W. Curt Vincent
Editor
Go ahead, admit it … you can’t wait to get hold of a big ol’ watermelon, slice it up, maybe sprinkle it with salt, and enjoy that juicy sweet fruit that all but screams that it’s summertime.
Y’all just said, “Mmmmmmm,” right?
For some time now, I’ve told my wife that I would try anything that contained either cinnamon or watermelon.
It’s necessary now to make a side note: There apparently is a movement afoot, probably sparked by our country’s knuckleheads in California, to slice up a watermelon and squirt mustard on it.
I’m not sure there could possibly be a worse way to ruin watermelon. There’s no use claiming “don’t knock it ‘til you try it.” I will not.
While watermelons have been showing up in grocery stores, at roadside stands and in the back of pickup trucks for a few weeks now, the Laurinburg area can lay claim to having watermelon all year ‘round — thanks to Lisa “The Cupcake Lady” McLean Grooms.
She visits our office at least once, sometimes twice and, on rare occasions, three times each week. She is easily the baking queen of Scotland County, and she will come to our lobby window bearing a wide variety of items depending on the day it is.
Wednesdays are her rare visits, and they are usually necessary when there is a weekend holiday or special event she is working on.
Thursdays is often her plate-sale day, when she brings in full meals of things like baked spaghetti or chicken salad or homemade pot pies and others.
On Fridays — and this is when I really have to try avoiding coming out to seeing Lisa or suffer the consequence of emptying my pockets of all money. This is her cupcake day, which always involves several types, from red velvet to double-chocolate to carrot cake to strawberry to … well, there are many.
But my hands-down favorite is her watermelon cupcake.
If you haven’t yet tried Lisa’s cupcakes, then watermelon might just be the place to start — though it might mean you don’t ever get to any of the other flavors.
My cupcake fantasy, ever since Lisa’s first visit to our office, has been for the watermelon cupcake to grow up into a full-grown watermelon cake. If that ever happens, I will pay whatever Lisa tells me and take the rest of the day off to spend it with that cake.
But let’s just say you might not be a watermelon fanatic like I am. Shame, but there are several other flavors that Lisa will tickle your tastebuds with and entice you to become a regular customer.
You honestly can’t go wrong with any of them.
Beware, however — once you have sunk your teeth into “The Cupcake Lady’s” gems, you won’t be able to hang on to your money whenever she arrives. Believe me, I know.
Listen, over the years I’ve had the good fortune to be around really good bakeries — Cakes & Pastries in Lumberton and Burney’s Sweets & More in Elizabethtown — but Lisa takes the cake, so to speak.
If you’d like to look into Lisa’s baked goods further, you can visit her Facebook page under Lisa McLean Grooms.
And please, don’t ruin your watermelon cupcake with mustard.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or cvincent@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.