to writing humorous women's fiction novels, her passions include running, spending time with friends and family and rooting for the New York Yankees. Meredith is a member of Romance Writers of America and Chick Lit Writers of The World. Just Friends with Benefits is her first novel. For more information, please visit www.meredithschorr.com.

 

Author Interview: Jillian Medoff

What inspired you to write I Couldn't Love You More?

In graduate school, I took a master class with Grace Paley who said, “Write what you don’t know about what you know.” It didn’t occur to me until a few years ago that this is exactly what I do. I’ll take moments from my own life, from my family’s life, from strangers’ lives and I’ll look at what would normally happen—what I know—and then I’ll consider everything I don’t know, the big “what if’s.”

Like my other two novels, Hunger Point and Good Girls Gone Bad, I Couldn’t Love You More evolved in this way. Here’s what I knew: I’m a mother and stepmother. I have three children. I love them each equally but all differently. I’ve always been a writer who tackles complex themes and risky subjects—I write about the things that people think but never say aloud. So, I was looking for a challenge. If a book has a predictable storyline or familiar situations, there’s little satisfaction in writing it. A woman deciding which man she’ll spend her life with? I’ve read that story a million times, but a stepmother deciding which of her children she’ll save in a freak accident? Now that’s a challenge. I had no idea how I would react if forced to choose between my daughters, and figuring that out became my obsession for the next decade. In fact, even though the novel is finished and published, I still grapple with the question. I mean, how can any of us know what we would do in that situation?

Which of your characters do you identify with the most and why? 

In I Couldn’t Love You More, I identify most with Eliot, the narrator, and also with her mother, a failed novelist. Like Eliot, I am a mother and a stepmother. I work in corporate communications (although my job differs from hers). I understand the need to be “good”—a good mother, a good daughter, a good wife, a good sister—and how that can be such an overwhelming burden. I’ve never been in her situation, but I understand her reactions, which is why I think she’s such a fully developed character. I took a 360-degree view of Eliot and wrote her from all sides. Similarly, her mother is very familiar to me. I’ve experienced a great deal of rejection throughout my career, so I sympathize deeply with Dolores’s plight as well as her need to keep writing, no matter what. To make her realistic, though, I had to make her very different from me as a person. Still, her fundamental desires are all mine: to be taken seriously as an artist, to love her daughters and have them love her, to write what she wants, to live fearlessly.

What message do you hope readers will get from your novel?

This is a very good question, although it’s difficult to answer. To be honest, I’m more interested in crafting an honest, believable story than I am in conveying a message. To this end, I hope that readers will connect with the interior lives of these characters and feel wrung out by the novel’s end.

What do you like the most about the publishing process? What has been a challenge?

Like many writers, I love connecting with readers, especially if they enjoyed the book. Even if they didn’t, it’s interesting to hear other peoples’ points of view. (Full disclosure: I’d much rather hear that a reader liked my work.)  The publishing process is grueling. There is no doubt about it. My first novel did well, my second novel didn’t, and it’s taken me ten years—ten years!—to get this one written, edited, and sold. But I’m here, I did it, and I’m grateful for the second chance.

What are you working on now? 

I’ve been working on a new novel for about a year and a half. It’s a corporate book, set in the HR department of a small, failing company. That’s all I can say, though, because I don’t want to jinx it.

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you or your book?

At my publisher’s suggestion, I wrote a very personal essay about I Couldn’t Love You More called “This is a True Story,” that is bound into the print and eBook versions of the book. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the writing life and may enhance a reader’s experience of the book. In any event, I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you, Jillian!

To find out more about Jillian Medoff, please visit her website and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Book Review: I Couldn't Love You More

Nancy’s Review of I Couldn’t Love You More by Jillian Medoff

Thirty-eight-year-old Eliot Gordon lives in Atlanta with her partner, Grant Delaney, their four-year-old daughter, Hailey, and Grant’s children from his previous marriage, seven-year-old Gail, and teenaged Charlotte. Eliot and Grant aren’t legally married, but that doesn’t prevent them from being a connected, loving family. Despite everything good in her life, Eliot still carries a torch for her college sweetheart, Finn Montgomery, who moved to New York years ago for his career. When he shows up unexpectedly in Atlanta and Eliot runs into him, that chance encounter sends her life into a tailspin. Finn is married, but that doesn’t prevent him from flirting with Eliot, who returns his affection. They embark on a path toward adultery, but a tragic accident during a beach vacation alters Eliot’s life and her family forever. 

I Couldn’t Love You More is a beautifully crafted novel. Poignant and heart wrenching, it addresses what it means to be a family, specifically what it means to be a mother and a stepmother. Relationships are tested and changed forever, and how the characters deal with these changes is what is so fascinating. The characters are well developed, and the story is richly detailed and intriguing, making this novel a page-turner. Eliot is realistically flawed and wrought with guilt over the tragedy. The pain she endures more for her family than for herself is honestly portrayed. There are touches of humor that help to lighten such a dramatic story. Overall, I Couldn’t Love You More is a captivating tale of family, love, loss, and moving forward. 

Jillian Medoff attended Barnard College and received an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU. She has taught at NYU and the University of Georgia. Jillian is the acclaimed author of Hunger Point, Good Girls Gone Bad, and I Couldn’t Love You More. Hunger Point was the basis for the original Lifetime movie starring Barbara Hershey and Christina Hendricks. Jillian’s books have been translated into many different languages, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish, Hungarian, Japanese (abridged), Polish, and German (forthcoming). She currently lives in New York with her family.

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She's So Write: Editing -- The Author’s Test of Sanity

By Lori Verni-Fogarsi

When people imagine being a writer, they often have visions of an idyllic scene in which we nurture our muse, steaming cup of coffee at our elbow, surrounded by quiet and maybe a few birds chirping.

I guess this may be true for some writers, and I’ll admit that I have had my moments, but the more common reality is that we work at a desk covered by mountains of papers, balancing our tepid coffee atop the stack of school forms, bills, and catalogs we’ve been meaning to get to, praying that the cat doesn’t delete all of our work as he tramples across the keyboard in his quest for attention.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love being an author, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But there are some realities that we all must accept—and learn to embrace—in order to save our sanity and turn out quality work.

The editing, for example. I’m fairly certain that being a writer is one of the only careers in which you could literally spend the greater portion of a week deciding if you want to say The Joneses or The Joneses’, which is exactly what I did in creating the official definition for the word Momnesia in my recent novel:

Momnesia (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-

Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.

“What should I do (or not do) with the apostrophe at the end of Joneses?” I dissected, with the help of my online writing group. Do I want it to mean cleaner than the Joneses house is, or cleaner than the Joneses keep up with their house? And in the end, would having the apostrophe there be more of a distraction for the reader? If so, is it worth the distraction for the small nuance of having it mean cleaner than the Joneses keep up with their house?

This is only one example. The editing goes on and on! You need to decide whether or not you alwayshave to say “whether or not,” or whether you can sometimes just say “whether”; Which section to chop out because you know it’s redundant, but you love it because you have a beautifully crafted paragraph in there that you worked on for two days.

“Isn’t that what you have an editor for?” you may ask. Yes and no. The truth is, you need to turn in clean work if you expect to have your work published (anywhere!) in the first place. And unless your editor is being paid a zillion dollars to practically rewrite all of your work, these things need to be ironed out ahead of time.

“But you still love being a writer, right?” Write! I mean right. The Type-A part of me is actually okay with having to sort out these details, and it does give me great pride in my work, despite its ability to make my head spin.

What about you? How do you feel about the editing aspect of writing, whether it be an email, an article, or a book? I look forward to your comments!

Lori Verni-Fogarsi has been a freelance writer, journalist, columnist, and seminar speaker for over fifteen years. She is the author of the novel, Momnesia, contemporary women's fiction,  as well as the nonfiction book, Everything You Need to Know About House Training Puppies and Adult Dogs. Lori is a happily married mom of two, step mom of two more, and has two cats, both rotten. Originally a native New Yorker, she now divides her time between Raleigh, NC, and Lake Gaston, VA, where she is hard at work on her next novel. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, boating, traveling with her husband, napping, and attending her children's many activities. Lori invites you to learn more at her website and enjoy her active communities on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

Book Club Discussion: Build A Man

Please take a look at the discussion questions below and Nancy's responses, then comment with your own responses to some or all of the questions. Also, please include the number of the question(s) with your response(s) so we can all keep track of what is being discussed. Feel free to add any other comments you have that are not prompted by the questions. Thank you for reading Build A Man by Talli Roland and participating in our discussion!

1. Who is your favorite character in Build A Man and why?

I really like Serenity. She’s a great heroine because she’s upbeat and very likable. It’s fun to follow along as she goes after what she wants, and then learns valuable lessons along the way. Her choices aren’t always best, but she eventually does the right thing. Serenity is a realistic character who has flaws and wonderful qualities, too.  

2. Would you be able to go undercover like Serenity did to pursue your dream job?

I would definitely want to pursue my dream job, and I may think about going undercover, but I wouldn’t go through with it. If it means compromising my morals and doing something I know is wrong or something that could harm someone, I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it. 

3. What is the best aspect of Build A Man? Should anything have been improved?

The plot is great and really unique. This novel has great flow too, and it is definitely a page-turner. I didn't like the character Peter at all, but he wasn't supposed to be likable. So, I really don't have any complaints. 

4. What do you think of Talli Roland’s writing style?

Talli writes with wit and charm, and every page is engaging. Her characters are very well developed, which makes for a vibrant, compelling novel. 

5. Did you like the ending? Why or why not?

Yes, I did, even though I figured it would wind up that way. But I was still pleased. I also liked that it was open-ended, which paves the way for the sequel. 

6. Would you recommend this novel? Why or why not?

Of course! Talli is a wonderful writer, and this book in particular really captured my interest. I think chick lit fans everywhere would enjoy it. 

7. Will you read more books by Talli Roland in the future?

Definitely! I’m looking forward to reading the Build A Man sequel Construct A Couple. It will be fun to see what these characters are up to next!

What do you think of Build A Man? 

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My Experience With Spanx: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em, I Gotta Have 'Em!

By Isabella Louise Anderson

Sarah Blakely is the inventor of Spanx, and she was also on the cover of Forbes Magazine’s special issue.  This woman is a godsend to women!

The day after I turned the big 3-0 in March of 2011, everything changed.  I began to notice things were falling – from my face to my ankles.  This couldn’t be happening, at least not yet anyway!  I’m not old enough, right?  While I’ve never minded the aging process (especially because I’m 5’0” and have always wanted to look older), it was the first time that I saw the new me – the adult Isabella.

 
From then on, I started to be very insecure about how my wrinkles looked (no matter how little they were) and began to really take note about my body image.  That December, New Year’s Eve to be exact, my husband and I were going to dinner with another couple and I wanted to get dressed up.  It would be the first time in the past two years that I wouldn’t be staying home in bed and falling asleep before the famous midnight ball drop.  While I could still fit in my favorite little black dress (LBD), I wanted to look a little more toned in my midriff area.  After shuffling around in my drawer, I found a pair of Spanx that my mom let me borrow years ago that I had completely forgotten about.  Perfect, I thought!  So, after sitting down and maneuvering myself on the floor for about fifteen minutes, tugging, pulling and arranging this magic around my body (come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about), I placed my LBD over my body. Wow!  I didn’t look too shabby; in fact, I looked better than I’d looked in awhile.  It was like everything had been snapped back into its place!  I continued getting ready, and the night was wonderful, except for one thing – going to the bathroom wasn’t an easy thing to do.  Just picture me in a small bathroom trying to pull the Spanx back where they belonged!  Besides that little incident, I felt great bringing in 2012 with my loved ones while looking good!

 

Last Saturday, I had an event that I had to go to and wanted to wear a new dress.  Now, while I looked good in this dress, I wanted to wear the Spanx again, so I decided to go buy my first pair.  What an experience it was!

After making my way to the department store, I headed right to the lingerie department to look for Spanx.  I saw a saleslady who I have known for a few years, and asked for her help.  When I pulled the dress that I would be wearing that night out of my purse, she handed me a few different styles of Spanx in my size (so she said), then led me to a dressing room.  When she closed he door, I changed into one out of the two different styles.  The first pair I tried on fit high on the waist.  It was too tight and didn’t work, so I asked her for another size – much to her dismayed expression (sometimes salespeople cane be so judgmental).  In the meantime, I tried on the other one.  Now, this one was by far the least sexy thing I’ve ever tried on.  It looked like something that a pro wrestler would wear – but I liked how it made me trim and toned in all the right places.  This was a winner!  When I slipped on the dress, the straps from the Spanx showed, but I figured that it would work with something else.  Anyway, when the woman brought back the right size of the high-waist pair, I tried them on.  They fit much better and looked great with the dress.  But you know what the best part of these Spanx are?  There's a slit so I could use the bathroom through them!  Whew!  LADIES, SPANX ARE AMAZING!

When I came home, I felt so much better about wearing my dress, but decided to have some fun with the other dresses in my closet, and by the time it was over, my bedroom was a mess!  I’m looking forward to many more experiences with Spanx!

Isabella Louise Anderson is a member of the RWA, and she is the owner of the website Chick Lit Goddess. She resides in Dallas, Texas, where she’s a housewife and mother to 12-year-old cat, Thorndike. A regular contributor at Good Humor Girl, you can read all Isabella's articles and learn more about Isabella.

Book Review: Wedlocked

Sheryl's Review of Wedlocked by Bonnie Trachtenberg

Wedlocked follows the story of Rebecca Ross, a Jewish woman who has shunned the tradition of an early marriage to a nice Jewish man. Instead, she dreams of becoming a movie star, and although she has a series of minor acting roles in commercials and sitcoms, her dreams of becoming an A-lister just never occur. She sees her one big chance for super-stardom crushed under a Hollywood director and her own emotional reactions. She returns home from Hollywood depressed and with the stark realization that her dreams will no longer be realized. 

Soon after, she meets Craig Jacobs. Although she has no desire to be in another relationship, Craig slowly breaks her down until she marries him just a few months later, not fully realizing exactly what kind of secrets he’s been hiding. After a disastrous wedding and a hideous honeymoon, Rebecca finally realizes that Craig is not the man she’s been searching for and that she has just made a terrible mistake.

Rebecca is a slightly calmer version of Glee’s Rachel Berry and Craig is reminiscent of Miles Raymond in Sideways, right before he freaks out about the Merlot. The characters in this novel are done very well, and although it may be a little far-fetched for Craig to completely shift into another person immediately after the wedding, it is still an entertaining and quick read. 

Bonnie Trachtenberg is the award-winning, bestselling author of Wedlocked and Neurotically Yours. She graduated from New York University with a degree in film and television production. Bonnie was senior writer and copy chief at Book-of-the-Month Club and has written seven children's book adaptations. She has also written for three newspapers and penned countless magazine articles. Bonnie currently writes a relationship advice column for loveahappyending.com. She lives on Long Island with her husband, four cats and a dog. For more information, please visit bonnietrachtenberg.com.

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Fitness Alternative: Boozercise

By Laura Chapman

Swimsuit season is upon us. If your body is beach ready, congratulations. You can proudly wear a bikini and relax by the pool without worrying about everyone judging your flabby underarms or cellulite-ridden thighs.

If you are like me and have never met a basket of French fries you did not like, join me for a drink. I know it sounds crazy, but exercise and alcohol are a great mix. After a night at the bar, I discovered boozercise, and I want to share the benefits with you.

Quick disclaimer: I am not a licensed or unlicensed health or fitness professional. What I am is a twenty-something looking to shed a few pounds while remaining a regular at my favorite bar. I do not condone having more than one or two drinks before or during your workout. I also suggest avoiding heavy machinery, including cars, during and after boozercise.

Now on to the work-out.

Exercise 1: Beerlates (Beer plus Pilates)

A great introduction into the boozercise world, Beerlates is both relaxing and invigorating while working your core. Follow a standard Pilates routine, which you can find for free on Hulu or at a local library. Begin with arm exercises, and hold a closed bottle of ice cold beer in each of your hands. This adds a little bit of weight giving you a great workout. After completing these routines, open one of the bottles and sip in between sets. For a 30-minute workout, drink one beer. Allow yourself up to two during a 60-minute routine.  The number of calories you burn off will vary depending on your choice of beer and the intensity of your workout.

Calories burned an hour:Between 270 for beginner and 500 for advanced workouts.

Calories ingested with two 12-ounce drinks: Between 200 calories for a light beer and 500 for a dark beer (go light).

 

Exercise 2: Vodba (Vodka plus Zumba)

This one is super easy, and the rewards definitely outweigh any cons. Take two shots of vodka before beginning your Zumba routine. This will loosen you up and give you the confidence to shake your booty. Perhaps my favorite of the boozercises, you will burn a lot more calories than you ingest. You can do this easily at home with a dance DVD.

Calories burned an hour: 500 to 800

Calories ingested with two shots:About 110 calories

Exercise 3: Jogtails (Cocktails plus jogging)

This will sound crazy, but I never feel more motivated to go for a jog than after a couple of happy hour drinks after work. Load up your favorite bar tunes on an MP3 player and hit the trails. Feel free to sing along. Just ignore the stares from your fellow runners.

Calories burned an hour: 350-plus, depending on your pace.

Calories ingested with two drinks: This depends on what you drink. Stick to vodka sodas and you will log about 150 calories total.

Exercise 4: Walkabout-and-over (A hangover plus walking and lots of water)

This one might be the most painful, but it is ultimately the most beneficial. After a night of drinking, grab a couple of bottles of water and go for a walk. Go ahead and play some music, but select soft tunes. Sunglasses are also a must. You will feel much better after sweating out the booze from the night before.

Calories burned an hour: At a pace of 3 miles per hour, expect to burn between 250 to 500 calories. If you are faster, you will burn more.

Calories ingested with two drinks:Zero. Water is a zero-calorie miracle.

See, it all comes down to science. By burning more calories than you ingest, you are certainly no worse off. You can get a nice workout and a buzz. Now remember, drink responsibly. Two drinks in one hour is plenty.

Feel free to experiment and find your own favorite combinations for exercise and alcohol. If you find one you like, please share.

Good luck!

Laura Chapman is a journalist, blogger, book reviewer and yet-to-be published novelist. In 2010, she founded Change the Word, a blog that follows her writing career and offers book reviews, author promotions and writing tips. Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, she has two completed novels in editing and is hard at work on her third, which she is adapting for a web series. A regular contributor at Good Humor Girl, you can read all Laura's articles and find out more about Laura.

New Release Spotlight: Prosper in Love

Prosper in Love by Deborah Michel was released this month. It is available in paperback and for Kindle and Nook.

A good marriage lasts forever…until it doesn’t. From the start, Lynn and Jamie Prosper were one of those couples who seem meant to be—so content with each other that they barely notice the rest of the world nodding approvingly at their wedded bliss. But sometimes, even in the very best of marriages, all it takes is a mischievous outsider to bring the perfect couple toppling off the top of the wedding cake… True, Jamie has been working so hard and traveling so much as a young lawyer that he hardly has enough energy to show his devotion. Not that Lynn, a junior museum curator, has any reason to question it. But when Lynn’s old college friend turns up at a cocktail party, chinks in their marriage’s previously unassailable armor start to show. Suddenly, without meaning to, Lynn and Jamie have both acquired divorce lawyers. And those benevolent onlookers—meddling in-laws and competitive friends alike—eagerly bear witness to each new misstep. Is love really enough to make a marriage last? 

Deborah Michel, a former magazine editor and freelance writer, has worked on a long list of publications that includes House Beautiful, Premiere, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine. She worked as an editor and nightlife columnist for Avenue Magazine, was the west coast correspondent for Spy, and served as a contributing editor at Buzz. She lives in Northern California where she is at work on her next novel.

Vintage Kitchen: Q&A with Candace Nelson

By Cindy Arora

I chatted with the queen bee of cupcakes, Candace Nelson, founder of the Los Angeles dessert juggernaut Sprinkles Cupcakes, who just debuted the world’s first cupcake inspired ice cream shop and cupcake ATM. A fan of American classics, Candace shares with us her favorite retro housewife, favorite childhood television show, and favorite cupcake flavor.

Which retro housewife would you have liked to sit with after school and share a cupcake and a glass of milk?

Lucy Ricardo! Sharing a cupcake with the spunky and mischievous housewife would be a riot. I’d probably bring her a red velvet in honor of her famous hair!

Cupcakes are an absolute old school favorite. What do you think it is about the cupcake that people seem to connect with? 

Cupcakes are pure nostalgia! People are excited to rediscover something they had always loved from childhood but re-purposed to suit their grown up tastes. 

What is your favorite cupcake flavor? Are you a traditionalist? Or do you enjoy the fun flavors Sprinkles continues to create, like salted caramel or lemon coconut?

Sprinkles dark chocolate cupcakes are my all-time go-to favorite. However, I also anxiously await appearances by our salty caramel and s’more cupcakes each season. 

Your new ice cream shop combines two greats into one, the cupcake and ice cream! Tell us about your new ice cream flavors, the cupcake touches, and what the story is on the Sprinkles ice cream sandwich.

Sprinkles Ice Cream is slow churned to incorporate less air for a densely creamy and flavorful ice cream. Traditionalists will love our vanilla bean, strawberry and coffee flavors while more adventurous foodies may opt for salty caramel, cap’n crunch or butter pecan studded with caramelized pecan dragees. Other menu items include red velvet waffle cones, crumbled cupcake toppings, cupcake sundaes, cupcake shakes and the decadent Sprinkles Sandwich – a heaping scoop of your favorite ice cream flavor pressed between two fluffy cupcake tops! We wanted to give the traditional ice cream sandwich a Sprinkles twist!

Sprinkles has led the way to the popularity of the cupcakery. What’s your take on its place in a neighborhood and what kind of comfort it evokes within a community?

When we opened in Beverly Hills seven years ago, we quickly came to know our regular customers as well as their favorite flavors. When we regularly saw familiar faces for birthdays, special occasions, or just for an afternoon treat, it was clear Sprinkles was becoming part of our customers' lives! It’s funny to think that a little neighborhood boy who was only seven when he first started coming to Sprinkles with his mom is now in high school bringing his buddies by!

What’s your favorite television show today and from your childhood?

Today I love Modern Family, but when I was a kid, it was all about Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties!

Thank you, Candace!

Cindy Arora spent fourteen years working as a  newspaper journalist before switching over to magazines and then to online media. She stumbled into food writing thanks in large part to being a waitress, coffee barista, caterer, bartender, cheese girl, cocktail waitress and shot girl for most of her adult life. Cindy was a staff writer at The San Gabriel Valley Tribune,  The Orange County Register, The Stockton Record, and Sacramento Magazine. She has also  freelanced for Saveur,  Orange Coast Magazine, Edible Los Angeles, Tasting Table, Pasadena Weekly and was dining editor for Fodor’s Travel Guides, Los Angeles. Cindy lives in Los Angeles with her young son, Grey. She is hard at work on her first novel, Heartbreak Cake.

Now and Then: Games of Today and Yesterday

By Meredith Schorr

 

When I was a young child, it seemed my life was a game.  Or at least I spent most of my time playing games! I was never the first kid on the block to have the cool new toy. I had a few Barbie dolls, but Ronni had the Barbie townhouse and Amy had the Barbie pool. By the time I got around to buying a Cabbage Patch Kid, the waiting list was so long that when Toys "R" Us called over a year later and said my doll had arrived, I was in sixth grade and too old to play with it. (I did anyway.) My family didn't have Atari or Intellivision. (We didn't even have premiere television channels!) Thankfully, I had friends with better playrooms than my own because I never felt all that deprived.  I owned some less "hip" games like the board game Life, which I loved! And I spent hours trying to solve the Rubik's Cube, Pyraminx and Rubik's Snake puzzles.  I was incredibly excited to receive the electronic games "Maniac" and Simon (and Super Simon) for my 10th birthday.  I could waste away a Saturday playing card games like War, Gin Rummy, Spit and Crazy Eights. 

When my Grandma Molly visited, we played family games like UNO and Scrabble. The kids in the neighborhood and I played 21, waging our favorite stationary and stickers (my faves included the "puffy" ones and Hello Kitty). My sister and I played Jacks and Chinese Jacks. My sister was a pro! And then there were outdoor games like Statues, Red Light/Green Light, Mother May I, TV Tag, Hopscotch, SPUD, horse, tetherball, running bases and a game naively named by me and a friend as Blue Balls because, well, the sports ball we bought at the grocery store was blue. *blush* My sister and I would also pretend we were characters in popular television shows like The Facts of Life. She was always Blair, of course.

These were the games of my childhood, but as I matured, so did the games I played.  The video arcade became a popular hangout when I was in junior high and Pac Man, Space Invaders and Frogger were among my favorites. Most of high school is a blur for me, and I think I spent more time daydreaming about whatever guy I was crushing than playing games but once I got to college, games were all the rage again.  Drinking games, that is!  Asshole, Up The River, Down the River, Three Man, Beer Pong, The Name Game, Bullshit, Sixes (I can go on and on and on...)  But not all of our games involved drinking.  For instance, during my freshman year, the girls in my dorm and I became fascinated with my roommate's Ouija Board until we freaked out after getting in touch with a "dark" spirit.  

Now that I am a mature (cough) adult, I don't play as many games as I used to.  It's difficult to balance games with working a full-time job, writing and promoting my books, eating, exercising, sleeping, spending time with friends, family and the boyfriend and just general life maintenance, like remembering to replenish the toilet paper.  But I know there are some very popular games out there, like the Nintendo Wii series and Xbox.  As with Atari and Intellivision, I'm pretty certain if I was a kid today, I would not own either of those games and would have to rely on my friends. If I asked nicely (and often) enough, I might have been able to persuade my mom to buy me a smart phone so I could at least play such games as Angry Birds or Words with Friends. 

What about you?  Did you play any of the games I mentioned above?  What are your favorite games of today and yesterday?  

Meredith Schorr lives in New York City and works as a trademark paralegal at a prestigious law firm. In addition to writing humorous women's fiction novels, her passions include running, spending time with friends and family and rooting for the New York Yankees. Meredith is a member of Romance Writers of America and Chick Lit Writers of The World. Just Friends with Benefits is her first novel. For more information, please visit www.meredithschorr.com.