The Importance of Birthdays

A good part of what consumes what me and my husband talk about, think about, negotiate around, and fight about is the subject of birthdays. Our relationship officially started on my birthday, which was my 30th, and which was such a landmark in the identification and creation of my third decade. And the angst and loathing of my second decade was finally put to rest.

And the year after we had limited our christmas gifts to $10 a person, we chose to think about indulgence rather than restraint. And several years later, we came up with an 8 day celebration of John's birthday, dubbing it "Johnakkuh". For the eight days leading up to John's birthday, I would give him a gift. All together, the gifts could have much more meaning, but individually, they were each tiny thoughts or ideas that represented who I thought John was. Each gift was like a tiny little component of his personality. Each gift was small, but when I arrived home each day I was expected to have something in my hand for John.

And directly following our anniversary weekend, where we talked about the difference in our married anniversary and the anniversary of when we started dating which was as you know my birthday, we talked about no longer celebrating the time we started dating, and instead leaving that day to celebrate my birthday only. And in the following weeks where we found out John had cancer, where news just kept getting worse and worse until he lost his hair.

And then it was actually John's birthday that year when he found out he could stop his chemotherapy early, that his cancer was gone. And when we bought him that expensive guitar even though we had like $175k in medical bills to try to pay. And Christmas was very quiet with my dad in town we didn't even cook dinner.

And when I turned 40 we went to Paris where I took a cooking class on my birthday which was taught in French at some Jean Paul Gaultier looking cooking salon with a 10k instant freezer. And on the day I turned 40 we sat in our rented apartment and ate pastries from the patisseries we had visited and drank wine and ate roast chicken.

And then it was the year the retail shop opened on John's birthday, that he could think of no better way to celebrate his birthday than to watch his wife fulfill her dream. It was for that year and the several other years where he sacrificed his birthday while I pursued my dreams. It was for that sacrifice that I do not feel like having such gigantic expectations for a day that should be like any other day, only it is the day I was born.

And it is on this particular birthday, where my brother has decided to hold his wedding the day prior to my birthday, that I think I am starting to feel differently about celebrating birth, year after year. I keep thinking that this feeling, this drive, is going away, and I can finally celebrate without expectations, the true being that is me, and why i was put on the planet, and why John was put there with me.

Classes at Sugar

Wanted to play a little catch up and bring you all up to date on a couple of classes we've offered at Sugar. Classes were always something I hoped I'd be able to get into, especially since some years back I got my MFA in photography so I could eventually become an instructor. Well, photography didn't turn out to be an artistic medium I was passionate about, but that itch to teach did sort of remain. Blah blah blah, so eventually, I knew that when we opened our shop, we'd like to lay it out so classes would be feasible.

Last November, we had our first class, Pie Crust 101, where I taught various methods for making the perfect pie crust. There were about 8 people attending, and everybody learned lots of tips on how to make sure their crusts are flakey and delicious, while still holding a beautiful shape. Here are some pictures:
students rolling out crusts

a good crust
me talking about what to do and what not to do when rolling out pie crust
happy students ready to take home their pies.

We also recently had a Valentine's class where students were able to frost their own cookies and learn about how to make simple chocolate truffles. At the end of the class, they packed up their goodies into little boxes they could give to their friends and loved ones. Students also liked that they got to take home pastries from our case that we normally have to throw out or give to charity. Here's some pictures of that class:
students frosting and organizing their treats.
the finished product, all gift wrapped and ready to go.

King Cakes in Seattle

We're excited to be making King Cakes again this year for Mardi Gras. Last year was the first year we made them and it was a lot of fun. I even got a call from Tom Douglas when he was on the radio inquiring about our King Cakes. I absolutely love doing things that are ultra-seasonal...it creates a lot of excitement. I hope we get to bake a lot of them 'cause it's fun to do mass production for one day and then be all tired.

ANyhow, if you'd like to order them, we're baking them February 17th to 28th, and yes, they will have the baby. We're doing a Pecan Praline filling which is fantastic.. They'll be $37.50/ea and they'll be baked FRESH the day you pick them up. (much better than flying them out from far far away!) You can reserve yours today by calling (206) 749-4105 or emailing us at sales@sugarbakerycafe.com.

One Year Down.

Today we celebrated our first year at the retail location. It has been an amazing year filled with highs and lows, but the thing I am most proud of is how much we have learned so far. I remember last year fighting with the city, contractors, myself, my husband, and anybody else who got in my way. Fighting to open our doors no matter what. I remember that last stretch of the buildout when we were completely exhausted, and faced with patching 3 new holes in the bathroom, resorting to masking tape, which we just painted over. The patches are still there, making me realize that sometimes a quick fix is all you need, after all I am a baker.

I am so thankful to Christy my pastry chef, who is the main person responsible for us surviving this first year intact. Without her amazing attention to detail, her drive to be as thorough as possible, her obsession with keeping everything neat and organized, her charming and wonderful personality and hilarious sense of humor, the amazing way she cares for everybody around her, her honesty when I'm doing something she doesn't agree with, and the millions of other traits that are the priceless value she brings to Sugar. I can't believe I missed HER anniversary with Sugar. I hope she knows how much we appreciate her. Without her, we would not be where we are.

Sugar would also not have made it without fabulous coffee, and I am happy for my two baristas, who make amazing coffee that gets us going in the morning. I am thankful to Zane for his hard work and team spirit; we are so happy to have him in our family. I am also happy to have Aimee, who is so helpful and gracious.

We look forward to the years to come. I have a lot of great ideas up my sleeve, and can't wait to release them to greater Seattle.

Pennies from Heaven

If you can't trust the bank with your money, who can you trust. I have always trusted the bank. They are better at counting than I am. They have never ever made mistakes, and even when I think they do, I call them and it turns out it was my mistake. I mean they are like rock solid. But I suppose that maybe in the midst of this financial crisis that is being promoted all over the news that maybe, just maybe, it is becoming clear that they do make mistakes. I just caught them making a very big one and discovered that my bank can't count rolls of change. Imagine my surprise to find three different amounts of pennies in three different rolls. Now I'm suspicious of the dimes. Maybe the financial crisis might actually be a mistake? ;)

Almost Caught Up, and get ready for Fall Cakes

Have been spending the last few weeks catching up with all the accounting schleppy stuff. Now I can start to see all of our financial components are fitting together. I just have a little chunk of data to put in and then finalize a system to keep things on track. Phew! It's been tough with reduced staff, but we are all hanging in there and working extra hard. Being able to streamline is becoming increasingly important. Now I'm ready to work in the ER!

I am very excited about the new fall cakes lineup which we will begin rolling out next week. After a few days rest over the weekend, I spent labor day getting some cool stuff for the window display. Fall is my favorite time to bake. It's when we started the bakery. It brings back so many happy memories. Yummy memories.

Sometimes, you screw up real bad

Had trouble sleeping last night again...it's been a rough couple of weeks after our payroll taxes were much higher than predicted, and we found out from the IRS that we now have to pay monthly instead of quarterly...so we have to come up with a lot of money fast. I had to cut everybody's hours and start a huge project in figuring out big holes in our expenses. My tiny paycheck is gone so we are struggling even more with how to buy food. After a difficult first week with less staff, it's going to be a rough road ahead.

So on Saturday there was a large party platter order that was correctly filled out, in the right place, I had been told about, etc. For some reason, even though it was right in front of me, I completely did not make the mini desserts. The customer arrived at 2pm. I was so embarrased. I tried to help him by offering delivery, quickly trying to figure out what I could whip up very fast. Before I could come up with a solution, he walked out. I was so disappointed in myself. There's nothing I can do...I can't even give him a cookie.

It's like I have to hit rock bottom or something. Stuff like this can't happen when we are trying to increase our sales. We can't disappoint our customers with bad service and bad products. I know I'm human, but I feel as a leader, I have be held to a much higher standard.

Next week is a new week. I think I will try to be more simple about how I approach the bakery, and hopefully prevent mistakes like the one on Saturday from happening again.