New Year, New Woe: The Death of Penny Licks

Dear 2010,

2009 was particularly shitty

and I had some hope for what you were bringing to the table,

after celebrating New Years with 

pina coladas & the Puerto Rican masterpiece of a concoction: coquito

I thought that maybe you were on my side,

I thought wrong because 

ruin came to my holidays

Penny Licks is closed, for good

I get unusually attached to cutesy, kitsch 

dessert joints in my favorite neighborhoods

my first love was Sugar Sweet Sunshine

the best cupcake shop nestled on Rivington

where the pistachio cupcakes are to die for

and the soft, falling apart array of arm chairs

just suck you in

last year, around the New Year it was closed for a week

My heart sunk at the thought of its demise

no more Bob cupcakes with 

chocolate almond icing and no more strawberry cupcakes with sweet

cream cheese icing and 

heart sprinkles that gave me butterflies

luckily, I was not aware of their vacation period that fell right around Christmas, and my 

heart's joy was fulfilled when I could once again relish in their cupcakes galore

I loved this little place so much

I wrote about it in my Vassar college application & took my interviewer there

I like to think she loved me for me, but she might have just been wooed by the

decadent pumpkin cupcake I ordered for her 

anyway,

my life is ruined, for Penny Licks has left me

Williamsburg is weeping

the days of stopping in after hitting up my favorite vintage stores & the Salvation army 

are OVER

no more tiny, one dollar cones in assorted vegan flavors

that are actually better than real ice cream

or towering, lumpy scoops of vegan cookie dough 

topped high on a simple sugar cone

to scoop up with my vegan banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookie

yes, I said it: banana chocolate chip oatmeal cookie

a huuuuuuge award worthy cookie with fat chocolate chips and 

great banana flavor

my heart is sobbing at the mere memory

all I ever needed was a new pair of boots, a beautiful cone and a lumpy cookie and I was set

now where will I find that same love?

absolutely nowhere

never will I be able to soothe my ice cream craving & vintage obsession at the same time

so my verdict is that life sucks

and the world is going to the goons

that's the only way I can describe my feelings

because if I cannot have tasty vegan treats at my heart's desire

what can I have?

surely not happiness.