Happy Day

A customer hugged me today because he liked one of our croissants so much. I guess this is why I like owning a bakery and being able to do what I like. Sure some people try to say mean things about me, or my products, or the bakery itself for whatever reason. I guess everybody has a bad day once in a while (or always!), but I am sure thankful for those people whose lives I can make a little sweeter, even if I do sound a bit corny by saying so.

We're still trying to get people in the neighborhood in on Saturdays. We really want to make this THEIR bakery for those leisurely weekend mornings. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear about them.

Happy Valentine's Day

I'm sitting home, relaxing with a glass of wine, enjoying the good honest tiredness of a hard day's work. I love it when it's busy, not because it helps pay the bills, but just because it's tons funner with all the happy people around.

Aside from a few gliches of the credit card machine, mostly our internet connection which was not cooperating, it was so fabulous that we were able to make enough sweet treats for everybody who came in to get for their sweeties.

I'm tired, so accordingly, I'll cut this post short.

Coincidence?

A few weeks after I moved to Seattle to begin my master's degree in photography, somebody broke into my apartment and stole all of my cameras. I spent most of my first year in the program trying to figure out how to rethink my ideas about my work with a plastic camera instead. My work spiraled down quite substantially. I lost my focus, instead shifting into some pretty sloppy ideas that I could never express. I became more interested in reading articles than making work, and by the time my thesis was due, my work was even more uncentered, although nice to look at, the concept and the visual just never seemed to mesh. Perhaps it was losing my cameras so early in the game, perhaps it was the wrong medium. In any case, I'm glad to have found pastry, to which my true artistic vision can be achieved, albeit through some struggles, with usually consistent results.

I started to feel that same panic when I realized my oven would not cooperate. It's currently jumping around between 350 and 500 degrees, and if you know a little bit about baking, that's not a good thing. I burned another two pans of scones this morning, so people, that oven's got to go. Ten years ago, I was a photographer without a camera, and now I'm a baker without a reliable oven. I'm so glad I'm not going to let it get me down.

Anything is Possible

If somebody can try to sell a used cup of Starbuck's coffee at Value Village, anything is possible. It's officially 2008 and I am putting the past year of struggles behind me, setting my sights on shaping a fabulous bakery and pastry shop now that we're open. (Notice that I didn't say "finally" open, which would have implied that I was still bitter about the tremendous sweat and tears extolled over trying to get the bakery open.)

Last week, my husband and I met with a local newspaper writer while I did the morning baking. We talked about a lot of stuff, mostly about my husband's cancer, and how that made it so difficult for us to handle the struggles of trying to get permits to build out the bakery. We seemed to dwell on that topic quite a bit, so much so that we neglected to talk about the pastries themselves. I noticed the writer on several occasions staring at the pastry case; she seemed to be searching for the story of the pastries inside. I asked the writer if she had her "hook" to write the story. When she answered a tentative "maybe", I knew right then that with all the struggles of the past year, I had lost who I was as a pastry chef. I had worn so many other hats, the electrician, lighting designer, ditch digger, etc. So I suppose this is a perfect time to reinvent myself as a pastry chef, to find that funny little voice inside that has all the great creative ideas, and what perfect time than New Year's day.

The First Week

It's noon on Sunday morning and I'm sitting on the couch watching the rain with my cat on the left and my dog on the right of me. Even though I love to work, it's quite nice to be relaxing after a very long first week.

After a busy week of stocking the fridge with various prep items (pastry cream, scones, brioche dough, etc.), it's finally here, our first day open. It's the first time in a long while that I've been up at 4:45am and I can tell you for sure I'm not a morning person, which I suppose will make for an interesting life I've chosen.

By 7am the case is full and me and my assistant baker are whizzing around in our minimally organized kitchen trying to keep up with a list that keeps growing every time we finish something.

By 10am we start on the sandwiches, which neither me nor my baker have ever done en masse. We decide to do only half that first day and see how it goes. We're working at the speed of light, and get a little buzz from all the excitement. Meanwhile, my husband's running the front with one of our barista's that we've barely trained. We're out of cinnamon brioche and blackberry oat scones so we quickly pop a few more in the oven. We're trying to keep a list of things to do and buy so we can be better in the future. It's like we have all the planning we've done, plus what's actually happening, plus what we'd like to do in the future all whirling around in our heads at the same time. It's nearly impossible to keep it all straight and not overbake the brownies.

By noon we've already worked a full 8 hour day, but it doesn't stop. We sold out of sandwiches by 11:30am so that was that. The bell on the door keeps clanging. We're whipping up new types of cookies over and over and watching our very inconsistent oven like a hawk. I'm helping out in the retail section when the line gets long. Our friends are stopping by so we're trying to chat with them. All in all everybody is so happy that we're FINALLY OPEN and they want to chat with us about what we're going to offer in the future.

By mid-afternoon, I sigh that I still have 4-1/2 hours to go and even more new employees to train. On very little energy, it's super tough to be a strong leader, but we power through it and keep saying, "once things settle down we'll do THIS or THAT". It will have to do for now.

At the end of the day, my husband runs the sales report and shows me the total. It was a very successful opening day, and we hug each other, mostly holding each other up. We kiss and both agree that Sugar will be a success. After such a long haul it's great to think that we are finally able to enjoy the community of people, employees and customers we've worked so hard to create. It feels good to be home again.

Calm Before the Storm

Relaxing this weekend after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Monday, I'm walking down to the permit office to pull a permit to have our gas line installed. I will soon be baking in the kitchen. Then, still uncertain on the exact date, we will open our doors and let the fun begin.