Scenes from Taylor Street Festa Italiana

This past weekend has been quite a whirlwind. Our family bakery participated in the street festival in Little Italy, where we will be opening this fall. My cousin Gio helped me bake, package, carry and sell over 4,000 cookies over the course of the week. Throughout the weekend family and friends would stop by to help, which was always fun. It was an exhausting and exhilarating week. The best part of every day was the stories. People who grew up in the neighborhood would talk about their favorite memories of Annette and the bakery. Everyone who’d ever eaten there had a favorite bakery item…and it was usually the pizza, the donuts, the turnovers and strudel. For the first time, I am assured we will not lack for business, though I have begun to feel the weight of everyone’s expectations. It will certainly add to the challenge.

Thank you to everyone who came out this past weekend. It was so great to see and meet everyone, I can’t wait to open our doors to you!

Danish

Sometimes I make poor decisions. Such as wine tasting on an empty stomach and trying to bake bread afterwards. Not my best bread, let me tell you. Other times though, I make very good decisions, like making these danish pastries.

You see, I got a new textbook for school and I’m madly in love with it. My class this quarter is only using a few chapters of the hefty volume (mostly plated desserts), but I’m making my own way through the many, many bread chapters. Including the one on danish.

I then proceeded to eat only danish for three days straight. It’s very hard to resist all that butter, cream cheese filling, and homemade fig and vin santo jam. If these weren’t so time consuming to make, I would be in trouble.

The day I decided to build a plant bed for my porch.

Somewhere along the line, I realized how immensely satisfying do-it-yourself projects can be. There’s no better way to feel good about yourself than tackling a challenging project and accomplishing it. It’s the same feeling I get from baking, so I started to branch out even further into the realm of doing, making, building and growing things myself. I began by growing herbs and a fig tree named Figaro, and it turns out I am capable of keeping them alive. (Contrary to previous experiences, including in college when my poor flower plant, Agnes, was watered with what was definitely not water and was definitely vodka. Oops.)

Scafuri Bakery: Under construction

It has been a while since I wrote an update on the status of the bakery, so here are some pictures I took a short while ago. We’ve cleared everything out, tagged what we wanted to save, and let the construction magic continue.

A Tribute to Harry Potter

Nerd alert!

For my cake decorating class, we had to make a “child’s cake” with a specific child in mind for inspiration. I inadvertantly chose myself. And what kind of cake does my inner child/regular self want? A Harry Potter Cake of course! And with a little brainstorming with my art-school-graduate friend in class and my chef, we came up with the most kick-ass cake ever made. I was so excited I decided to document the process, then I can make it again come final HP movie premier.

House of the Rising Dough

Dear Reader,

Want to see something cool?

That is all.

Love,
Kelly

Birthday Cakes for Mom and a Move

Considering I’ve made birthday cakes for most people in the neighborhood, there was no question I would make one for my mom’s. Never mind that I was moving into the city that very same weekend so between cake-making and decorating, I’d also have to pack all of my stuff. Then my delusional brain decided it was a great idea to make two cakes so there would be enough for everyone at the party. Because I can’t seem to keep it simple these days.

I’m proud to say, there were no tears shed over these cakes either, and they took a lot less time to decorate. I might actually be improving!

Cake #1: Yellow buttermilk cake, chocolate and vanilla swiss buttercreams.