Joy the Baker

Here’s a fun fact:  my Mom is a scrapbooker.  She’s a serious scrapbooker.  She’s got the paper cutters, the corner choppers, the fancy albums and colorful background paper… there are stickers…. so so many stickers.  She’s for real.  Scrapbooking is the new rubber stamping.  Remember the rubber stamp craze!?  Yea, we’ve moved on.  Scrapbooking. 

I went to my parents’ house a few days ago to find these envelopes gracing the brick fireplace.  The envelope in front had my name on it.  I was hoping for an early Christmas stocking.  Boy oh boy did I get it.  Among other darling and embarrassing photos of myself, I found a chronological history of my school days.  From preschool to high school.  Every cute, awkward and downright horrifying picture.  

Now.  Because I don’t know any better.  Because I’m certifiably batty… allow me to share with you preschool through seventh grade.  The later, more awkward years will follow, and we’ll all cry. 

Though she will deny it, my Mom gave me this haircut herself.  I remember very well.  Even at four, I knew how ridiculous I looked.  

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I went to the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco last weekend, and all I got were these silly photo booth pictures with my dear friend Tracy of Shutterbean.  

Ok…. that’s entirely untrue.  

I walked away from the Foodbuzz Festival with more kitchen gear than I could carry, pockets full of fellow food blogger business cards, and a belly full of incredible food.  

A room full of food bloggers means a room full of cameras.  So many.  Rather than crowd around and take pictures of food…. I just took pictures of people taking pictures of food.  Weird.  I know.  

This also happened…

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Here we are, staring November right in the eye.  Am I the only one giving November dirty looks?  I mean seriously November… how did you sneak up on me like this?  Did you just trample over September and October to rub your impending holiday spirit in my face?

I’m not sure I’m ready to dive into the season… but you know what?  I’ve gone and pushed myself into that pool.  Ok… not really.  I had some help.  Minted.com gave me a shove… a friendly shove.. but still a shove.

See, Minted.com wanted to share something with you.  They also wanted to me look super organized in my holiday spiriting.  Thanks for that Minted. Well played.  

So!  Here’s the situation.  Minted.com makes awesome, cute, rad ,modern, hip, tasteful, bodacious, colorful and fun holiday cards.  Remember the long photo holiday cards your Mom would send out in 1983?  They were decorated with some sort of pixelated wreath and an unflattering picture of you and your sister  pretending to decorate a Christmas tree?  Yea… that doesn’t have to happen anymore.  Thank you Minted.com.  Thank you.  

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Hey!  Can I share some fun news!?  Sweet… thanks.

What makes dinner with friends even more fun and lovely?  A dash of holiday spirit… aaaand whiskey.  

I love the months between September and January because I get to cook and cook and cook.  Something about the holidays inspires people to gather and consume… it’s just heaven for me.  

This holiday season I’m teaming up with my super chef friends and crackpot wine buddies to cater big ol’ homey holiday suppers for people in their homes.  You gather.  We throw down in the kitchen.  You consume.  We’re talking six course meals with things like Braised Cocoa Beef with Buckwheat and Corn Polenta Cakes and Christmas Lima Beans. Yea… the real deal.  How about Warm Apple Crostadas with Butterscotch Ice Cream and Bourbon Whipped Cream?  Yes.  Please.  Dang.  

We also do dishes.  Wait… chefs who do dishes!?  Well… we bring help.  That’s true.  

I’m telling you all of this goodness because if you’re in Los Angeles or San Francisco… well heck, maybe you’d like to throw a badass holiday dinner party.  Weeks sure are coming and going quickly so email us at joythebakerdinners (at) gmail (dot) com if you’d like to talk food… talk wine… talk menu and pricing… and talk holidays with you.

What’s going on in my world?  

Oooh the usual… just swabbing my cheeks, barcoding the samples, labeling them a biohazard, shoving them in an envelope and leaving them for the postman.  That’s normal… I do this nearly everyday.

I’m swabbing because I just put myself on the Be The Match list with the National Marrow Donation Program.  The National Marrow Donation Program houses a giant list and genetic samples of possible donors… a list about 12 million people long.  Dang!  Doctors look for genetic matches for patients that suffer from life threatening illnesses like leukemia and lymphoma.  Sometimes doctors and patients find a genetic match among the millions on the list… sometimes they don’t.  

If I’m a match, some doctors will come to knock me out and take bone marrow from my lower back.  Someone gets my good bone marrow and I grow my own bone marrow back.  Success!  I decided to become a part of the National Marrow Donation Program because I feel blessed enough to be strong and healthy, and would be more than happy to share that health with someone else.  

It’s a bit commitment … one that I considered for months before signing up.  See, there’s needles… and many hours of prep and testing before the actual donation begins.  And… needles.  

I’m not telling you about the National Marrow Donation Program because I want you to rush out and sign up.  It was the right choice for me… but it might not be for everyone.  But… if you think marrow donation might be right up your alley, well then heck!  Get on it!  I just wanted to share.  Now you know what I’m up to when I’m not in the kitchen making cookie dough, or avoiding dishes, or snacking, or drinking wine, or being otherwise silly and unproductive.  

Now you know. 

Let’s make this quick and dirty, shall we?

From a cool 1,123 comments, Random.org has selected lucky winners 555 and 836.  That means Miss Andrea Cox and Stephanie from Hawaii… Holy Heck!  You win win win!  

But… there’s goodness for all of us.  The lovely folks at Green Kitchen Tools would like to offer each and every one of you 10% off whatever fancypants products you might like to treat yourself too.  Everyone likes a sale right!?  Consider this your own personal Green Kitchen Tools sale.  Simply type: GKT10P into the coupon code and… taadaaa!  Money saving magic.  

Tomorrow?  Spiced Diced Apple Cake.  Let me just tell you… it’s a good thing I took pictures of that dang cake already because I’ve already eaten half of it…. by myself… using the “I’ll just have a sliver” method.  It’s good.  It’s really really good.

Holy Heck!  When did Fall sneak up on me!?  I could use a deep breath… how about you?

Here we are at the end of September and I’m more than ready to go shopping for winter tights and oversized sweaters… not to mention jumping in the kitchen to bake up my favorite pumpkin cookies.  Seriously.  Have you made these pumpkin cookies yet?  They’re my reason for living from October through January.  

Now is not the time to talk cookies.  Can I show you a few things!?  I want to show you what my summer looked like…. up close… personal… on the fly.  All captured by my trusted camera phone.  Remember when we played the camera phone picture game a few months back?  I’m at it again.  Come take a peek and then tell me what you were up too all summer long!

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Bread.  Love.  Bread.  

I’m on a tiny bit of a vacation these days.  Tiny.  Seriously.  Also… I’m kinda still working, but that’s mostly because I can’t help myself.

While I’m away… sort of away, I want to show what I love.  Can I share a bit with you?

Here’s one thing!  I love that you can now sign up to get my rambling posts in your email inbox.  Kinda sweet, right?  Just drop your email in the little “subscribe me!” box to the left.  Oooooh technology.  You’re rad. 

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After extensive… and I do mean extensive research, I’ve determined that certain items always taste better if someone else makes them for you.

It’s like when someone else draws a bath for you… maybe with bubbles or salts, and perfectly warm water.  Dang, that’s a good bath… somehow way better than it would have been if you turned those bathtub faucets yourself.

So, what items always taste better if someone else makes them for you?  Perfect macarons and the day’s first cup of coffee.

Cookie and a coffee?  And I don’t have to move a muscle in the kitchen?  It’s already delicious.

Now let me tell you about who made them for me.

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I’ve got a great cure for the Tuesday Blues!

It’s time to give goodies away!

Close to 1,000 of you darling people have so graciously entered for this humble giveaway including Rishi Tea, Morning Glory Confections and Baggu bags.  A cool 15 of you won won won!  Click on through and see if you’re a winner!

What’s going on this week around these parts!?  I’ll tell ya…  coffee, cookies, what looks like the last of my summer tomatoes, and what the heck am I going to grow for Fall?  Have any ideas for me?  I’m going to need some gardening advice.

Ok… winning numbers look like this on random.org.  Oooooh!  Enticing, right?

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What’s the best part of going to a party?  Let me answer that for you…. the Gift Bag!!!

Now… it doesn’t happen very often now that I’m an adult, but the best part about leaving my friends’ birthday parties between the ages of 6 and 10 was the gift bag.  Something about that super bouncy ball, fake lipstick key chain and mini coloring book with crayon just set my world right.

Because there aren’t nearly enough gift bags in my adult world, I knew that my rooftop picnic must… MUST have parting gift bags.

Three companies were generous enough to make these gift bags possible.   Here’s the part where I thank them for their awesomeness and give stuff away to you, and you, and you!

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Can I share something with you?

I’ve been feeling a little lost lately.

I think this whole new blog has left me feeling turned around and upside down.

Let me explain.  I want to take you back to the humble beginnings of Joy the Baker.

See that picture up top?  That’s my first site.  Oooh me Oooh my.  Pretty precious, right?  I set this site up a two years ago so I could start selling wedding cakes and wholesale baked yummies to coffee shops.  I played the wholesale and wedding cake game for a hot minute.  I chugged along on my own for a few months before it became clear that food costs and kitchen expenses made it hard for me to even break even.  That’s when I started working in other bakeries and restaurants.  Phew.  That was relief.

Then a magical thing happened.  It really did feel like magic.  I discovered food blogs.  It’s like fireworks went off in my head… as silly as that sounds.  Stories plus pictures plus recipes… plus you just get to be yourself at every moment!?  Holy heck!  In!  I wanted in!

Here are some of my very first food photos, taken when I was working as the Head Baker at a tiny bakery in Burbank.  These shots?  Taken on my camera phone at 4:30 in the morning.  You think I’m kidding.  I’m totally not kidding.  That’s some good glisten on those cinnamon rolls, right?  Thank you camera phone macro mode!

Want to see my first post?  Ha!  I know it’s around here somewhere.  Here!

Above is one of the first pictures I took with a fancy camera, a Canon 40D.  I propped an Ikea lamp up in the background… that’s what is creating that yellowish glow.  Not exactly ideal, I now know.

Can  I just say… I was beyond mortified when I discovered that someone had found my blog and left a lovely comment in the days that followed my first post.

Mortified.

The thought of someone finding this space and reading my words absolutely terrified me.

But it didn’t terrify me enough to actually stop posting, and posting, and posting… and posting… and posting some more.

So here I am… almost two years later, still working a day job, cooking, blogging, throwing picnics for hundreds of people like you, and introducing a whole new look with loads of new content into my space.

Can I be honest?  That’s what we do here, right?

This whole redesign is a big, scary thing for me.  Many, many months ago I thought I might like to start a separate blog… one about my silly life and all the silly things I do.  I then thought… ‘Hey!  Why not put my food and my life all together into one big ol’ fun site!?’.

Here we are many months later, I’ve hired designers and fired designers.  I’ve begged coders to meet deadlines and battled hosting companies to get where I am today.  It feels like I’ve built a house, then set it on fire… then had it built all over again… but, really… less dramatic than that and without the fire.

I’ve gone from taking pictures with my camera phone to running an entire site and keeping up with designers and coders and hosting and CSS and CPM and IE6 compatibility and… DUDE!  This mess is complicated!!!  Bourbon.  Where is the Bourbon?  Also doughnuts.  I need doughnuts!

Am I whining?  I’m totally pouting right now, aren’t I?

It’s just that sometimes things become far more than you expected… even when you’re trying to expect them.

I’m telling you all this… I’m showing you where I’ve come from and showing you how we’re right at the beginning of where we’re going, because I have an unreasonable desire to share with you the overwhelming, scary and totally exciting nature of this endeavour.  Oooh Internet, how you fussy up my emotions sometimes.

So we’re in this together right?  I couldn’t have nearly as much fun with this space if you weren’t here to share it with me.

Thanks for being here for as long as you have… even if it’s only for the past two minutes.  Thanks for adjusting to all this change I’ve thrown at you.

Thanks for being patient as I get my footing here, yell at my hosting company, recharge the batteries on my camera…. and do some freakin’ dishes.

And hey!  Let me know what’s working for you here… and what makes you sorta wanna yell and scream (in a bad way).  You matter.  I’m listening, unless it has anything to do with my use of the ‘…’, then I’m not really listening.   Holla back.

I feel like it’s just about time to say goodbye to summer.  I think I’m just about ready to trade in peaches for pears and white wine for red.  Just about ready.

The best way to bid farewell to such a gorgeous season is to do something quintessentially LA…. and if we can work in a smokey sunset and some wine… well, that’s living.   

Here’s some of our end of summer adventure.  What are you doing with your end of summer days?  Does it involve wine?  It should.  It really should.

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Shareen.  Do you know Shareen Vintage?

Oooooooh my word.  Should I tell you about Shareen?

Shareen Vintage is a wonderland of vintage dresses.  Ok… I’m about to combine three concepts that you probably thing an impossibility in combination: reasonably priced, magnificent condition, vintage dresses.  Yes.  It’s true.  These concepts all work together at Shareen Vintage in downtown Los Angeles.  I ain’t lyin’.   

Here’s the skinny on Shareen.  Her warehouse is located in a super obscure part of downtown Los Angeles.  You’ll seriously question your GPS finding this place.  You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the bodies at the end of the road.

Shareen Vintage is only open two days a week, and there are noooooo boys allowed inside.  Why no boys?  There are no dressing rooms in her secret garden of vintage dresses.  Girls try clothes on around a giant bed she has fashioned in her warehouse, or beside a couch and coffee table set up… really, just wherever you can find a spot next to a mirror.  Wear your pretty bra and underwear… I’m just sayin’.  

My pretty pink picnic dress?  Shareen Vintage.  I couldn’t believe how cheap it was.  Holy heck.  I’m a believer.  

So… now you know the secret:  Shareen. Vintage.  Downtown.  If you find yourself at the warehouse any given Wednesday or Saturday, please just save me some good stuff… in a size six.  It’s only polite… sweet, thanks!

You know what’s a good combination?  Fried chicken and cupcakes.

You know what else is a good combination?  Me and you.  You and me.

Thank you for bringing your smiling, shining faces downtown on Sunday.  I don’t know exactly how to tell you how much this picnic meant to me.  Let’s see…. how can I relate this to you?

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Oooooh Yea!  I’ve got a lot to be excited about!  Come on down for picnic time!

Don’t forget to send your virtual picnic pictures into joythebakerpicnic (at) gmail (dot) com …. Ok!?

You’ll also want to check back often today to see all sorts of picnic photos and updates.

Aaaand one more thing!

Don’t forget the live Twitcam broadcast at 4:30.  All you have to do is follow me on Twitter!

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Hey there friendlies!  

I have a few spots open for this weekend’s grand bash!  Have nothing to do this Sunday?  Want to hang out with me on a rooftop downtown.. picnic style?  Did I mention there will be cupcakes…?

If you want a last minute invite, email me at: 

joythebakerpicnic (at) gmail (dot) com

Yes?  Yes.  This is happening.

Back to our regularly scheduled recipes and stories soon… promise.

Hey Friends!

Guess what!? OOOooh yes! It’s almost picnic time! That means… it’s almost Virtual Picnic time!

But what the heck is a virtual picnic, and how is this going to work? Don’t worry. I have answers. Here’s how I’d like it to go down.

1. I would love for you to gather your friends… gather one friend… gather ninety friends… get together on Saturday August 22nd or Sunday August 23rd, share your favorite baked goods, and just enjoy fun and laughs over sweet treats.

2. Take pictures of you and your friends at your JtB picnic extravaganza. Why? Because you want to send those photos to me to be posted along with pictures from the Los Angeles event as it happens on August 23rd.  Pictures!  Pictures with signs.  Pictures with cupcakes.  Pictures with your smiling faces… I want them!

3. Do you follow me on Twitter? You probably do… and that’s great!  At 4:30 PST I’ll be live streaming video of the picnic extravaganza using TwitCam.  Yes… welcome to the future.  All you’ll have to do is find me on Twitter at 4:30PST and follow the link that says “Check out my live video stream of TwitCam”.  You’ll get to plug into the picnic as it happens!  You’ll see my in my pretty pink dress acting like the hostess with the mostess.  You’ll even be able to tweet comments and questions as I’m live streaming.  Oooh future.  You’re rad! 

4.  There will be prizes for the Los Angeles picnic participants and yes… prizes for some Virtual Picnic participants too.  There will be one random drawing and one prize for the virtual picnicers with the most spirit.  Who doesn’t like prizes!? 

Want to play along?  Want to gather your friends in the name of Joy the Baker and cupcakes?  I think you should.  Do it!  Then share the love with me!  So…. you in!?

What..?  You want a recipe?  Ok… how about Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce?  Good.

We have cute bags to talk about!  Can you stand a bit more Baggu talk?  Good… because I’ve got good news. 

There are two Baggu set winners.  Two lucky ladies out of the thousand of you who commented (geeeez!) that win the two colorful sets above.

But really… WE ALL WIN!

Baggu is offering Joy the Baker readers a 15% discount on cute bag purchases made through the weekend.  Yea!  Cool, right?  All you have to do is pick your favorite Baggu colors, checkout and type JOY (all caps) in the coupon area.  Easy as pie!  Thanks Baggu.  We like you.  We think you’re terrific.  We also think that people should use the word ‘terrific’ more often.  

Baggu set winners are Barefoot Rooster (do roosters wear shoes?) and Mindy Harris.  Congratulations!

Ok… well, Baggu loves me.  I love you.  Thus… and without question, Baggu loves you.  

See how that works?

Baggu has graciously decided to make my life easier, greener and fashionably color coordinated.  Thanks Baggu!  

See, instead of wrestling with single Baggu bags at the bottom of my purse, they’re put three matching bags in one pouch.  Clever, right?  

Now, I can walk out of Trader Joe’s looking like my tree saving self, and not feel bad about graciously ignoring the Greenpeace people who heckle me about whether or not I want to save the polar bears.  Obviously I want to save the polar bears…. don’t you see my Baggu bags!?   

Baggu bags.  Three bags in two sets, for two readers.  Leave a comment .  Comments close Tuesday at noon PST.  I’ll choose two comments at random and send those two darling readers a set of Baggu bags.  Success!  Go on… leave a comment and say hey!