“Just Jen” — that’s what I call her. When I met Jen Quaschnik more than a year ago, she had just opened her budding cupcake shop in downtown Puyallup. I meandered in, she greeted me with enthusiasm, and we almost immediately realized we had been separated at birth. I told her I had too many friends already named Jen, and that she needed to come up with a nickname. She insisted that she was “Just Jen,” so that’s what she became.

Since then we’ve conquered dive bars, hit up The Red Hot, and celebrated life together at local fund-raisers. Oh, and by “celebrated life” I mean drank all the free wine.



The other day I followed the scent of alcohol, and oddly enough led me right into Just Jen’s cupcake bakery. Go figure.

 

STEPH DEROSA: How’s business? Have any leftover cupcakes you can’t sell? Maybe a few of those yummy ones you need to get rid of? Hmmm?



JEN QUASCHNIK: Don’t I give you enough free stuff? Every time you come in I give you stuff. And business is great, thankyouverymuch. It’s weird, after Obama had his inauguration, we had some fantastic months.



DEROSA: That’s weird, definitely. What else is weird is that you sell the heck out of your Orange Dreamsicle and Carmel Macchiato cupcakes.


QUASCHNIK: Sure do. What’s even weirder is the fact that those two flavors are most popular with the men.



DEROSA: Really? I figured they’d go for chocolate or vanilla.


QUASCHNIK: I think it reminds them of the comfort of their childhood.



DEROSA: Have you ever tried to make a really weird cupcake flavor like broccoli or pizza?


QUASCHNIK: Ewww, no. That is too weird for me.



DEROSA: I see you have a huge, opened bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream back here. What’s up with that? Did you think I wouldn’t sniff out an open bottle of liquor?



QUASCHNIK: That’s for Puyallup’s Celtic Faire this weekend. We’re doing Irish Cream cupcakes.



DEROSA: I’ll take two dozen.



QUASCHNIK: You do know that the liquor cooks out of them, right?



DEROSA: I’ll be the judge of that. Two dozen, please.



QUASCHNIK: You’re impossible.