When I first moved to Texas I had a tree in my backyard with funny little orange and yellow fruit, which I automatically assumed were inedible since I’d never seen them before. No sooner had I moved to a new house sans fruit-bearing trees did I learn that I had missed out on an entire season of delicious (and free!) loquats. Despite the name, these little guys have nothing in common with kumquats but rather taste like a more floral apricot. Variations of the plant can be found all over the globe and we’re pretty lucky to be one of the chosen locations. I’ve been hoping to get my hands on some this season and was thrilled to find that Forage Austin was on the hunt. Colleen dutifully searches local neighborhoods and forestlands for laden trees and brings them to lucky cooks like me.
Loquats have a short shelf life once picked, so I immediately made jam out of the majority of our loot. I then tucked the remainder of the fruit into buttery hand pies topped with almond streusel. These hyper-local treats will be available for $25/dozen for a limited time only and can be ordered via email or telephone. Now I’m just tapping my food waiting for fig season…
Posted in: Etcetera, Specials
This post has been a long time coming. Between fall wedding season and the upcoming holiday rush, I’ve been fairly lax on posts of late. We’ll soon get back to your regularly scheduled programing full of dessert buffets and beautiful wedding treats, but first I want to share a little about my recent trip to New York. I fled north to visit friends, escape the August doldrums, and spend a few days learning from the crew at Momofuku Milk Bar. The “milk maids” as they call themselves run a tight ship pushing out unimaginable quantities of crack pie, compost cookies, and cereal milk for the people of New York and beyond. They graciously welcomed me into their enormous production kitchen and taught me some of their tricks of the trade while demonstrating some of the best kitchen teamwork I’ve ever seen. Despite being in a complete sugar tizzy, I used my off days to use the city as never-ending buffet – chowing down at Ippudo, Marea, Eataly, Roberta’s, Shake Shack and about a million little bakeries. These snapshots are just a few of the highlights.
1. 100 QT stand mixers at the Milk Bar kitchen
2. Family meal with the Milk Maids (Family meal in a bakery production kitchen is virtually unheard of…these bakers really go above and beyond to take care of each other).
3. Matcha and Japanese candies at Kajitsu
4. Goodies at Buchon Bakery
5. Carbonated Coffee in Brooklyn
6. Halibut with nasturtium vinaigrette at ABC Kitchen
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera, Travel
Photo from here.
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Original drawing from here.
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Images sourced from: 1/2/3/4/5
American painter Wayne Thiebaud is most famed for his depictions of brightly colored pastries, candies, and cakes. His work in the 50s and 60s just barely pre-dated the pop art movement, and Thiebaud is often credited with influencing the iconic style made famous by the likes of Andy Warhol. I obviously love his paintings for the sweet content alone (do you see those glistening glazed doughnuts?!), but also admire the way his use of punchy colors translates so seamlessly into the present day. As soon as Bake Sale gets a permanent home, you can bet on seeing some Thiebaud prints on our walls.
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Photo from here.
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Well, the time has finally come for The Cream Event! We’ve gotten through the bulk of our preparations (including the baking of many, many fabulous treats) and are growing ever so excited to put on our dancing shoes. If you’re attending, please come by our display to say hello and please be ready to indulge in all things wonderful!
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Reading new cookbooks is a surefire way to stay current with culinary trends, flavors and techniques, but sometimes the tomes that have gathered a bit of dust are the ones that hold the most inspiration. No matter how many new cookbooks I read, I always return to this dog-eared, tried and true selection whenever I’m in need of a culinary refresh button. The three cookbooks here feature straight-forward flavors, while the two reference books offer creative insight and technical know-how. Quite the winning combination.
The Last Course/Dolce Italiano/The Perfect Scoop/The Flavor Bible/On Food and Cooking
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
Posted in: Blog, Etcetera
