Merry Christmas!

It's the morning of Christmas Eve, and I wanted to send a little note to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

I've been MIA the last couple of weeks, since I've been working at closing out my time at PubCo. I didn't have a ton of work to do - mostly some research projects - but my brain had officially checked out by the time I registered for classes. It started to feel real - that I would be leaving, and that I would be starting on this new career path...and I just wanted to get started! So I said my goodbyes and my "let's have lunch" promises to people I wanted to keep in touch with, and that was it!

I only cried a little on my last day, and it was for the people I would miss seeing every day. And since my last day, I've been a little more emotional than usual, because my grandmother passed away. She was an amazing, strong Christian woman who took care of her family and was madly in love with my grandfather (who passed away a couple of years ago). She had Alzheimer's and we were expecting that things would get progressively worse, but it was still sad when we heard the news. But our joy is that she's hanging out with her husband in heaven!

So it's been a mixed bag this year for me for Christmas. It's been hard getting into the spirit of things with everything else going on, but there are little moments that are helping a lot. I taught a cooking class last week that ended with Christmas cookie decorating and it was silly and fun and I laughed until I cried. We put up our Christmas tree (which we named Bjorn), and it is completely lopsided. It rained for 5 days straight and even though I was absolutely sick of it by the end of it, I loved seeing my friends' pictures of the rainbow that happened on the last day of rain - everyone was so overjoyed that the sun had come out!

And this little thing - the lemons on my dwarf lemon tree decided to finally ripen this week. They'd been hanging out for a couple of months, waiting for just the right time, and they're finally ready. So I made a lemon glaze for some Christmas cookies and will be making lemon-walnut biscotti for New Year's. It's funny to me that when I'm supposed to be making spice cake and gingerbread (neither of which I'm a huge fan of), I've got these bright yellow orbs to cheer me up instead.


Next week, look out for a recipe for a new pasta sauce I've developed - it's perfect for a cold night in when you don't want to work too hard. For now, I'm off to finish my Christmas baking (Mexican Wedding Cakes and a Caramelized Apple Pie), and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

I'm In!

After a night of very little sleep and a morning of refreshing the page every 15 seconds or so, I was finally able to register for classes a week ago! I got everything I need for my first semester which I'm thrilled about, even if it means that I have to take a 7am lab since all the other sections were full. My class list is as follows:

Sanitation
Intro to the Food Profession
Culinary Fundamentals (lecture and lab)
Basics of Baking Lab
Basics of Pantry Lab

And then I have to do 27 hours of catering every semester to get that practical experience I need.

For the next 8 days, I'm still at PubCo, trying to finalize some projects and leave on good terms. I'm planning another cooking class for the evening of my last day and have three new interested people to add to the mailing list. Between December 18 and January 24 (when classes start) I'll be doing some projects around the house that I've been needing time to do, buying my uniforms, knives, and textbooks, practicing recipes, and getting mentally prepared for this major life shift. It will be really strange to not come into the office every day, but so wonderful as well!

A Turkey Tutorial

With Thanksgiving a couple of days away, I thought I'd send along some turkey directions. My sister just made her first turkey for an event her church group hosted at a retirement home, and wanted step-by-step directions on what to do. It's no Butterball Talk-Line, but she told me it made the process really easy. AND, once you know how to make a turkey, you basically know how to make a roast chicken (you'd just need to shorten the cooking time).

If you're making a turkey this year, good luck and have fun. If not, I hope you'll try it (or a roast chicken) in the future, and let me know how it turns out! Happy Thanksgiving!

A Turkey Tutorial:

First, make sure your turkey is defrosted. If you get your turkey a few days before Thanksgiving, you'll want to leave it in the packaging and in the fridge until the day of - that's the best way to defrost. However, if you don't plan ahead and get your turkey a day before or the day of (too scary), you'll want to defrost it in water in the sink. Place the turkey in the sink, cover it with cold water, and let it sit for 20 minutes. Drain the water, and do it again and again and again until the turkey is defrosted.

Plan backwards from the time you need the turkey to be ready. See the grid below to plan:









So if you have a 22 pound turkey and you're not stuffing it, you'll need 4 - 4 1/2 hours for it to cook, and you'll want to leave a little time for the juices to settle. If you need to have it ready to eat by 5 pm, plan on taking it out of the oven at 4:30 - so plan on putting it in the oven at about 11:30 to be sure it's done in time.

Preheat the oven to 450, and then drop it to 350 when you put the turkey in. That makes for a nice brown skin.

To prep the turkey, first you'll need to take out the gizzards. These will be in a little plastic bag in the cavity of the bird. They might have also put the neck in the little hole on the other end of the turkey instead of with the other (smaller) gizzards (there should be a flap of skin covering the hole). If you want to use these to make a stock later (which is also really easy), put them in a ziploc and put them in the freezer. You might also find some twine in a little plastic baggie on the outside of the turkey wrapper - this is to make a little carrying case for the turkey, so you can transfer it to the serving plate from the pan. Keep that for later.

Get your roasting pan ready. If you have a pan with a rack, it would be a good idea to brush down the rack with some olive oil, so the skin doesn't stick. If you don't have a roasting pan, and are using a foil pan, put it on a baking sheet so that it's stable (the foil pan isn't stable enough on it's own).

At about 15 minutes before you need to put the turkey in the oven, get it out of the fridge (or water, if you're doing it that way and really let it drain). Take some paper towels and pat the skin dry. This will help you get a nice crispy skin (the more water on the bird, the less crispy it gets). Once the turkey is nice and dry, put it on the pan or rack, with the legs pointing up - that's breast side up. You'll want to take that twine that came with the bird and wrap it under and around the bird so that it forms a little carrier at this point - test it out to make sure it works. As well, if you have kitchen twine, wrap the legs together - that way, the inside will cook evenly (instead of letting all the heat out of the gaping hole) - if you're stuffing the turkey, stuff it before tying its legs together.

If you're stuffing the bird, you'll do it at this point. Make sure your stuffing is COOKED and COOLED. Putting uncooked stuffing in a turkey will make the stuffing cook, but it will also make the stuffing expand and you might end up with an exploding turkey. Putting warm stuffing in a turkey will just breed bacteria. Your best bet is to make your stuffing the day before, and to leave it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

When you're stuffing your turkey, you want to make sure that whatever spoon you're putting inside the bird isn't touching your "clean" stuffing - that is, the stuffing that you'll serve alongside the turkey. So, use one spoon to move some stuffing into your "dirty" bowl, and then use another spoon to move it from a "dirty" bowl into the turkey. That way, you don't contaminate your "clean" stuffing.

Once that's all done, take some olive oil and brush it on the bird with a pastry brush. That will ensure a crispy skin. Try to get under the bird as well. Remember that anything that touches the bird should not be put back into an original container - so pour some olive oil into a small bowl and use that. Then, put some salt and whatever other seasoning you're using in a bowl. Take a half a lemon and mush it around in the spice mixture, and then use that to rub the bird. You want to get as much of the bird with this rub as possible, so keep putting the lemon back in the mixture until it's all covered. It doesn't have to be thick, but you want to make sure it's covered.

Then the turkey goes in the oven. Remember that it's preheated to 450, and you should drop it to 350 when you put the turkey in. You'll want to keep it uncovered until you get a nice brown skin. Once it's nice and brown, baste it, and then cover it with foil. That will make sure that all the moisture stays in. I usually baste every 20 minutes to half an hour, and just start at the top and let the liquid run down.

When you've got about a half hour to go, stick a meat thermometer in one of the thighs (that's the darkest part of the meat, which takes the longest to cook) and see what the temperature is. Make sure the thermometer doesn't touch the bone, as that will throw things off. The thigh should be around 180 - and that's when you'll want to take the turkey out, get it nice and covered, and let it sit to juice up some more.

And that's it! Easy, right?

For a roast chicken, you probably wouldn't stuff it, but you'd do everything else the same. Your roasting time would be cut to about 1-2 hours.

Pro Pastry Class - Weekend 2

A few photos of this week's pastry creations (the ones I actually worked on)...

Chocolate Angel Food Cake with raspberries and creme brulee topping (and yes, I got to use a flame thrower to toast the top of the cake)

Chocolate peanut butter cups, which were so easy to make, it's not worth it to buy Reese's anymore.

Pecan pie, which I normally don't care for, but Mary's is so not sugary sweet that I actually like it a lot.

Salmon en croute, which is a large piece of salmon dressed up in (homemade - not store bought!)puff pastry and baked, and which is absolutely delicious.

Our final spread on Sunday afternoon. In addition to some of the items I made, there's also lemon meringue tarts, caramelized apple pie, three differerent chocolate cakes, a lemon chiffon cake, tiramisu, and a few other items.

Pro Pastry Class

I don't have a ton of time to write, but I wanted to tease you with this photo of a couple of the baguettes I and my classmates made at my Pro Pastry class this weekend (I think mine is the one on the right, but I'm not completely sure - it could also not be in this picture at all, but on a different table entirely. However, I did make one!). I'm having such a good time, and learning a ton!

For instance, did you know that the reason you should always use unsalted butter in baking is because every butter company salts their butter differently, so you lose control over the amount of salt you include. If you use unsalted butter and then add in salt yourself, you regain that control.

AND, I'm sure many of you know you should always use large eggs in baking, but did you know why? The thing to think about here is the whites of the egg - that's what adds liquid to your recipe, and most recipes are made specifically for large eggs. So if you use a medium egg, you end up with a drier batter. If you use a jumbo egg, you end up with a wet batter.

I also learned that I touch my pie dough too much (which melts the butter and makes for a less-than-flaky crust), so that's something to work on. But I also learned that I knead bread dough especially well (our instructor, Mary, actually made all the other students watch my technique) and whip a good pastry cream.

I have also taken on a quasi-mentoring roll for my class partner, who has hardly baked before and tends to approach baking as you'd approach regular cooking (that is, with non-exact measurements and a "that's good enough" attitude (seriously - she actually said that a few times), which is not acceptable). So I've stepped in to try to help a little, and she seems to appreciate that. There may be an opportunity for me to work as a TA in one of Mary's future classes (all of our current TAs are old students of hers, and Mary mentioned it as a general point of discussion) so I think it's a good sign that I'm already doing that with my own partner.

Mary is great - very down-to-earth and extremely knowledgeable. She trained with Nancy Silverton (an amazing baker) and worked at Wolfgang Puck's Spago for 20 years. She said she likes teaching better than anything she's done in the past, which is evident in the way she works with all of us. We're all at different experience levels, and she's put everyone at ease and made sure we're comfortable asking questions and making mistakes that we can learn from.

The weekend was a little nuts - we started with a Friday evening class from 6-9:30, then had class from 9-5 on Saturday, and then were supposed to go from 9 to 4:30 on Sunday, but Mary could tell we were all just exhausted (she did a demonstration of how to make the layers for a chocolate chiffon cake, and everyone just sat there and stared at her, instead of getting up and looking in bowls and asking questions), so she let us stop at 3:45 and do a little shopping in the store attached to the kitchen.

Our homework this week is to use her recipe and demonstration to create our own chocolate chiffon cake layers. We'll bring them in on Friday to have them assessed, and she'll be able to tell us what we did wrong or right. We'll then use those layers for the cake we'll be decorating sometime over next weekend.

It's hard work, but it's so much fun, and so interesting - and it's made me even more confident about my decision to make a career out of this.

School Update

Quick note about culinary school...I'm in! My registration appointment is December 1 at 8am - a very early time on the very first day! So it's looking good!

Thanks to all for your continued support and interest. I'll be sure to let you know which classes I sign up for! Oh the options...4-hour baking lab...2-hour lecture on the history of food...horray!

Support Systems

I've really been amazed at the amount of support people have been giving me when I tell them about my future culinary-related goals. Everyone, almost without fail, has said that my plans make perfect sense for my personality, my passion, and my values. I've heard a lot of compliments about my skills in the kitchen, along with "well, you like to make sure people are happy and satisfied, so now you can do that with food'. A few (perhaps more business-savvy) people have noted that I'm organized, plan well, and have developed good marketing and promotional skills at PubCo to draw on for a new business venture. If you know me, you know I love being complimented - so I love hearing all this!

The support is coming in more tangible ways as well. My sister has come with me to do some bakery research, and sends articles and links to other bakeries we should visit. One friend is brainstorming bakery names, another offers advice as a business owner herself, other friends take photos (and videos during cooking classes - ugh), and still others have offered to assist with marketing, wrapping, and even delivering my baked goods. Even my parents, who I thought might be a little nervous for my and Mountain Man's future, have been exceptionally supportive - buying a book on Lebanese baked goods for me, helping me figure out recipes, and offering suggestions and ideas for my potential future bakery.

I do have one person to win over. Already risk-averse, my mother-in-law seems quite concerned that I will ruin us with my new endeavor. OK, that may be a bit dramatic, but at dinner yesterday, she spent more than a few minutes telling me about bakeries and restaurants she knew of that had failed and neighbors that had started a restaurant and had to work constantly to make ends meet - and even with all that hard work, that restaurant folded as well. She also let me know that she was the only person in her Bible study that brought treats from a "real" bakery - the other members of the group bring things they either make themselves or that come from Costco. She prefaced all of this by saying "I don't mean to scare you..."

The funny thing is that those stories just fueled my desire to open my bakery and do a kickass job at it. I don't do well with people telling me something will be difficult or impossible - comments like that make me want to prove them wrong. So in a weird little way, I'm getting support from my mom-in-law as well. And much of her concern is just risk-related, not me-related.

But along with wanting to prove people wrong who think things will be difficult, I also know I would be a lot more hesitant to move forward if I didn't feel that my support system really supported me. The response has been so whole-heartedly positive that it makes me more confident that I can be successful.

I heard a great quote on a random PBS show a few weeks ago that went something like "All you have to do is redefine success." I think success can certainly come with money and prestige and being able to get everything you desire. But I think that success has everything to do with working hard, planning well, getting honest and solid market feedback, taking a risk at something you love, feeling confident that you've done everything you can to be successful, and knowing that the people you love and respect are behind you.

Cooking Class #2 with Recipes

I taught my second cooking class Tuesday night, with two new students joining the original group. I try to get people who aren't so familiar with cooking involved in things, so it's a lot of me saying "You add in the spices" and "You mash and then pass to someone else" and "You come and stuff this manicotti, even if you just got a manicure". Everyone seems to enjoy being involved, and it's great to be able to eat something we've made together.

Recipes from this last class are below, along with some great photos taken by photographer-extraordinare (and student) Ashley Conlon. You can see more of her photos here.


Squash, Sage, and Ricotta Cannelloni
Adapted from Everyday Food

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 ¼ hour

Serves 4, but doubles easily.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for baking dish and sheet
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 packages of manicotti
½ butternut squash (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 shallots, chopped
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp finely chopped fresh sage leaves, plus 8 to 10 whole leaves
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups ricotta (15 ounces)
¾ cup grated Parmesan

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly oil a 2-quart or 8-inch square baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Using tongs, transfer pasta to a lightly oiled rimmed baking sheet.

Add squash to boiling water and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain squash and transfer to a bowl.

In a small skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add shallots, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl with squash and add 2 tablespoons milk, chopped sage, and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper. Mash with a fork until a rough purée forms.

Stuff manicotti with squash mixture and place in baking dish. In a bowl, combine ricotta, ½ cup Parmesan, and ¼ cup milk and season with salt and pepper. Spread ricotta mixture over cannelloni and top with ¼ cup Parmesan. Bake until warmed through, about 25 minutes. Broil until top is browned, 2-3 minutes.


Meanwhile, in a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high. Fry whole sage leaves until crispy, 15-20 seconds. Drain on paper towels. Serve cannelloni topped with fried sage.

Note:
The original recipe called for wide lasagna noodles (the ones without the ridges on the edges), but I always have trouble finding these, and find that manicotti works well (you're rolling the lasagna noodles into tubes anyway - why not use something tubular to start with?). If you want to try lasagna noodles, you'd just place about 1/4 cup of the mixture into the middle of the noodle and then roll up and place into the baking dish seam side down. A friend (and advanced student) suggested that jumbo shells might also work.

Tarte Tatin
Adapted from a class I took by the baker at Gourmandise Desserts

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 lbs Granny Smith or Pippin apples
2 Tbsp water
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
One sheet puff pastry

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Rinse the apples and slice into 8-10 pieces each, keeping the skins on. Sprinkle with lemon juice, if desired.

Place the sugar and water into a heavy metal 10x4 round cake pan and place it on the stove, with the heat on low. You are making a caramel, so you MUST NOT STIR while the sugar and water come together (otherwise, the sugar will begin to form into large clumps, and it will turn into a big lump of hot sugar). You’ll see the sugar start to melt and turn gold, which is what you want. If any sugar crystals attach themselves to the sides of the pan, wipe it down with a wet pastry brush.

Bring the mixture to a golden caramel color. All of the sugar should be integrated at this point. Add the butter and stir. Remove from the heat.

Arrange the apples over the caramel in a tight spiral. Return the cake pan to the stove and continue cooking over low heat, until a darker caramel color appears and the apples soften (about 5 minutes).

Take the puff pastry and cut out an 11-inch circle (you can use the cake pan to do this before you put it over the heat). Place over the apples, tucking the dough in on the sides.

Bake for 30 minutes until the dough is golden. Turn the tart over onto a plate, and enjoy. This is definitely best served directly out of the oven, so don’t wait too long!

Variations:

1. You can swap out the apples for any hearty fruit. Try pears, stone fruit (peaches, plums, etc), or even persimmons.
2. Try adding black pepper to the apples when you’re cooking them in the caramel. It adds a little unexpected punch.

Dénouement

I've been MIA the past couple of weeks, feeling very unsure about what to write. If my life was a series of mini-novels, my resignation would have been the climax of this particular novella. From Wikipedia:

The third act is that of the climax, or turning point, which marks a change, for the better or the worse, in the protagonist’s affairs. If the story is a comedy, things will have gone badly for the protagonist up to this point; now, the tide, so to speak, will turn, and things will begin to go well for him or her. If the story is a tragedy, the opposite state of affairs will ensue, with things going from good to bad for the protagonist.

After the climax, you have the falling action and then, the dénouement which

comprises events between the falling action and the actual end of the drama or narrative and thus serves as the conclusion of the story. Conflicts are resolved, creating normality for the characters and a sense of catharsis, or release of tension and anxiety, for the reader.

A good writer doesn't spend a lot of time on a dénouement - at that point, the story is pretty much over. And that's exactly how I felt after my resignation went live. For a few days after, I felt exhausted and slept a lot more than usual. I visited my chiropractor, who was astounded at how bad my back was, and attributed my imbalance to the stress of the previous few weeks, before trying to massage it away. I baked for a few parties, started to plan my pies for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving party we're throwing in early November, and put together the lesson plan for my second cooking class.

I very much feel as though I'm returning to normal, but normal feels a little weird! At some point, all of the frustration, anger, and stress began to feel like normal. Now that it's all disappearing, I don't really want to talk about it anymore, especially not with the passion and fervor that I had before. Now, it's just something that happened and it's moving-on time. This particular story is over.

On to the next! I'll get my appointment to register for classes in a couple of weeks, and will be looking forward to that. I also have a series of professional baking classes in mid-November that I'm very excited about. Tomorrow, I'll be teaching that cooking class, and I'll post some recipes from that later this week. I imagine this blog will be shifting to focus more on food, school, and future buisness opportunities, and much less on PubCo, as my focus begins to shift in real life.

Is there anything in particular you'd like to see recipe-wise? Any parties you're obligated to bring food to and need some suggestions? I hope you feel free to send a note or a question any time you think of it!

New Adventures

Some big things have happened in the past couple of weeks. Mountain Man got a job that will keep us in the area (and is better-paying). I had a couple of important conversations with my boss that have lead to me writing a letter of resignation.

It wasn't a bad situation - she asked me if I was any happier doing my job and I said no, I wasn't but I was going to continue doing my job until I found out whether I got in to culinary school. She was very supportive and said that baking was a perfect fit for my personality and for what I find to be important in life (not just baked goods, but also getting people together and making them happy). So that was encouraging. I went away to Arizona (see here), didn't have a great time, and came home to an invitation from my boss to have coffee and talk about "my situation" (to which I replied "it sounds like I'm knocked up in the 1800s).

During coffee, she said she had been thinking about what we had discussed, and she said she kept getting stuck on one question - "If she doesn't get into culinary school, would she want to remain at PubCo?" And that was the question she posed to me. It was a question I'd not truly asked myself, and she suggested I take some time to think about it - but that if my answer was "no" that her suggestion (as a friend) would be to come up with a Plan B and go ahead and resign now. And this wasn't done to push me out, I know that - but to get me to think about my options if I had to wait to attend culinary school. Stay at PubCo (bleh) or do something else (horray).

I took the weekend to discuss with Mountain Man, my parents, my sister, and my best friend. They all thought me resigning from PubCo would be just fine. With MM's new job and raise, we would be able to get by. I could freelance or work for my dad or get a part-time retail job. Or, the Plan B I landed on and am most excited about - I could figure out how to sell baked goods (pies, really) at farmer's markets and do that a few days a week. Doesn't that sound exciting?

So this past Tuesday, during my one-on-one with my boss, I told her that she was right. That the responsible thing for me to do for myself and for PubCo (since I didn't keep my mouth shut in the first place) would be to go ahead and resign. She said "I knew you were going to say that, but I was hoping you weren't" and was visibly saddened by my decision. She said she remains supportive, but I'm sure there's a little part of her that could have figured out how to make me stay. I wrote my letter on Wednesday, giving PubCo two months to find my replacement - my last day (still awaiting approval) will be December 17.

I'm so relieved. After sending the letter, I immediately felt exhausted - as if all the stress and frustration and anger was keeping me going, and now I had none of that to keep me moving. After a few days of needing some extra sleep, I'm doing much better. Even though I'm sad to be leaving my friends and the wonderful people I work with, I feel so much lighter having made this decision.

So I'm definitely doing this. Either culinary school or selling pies at farmer's markets - or something else entirely! I'm open to ideas (especially what to call a pie stand at a farmer's market) or suggestions or business opportunities (i.e. I'll make pies for your wedding or next event). Send them along!

Your Favorite Spot

The CEO of PubCo likes to tell this story about how he one day went to a university campus for some meetings and saw some "signs" that universities are alive and well. He thought that construction sites on campus were a sign that the university had money and were growing. Seeing tours and kids going through orientation was a sign that, yes, kids are still going to college. And melting bikes (that is, those bikes that are left behind during spring vacation and sort of "melt" into the asphalt) are a sign of...hmm. I don't remember. Even though I've heard this story twice, I still don't get the melting bikes thing.

Well, today, sadly, I'm visiting a university campus. As I'm still trying to do my best at PubCo until the judgment is handed down on culinary school, I'm spending the next three days visiting professors, asking what they're teaching and researching, and whether they might be interested in writing a book. It's one of the most important parts of my job since it involves prospecting, but it's also my least favorite. Especially now, when I know (I hope) I'll be leaving in a matter of months. But I'm doing my best.

For lunch, I've parked myself on a couch at the Starbucks located in the business school building, and I've been watching the students in and out of the cafe. Every single kid is doing at least one of the following: talking on a cell phone, using a laptop, listening to an iPod. I can write about the technology takeover (I don't see anyone reading a print book), but that's not what's interesting to me.

This Starbucks seems to be a favorite haunt for some people, in the same way every other Starbucks is for others. There's a girl behind me tutoring another girl on her computer, and she was tutoring someone else a few minutes ago. Two guys just walked in and went immediately to the free water station and left without ordering coffee. One girl has been here long enough to warrant going to the register a second time (I missed the first time, but she's been here longer than me). The kids behind the register (and they really are kids) are loud and laugh a lot when the line has been dealt with.

Even though it's in a different state and on a university campus, it still feels familiar to me. It's the same green aprons, the same not great, but consistently good enough coffee, the same drink names being yelled out. You can go to a Starbucks in Paris and you would find the same thing (although, why would you?). It makes me think of home, in a weird little way.

This is not to say that my future bakery is going to become a global brand with homogenous locations all over the world. But it is to say that Starbucks has done a pretty good job of becoming a comfortable and safe spot and that's something to admire.

It begs the question: What's your favorite home-away-from-home restaurant or cafe? Why? Is it the ambience? The people you meet? The fact that they allow dogs? And if you don't have a favorite spot, why not? What would make you commit?

So that's what I got from my campus trip today. And I didn't see any melting bikes.

The Application Is In!

Just a little update on culinary school...after checking the site and refreshing my page every couple of hours from 6:15am on, the application for a Spring 2011 start to the culinary school of my choice opened up. And I've submitted my application! It was a breeze - due to the first-come-first-served nature of the program, it was a really basic application without any essays or proof of culinary skills or anything like that. I sent it off and it feels great.

Now we wait. In about 2 months, I'll be able to register for classes, and as long as I'm one of the first 60 students to enroll in Sanitation and Culinary Lab 1, I'm officially in! So keep your fingers crossed!

Autumn

Autumn has arrived in name, but not yet in spirit. Since the first day of fall, we've had triple-digit days and more heat than we saw all summer. No cooling down and no need for light sweaters since it's hot enough to still consider a beach day a serious option for a Saturday.

But it HAS arrived in small, sneaky ways. The pumpkin patch on the side of the freeway has put out its bales of hay and its jack o'lantern decorated sign announcing its arrival. The pumpkins have only just made themselves visible, and I was pleasantly surprised last week when I caught sight of them out of the corner of my eye driving down the freeway. Leaves on a few trees here and there are changing color, people are setting out their Halloween decorations, and the coffee shops are offering their pumpkin-related drinks and snacks.

I'm most excited that autumn has arrived in the food world. Cans of pumpkin puree are stacked in tall, precarious formations at every grocery store. Squash and dark greens are taking up more space in the produce section. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocados are in lesser supply through my CSA box - instead, I'm being offered squash, potatoes, and pomegranates.

It's so exciting to me, because it means that the food we make, and the food we're drawn to, changes along with the season, even if it is still 105F outside. It means that it's time to get creative with apples, pears, and pumpkins - instead of the peaches and berries of summer. It's time for stews, soups, and chilis instead of crisp salads. And it's time for some very rich flavors - cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and caramel.

I'm looking forward to this season's food, and I'm looking forward to sharing some of what I make with you. But for now, here are a few recipes that are inspiring me as we head into autumn:

Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart
Chili with Chicken and Beans
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Granola (recipe at the end of the blog post, and really, do add the coconut, which is great)
Apple Cake in an Iron Skillet

Getting Out of My Funk

I have been a little down in the dumps recently, to the extent that when I mentioned to some friends that I thought I might be depressed, one of them said "You are!" with the conviction of someone who was watching things fall apart in front of her. I went home and asked Mountain Man if he thought I was depressed, and he asked if I felt depressed...and when I thought about it honestly, my response was that I did.

I'm not a sad person, and I generally have an optimistic attitude. But all that has been happening at PubCo has made me sad. What made me really sad is that a friend of mine put in her resignation last week. She doesn't have anything lined up, but she is so unhappy here that she just had to get out. Another friend put in her resignation yesterday for similar reasons. Both already seem much happier - even with all the worry and stress that not having a job in two weeks brings.

My sadness has been evident to a lot of people, most notably, my boss. I think I've mentioned before that I think my boss is great. She sincerely cares about her employees - and not just about how they're doing at PubCo, but also how they're doing in life. And last week she let me know that she could tell I haven't been happy and asked me what I've been thinking about PubCo and about my job. And I had to let it all out.

I don't need to go into things too much, but I did let her know that I have been researching culinary schools and that my goal would be to start classes in January, thereby ending my time at PubCo. And her first response wasn't to try to convince me to stay or to throw money at me or anything like that. Her first response was to say that it made sense that I would want to do something that I was passionate about, that I loved, that I was good at, and that matched with my values. And then she went on to ask which programs I was looking at and even suggested a program one of her friends went through.

After 15 minutes of that, we looped back to things here - why I wanted to leave, what wasn't working, and what I wanted to do in the next few months, before I find out about culinary school. My answer was easy - in the meantime, I'm going to continue doing my job. That's the only thing I can do - and if I can do anything to help things for my colleagues and friends, then I would do that too. She let me know that there was no need for the higher-ups to know all of this until everything was certain, which makes me feel a little safer than I might otherwise.

After this very intense conversation, I left to have lunch with a new friend who knows what's been happening, and after I told her about my talk with my boss, she said "you seem so much happier than the last time we had lunch." Another friend suggested that her picking up on that should be a sign that this is the right decision.

Over the weekend, Mountain Man and I took a little road trip, and the whole time, all I could think about was the bakery and new ideas for baked goods. But when I came home, and Mountain Man had to leave for a few days for an interview, I got sad again. But it was a different kind of sad.

This was the kind that isn't only sad, but is also questioning and doubting and putting me down, and thoughts of "you can't do this" and "what makes you think you'll succeed" and "you're crazy for leaving a steady job" started running through my head. I got up to try out a pie idea I had with all of those thoughts tainting everything, and I blame those thoughts on the fact that I forgot to add sugar to the pie and that I didn't add enough liquid to make it a true, gooey pie. When I took it out of the oven, there were no bubbling juices and the fruit was still a little crunchy. The nasty thoughts came rushing back and I spent the rest of the afternoon moping about how I'm not a pie genius like the girl from The Waitress, and things like this happen to me all the time when I bake. I don't have enough basic knowledge yet to know exactly what needs to go into a recipe to make it work perfectly the first time. So I moped, and I sighed, and I even cried a little.

And then I got sick of myself and had to force those nasty thoughts out of my head. No one is automatically great at anything, unless they are a genius or a child prodigy. People have to work at things to be good at them. Culinary school will teach me the basic skills, and in the meantime, I get to try and maybe fail but always try again at making something truly delicious. And anyway, it's not worth it to be sad about things you can't change - the only thing you can change is how you react to those things and what you can do for yourself.

I do think Dolly Parton helped me out of this funk a bit - on our road trip, I visited a Cracker Barrel for the first time and bought a Dolly Parton CD from the gift shop, which included a song called "Better Get to Livin'". All the lyrics can be read here, but I'll leave you with this verse:

I said you'd better get to livin', givin'
Be willing and forgivin'
Cause all healing has to start with you
You better stop whining, pining
Get your dreams in line
And then just shine, design, refine
Until they come true
And you better get to livin'

More about Photos

On my excursions through various food blogs today, I found this:

http://www.adamcpearson.com/

If you want to see some truly gorgeous photos of food, check out his portfolio. Wow.

Cake Photos

I've been in a bit of a writing slump recently, so decided to try my hand at food photography instead. I'm not a great photographer, as I've never had to be - my dad, my sister, and now Mountain Man are the photographers in the family. I don't think I have the patience to set up a good photo like they do. And I prefer snapshots anyway that capture a particular moment - my camera is always full of strange photos of people I don't know (a couple embracing on the banks of the Seine) or weird things I notice in nature or architecture (a palm tree wearing sunglasses and a nose, bales of hay lined up in rows, a blue door). So my food photography isn't spectacular as I know I try too hard. I will need to hire someone to take photos of my food in the future!

I made this cake for my assistant here at PubCo, who had a birthday today. This is a little adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe - it started out as a plain (but delicious) chocolate cake, and a couple of friends suggested adding raspberries to liven it up. The joy of Nigella Lawson is that all of her recipes are generally perfect as is (unlike Martha Stewart's recipes, which always need tweaking), but are also generally simple enough to build on. This cake was a perfect foundation to add raspberries, but could also work with crushed espresso beans (and the addition of coffee to the frosting) or you could make it a cookies-and-cream cake and do a white frosting with Oreos sprinkled inside and on top. Or peanut butter! Or caramel! Ooh, there may be more cakes in my future...

Anyway, here's the cake:

Top row: Dry ingredients; the two layers (so much easier when you don't have to cut the cake in half)

Middle row: Chocolate for the frosting; smashed raspberries with a bit of sugar to help them mellow

Bottom row: The middle of the cake; cake sandwich

The final product!

Soliciting Ideas

I so love hearing from you all (my 12 or so readers) that I thought it was time to solicit some answers to the following question:

What is your favorite baked good?

Think about your favorite bakery and what they do best, or about what you always look for when you step into a new bakery. Or think about what you love to make yourself, or what you love to have made for you.

C'mon, don't be afraid...I want to hear from you!

Rustic French Desserts

This Saturday, my almond-flour-friend and I took a class on Rustic French Desserts by Clemence, who owns and runs Gourmandise Desserts. My friend had taken a class with her before, and told me she liked Clemence's style. I think we signed up for Rustric French Desserts because I wanted to take the Business of Baking class (which she had no need for), and my friend wanted to take a Cake Decorating class (to which I responded, when are you ever going to decorate a cake?), so we agreed on something useful and interesting to the both of us.

I have actually never taken a cooking class, which was a surprising realization for me. It made me start to think about how people learn how to cook, especially in light of the cooking class I taught a few weeks ago. There's always the opportunity to watch parents cook, as well as watching chefs on the Food Network cook. But you never really learn unless you do.

During the cooking class I taught, I tried to get all of my "students" (aka friends from work) to participate in the various tasks. Some came in with a lot of experience, having been cooking for their entire lives. Others came in with a few things under their belts and wanting to learn more. I think one friend had never used a hand-held mixer before. Another had trouble with making pasta and asked how to get pasta that wasn't either super al dente or much too mushy. Everyone participated, and I think (I hope) everyone left feeling confident that they could reproduce the dishes we made.

Clemence took the same approach in our class. There were eleven students, ranging from a 7th grade girl to her grandma, to a few other young people, to a couple of middle-aged women. Some came in with a good amount of experience baking at home, and others were starting from scratch. Clemence got everyone involved, and we made five different desserts in three hours.

We started out with a Tarte Tatin, making caramel in a cake pan, and placing sliced apples into the hot caramel to melt down before we covered the apples with puff pastry. I was in charge of slicing the apples and got started slicing them very thin...until Clemence told me to slice larger slices...and my friend told me to just slice the apples in eighths like Clemence asked. I got so caught up in wanting to do a good job that I just didn't pay attention! I was a little embarrassed, but Clemence had a very "let's move on" attitude, and so I did. But I took that little lesson to heart - in culinary school, I need to pay attention and do things the way I'm told - not the way I think would be prettiest or most impressive!

After the Tarte Tatin, we made mini-tarts with pastry cream and almond cream. I was impressed with Clemence's way of handling the materials. I tend to be extra careful with everything I bake, partly because I'm still learning techniques, but also because I think I have this idea that everything needs to be perfect to be delicious. She was rough with the tart dough, pressing it into the tart pans instead of carefully rolling it out with a pin on a lightly floured surface. She also just laughed when eggs were dropped instead of being properly separated and had us grab another egg and keep going. I think a great deal of that attitude comes with getting really comfortable with how things go with baking - it's not always going to be perfect, and (as she said) if things come out a little messy, you can always just call it "rustic".

We also made flourless chocolate cake and Honey Almond Chocolate Mousse (to which I've provided the recipe) which were both extremely easy. I ended up with chocolate on my shirt and under my nails, the leftover tart dough (which Clemence wasn't going to use so I took it) and with a box full of the desserts we made.

As we were packing up, I asked Clemence if she teaches full-time, or if she runs a bakery somewhere. She said she teaches and consults with chefs and restaurants that want to incoporate seasonal ingredients in their desserts. She said it was the best job in the world.

Inspiration

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and the oven has been calling out to me while I've been racing all over town trying to do everything and see everyone. I've had blackberries, blueberries, peaches, and plums making sad eyes at me everytime I open the fridge and don't take them out to be used. It's been too hot, even in our cool quasi-beach town, to think about turning on the oven, and MM and I have been spending our free time swimming. Better for our waistlines, but not so good for the aspiring bakery owner.

But then, a friend came over to spend the night so she didn't have to drive her 1 1/2 hour commute during this crazy work week, and she brought me almond flour as a gift. We'd been talking about grocery stores and how you can never be sure which store will have which item, (gourmet, organic, or international) and I had mentioned that I wanted to try baking with almond flour but wasn't sure where to find it. She was in a health food store looking for ice cream (which is just plain wrong) and found almond flour and graciously bought the $11 bag for me.

This desire didn't come out of left field. I was recently at Saddlepeak Lodge with some colleagues, and got the waiter to let me try the deconstructed lemon pie (which was on the chef's tasting menu, but which I wanted without the rest of the items). It showed up as little drops of lemon curd, a pile of graham crackers, a scoop of meringue ice cream (which was amazing), and a long squiggle of something doughy. I thought it tasted smoky and nutty, but couldn't place the flavors. I asked the waiter to check with the chef, and he let me know that it was an almond flour and sesame sablé cookie.

I've been thinking about that cookie ever since and wondering how to recreate it. Now that the almond flour has arrived, I'm going to figure it out. Things should slow down enough after this weekend that I'll have the time to experiment. In the meantime, the almond flour will stay on the counter to remind me. I'm planning a plum cake (made in my cast-iron skillet) to use up the plums with the sad eyes, and I'll figure something out for those peaches. And we ate the blueberries and blackberries over ice cream last night, which was just fine for a summer evening.

Windows

At the PubCo office, I sit opposite a bank of windows that look out onto some trees and the mountain range that blocks us from the ocean. I'm almost happy that I don't sit directly at the window, because I know I would spend all day staring out the window dreaming up recipes and bakery decor ideas and the ads I would place in local newspapers and magazines. As it is now, I have to turn my head to look out the window and if I do it for too long, I get a crick in my neck.


Today, after dealing with a morning of flickering fluorescent light bulbs, two of the three bulbs in the unit above my desk burnt out. It is, all of a sudden, very dark and cave-like in my cubicle. I feel a little like Milton from Office Space, when he was told to move into the basement. The two desk laps I already have on my desk aren't helping, and neither is the light from the windows.

It's made me think about some ideas for what I want my bakery to look like. Definitely bright, with a lot of windows. Maybe some plants in pots around the interior and leading the way inside. Photos and art on the walls, and old bells on the front door to let me know that people have arrived and need serving. Natural colors - blues, greens, with white accents. No gray - it will make me think of the cubicle world I currently live in and am looking forward to leaving!

Teaching Cooking

I'll be teaching a cooking class tonight for some friends and thought I'd post the recipe for the main dish they'll be learning. This is a recipe I created based on a pasta dish I like at the Cheesecake Factory. If you try it, let me know how you like it!

Spicy Chicken Pasta
(Cooking Class #1)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 package fettuccine
2 Tbsp (Tablespoon) olive oil
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-sized chunks
3-4 cups chopped vegetables (I like red peppers, sweet peas, and asparagus and they should be chopped in bite-size chunks – not too small)
1 pint heavy cream
Up to 1 tsp. (teaspoon) of red chili pepper flakes (less if you like things a little less spicy)
½ tsp salt


Directions:

Cook and drain the pasta according to the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the chicken and cook until the outside of the pieces is brown, and the inside is no longer pink (you can slice open one or two to check). Once the chicken is cooked, remove to a plate and cover to keep warm.

Add the remaining 1 Tbsp to the skillet, and then add the vegetables. Sauté until the veggies are cooked, but not wilted (they will start to look a little brighter colored). Mix the chicken back into the skillet, then cover and turn the heat off.

Pour the heavy cream into a small saucepan and turn the heat to medium-low. Add in the chili pepper flakes and the salt and stir until the sauce begins to bubble against the side of the pan. Once it bubbles, turn the heat off.

Combine the ingredients in the pot you cooked the pasta in. Mix the vegetables and chicken into the pasta, and then turn the heat on low underneath the pasta as you add in the sauce (you’ll want to keep it warm, and try to evaporate any extra liquid). Once everything’s mixed through, serve, with additional red chili pepper flakes on hand if needed.


Substitution:
If you’re feeling courageous and need more heat, omit the chili pepper flakes and instead, include one chopped chipotle pepper (or a portion of it, if you’re only feeling a little courageous). These usually come in small cans (in adobo sauce) that you can find in the Mexican food aisle of most grocery stores. Rinse off the sauce, and just add in the chopped pepper when you would have added the flakes. The remaining chipotle peppers can be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for the future.

Culinary School, Redux

I played a bit of hooky this morning to be able to take a tour of the culinary school I'm hoping to attend in January. Well actually, I woke up at 6:45 to get some work done, experienced a power outage at about 7:15, worked a little more, and then played a bit of hooky. I drove out to Santa Barbara and met the coordinator for the culinary arts department at SBCC.

She took me around the various kitchens and lab rooms and walked me through what happened in each space. One room for learning techniques, one kitchen for serving the faculty members, another kitchen for the gourmet meals that culinary students get to develop themselves and serve in the Thursday and Friday night "restaurant" on campus, another kitchen for the student cafeteria, and an entire kitchen devoted to baking, where all the baked goods for the entire campus get made!

She also walked me through the uniform ("Buy two, so you can wash one while you're wearing the other - bringing in the previous day's food is a sanitation violation."), the knife set ("Make sure you carry your knives in a case - do not walk around campus with knives out, because security will come and tackle you and the psychology students will have a field day analyzing you, even though you are very obviously a culinary student."), and some special classes they have on campus, including butchering ("I prefer my food already cooked, but the students had a field day and made sausage, ragu, and I don't know what else out of one pig.")

It was very obvious that she was used to starry-eyed kids who dream of being a chef one day and wanted to help get their heads on straight. At the end of our meeting, when I asked if I needed to come back for the interview mentioned on the website, she said "Oh, no - this is the interview. We just like to talk to anyone considering this program so we can be sure they're aware that this is hard work. It's not like being Rachel Ray." She went on to tell me that about half of the students who enroll each semester end up leaving the program because they really don't seem to understand that they need to follow the rules and show up to class and labs and wear a clean uniform every day. The "interview" is really them trying to get a sense of the level of starry-eyedness they're dealing with.

I think I did a good job of seeming reasonable and showing that I understood the amount of work that a program like this means. Although, after seeing an entire kitchen devoted to baking and hearing that I would get to make, like, 400 croissants every day (to which I thought, "I've always wanted to know how to make croissants!"), I can't help but feel a little starry-eyed.

Flavor Combinations

At work a couple of days ago, I was thinking about pie (because that's what I do) and I thought a peach/blueberry pie that had fresh mint and lime as its "spices" (instead of the more traditional cinnamon/nutmeg combo) would be nice and refreshing. I jotted my idea down on a post-it and stuck it to a friend's computer for her opinion. She suggested also adding ginger, which I don't generally cook with, but which she thought was a good flavor to match with lime and mint. So I gave it a try.

Since this was something I was just experimenting with, I had no clue how much of anything to put in - and since I don't cook with ginger but am generally turned off by too much of it in a dish, I erred on the side of a lot of mint and lime, and not so much ginger.

I took the pie to work the next day and asked for constructive criticism. I received a few suggestions to lessen the amount of mint (apparently not everyone loves it as much as I do), and a suggestion to perhaps add the ginger to the crust so it stood out a bit more, but everyone generally liked it and thought it was such an interesting and refreshing combination. I felt so proud!

Later that day, I had a nice long phone call with my oldest friend - we've been friends since the 7th grade, and although she lives far away and we only see each other every other year or so, we do a pretty good job of keeping in touch. She and I have been playing phone tag for the last three months, until finally I emailed her and asked if she would be available at 8pm her time for a chat. She was, and we talked for more than two hours. I told her all about my thoughts for the bakery, and was very grateful for her advice and suggestions, as she's a small business owner herself.

As we were winding down, we started talking about lunches we had when we were in high school together. She laughed as she reminded me how I used to take my sandwiches apart, so I could taste each individual ingredient - and then laughed harder as she remembered how I once created an interesting flavor combination during one of our lunches.

My dad made my lunch every day when I was in school, and he would generally make this sandwich that included the thickest slice of sharp cheddar cheese I have ever seen in a sandwich. Take out a ruler and measure half an inch - that's how thick these cheese slices were! On this particular day, I had taken apart my sandwich and just couldn't get through the cheese. I also had a Caramello chocolate bar (it's the one that's four squares of gooey caramel). We don't remember who suggested it or why I did it, but I took a hunk of cheese and a square of Caramello and popped them both into my mouth to see how they would taste together. And, surprisingly, the combination worked! The sweetness of the chocolate and carmel was perfectly matched by the sharp saltiness of the cheese, and I believe I ate the rest of the chocolate and cheese together.

All of this got me wondering - what are your favorite, perhaps unusual, flavor combinations?

Cafés

Been doing some research on local cafés ...here are a couple in the area that are doing something akin to what I want to do. Anyone want to go do research in-person with me?

Zzyzx Cafe
Fresh and Fabulous

Culinary School

Just a little note to share with you that I've just submitted an application to start culinary school in January. I've been thinking about it as a possible first-step in this whole corporate-worker-to-bakery-owner process and have decided that it's a very reasonable next step. I'd be able to imrpove on my cooking/baking/knife skills, and doing it at a local community college would be cost-efficient.

When I brought it up to my mom, she said "but you already know how to cook!" Valid point, but it's the restaurant management, sanitation, and how to keep a stocked pantry courses that would be most useful for the future.

And starting in January? I've decided that I'd rather not wait to get started on this next phase of my career and life. My chiropractor recently had a mini-stroke, and she's making some changes in her life because she's realized that life is short and could end at any time. I need to do this for me now - so I don't get stuck in a rut just because it's comfortable.

Culinary school would be a full-time endeavor...which would mean my term at PubCo would need to end, at least on a daily basis. My dad suggested what I had already been thinking - that there may be an opportunity to freelance for PubCo, especially since everyone could use the support and I already know the systems and procedures. If I'm allowed, and management doesn't hold a grudge, I'm on board.

I'll be sure to let you know once I'm officially accepted - I submitted the application, but I also need to go through the interview process they require. When that's all done, you'll all be among the first to know!

Kaak

I'm sure you're like "What the heck is 'kaak'?" Kaak is a type of Lebanese bread, and I've been thinking about it almost non-stop for the past few days. My cousin is coming from Lebanon this week, and he asked what he could bring for us. My sister and I both responded "kaak!"

Kaak is sold on the street off of carts that have bars running across them to hold up the bread. I'm not sure if this is to keep the air circulating or if it's to showcase this delicous bread. After all, this bread does include handy cutouts that make it very easy to hang off a bar!

The bread itself is quite sweet, and the sesame seeds sprinkled on top give an extra touch of sweetness. When it's baked, the larger portion of the bread puffs out, and it makes a little pocket to stuff for a sandwich. If you plan on eating the bread right off the cart, the vendor will sprinkle a little sumac into the pocket, which is a tangy and tart spice that balances very well with the sweetness of the bread. He sprinkles in the sumac, you shake it up so that it infiltrates the bread, and start eating.

If you take the bread home, it's great with halloumi, which is a tangy and salty cheese (we call it "squeaky cheese" since it squeaks a bit when you bite into it) or with labne, the cheese yogurt that is the quintessential breakfast spread in Lebanon.

When family brings kaak from Lebanon, they bring it frozen and wrapped in multiple plastic bags to try to keep the freshness in. Anything I don't eat immediately gets put in the freezer to savor some other time. A warm-up in the microwave gets it back to it's normal texture and taste.

The photos above are from this site, where I also found a recipe for kaak. I've been thinking about this bread and trying to find a good chunk of time to focus on making it - it's the type of recipe where you have to let the bread sit for hours, punch it down, let it sit some more...so I'm waiting for an open weekend. I want to see how close I can get to the real Lebanese thing in my very American oven. And then, how cool would it be to offer Lebanese street food in my little bakery?

Breakfast? Or Dinner?

Mountain Man and I just spent 5 days in a car together, and I spent a lot of time bouncing ideas off him for the bakery and taking notes and jotting down ideas that seemed to resonate most. I got stuck on the following issue:

Would the bakery be most successful if we were open for breakfast and lunch OR lunch and dinner?

At this point, it doesn't make sense to consider being open all day. I definitely want to be open for lunch, since many of the recipes I'm working on are perfectly suited for lunch. But I'm not sure if I prefer breakfast or dinner as the other meal.

Breakfast gives the option of espresso drinks, smoothies, scones, muffins, and breakfast sandwiches and burritos. This weekend, MM had a breakfast burrito that was made out of tri-tip, salsa, cheese, potatoes, and eggs. We also had breakfast with the family, and my brother-in-law noted that the bakery needed to provide really good English muffins. Breakfast would allow for some creativity, and if it was in the right place (i.e. not close to a Starbucks or similar), it could become a go-to place for people who want something quick on the way to work. So breakfast sounds great to me.

But, dinner means not waking up at the crack of dawn, and it means that I would be making the same dishes for both lunch and dinner - I wouldn't really need to do anything different for the two mealtimes, besides making sure that there was enough for both lunch and dinner. It would be easier, but I'm not sure it would be as fun.

So, my question to you is this: Breakfast or Dinner?

Bakery Research

A couple of weekends ago, my sister and I went out to Joan's on Third for some bakery research. She had read a little story about them in Los Angeles Magazine and said that it seemed similar to what I was thinking of starting.



It's a family run marketplace, cafe, and catering company and it's extremely popular. When we got there, there was a line of people waiting to get a table, as well as long lines inside! We wandered around the store, taking in as much as we could while not stepping on people who were actually planning on eating there.

The marketplace aspect was most interesting to my sister, who has dreams of opening her own gourmet food store one day. They had everything you would need to make a picnic, bake some cookies, or have a low-effort meal at home. There was a refrigerator case that had soups and sauces on one side and handmade appetizers on the other. You could get fancy olives, oils, and vinegars as well as four kinds of Fleur de Sel and a bunch of different peppers and spices.



There were shelves and shelves of packaged candy, cookies, pretzels, and other snacks. We checked out the labels to see where they had been packaged, and they all said "Packaged by Joan's on Third" - perhaps indicating that they had bought in bulk and then divided everything into more manageable amounts. Not a bad idea.


We ended up buying about $40 of sweets to take home to share with our husbands. We tried the Chocolate Coconut Cupcake, Rosemary Shortbread, Bacon and Gruyere (I think) Pretzel Bread, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Bar. We also tried the Bacon Truffle Caramel Popcorn and the Orange Chipotle Caramel Popcorn by Chef Cordelia, which was delicious.


Even though we both felt there was a little too much going on - on top of all of the stuff we did look at, there was also a cheese counter and prepared food counter (salads and sandwiches, and possibly some breakfast foods) that we couldn't get to because of the line - I think it was a pretty successful research trip. I certainly understand why they're so popular - I think they do everything they do at a high enough quality that people see them as a one-stop shop. They also have a very clean design that I really liked (a lot of glass and black and white, and nothing too fussy). All things to keep in mind as I continue thinking up ideas for my own place!

Pie, Chocolate Cake, and Vanilla Cookies Coming Up

All my talk of pie from Friday made me crave it, so I made a lemon pie Friday night, and we ate it for dessert Friday, and then breakfast over the weekend.

Then, because I wanted to put off cleaning the bathroom, I decided to make my first-ever layered cake. I chose the Chocolate Fudge Cake from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites, which is one of my favorite cookbooks from my favorite cookbook author. It was a good first-ever layered cake - not too difficult, since it was only two cakes, one layer of chocolate frosting, and the whole thing was covered in the same chocolate frosting. I finished it at 10:30 on Sunday evening, and we cut slices as soon as it was frosted so that we could go to sleep as soon as we ate it (not the best plan for our digestive systems, but so be it). The rest of it came to work today, and it's been suggested that I need to add a layer of raspberries to take it over the edge, which, along with the Cointreau I plan on drenching the cake with next time, would be perfect.

I seem to be less liberal with my frosting application than Nigella, as I have about a cup of frosting left. I was mulling over what to do with it (other than stand at the fridge and stealthily eat it out of the Tupperware container with my finger) and decided that it should be sandwiched between vanilla cookies like a backwards Oreo. So that's on the horizon for later this week.

(Yes, I know my baking has revolved around sweets lately, so I'm planning some savory items, and will post those soon.)

Pie!

Pie always comes with an exclamation mark in my book - it's just so exciting! Pie, to me, signifies slowing down and taking time to bake something with love (MAKE IT WITH LOVE!). You have to wait for pie. It's a multiple part process - first the bottom crust, then the filling, then a top crust or a crumble topping or, if you're really adventurous, a lattice top. Pies are more complicated than a cake (which just goes in a pan, bakes up, and might get a bit of frosting) or a batch of cookies (which just get plopped on a cookie sheet), or even a fruit cobbler (which, I'm sorry to say, is my go-to dessert in the summer...when I really should be making fruit pies).

Pie is difficult to make with our crazy schedules. That multiple part process is time-consuming, and rolling out a crust is daunting for a lot of people. My crusts are usually somewhat of a patchwork mess - I can never roll a perfect circle, so end up with a crust with the outline of a blob. When I move it into the pie plate, I end up playing doctor and cutting off pieces from the part of the crust that's too big for the plate and using them to cover up the spots that don't completely come together.

One of my favorite "kitch lit" (that's short for "kitchen literature") books is called American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads. The author, Pascale Le Draoulec, needs to travel from San Francisco to New York, and is looking for something to tie her trip to - something that would give her journey "some sort of peg, a thread" to pull her from one city to another and to show her the "real" America - not the one that shows up on the news all the time. Her trip is amazing - she drives through small towns across the country and just leans her head out the window to ask a stranger where she can get the best pie in town. Whenever possible, she gets the recipes, many of which are tabbed with little Post-Its in my copy of the book.

My favorite recipe is for an apple-blueberry pie, which I make more often than any other pie. The combination of the tart green apples and the even more tart blueberries is perfect to me. Mountain Man prefers the lemon pie my mom has made since I was a kid - she would make it on the weekend and we'd eat it for breakfast with a cold glass of milk before school. Those were my favorite breakfasts, and Mountain Man and I do the same now, swapping the milk for a cup of coffee. My grandmother makes a flat apple pie in a large metal cake pan that is just amazing - when we visit her in Lebanon, she makes it for us, and when she was here last year, my brothers asked her for pie almost as soon as she arrived. I think everyone has a favorite pie. We just have to slow down long enough to enjoy it.

My favorite food podcast is hosting a pie contest here in LA in September and I'm considering entering it. See the entry form here.. I'm not sure what I would make, but it would be great to be a part of a community of pie-makers (and pie-eaters) for a day. I'll let you know if I do it - it would be great to share it with you!

Pizza

This past Saturday, Mountain Man and I had our families over for dinner - one aunt's birthday and an early 4th of July celebration. We had 16 people in our little house, and everyone was talking over everyone else and having a grand old time.

We made:

• Pizza (recipe below)
• Ribs (with our favorite Santa Maria dry rub)
• Steak (with our own sweet and spicy dry rub. Let me know if you want some - I have a ton in little bags to share and it works on all meat!)
• Chicken, marinated in a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and paprika
• Pasta salad
• Green salad
• Peach cobbler

People brought:

• Beans in root beer and molasses (thanks to my sister)
• Potato salad with goat cheese, shallots, and parsley (thanks to my mom)
• Chicken salad with celery, pecans, and raisins (thanks to MM's mom)
• Sauteed dandelion greens (thanks to my aunt)
• A ton of delicious fruit (thanks to my other aunt)

My mom and my two aunts are the traditional party-throwers in our family, but my sister and I have been doing our share since we are now married, home-owning women. All of us pitch in at everyone else's parties, but the woman throwing the party is always the one who gets asked what goes where and which platter is for which dish and which glasses go in the dishwasher and which don't. The woman throwing the party, as my aunt noted, never gets to sit down! At the end of a party, I always feel like I've run a mile - the exhaustion, of course, but also, that feeling of accomplishment that you've thrown a good party.

The great thing about these parties is that everyone brings something, and it gives people a chance to try out new recipes and new ideas. My sister and mom both found the recipes for the dishes they made in magazines. They both enjoy trying new recipes - whereas I find recipes I love and make them again and again. I beg my sister to make the mac-n-cheese she made for a party 3 years ago, but she's moved on to other dishes. Whereas I make the same pizza and peach cobbler twice in one weekend for two separate parties. Which, when you're providing food for two parties, and the first party is exhausting and requires a long soak in the hot tub afterwards, isn't such a bad idea.


Spinach and Artichoke Pizza


First, a couple of notes: My aunt raved about a new pizza at CPK that had spinach, artichokes, 5 different kinds of cheeses, and a garlic creme fraiche sauce. I thought it sounded great, but wasn't about to invest in 5 different kinds of cheeses for one (or rather two) pizzas. So I pared down the ingredients and still got rave reviews.

Also, I used Trader Joe's pizza dough, since I didn't have the time to make my own. It worked out quite well, which is why I've indicated that you could do the same to get this on the table quickly. However, if you have the time, I strongly suggest making your own pizza dough, which isn't difficult and makes your kitchen smell like delicious bready goodness.

And finally, many thanks to Mona and Dan for the great pizza stone - amazing results both times!

Ingredients:

• One package Trader Joe's pizza dough
• 4-5 artichoke hearts, cut into big chunks
• 8 oz (about one bag or one bunch) baby spinach
• One ball mozzarella cheese, sliced
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400.

Follow the directions on the bag for the pizza dough, letting it rest for about 20 minutes on a lightly floured surface.

While you're waiting on the dough, wilt the spinach in a lightly oiled saute pan. You'll want to see it starting to turn darker and shrink a bit, but turn off the heat before it's completely mushy.

Once the dough has "rested", move it to a lightly oiled pizza stone or baking sheet, and stretch it out to about a 12-inch diameter using your hands (TJ's recommends a rolling pin, but I found it got sticky quickly).

Top the dough with the artichoke hearts, spinach, mozzarella, and parmesan.

Bake the pizza for about 20 minutes, until the crust begins to brown and the cheese has melted.

Eat and enjoy!