Adventure to the Puffery #2

Feb.11,2011 - During my second adventure to the Puffery, I must admit, I was bored.  I know that we (my mentor, my sponsor and I) all agreed that during the first few visits I was just supposed to sit back and watch how things are done but, I'm tired of waiting and watching! The best part of baking is the "mess" like making the dough - that's the part I enjoy the most. However, with me acting as a witness I can't enjoy it. Needless to say, I can't wait till the upcoming visits where I can finally get my hands dirty!



Even with the boredom that occurred, I still found interest in (what the employee's consider) the "Ribbon room" as shown in the picture above. The Ribbon room is a room filled literally floor to ceiling with ribbon. Ribbons are used as decorations made at the customers request to fit the order. For example, if it's a holiday like Christmas the employees usually gather green, red, and white ribbon to decorate the boxes/trays but ribbons can always be customized by  the customers. The best part is that this request is FREE!

What I'm finding that I love about my sponsor visits is that the Puffery genuinely cares about their customers which is something you don't often find in bakeries. The Puffery aims to please in every way and I hope if I were fortunate enough to open my own bakery that I could please my customers as they do.
Well, until my next visit......!

Talk With Trip #1

Following my visit from the Puffery, I met up with my mentor Mrs.Trip. She explained that prior to my visit she talked to the owner and they agreed that my first meeting will consist of me learning how to make the dough, next visit learn how to make the "creame" and then so forth & so forth.

"Bake-tography" (Choice) *

When I saw this picture I thought of my fellow classmate Rondel Parker. Why? The answer is simple. Mr. Parker’s senior project is photography; you can tell by this picture that it was taken by a photographer of some sort and if you look there are cupcakes located near the model. BOOM! There it is right in front of your eyes. If you were to join both Mr. Parker’s project with mine you would come up with what I like to call “bake-tography”. Where I would bake some treats and he would use his photographic genius to make a cupcake more then a cupcake but art.

Mr. Parker and I are both creative in our own ways. We have two distinctive senses of “style” but I believe together we can make magic. It’s a win/win situation because I’m selling my treats and he’s selling his photography. It would broaden his horizons so he won’t just take pictures of a typical model caked in make-up. Who knows? Together we can start a new baking/photography trend.

A Blog Baked For Bakers *

While browsing around on Blogger I came across a sweet blog - literally.  Bake At 350 is a blog that I fell in love with instantly! It has everything from cookies to brownies, even cakes. Bridget (the blog's owner) gives marvelous tips on how to transform your average cookie to a marvelous masterpiece. I plan on using her blog as inspiration to improve not only my blog but my baking! Hope you can enjoy/use it as much as I will... :)

- p.s The picture featured above ( of cookie necklaces) is not on Bridget's blog but I was just trying to give you a good example of how creative her work is.

Adventure to the CremePuffery #1

On Friday, February 4th,2011 I had my first official meeting with my sponsor. The picture (left) is the actual cremepuffery. The owner is Ms.Charlene Napoleon who unfortunately became sick prior to my visit so I didn't meet her in person. However, an employee by the name of Chrissy told me of Ms.Charlene's rise to success and needless to say I was more than impressed.
Ms.Charlene started her business in a small ice cream truck which is located right on the premises.She went to local flea markets and eventually when word got out about her delectable treats her business begin to soon take off. Even with all her success, Ms.Charlene does not believe in advertising her business. She prefers for customers to come by preference of other costumers, more of a word of mouth approach.
The thing that separates this cremepuffery from any other is that the puffs are not store bought or ordered online but handmade on sight. Therefore, whenever a costumer buys a creme-puff they are assured their puffs are fresh.

I was amazed that the puffs were made out of three ingredients..that's right three! They are whipped with big mixers until the mixture turns into something smooth and creamy. Once the mixture is smooth and creamy it is placed in bag which is used to squeeze the dough on to the cookie sheet. The batch could fill approximately seven to eight cookie sheets,  producing 168-192 creme-puffs each batch. Once all the cookie sheets are filled they all placed in the huge ovens.

Another aspect of the bakery I was able to witness was the rush. It was the Friday before Superbowl XLV so there were many orders coming in for the different treats the puffery had to offer. There were green and yellow as well as black and yellow steamers being made in order to decorate the boxes for the puffs.
Although I wasn't able to get my hands dirty this time I'm sure I will soon enough. Until my next adventure...!

Happy Birthday To Meeeee !

This picture was taken during my birthday (Jan.24th) dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It's a simple strawberry cheesecake topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. Around the border of the plate is written "Happy Birthday to you !" with chocolate syrup. This was one of the many treats I enjoyed while celebrating my 18th birthday.

Dante's Inferno Helps Self-Improvement....

Whenever I needed a little comfort after I’ve done something wrong and would sit alone and scold myself, my mom would calm me down by telling me that everything would be OK and remind me of the old saying that “no one is perfect”. Growing up I realized every person has a flaw or sin. However, a problem occurs when we know about our shortcomings and chose not to correct them so we can become better people. I can use Inferno to identify and fix some of my “sins’” by simply keeping the poem in mind with whatever choices I make.

I like to think my mother raised a pretty sensible child. I know right from wrong, I’m not a thief and I try not to make myself out to be a liar. But I also know of my imperfections. Every now and then, when I’m bored in the house I like to eat just about anything that’s in my kitchen. Then there’s times where my family is at a restaurant and I can have my own food right in front of my face and want a generous portion of everyone else’s. When reading Inferno I realized that this is not only unhealthy, but it’s a sense of both greed and maybe even gluttony. Instead of overindulging in food when I’m not hungry I am now more aware of my “greed” and try to only eat when I am hungry (despite a few snacks here and there). Instead of being the self-proclaimed food taster at the table when my family and I go out to eat I try to be content with my own servings.  
Through this poem I not only learned how to curb my appetite but also how to curb my flaws. I will continue to strive for perfection as best as I can by acknowledging my shortcomings and trying to correct them.

Starting from scratch...

\Click This !
 
This hyperlink will bring  you to an interview between Jessica Harris  and Mia Bauer, the co-founder of Crumbs Bake Shop, "one of the leading gourmet cupcake businesses in the country." Bauer shares with us her story of her rise to success. You see, Bauer wasn't always the baker that she is now. She actually started her career as a lawyer but after achieving all she could in her council she yearned for a career change, she just didn't know what exactly. However, her early experience from living around a kibbutz in Israel arose her passion for baking. Bauer explained how her mother baked a lot when she was younger and as she watched her mother, her passion grew. After receiving various signs that opening up a bakery was the best option, she and her husband finally did just that.

I was inspired by this interview in many ways. Like Bauer, baking is not my first carreer choice instead I would like to be a couple's/childs psychologist. Baking is something I like to consider as one of my hobbies. Yet and still while listening to this I couldn't help but to think, "What if I get bored with my carreer like Bauer eventually did?" Hopefully that would never happen but if it did would I resort back to my love for baking? If so, I hope I would be as successful as Mia.