Overselling It
July 25, 2011 "Good day, Madam! Please allow me to welcome you to the West Rutheford Winery, Gastropub and Patisserie. Might I offer you a moist towelette?"
"Um, no. I just need to order a cake for my son's birthday, please."
"But of course! We have many, many cakes to choose from. If I may point out on our Ménu dú Jöur, here you see we have our Incredibly Moist Chocolate Cake Uniquely Finished By Hand With Butter Cream Icing."
"As you can see, it is 'Great For Any Occasion.'""Finished by hand? Are you sure feet weren't involved?" [smirking]
[ahem] "Ah, yes, very amusing. Well, Madam, if that is not your particular cup of Earl Gray, might I suggest our Moist Gold Cake Uniquely Hand Finished Tastes Just Like A Real "WATERMELON"?
"Soooo, it tastes like a watermelon?""Ah."
"Ah, but I have saved the best for last! It is the pièce de résistance of our repertoire, the crème de la crème, the horloge de le stylo du la baguette fo di fa fa! Behold!
"A Rich Belgian Chocolate Cup filled with a layer of moist yellow Cake, Fudge, and sweet cream Ice Cream and topped with fluffy white Frosting...
...and a menstrual duo.""Ew."
"As you might expect, this is available but once a month."
...
Thanks to eagle-eyed Wreckporters Dawn C. and Aimee W. who are just glad that last one isn't red velvet.
Oh, and since *I* couldn't figure it out, I thought you might want to know that last label should read minstrel - which is apparently a type of cake. Plus, when Aimee pointed it out to the manager she shrugged, said they were all probably like that, and put it back on the shelf. Yay, quality control!
Reader Comments (89)
AAAAAH! What the heck were they trying to say on that last one? I can't even come up with a reasonable word-switch for that, but it might be that my brain short circuited due to the horror...
...I'm stupefied by that last one, particularly the fact that the manager didn't care. Of course, having management like that does explain most of this blog.
You had me at, "horloge de le stylo du la baguette fo di fa fa!"
OMFG I just died laughing at that.....
*Hehehehe*
A menstrual duo. *giggle* *snort* *cough*
I think the blame for the m-word confusion can be placed squarely on Spell-Check or Auto-Correct. Those programs are POSSESSED!
The border on the first one reminds me of "the Grinch" for some reason...
Menstrual duo. That is really gross. Not a "sweet treat" at all, actually.
And a great fo di fa fa to you too!
Ah that last cake, what a great performance.
Jackie
i was fine till that last one. Caught me off guard and i burst out laughing.
@Marebabe
Yes, yes they are. The voice to text programs are just as bad as spell-check, if not worse. Programs with dirty minds.
Where were these cakes found?
I want to go to there. I'm so in the mood for a "horloge de le stylo du la baguette fo di fa fa!"
hahahahahahahahahaha **deep inhale** hahahahahahaha...that last one is PRICELESS!! I would have bought it just for the sticker!
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow...
Menstrual duo - that is fantastically horrible. It would be even funnier if the cupcakes were red velvet!
ROTFL!!! *gasping for air* LMAO!
I thought your whole French maitre'd routine, and your faux French, were funny enough. But the coup d'grace was definitely the Sweet Treats Cupcakes with Menstrual Duo! Quelle horreur! What is that, a cupcake served with a sanitary napkin?
Your posts just kill me. So do most of your commenters. Thanks for the great laughs!
Wait, Aimee pointed it out to the manager, and she LEFT IT THAT WAY??
Aaaaaaaaaaaauuugh!!!
WV: Where English pigs are kept in "1984," and are fed menstrual duo cake.
Minstrels are sort of like a large M&M, a chocolate button in a candy shell.
http://www.englishteastore.com/magami1.html
A Minstrel cake uses them for decoration.
Chocolate Minstrel Cake
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meriwilliams/4263534289/
That first one... I don't know about "finished by hand"; it looks to me like Rainbow Brite's dog might have scooted across it a few times.
The set-up with the snooty maitre d', followed by your line of "horloge de le stylo du la baguette"-- sheer brilliance. Especially for those of us qui parle français!
I like how they're now advertising "uniquely hand finished". That's one way of dealing with staff's screw-ups...
The squiggles on the first cake look like the excess thread bits when starting and stopping serging. I hope that person sews better than they decorate. But I'm not optimistic.
What's "minstrel duo" cake??? It sings at you?
As for "menstrual duo". Sorry, I haven't quite recovered from Friday's placenta cake…
I just love your blog! The cakes and your commentary always crack me up!!! It's one thing to misspell a cake...but to have typos in the product description?? Oh boy!
wv: beriazo: These cake decorators must live in the beriazo world.
That watermelon cake! I just can't I don't even aaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaa
"Menstrual Duo" sounds like a good name for an all-girl punk band. Just sayin'.
WTF who would buy those O_o
A minstrel duo is actually a milk chocolate/white chocolate striped garnish: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=midnight+delight+coldstone&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=HCi&sa=G&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1135&bih=854&tbm=isch&tbnid=3l08mjWg1rEA1M:&imgrefurl=http://stacy4804.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/profile-a-magical-place-of-delights/&docid=Ie5fJqZlFPHNXM&w=300&h=233&ei=D4QtTr31DtS1tgezifXXAg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=638&vpy=371&dur=110&hovh=186&hovw=240&tx=141&ty=106&page=3&tbnh=164&tbnw=211&start=40&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:40
this cupcake pictured in that link is the one supposed to have the "minstrel duo" on top
Ah, you’ve found it! The first cake was made by the premier cake decorator Jaque L’Finggers, a renown artist of little note whose hand was severed in an unfortunate accident involving a sponge and a little wire twist-tie from a grocery store produce bag. Although they were unable to re-attach his hand, they were able to preserve it. Jaque then took the preserved hand in his other hand, and dipping the fingers in various colors of icing was able to create the kind of masterpiece we see here today -- and hence his slogan “Finished By Hand.” (He once tried it using strawberry preserves, calling this work “Preserves By the Preserved,” but it was not a critical success.) (note to self: I think I’ll insert a joke in here about the nature of the preservative, but make hard to detect: it will be for mel to hide….)
It is not surprising there is some confusion about the second cake, as “WATERMELON” and WATERMELON are often mistaken for the same thing. “WATERMELON” is an artificial flavoring made from the juice of reconstituted dried hand collected banana seeds, a labor intensive process known only to a few. Usually, this is used when flavoring legumes, so the confusion here is totally understandable.
The photo of the last cake is just a matter of poor timing – the girls were on their break.
wv-duptur: all she wanted was a nice cake, but when she saw the wreck, she knew he had duptur....
I just can't read the word *moist* and not think of Dr. Horrible...
Thanks for getting my day started off right! :)
I grew up with three sisters. I've dealt with a menstrual duo--heck, I've been part of a menstrual duo (or trio, or...) At such times, cake was an accessory for the duo, not the other way around.
The manager PUT IT BACK ON THE SHELF???!!!!!???? What? I mean... Who? Why? How can she...?
I have no words. I am sputtering incredulously.
Mojo Jojo makes cakes now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfeaIiDc8kw
On the last cake-
I think it would be a great treat for when your Aunt comes to visit. Aunt Flo.
"Menstrual duo" is my hubby's worst nightmare, when the teenager and I have coordinated cycles. Hormone overload. But did NO ONE along the way actually read that sticker??
@zoomom--OMG I'm laughing so hard at your comment my stomach hurts! Oh wait, maybe I've just got minstrel cramps.
Red velvet...
Crying...
Can't... stop...
I KNOW they're supposed to be watermelon seeds, but all I see is mouse poop.
MENSTRUAL?
*shudder*
#1 is 'great for any occasion' in much the same way as is a blank greeting card. If any guest laughs, the host or hostess can just look down the nose at them and say, "I'll have you know this is uniquely hand-finished."
#2 I'd be happy if it tasted exactly like "CAKE".
#3 The manager's attitude sounds as much an European affectation as the capitalized nouns and the prose. Which, by the way, I heard in the voice of Terry Jones ('Crunchy Frog').
I wonder what would be the result if one ordered a 'minstrel duo' cake. Two figures in Renaissance dress playing lutes, perhaps? Two Vaudeville performers? The possibilities are endless. Or it could be something along the lines of something seen last Friday...
That last on is terrible! But this prompted me to google minstrel cake. About the fourth link down I found this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardholden/178093594/in/photostream/
OMG!
I'm guessing this " West Rutheford Winery, Gastropub and Patisserie" is located somewhere in Ankh-Morpork, discworld?
thanks very nice
Blech! What else is there to say? Good management skills and I am unemployed!! Go figure!
Bon jour, mon petit Bureaux du Change.
@mel at 11:06
LOL. You put the "pun" in punditry.
Oooooh my goodness. Cakes from my previous employers..
The first two cakes are factory produced for Stop and Shop. I can't believe someone found a chocolate streamer *without* a, as we called it, poosmear of chocolate crumbs across the top.
I can't say *what* exactly the "watermelon" cake tasted like, but I can say that ALL of the prefab cakes that go to Stop and Shops have those ridiculous labels on them. I was contemplating making a collage and sending it in before I quit.
I wish I had taken pictures of what our cake tech made. The woman who, I am 98 and 3/4% positive, is solely responsible for all of the supermarket wreckerators in the Tri State area. I might have a picture somewhere of her "Spongebob" aka "Yellow man with herpes."
The last one is from a Cold Stone.
..
I actually have no comment for that.
What?! No lark's vomit or Crunchy Frog cake? Perhaps there is a ram's bladder cup cake with the finest juicy chunks of Cornish ram's bladder? No?
WV: spacente, the absence of placenta on a cake. Please make mine spacente.
From the same patisseur responsible for the famous trouffles merdette, oui? Minstrel cakes are chocolate in whiteface, thanks to the very first Cakewalk ... did we not meet them a while back on CW, along with the St Nicolas racist cakism thread? But, wrong anyway. Those should be Mistral cakes, for the evil vent du Provence that chills the appetite and causes strong souls to hide under the bed and eat cake until the weather changes. Bon appetite! Merci!
w.v. dizings: 1) adj:Just looking at these cakes makes me dizings. 2)n: These cakes were made by dizings because the head ditz was out sick for the day.
Rev W
"Fo di fa fa" AKA "Foux Du Fafa" - FOTC reference? Awesome! That just made my Monday morning.
Isn't the logo on that last one the logo for Cold Stone?
Does anybody else picture the guy absolutely screaming the word "watermelon"? No?
Menstrual duo? Isn't that like when two women are roommates and their cycles sync up? Also known as 'co-menstruating.'
Okay, three things:
You say "sanitary" and all I can think of is the little elephant in Tarzan when he hollers, "Are you sure this water's sanitary? It looks qweshionable to me!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSKKVsSIMjo
@mel - for mel to hide? Oh, shame shame shame on you. But yes, I laughed.
And lastly... what, no WAFER-THIN MINT? It's only wafer thin!
Carmiehead, the Un-Stalker
With the lead from @Rose & Bean's, I took it upon myself to go to Cold Stone's website to check and see if it was mislabeled there as well (because that would have been FUNNY). The, um, unfortunate, phrase has been replaced with "a milk and white chocolate curl". That's definitely better, I think.