my pcc

When I go into London for meetings I usually catch a train which is full of commuters and bulging with PCs. I have my bag and book and maybe some knitting, but never a PC. Today, however, I joined the ranks of worker bees and travelled with my very own PCC.

My Personal Cake Carrier. How else to transport Cherry Buns and Marmalade Buns to a meeting to discuss Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer?

This PCC is brilliant. Genius. It's the most simple yet satisfying design I've come across in a long time and I know from the reaction I get when I bring it to meetings, that I am not the only person who agrees that it is wholly wonderful.

 

It holds 24 cakes/buns safely and securely and, just like a PC, it fits on your lap, on a luggage rack, under a desk. It may not do as many fancy things as a PC, but it allows you to travel in style and read a good book at the same time. I have to thank Liza for alerting me to this gem's existence (it's brilliant to have friends who understand just how important a cake-carrier is) and pointing me in the direction of Crate and Barrel so that I could pick one up when I was in New York.

The book? 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff in a lovely new Virago edition - hardback, textile design on the cover, one of the ten special editions published to celebrate thirty years of Modern Classics. Very appropriate that a book about a love affair with books is available in a very lovely format. Rereading this little classic gave me goosepimples on the train. Something a personal computer could never do.

Comments

[Rose]

What does PC stand for please? The only thing I can think of is personal computer :/

By the way, I have just found your blog and I really love it :D

[thimbleina]

Wow I would really love one of those, but unfortunatley have no plans to go to America in the very near future. Oh well shall just have to admire yours! -What yummy cakes

[mindfulbeader]

I bet it's really the cakes people are going wild about but...

Could you please send the details of this gem to Lakeland Ltd, so they can consider stocking it?

[amanda]

oh, goodness. that really IS brilliant. Thanks for alerting the rest of us, jane! ;)

[Hazel]

Oh that cake carrier is just so nifty. Want. Must dispatch the boy if he is sent to the US for training :)

[Jayne]

Wow! Shame I can't get hold of one of these to transport millions of cakes to school for the cake sale tomorrow. Will definitely have to invest in one.
Ooooh I LOVE 84 Charing Cross Road...

[Rachel L]

Oh wow, I could use one of those! I agree completely with the comment above - perhaps if we all pester Lakeland they will start stocking them?!

[Kathleen C.]

84 Charing Cross Road! Oh, I love that book! How wonderful to be reminded of it... I will have to pull it off the bookshelf tonight for another glorious read.

[Linda]

Helene Hanff is brilliant! I savored her books over one summer. I hated when I was through.

[Roo]

That is fantastic. I NEED one.

[Peg in Kensington, California]

Oh, 84 Charing Cross Road. What memories this book brings of being 21 and in London and falling in love with someone and spending much time in book stores and being given that book.

The brilliant PCC or cupcake carrier is available online from Crate and Barrel. Not wildly expensive (about $22). The shipping to England or whereever might be exorbitant, but the website says it is a Crate and Barrel exclusive.

[Regina in Oklahoma, USA]

I so love '84 Charing Cross Road' --my copy is so well-worn. I'm sure I re-read it at least once or twice a year.

And, any meeting is better for having cupcakes !!

[Phoe]

That is so cool! I wish we could get them here. Although I don't rightly know where I need to carry that many cakes. :)

[Mendozy]

I have been looking for one of these for a very long time (there is a much less stylish version online which the company doesn't ship outside of America). I think I'd almost consider the exorbitant shipping cost given the amount of cupcakes I make and transport on a regular basis (resorting to the strangest form of transport in the meantime). And cherry-topped vanilla cupcakes are my signature, so felt like I was at home the minute I arrived here today.

Really looking forward to the book (I may have mentioned this before). My expectations are high! xxx

[Elizabeth]

Sounds like a lovely day! Books and cupcakes. Hope the meeting was as good. :>

[Françoise]

Count me in as one who loved the witty and poignant 84 Charing Cross Road.

To those who MUST HAVE a pcc NOW, the Brit.Pound to Dollar exchange makes it affordable for you to order one from amazon.com(the US site)

Jane, you are keeping us in suspense with lovely pics of socks and pcc, what about those loud beans? ;-)

[Françoise]

Count me in as one who loved the witty and poignant 84 Charing Cross Road.

To those who MUST HAVE a pcc NOW, the Brit.Pound to Dollar exchange makes it affordable for you to order one from amazon.com(the US site)

Jane, you are keeping us in suspense with lovely pics of socks and pcc, what about those loud beans? ;-)

[Sally McEntire]

So funny because I was just thinking the same thing about my cupcake carrier by Chefmate! Very handy contraption indeed!

[Kat]

My life was so empty, this is what was missing...

[Jen]

That is a very very cool PCC! Much better than an ordinary PC ;) And I just love that book - takes me right back.

[Concha]

Fantastic PCC! My mum is always talking about how she reaaally needs one of those and now I know where to find them! And luckly I'll be in NYC in the Summer :)

[Rebecca]

Oh it's wonderful Jane, just the thing.

I love 84 Charring Cross Road and recently read Helen Hanff's "Letter from New York", a compilation of Woman's Hour broadcasts. I cannot recommend it highly enough, a wonderful glimpse into the life of a New Yorker and her neighbours. I wish I could send you my copy but it is already on loan.

[Roadchick]

I would say you were most likely the envy of everyone juggling a laptop. I know I would rather carry cupcakes than computers!

[trashalou]

That is a very fabulous carrier. I bet all of those commuters were simply pea-green that their bags only carried normal old P.C.s

84 Chaing Cross Road is a best beloved favourite.

[heide]

I apologize if you've addressed this before, but is there any plan to republish your books for the US market with American ingredient measurements? I can figure out how to measure in UK figures, sort of, but I don't know how to convert the oven temps. Probably I could find it somewhere through Google I suppose? Hmmm.

[Juti]

It never ocurred to me that they wouldn't have these in England! They're so common here... but then, it's hard to get proper clotted cream in the US. I guess there's a trade-off, eh?

Has anybody tried Amazon? They seem to have a large variet of things for sale.

[Kirsty Wallace-Horan]

What a gem! I've got cake carrier envy! You always make me smile, so thank you.

[ThomasBHickey]

A link to some of Hanff's books: http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n50-17710

--Th

[Nicola]

Jane, I love it when you blog about books! I've just read the VMC Helen Hanff as well. Oh, to discover what happened to Cecily Farr. I think I may invest in the VMC Barbara Pym, too.

[Milly]

I have to remember to stop reading your blog before lunch, it makes me hungry.

[dee]

84 Charing Cross Road is an all-time favorite of mine. My copy is embarassingly worn. I first stumbled across it because of the movie with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. Thanks for reminding me I need to find another copy and enjoy it again.

[Michele]

I really really need one of those cupcake carriers.

[Domestically Challenged]

Blogging always reminds me of 84 Charing Cross Road - something about like minds meeting even though there are sometimes 1000's of miles between us.

[Danette]

Hurray! Just yesterday I was thinking I needed to find something like your wonderful PCC. I have been carrying my cupcakes on a large baking sheet with toothpicks stuck in a few cakes to keep the always fluttering Saran Wrap off of the frosting! Needless to say it doesn't look so great and my cupcakes arrive looking worse for the wear. Of course, they don't start out looking quite as lovely as yours do anyway, but I am working on it.
Anyhoo--hi-ho hi-ho, it's off to Crate & Barrel I go!
Thanks.

[Joan]

Jane, Don't know if you heard it but the Radio 4 comedy As Told To Craig Brown had a wonderful Blyton spoof 'Five Go Morbidly Obese'. It recurs throughout the half hour programme as they eat more and more goodies. Available on Listen Again for a couple more days yet.

[Clare]

I looked with envy at your Basil seedlings - living in the still frozen wilds of the Pennines mine are not quite as forward. I have had a love affair with Helene Hanff's book for years. My dear husband would like to know if you could deliver cakes here in the delightful cake carrier - so he can sample them!

[Kutri]

Wow, so the cover for your book is ready and everything! When is it going to be released? I have a bit of the same problem as Heide, since we use kilograms and desiliters in Finland, but I bet there are several calculators on the net that can do the work for us.
'84 Charing Cross Road' - I'm sure I'm shocking you but I've never heard of it! (or then, perhaps I have, during the literature lessons, but I just can't remember. Perhaps I should try to find it next time I go to the library.

[Karen]

Just picked up 84, Charing Cross Road at the library and sat in the sun on a lawn chair in my backyard and finished it. Spectacular. Thank you so much for for inspiring posts. Love them. (I love cupcakes too.)

[JayeL]

Glad to know there is another brand out there. Someone gave a Martha Stewart version and all the cupcakes flip over in transit. very frustrating!

[Kutri]

I posted you a comment where I said I had never heard of Hanff's book, but yesterday I realized that ofcourse I have, I have even read it! It has a totally different title in Finnish, "Dear Old Book".

[Charlie]

Oh Jane! Surely you used to have a PC when you were European brand manager for Malibu?

[Lizzy]

Ye gods, absolutely brillopads. Although I must say I am more intrigued by the buns than the carrier. How do you make them?? My cupcakes always look so sad and ordinary. You make them look exotic and...and...Oh I don't know, just absurdly lovely.

I MUST buy your books, I suppose!

[Lizzy]

For anyone who had the same question I had about the cupcake recipe, I have found it on JaneBrocket.com, which was just barely launched. If you need the American conversion, I have converted it for my Yank family and you may borrow it. Just ask me...my name links to my blog, where you may comment on any post and I will answer :-)

[Tibrikot]

PCC !!! Excellent !!! just love this story, I'd love to travel both with my PC (I'm kind of a geek !) and a PCC because I just do love cupcakes !

[Andrew]

Just to save trips to Crate and Barrel, or expensive Air Mail freight, it's worth knowing that Tupperware has a range of personal cake carriers which are available in the UK. By all means contact me for a catalogue! Best wishes, and have just ordered Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer from amazon.com