Hi Friends. Sorry, I’ve been busy relishing in summer.
After the farmers market in May, I decided to refocus on relaxing in a bigger way! While I haven’t been baking or writing much, I have been having SO. MUCH. FUN. Making new friends and celebrating the ones we already have; travelling; running with my puppy; sweating it out on roadtrips; laughing; crying; and eating delicious, delicious food. Thank goodness for all the wonderful people in my life making all this possible! Click on the likn below and you’ll see my Mom’s business (Harmony Gardening and Sustainable Solutions), Joy’s new puppy (Sookie), my trip to Laramie to move Becky, Family Style Cantonese dinner for my birthday, #malletsarefortourists Barn Party and Crab Feast:
and some pics just from our trip to Asheville:
Some of you may be wondering where you’ll see Gimme Dem Cupcakes next, and the truth is… YOU NEVER KNOW! I’ll definitely be making an appearance at the either DC Veg Fest or DC Cupcake Camp and a Grey Market in the fall; and there have been a few other events and opportunities I just couldn’t make work yet. But as the GDC kitchen prepares to move to the district spring 2012, I’m hoping to set roots and partner with a storefront or kitchen in the area. Let me know if you have any ideas! Maybe August will actually help me get back to work… In the meantime, keep checking back here for updates and I’ll still be doing made to order!!
Holy, moly. What an event. And I was only there for Saturday! The National Capital Area Cake Show was AMAZING! I’m so glad my friend Yuli encouraged me to go! After an evening baking with my family Friday, I started my day with an 8 AM class with Norm Davis on how he runs his shop and manages clients for his award winning cake business The Sweet Life. Afterwards, I met up with my friend Morgan and we let the sweet smell of baked goods guide us. There was a lot going on: more classes; vendor expo; entries for the wedding cake, themed, and divisional cake decorating contests; cookies; cupcakes; a live cake challenge with celebrity pastry chefs; free demonstrations and so much philantrhopy! Right up my alley! I was really impressed with the sense of community as well as the professionalism of the bakers, especially amateurs! Next year, I’m definitely taking more classes and loading up on the swag as much as possible. (full photo album of what we saw here.)
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But my very favorite part was the Cupcake Cocktail Hour and Cupcake Challenge which Gimme Dem proudly participated in with what my sister like to call the “Plump and Juicy Fuzzy Navel Cupcake.” It was long week with the addition of bar training and spending time tweaking my recipe… but Friday night, with the help of my family, we nailed it. It took a lot of Schnapps and peach puree to get the recipe right, but we finally got a standout peach flavor to pop against the intensity of the orange zest.
I had a great time meeting spectators and sharing with the other bakers. On top of all that, I was shocked and surprised to get an email telling me we won second place in the amateur division! I am not ashamed to quote the email here:
We are writing to congratulate you on receiving a 2nd Place Award in the 2011 NCACS Cupcake Challenge! The results are posted on the website at www.cupcakechallenge.org . Please send your mailing address and I will mail you the ribbon!
Thank you so much for competing and I hope that you will be returning next year to defend your title. The judges noted that not only was your cupcake delicious, but you did it with all vegan ingredients, which shows an added level of skill. They were very impressed! (For your personal bragging rights I will also note that your numerical score tied the winner in the professional category.)
Congrats,
Melissa Westervelt & Megan Ferrey
Cupcake Event Coordinators
along with the 2011 NCACS Committee
There were probably over a hundred entries and 40 or so bakers professional and amateurs. I got a lot of really great feedback and really feel like I got the opinions of my peers. I can’t tell you how good it feels to have won and I definitely wasn’t even expecting it. Gimme Dem wouldn’t be here without all you and it really shows. That said, I think a Gimme Dem Cupcakes and Empanada party is in order!!! Shooting for April 16th, I’ll confirm and send invitations this week!
Hi friends. I hope you’re warm and toasty, cuddling with love ones on this slushy day. I am! Yesterday around 3 o’clock, big wet snowflakes quickly blanketed and overwhelmed Northern Virginia. We closed the office early and I hit the grocery store for dinner ingredients and a loaf of Italian bread. It was dangerous even in two miles of driving. Cars had slowed to a crawl and some were starting to get stuck.
Luckily, I was home by 4:30 and I settled in for a little cat nap. I’ve been keeping weird hours so I can get enough done to enjoy my family during waking hours, sharing meals and watching TV or listening to music together. That said, I had enough time to lounge and by 7:30, I whipped up a nice steaming dinner.
Boom and I drained away the hours eating junk food while I worked on laptop and our favorite channels ran together. She took periodic gallops in the snow with Cocoa Bean, but mostly we were glued to our seats. Exhausting work.
By 3 am I was about done with a PowerPoint I’d been working on and then I took a hot bath while I read. By the time I crawled in bed, I secretly hoped we’d be snowed in for the morning and drifted off to dreams of my nana. When I woke up, I set up a record and went straight to the kitchen, eager to try something new. I sliced the Italian Bread from the night before, some bananas and prepared for a sumptuous vegan breakfast-Banana Stuffed French Toast with mixxed berry compote. Dredge batter= soy milk, cinnamon and ginger; crust= graham and almond meal. Seared on med-hi heat for about 3 minutes per side! Delicious. Now I feel totally ready for the trek to work!
My friends, I’m sorry my blog has been neglected. Please know Gimme Dem Cupcakes has been working and playing hard!
This MLK, Jr. weekend rounds out my holiday season, and I have truly been a very lucky girl. I think about all the people in my life, and I am so thankful. We exchange so many gifts of love. Sometimes in the form of new cooking tools for GDC, gardening gear for Harmony Gardening, goofy socks for my favorite derby girl, or mostly in the occasions to be together sharing food, laughing and learning.
I worked ahead and actually had a whole week off over the holidays to be with my family. Lars and I had a wonderful pre-Christmas with the Gotrich’s in GA, I came back for Christmas weekend lucky to find my mom was able to join us, and then we celebrated with my Grands the following Monday. Quality time was spent baking on my own, making phone calls to friends, late night gaming with my sister, and eating lots of delicious food. All these moments are so precious to me.
While I wish dearly to have a more normal work schedule, for now, I have been enjoying my work even when the hours and days run together; and I am so happy that after working so hard, there really is time to spend with the ones I love. Thank you all for being so patient with me. We all work hard, and I hope you find yourself refreshed by the new year and that you find all the time you need to be with the ones you love doing things that help you grow. Let me know if Gimme Dem can help!
this morning’s post requires subtlety, so it’ll be sans caps in true kt b style. it’s after 4 this am and i still haven’t gone to sleep. i’m listening to yankee hotel foxtrot and the slide guitar has me swaying as i type the last few notes up for my training meeting. i needed this music tonight. these past few weeks have been really difficult for me; not the hurtles i have to face or the action i use to pass them, but just my mental place. i still think i might be half super hero, but i know i’m susceptible to the kryptonite effects of self-doubt and its ability to distort the perception of reality.
i’ve been going and going strong, two years helping my family, urging each of us to seek our own strength and independence. i’ve grown a lot and met many wonderful people along the way. while we each have tasks or jobs in life we wish were easier, different or just not there, i realized, i too have limits. i need to be careful of the doors i leave open, inviting people to take advantage of me. and i also need to know there will be relief. my faith has been shaken by the fact that my parents divorce still isn’t resolved after two years of separation. i’m an ambitious young 26 year old woman and i have no savings and school loans to pay off. and what about what they want. they don’t want to be in this permanent purgatory between poor marriage and independence. i know each of us is capable of success, we just haven’t succeeded yet. i’m realizing my parents might not feel strong enough to. i’m realizing i can’t make up for that kind of vulnerability with money or favors. they need self worth and trust in self after too many years of sinking into a turpentine clouded by the layers of beautiful youth and strength that eased into cold forgetful compromise of independence. they didn’t have a partnership, they shared a sense of the other as a stranger, both creating horrible reflections in their mind of the other.
so as the busy fall season approaches, as painful as this self reflection and revelation has been, i hope i don’t forget it. i hope i hold my family accountable for their responsibilities in hopes that we can have more healthy relationships. i’d like to say i’m baking a family of gingerbread people to commemorate this all, but really, i’m giving my self til 5 in the office and then i’ll be busy with two other gimme dem orders. i’m glad for it. i’m glad to see the things i don’t like because i know they don’t have to stay that way. i’m glad i know my self and my free will enough to choose a better life. and i’m glad i have you, my friends. a baker like me is always looking for a place to put her sweetness. screw the fantasy of a terrible present or a impossible dream of the good life. as jake/oasis would say: build a better place and call it home.
I’ve been a bad blogger but a much better baker. I’ve had orders alost every week, but it’s been full tilt boogy with my work schedule. I pack something in every day and it’s turning out to be a very full summer.
So the other evening, I was slouched in a seat on the metro when I was overtaken by a whiff of nostalgia. A smell of food service, the kind of smell that comes from no-slip shoes that have tread the kitchen many times, day in and day out. The feet that walk across the floor when it’s pristine in the morning, half-covered with crumbs during the rush, and sudsy mid-mop at the end of the day. They are decidedly stinky shoes with a layer of grime that is embed in the sole. I still love that smell, though. My parents worked at restaurants when I was little, one a kitchen manager, one a server, both rigorously emptied of energy each day.
I remember visiting them at work, meeting their coworkers, playing flashlight tag during power outages, helping myself to their cheese cakes, crab legs, and whatever else the smörgåsbord of the moment provided. The restaurant regulars and workers were our community of friends and neighbors. When my parents weren’t working, I’d want them to relax, playing server to them at home. I’d scoot a little cart to carry their food or beverages. Maybe it’s that romanticism mingling with manifest destiny that I now find myself a server to support my dreams of full time baking.
I work almost as many hours at Artie’s as I do at the office and I realize that you can’t spend that kind of time in a place for three years and not fall in love with the people. It’s hard not to make them cupcakes… Wednesday afternoon, my last guests were the sweetest middle aged couple I’ve ever met. About 3:30, a smallish man around 60 and his wife sat down at a window near the door and we fell in love. Over the few moments it takes to serve water, a bowl of soup, the crab cakes and a crème brûlée, we fell in love. I was overjoyed and refreshed as they graciously thanked me for every little thing. That’s the sort of people who come, nice people, people who care about how they treat others nd care about how others treat them. The same goes for my coworkers. Since I got back from vacation, the company has been in a huge staff transition since a good number of our servers are going back to school or moving on to other jobs, some firings, and the stress of spreading our talent to the new restaurant opening in September. So this month has been full of hellos and good-byes and it’s made me reflective. I realize, I’m really very proud of the work I do and what it helps me do for myself and my family, and I’m really glad I’ve gotten to work with so many wonderful people.
I always thought what mom and dad and all their coworkers do was beautiful. Every kitchen is a magical place wherethe human touch can create not only fuel for the body, but something that pleases the senses and cravings–something that pleases the mind, too. I’ve always found cooking and cleaning to be a mentally calming activity especially when its full of tension. So, learned behavior, genetics or choice, my love of giving places me close to a kitchen.
Hopefully things will come together and it’ll be a kt kitchen all the time. I’m on the lookout for kitchen shares or rentals and/or getting experience working for a bakery I believe. Next month, I have a counseling session at George Mason and I’m going to DC VegFest on the 11th. In the meantime, check out the new and improved online order form and pick out something special or just write me and say hi!
I have to say, this like many recent posts, is going the long way ’round before we ever get to the cake… Today was Katie Beckman day, aka my 26th birthday. Where am I? Who did I enjoy my birthday with? While I usually spend most Independnce days and birthdays with my immediate family or closest friends; today I was in Georgia with my boyfriend and his family. I got to meet his mom, dad, brother, sister in law, and her two little sisters (flickr album). This is my first time in GA, first time meeting his family, first time meeting a family that lives so far from me.
I’ve spent a little over a year getting to know Lars, and as much as I love him, I knew he was part of a family of good people. Our first night and day of vacation was in Athens, and while I was immeditely drawn to the open and inclusive culture of one of the country’s best college/music towns, I found myself at the edge of my seat with excitement as we drove to his family’s home in suburban Atlanta. As I entered the door, they immediately hugged me hard and made me feel so welcome and so loved. I can’ fully describe how good and how complete each moment has been, but I feel incredibly blessed. I hope for more, but I’m so satisfied for what is now.
We’ve had a wonderful few days, and today, they celebrated my birthday with me. Lars’s mom has been very accommodating to my dietary decisions, and today was no exception. She prepared a gorgeous cake, the oh so decadent Death by Vegan Chocolate cake from The Grit cookbook. Accented with blackberries and served with one of the delicious teas, I was surprised to open a great collection of records to accompany the new record player from Lars.
The evening was punctuated with family stories, music, and delicious food. I can’t believe we leave Wednesday, but I feel like this has been the most relaxing vacation I can remember. Every year feels like I’m more and more me, and I’m lucky to have the company of such wonderful, wonderful people. I hope I remember how much I love them, however long they’re in my life.
I hope as you read this post, maybe you can have some idea of how special it is to love, and then fall in love a little deeper. Please remember, I love you all and know I send you lots of happy thoughts! As soon as Lars posts bday pictures, you’ll have a better idea of the cake and Jude’s wonderful culinary skills.
So, this morning, getting Cocoa and myself ready to go berry picking, I was alarmed to find I couldn’t reach my mom. Texting wasn’t going through and as I tried to call mom, I was directed to Verizon’s payment services. My mom, excellent at mothering, creating, loving; not so good at adult-ing. She can weave you a dream catcher or lecture you on permaculture, but gee, what happened to finalizing the divorce or child support?
I’m not meaning to make her sound irresponsible, because she’s not. I know she’s thinking about all these things and a zillion others, losing sleep and greying hair over how to keep her wheat grass growing and the cats fed. That’s kind of the thing.
I was so frustrated after I paid that bill; not because it’s hard, but because I’m just not sure how to fix things. I’m not sure how to get mom in a better place. I can get more money, but I can’t fix my mom or keep taking on her responsibilities. It’d be easy to be angry, or to hate her. But really, hate is the absence of something. It’d be the absence of my love for her, and that’s not it. What’s missing right now is whatever mom needs to get through everything.
At any restaurant or fast paced work place, you may hear them say, “don’t get in the weeds.” That’s just what it is. She’s got a jungle in her mind and unclear navigation. We all have our own jungles of responsibilities and miscellaneous thoughts, but we need to know ourselves and know our process or we won’t have a path through the jungle. We have to trust ourselves and our coping skills or we can never really grow or take on new challenges.
So, my apologies, no blackberry pies this summer. Luckily, I do have a freezer full of blueberries. In thye meantime, please share your happy thoughts and trust with those you love. I send you my own happy thoughts for peaceful minds, so you can enjoy your jungle and not just wish for escape.
Thursday, June 17th, 2010 was a very special day. Any good anthropologist or sociologist will tell you, human societies and the individuals in them, need their rites of passage. We need the physical, mental and somewhat spiritual key change to progress from one stage of life to another. We could write them off as meaningless hiccups in a string of ordinary events, but I myself, love the opportunity to celebrate the ones I love. Yesterday was one of the best. My whole family was with me and we all woke early to go about preparations for my “little sissy’s” graduation from high school. A very special batch of mini Tiramisu in arm, we drove downtown for a gorgeous afternoon of celebration.
An excerpt from the email I wrote to our closest friends and family:
“Yesterday, Mom, Dad, and I had the great joy of seeing our Jenny graduate with her classmates at DAR Constitution Hall. The weather was hot but bright and breezy, Jenny looked stunning, and everyone cooperated so we could be on time and ready for each stage of the day. Everything about the day just made Jenny shine. Sitting in the hall, we anxiously searched the sea of red caps for her head of brown with blonde undertones. The speakers were humble and poised, especially the valedictorian (who gave Jenny a specific nod in her speech). When Jenny finally walked across the stage, I was mid-holler when the tears came. It was so much coming to fruition and such an honor to be part of her moment. After everything that’s been happening, the past few years especially, it was just so wonderful to celebrate Jenny and think about the child she was and the beautiful woman she’s becoming.
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I hope you’ll join my family in congratulating Jenny and the other students for their work to grow and mature throughout their schooling. It was a very special day for our family and personally one of the most precious memories of my life. I’d also like to personally thank each of you for all the family, friendship, support, and love you’ve shared with us. People like each of you make our family feel so loved and so fortunate.“
Congratulations to the class of 2010- you deserve every opportunity the world has to offer you, and the world deserves to see you pursue every one of your goals and talents.
The past couple days, I was really bumming, but I went into the restaurant last night and decided to stop feeling so sad for myself; just get back to running shit and loving my everyday. It worked. I had great guests and even when things weren’t perfect, I was able to course correct and really connect with people in a good way. I even got into a really nice conversation with a couple about their 6 kids, blogging, and baking. Inspired and feeling full of love, though I went home tired, I decided to get into the kitchen.
So, you may or may not know, the meaning of life is locked in the braided dough of a delicious salteña. A childhood favorite, I learned how to make it vegetarian recently in the past couple years. Today, I have reached true baking nirvana: VEGAN salteñas. Last night, I prepped my vegan mod of the traditional filling and I chilled a batch of Terry Romero’s empanada dough over night. It was perfect. Less buttery and heavy than the original, these salteñas were just as satisfying and flavorful as I ever remembered. Check it out:
Original Recipe for traditional Bolivian salteñas is here. Vegetarian mod. Ultimate Vegan mod.
Results:
Thank you to everyone who continues to send good vibes to Gimme Dem Cupcakes!
