The Cluttered Pantry

This morning while Zhanna was at pre-school I tossed Elena (well, not actually tossed) into the car and we drove up to the far north side of Chicago to go check out a teachers supply shop that I had been reading about. We’ve only been home from our 21 hour road trip extravaganza of crossing the mid-west during a major storm so getting back into the car wasn’t exactly my idea of super fun, but I want to actively be “unschooling” the Wee Kahunas starting in October so we needed to head out.

Of course when we got to the store they weren’t open yet. Now what? Wait, didn’t I just read a review by Natalie Slater from Bake and Destroy for Angel Food Bakery listing it as in this neighborhood?

Oh yes!

Thank you iPhone and your google map wonderousness for saving me once again from my lack of any sense of direction, and ability to plan ahead.

Thank you cupcake gods for placing the school supply store, that I forgot to check opening times for, within walking distance of the cutest shop I’ve seen in a long time.

Thank you Angel Food Bakery for making yummy yummy treats like Airstreams (their home made version of Twinkies, made with a buttercream and marshmallow, I think? filling that is wrapped in aluminum.)

And, thank you for Marshmallow Igloos – devil’s food cake with a buttercream center and a spiral of marshmallow on top (the treat that Elena ran to when she saw the bakery case even though she tried to swipe my airstream the second I picked up my iPhone to take a quick photo of our table of yum!)

The shop is beyond cute. Nice and bright, with plenty of seating, and a display of every Easy Bake oven you have ever seen (including one exactly like my Avocado Green version! You can see it in the far right corner in my fuzzy iPhone pic)

Elena loved the toy box, especially a chance to play with Mr. Potato Head sans big sister trying to help, and she tried to take home the smaller kid forks they gave her to use.  The Fab counter girl, who was both friendly and helpful, gave us a small-hand sized water cup that was much appreciated.

We stuck to the sweet stuff, but it looks like they serve some pretty great breakfast options as well as lunch, and I grabbed a business card because they do specialty cakes and catering.

All in all a great way to save a morning that had started off badly, after we finished our treats and walked back to the shop they were ready to sell us tubs of play doh and special markers for writing on the windows and stickers and whatnot galore.

The pink box of more Airstreams, and Malted Milk cream topped Chocolate Cupcakes that I brought home was gobbled up in minutes by the rest of the family.

If you are in Chicago, you MUST check this place out. (I used my iPhone to grab some quick pics between bites, hope they aren’t too low rez to convey the awesomeness that is Angel Food Bakery!)

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