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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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.

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.

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I think it’s important that you all know something about what comes out of my kitchen:  it ain’t all pretty folks.  Not every creation that comes out of my kitchen is pretty, polished and ready for its blog debut.  The reality is that I have my fair share of flops, dropped eggs, burned butter and dirty dishes… I just don’t usually show those kitchen tidbits with you.  Tricky, right?

Today is your lucky day.  Here’s a peek at the flops, disasters and otherwise icky recipes I’ve tried and trashed.  

Chilled Blueberry Soup.  Ok, seriously.  Who are you trying to fool?  This was just an elaborate recipe for blueberry juice.  You tricked me and I resent you Blueberry Soup.  This won’t be soon forgotten.

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Happy Easter from vintage Joy the Baker.

Oooooh 1994… thanks for the memories.

There are a few things I’d like you to take note of in the photo.

-Yes, my hair is comically triangle shaped and I am trying to rock curly bangs.

- Yes, I made a bunny cake decorated with festive jelly beans.

-Take a look at that foil lined baking sheet.  I decorated it with Easter stickers.  Oh my.

- That’s my Dad standing in the doorway.  I like to think that he’s proudly standing there watching his daughter pose with a pretty stellar cake.  He might just be looking at my unfortunate hair.  Hm….

Happy Easter!

I feel like I’ve been breaking things all day.

First there was the printer…. and then another printer.  Two printers… broken.

Then a simple trip to the restroom seemed to be enough to unhinge the entire door.

Now… my site is feeling a little broken as well.

Here’s what’s going on.  I’ll explain it as I understand it.

I’ve gotten a few emails from readers that their IP addresses have been blacklisted and blocked from my site.  Their questions were the same as mine:  what the heck!?

It turns out that the blacklisting scandal is a hosting problem.

The hosting company I have used has increased their level of security.  That’s good, right?  Well, yes and no.

See, there’s this company called Spamhaus.

Spamhaus is in charge of compiling giant lists of evil spamming IP addresses.  They then send these lists to my hosting company.  In turn, my hosting company will block that IP address, thus saving me from the spam nasties.

But Oh No!  Some of you and your IP addresses are getting on this Spamhaus list and you’re finding yourselves banned from my site!  This may not be your fault.  You may have inherited a bum IP address, as they change every once in a while.

Now what do we do?  Well, first I think we should have a good cry…. no?  Ok.  First we should have a doughnut.  Then, if you find that you get this error message on this site, or any other site,  you can check whether or not your on the naughty list here.  You can also email me with any dirty error messages you might have received and I’ll contact my hosting company.

I’m working my way away from broken.  Just wanted to let you know!

Part Two!?  Catch up on Part One here!

If you had children and could only share one recipe with them, what would it be?

If I could only share one recipe with my kids, I’d no doubt teach them how to make a Sweet Potato Pie.  Wait… I haven’t even taught you all how to make a Sweet Potato Pie!  I’ll get on that.  Pies are a big deal in my family, it’s the only real way to get out of doing the dishes at holiday time… “I made the pie!” and you’re sitting pretty on the couch at dish time.  Brilliant!

What is your favorite cookbook specifically for cakes and cupcakes?

I’m a sucker for the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. It’s simple, approachable and has some really lovely recipes.

How do you like your coffee?

Two tablespoons of fresh ground coffee with 3 cups of hot water in a French press. Thow in some sugar and whole milk… press the press and coffee is a go!

What 3 things did you learn in culinary school that everyone should know?

Ah… as I mentioned before, I wasn’t one for the fancy-hat-wearing culinary school scene.  I did take a three month Professional Baking Course here in Los Angeles to get my feet wet just after I graduated with my bachelor’s degree.  By then I had already been working hard in bakeries.  I just wanted to see if professional culinary schooling was something that would float my boat.

When as our final class project we made a Croquembouche, I knew that large-and-in-charge-culinary school just wasn’t for me.  Beautiful, yes.  But what the heck am I going to do with a Croquembouche!?

I did learn some great things in the baking program.  Here are three off the top of my head.

1.  Always fluff flour before you measure it in a measuring cup, and don’t pack it in there too heavily before you level it off with a butter knife.

2.  Baking recipes almost always call for large eggs.  Using medium or jumbo eggs will throw off your recipe.

3.  Don’t ever ever ever ever EVER touch boiling sugar.  And if you do, thank the teacher that put the bowl of ice water next to your station to instantly cool your bad decisions.

AND!  BONUS!  Here are three things I taught myself in the kitchen. Good oven mits go a long long long way. Buttermilk lasts waaaay past it’s printed expiration date… weeks people… weeks. And, if you’re standing in the baking aisle at the grocery store and you’ve forgotten your list at home, just buy the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda… you’re probably out.

Is there a particular bakeware you would swear by?

Can I tell you a secret? I’m not super picky when it comes to bakeware. Heck… I’m the kind of baker that doesn’t even use parchment paper when I’m supposed to. There isn’t one name brand that overwhelms my kitchen. The only piece of glory that I swear by is my Kitchen Aid Mixer. The rest of my pans and such I get from my local restaurant supply store. They’re cheaper than those fancy kitchen stores and I know the products work because they have to stand up to restaurant type use.

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You mentioned once that you were an English major in college. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you ever do it? How did you move from English major to Baker Extraordinaire?

I was an English major in college. Ironically enough, reading makes me fall asleep. Crazy, right? Somehow I managed to work my way through five (yes, it took me a while) years of college. I worked two jobs through college, always with food, often in kitchens. For those years, I either had my head (fast asleep) in a book, or my hands elbow deep in dough. When I finished college, I found that I loved baking so much that I didn’t want to stop working with food. I somehow wanted to find a way to incorporate my love of story telling with my passion for food. So far that journey has lead me here- cooking, photographing and writing for you fine folks. I honestly can’t think of any place I’d rather be!

Have you thought of making healthy versions of some of your recipes, or proposing a corpus of kid-friendly, healthier recipes that use fruit sugars and fat subs for a more conscious approach of your culinary art?

I think butter is beautiful. I think sugar is dreamy. I think cream is over the moon. I bake with ingredients that put a smile on my face. I certainly wouldn’t consider the treats on my site as everyday meal-time staples, but for a special occasion… when you need to reach out to that inner sugar fiend… this is a good place to come.

If you’re looking for fruit sugars and fat substitutes, I just may not be the baker for you. It’s just not what I’m passionate about these days. While I do have a handful of healthful recipes like my Gnarly Muffins… these recipes just don’t bring a sparkle to my eye like cream, butter and chocolate do.

What kind of camera do you use? Did you take classes or is it just the camera that creates those gorgeous shots?

I use a Canon XSi with a 100mm macro lens. It’s a lovely, easy to use camera, made even more awesome with the fancypants lens. Can I tell you a secret? There was a time when the lens to my camera was worth more money than the car I was driving. True…. that’s really true.

I also have to tell you that I’ve actually never take a photography class. A dear friend handed me a SLR camera, gave me a 15 minute lesson all about aperture and depth of field I think he might have mentioned shutter speed once or twice… but that was it. He knew what I wanted to shoot and he showed me exactly how to do it.

The 100mm macro lens It’s totally worth it, isn’t it?

Yes. Yes it is.

Did you go to culinary school? Do you currently work at a bakery? Have you been working at a bakery for your entire professional life?

Here’s the deal: I’m a self taught baker. I didn’t go to culinary school. Why? It was just too darn expensive. As a result, I’m no master at cream puffs, my bread baking is sometimes a comic tragedy and fancy French desserts make me break out in a cold sweat. But that stuff just isn’t where my passion lies. I’m more interested in getting in the kitchen with my Dad to recreate his favorite pie, or filling my kitchen with girlfriends to play with cookie recipes. My approach is all about food, stories, laughs and love and I didn’t feel like I needed culinary school to teach me that.

What recipe ingredients are worth splurging on?

Whatever you love… it’s worth splurging on. I love food, so I think the good stuff is worth seeking out. Recently I’ve come to love raw, artisanal honeys. The people at Ames Farm seem to know what they’re doing with bees. They have lovely honey that I usually eat by the spoonful. I also love love love good chocolate. I like to buy Valrhona when it comes to my chocolate baking needs. Expensive, yes… but the quality is absolutely worth the extra dough.

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Before I hop on a plane back to Los Angeles from Seattle, I just wanted to give you a little nudge.

Did you cast your vote in the 2009 Bloggies?  Did you ask your Mom to vote?  Did you hassle the hubby to vote?  How about your puppy?  Does the puppy have an email address?

The last day to vote is Monday, February 2nd.  Voting ends at 10pm EST.  

I know what you’re thinking:  Holy Cow!  That’s tomorrow!  I gotta vote!

I support that impulse.  I thank you for that impulse.  

Here’s pie is you need a muchload of marshmallows in your life.  Yes, muchload.

I’m in Seattle this weekend.

I’m sticking to a strict schedule of walking around in the cold, eating warm spinach Piroshkies, and enjoying friends, cocktails and Seattle times.

Here’s what my life looks like right now.

Super seats on a wall just outside Pike Place Market.

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Say “Hey Neighbor!” with homemade.  Nothing says “Hey!  I like who you are.  I’m glad we’re in the world together” like homemade chocolate chip cookies.  Nothing  helps makes the world a better place like letting people know they’re appreciated.  See how that works?  Spread the good.

Whole Wheat, if not little by little then lot by lot.  Sure, whole wheat flour has been all the rage for years now, but it hasn’t really touched my heart.  This year, approach whole wheat little by little.  Your belly might just welcome a whole wheat triple chocolate cake, emphasis on the triple chocolate.   

Vegan time?  A few less sticks of butter and eggs and milk might just do a body good.  Those Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies I made with Jill treated me right.  There should be more vegan baking in our futures.

Play.  Commit to playing in your kitchen.  Visit to one of those fancy food shops and buy yourself a treat.  Maybe something that you never played with in the kitchen before.  Get it home and get crackin’.  There’s something fundamentally awesome about playing with new ingredients in the kitchen.  It’s like getting that new color of Play-Doh for Christmas, and just about losing your mind. 

Give.  The best part of baking, aside from eating a brownie fresh from the oven, is being able to share your treats with others.  You might even consider contacting a shelter that might be able to take your goods.  That’s thinkin’.

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Tonight, from San Francisco, I’m raising my glass to one heck of a memorable year.  

 There have been highs and lows, lots of learning, some tears and plenty of beauty.   

Loads of goodies have come out of my oven.  Photos have filled the memory of my computer, and silly stories have flowed out onto the Internet.  

Here we are at the end and at the beginning.  Like a hop, skip and quick restart.

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This weekend, I went to Oakland, smiled a lot, sat in a tree and ran over a tumble weed at high speeds.

I wanted to sit down today and tell you about pie… about pie that’s so full of love and goodness it might make your heart explode. I’ve got the pictures, I’ve got the proof, and I can’t find the recipe. It’s got to be here somewhere covered in crumbs and flour.

Gimme a minute. Ok… gimme a few hours. I’ve got pie. You’ve got a heart that’s ready to explode. Now we just need to find that darn recipe…..

There are wildfires raging all over Southern California and although I don’t live in the danger zone, the thick air and daunting skies make the fires impossible to ignore.

Driving around at dusk tonight, listening to the fire coverage on my car radio, I remembered that between the ages of about seven and eleven I would proudly proclaim that I wanted to be a firefighter to any adult that would ask.

It’s funny the reasons you choose to declare your future profession when you’re a child.  See,  I don’t particularly like fire, or being hot, or tall ladders or carrying heavy things.  I’m not much of a hero.  I don’t have that life saving gene inside me, aside from not killing the cricket that was in my kitchen last night.

My seven year old brain wanted to be a firefighter for several unheroic reasons: I liked (loved!) how awesomely clean and shiny fire trucks were.  I also really liked color and something about the red truck and the yellow suits and the black and white Dalmatian was totally exciting.  This is going to sound totally weird, but I used to love to do pull ups (I know, nutty), and my child brain somehow connected the ability to do pull ups with the ability to save lives and fight fire.

So I wanted to do pull ups and be a firefighter, until I wanted to own a zoo and be a vet, until I wanted to be a brooding writer, until I wanted to be a lady baker.  Phew… figuring out that stuff is nearly exhausting, and I’m not even done dreaming yet.

How about some squash?

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On Saturday afternoon I found my self standing in my kitchen, sipping a hot cup of milky Ovaltine. As I stood there, I started reading the Ovaltine canister… you know, like you read the box of cereal as you eat breakfast.

It turns out that my unassuming canister of Ovaltine had a recipe for me. I paused. I raised an eyebrow. I set down my mug of Rich Chocolate Ovaltine and I decided to bake their Ovaltine brownie recipe.

Let me stop here to answer the questions that have undoubtedly formed in your mind.

Yes, on rare occasions, I’ve been known to enjoy a cup of warm Rich Chocolate Ovaltine. A girl can only drink so much tea.

No, I will never again enjoy a warm cup of Rich Chocolate Ovaltine.

Why? I’ve discovered that Rich Chocolate Ovaltine is neither rich, nor chocolate. I’m not even convinced that it’s food. It should not be baked into brownies. Ugh. God. Ick. No! Mistake.

What happened? My ‘brownies’ came out of the oven bubbling with butter and chocolate-ish preservatives. Brownies are not supposed to bubble with butter. My house didn’t even smell like warm brownie goodness. It wasn’t a pretty picture. I felt sorry for the two sticks of innocent butter that I subjected to such torture.

But I learned something- something that I had already known, but my judgement must have been clouded by artificial chocolate flavoring. Use real ingredients. There is no substitute. Ovaltine is not chocolate. It might say it’s chocolate. It might strive to be chocolate, but it’s not, and it has no business in your brownie pan.

Sigh.

Don’t get it twisted. I’m not entirely hating on Ovaltine. Ovaltine rocks the house in my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

On any given day my diet is consistently composed of scrambled eggs (seriously the perfect food), some variety of baked goods fresh from the oven, cheese (lots of cheese) and tea (I drink so much I run out of mugs).

Have I mentioned that I love scrambled eggs?  I’m convinced that the perfect way to eat them is in tortillas, standing in the sunny spot in my kitchen flipping through cookbooks.

But this post obviously is not about my love for the egg.

There are days that I decide to slow down, take a deep breath and make myself something other than scrambled eggs for dinner.  On those days I go for my no frills, yet somehow impressive Hungarian Paprika Chicken dish.  It’s flavored with sweet Hungarian Paprika, onions, tomatoes, and the added creaminess of a touch of sour cream.  Served it over a bed of buttery egg noodles, and the world is instantly coming up roses.

Everyone should have a no fail chicken recipe in their back pocket.  This is mine.  From my stove top to yours.

As a note, I think the big red tin of Hungarian Paprika is the only way to go with this chicken.  You should be able to find it in your local grocery stores,  it’s not a fancy pants thing.

Go say hello to the boys at Foodproof for my recipe.  It’s a winner, I cross my heart.   Print this recipe!

It should come as no surprise that I relate to the world through food. Sure, I’m fairly well adjusted, I can carry on a warm conversation and function in life, but in the secret world that is my brain, I’m always trying to understand the world around me by relating it to something I’ve eaten.

Crazy? Maybe. Confusing? Let me explain.

Say I walk into my parents’ house and am greeted with a hug and kiss from my father. That’s just like eating a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream smothered with warm dulce de leche sauce. The hug from my dad and the ice cream create the same feeling in my brain. Get it?

The smell of fresh rain on concrete is just like eating a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

Having a heart to heart with my mom is just like sipping Earl Grey tea with extra sugar and milk.

Getting a paper cut is just like taking a shot of cheap tequila with salt and dry limes.

Falling absolutely, head over heals, silly in love with someone is just like smooth bourbon and cigarettes at midnight.

Sitting next to Grandmother at the dinner table and feeling her almost thoughtlessly stroke my hand as if it were her own… that’s just like this perfectly spiced Banana Cranberry Bread. Yes, there’s that much comfort in the bread. It’s the real deal.

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To Do:  Thursday 11.6.08

-Scowl at 6:30 am alarm clock.

-Randomly hit night stand in search of snooze button.

-Search the bed for warmth, find it, snuggle hardcore.

-Force self out of bed.  Write.  Seriously.  Write something.   

-Um…. snuggle more.  It’s not a crime.

-Dress.  Aroma Cafe.  Tea.  Breakfast.  Dreamy.

-Write, seriously, you have to write.

-Jump on the bed.  

-Make Sugar Crusted Ginger Cookies-  eat a great deal of the dough.

-Watch Foodproof videos.

-Snuggle more.  For your health.

-Think about showering.  

-Shower.

-Discuss cheese.  Make cheese look pretty.

-Bourbon.  Drink some.

-Bed.  Snuggle.  Prepare to scowl at forthcoming early alarm clock.  

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It’s November, and that means that we’ve undeniably entered the holiday season. In my world that means lots of family, lot of parties and eating a ridiculous, almost painful amount of food. Cocktail parties. Tacky Christmas sweater parties. Surprise guests and…. my oh my… is it too early to be this excited?

Despite all of my (possibly premature) excitement, I’ll admit that I’m sometimes at a loss when it comes to a holiday night out. If I’m not fussing over what I’m going to wear, I’m getting nit picky about the dessert that I’m going to bring. It’s enough to drive myself crazy and send me straight to the egg nog bowl when I hit the party. The egg nog is always such a nice thought, but the actual introduction of egg nog into my system is a very, very bad idea.

This weekend I picked up a few party dresses and tights- festive and hip but not over the top. I also baked up the perfect all purpose holiday cake. It’s a winner because you can throw it together with virtually anything and everything you have in your pantry.

Let’s discuss…

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