Saturday, March 21, 2009

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.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

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.

Monday, February 9, 2009

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.