Update to mmm… bread!

Not  so long ago I posted about being the bread baker for www.auroralocalfoods.com however it was recently brought to my attention that as a producer of bread/cookies for a farmers market, there were a few things I had to do/attain.  One of those key things being a domestic kitchen license, which from the looks of it isn’t actually that hard to get, unless you happen to have pets.  So after looking into it, there’s no way for me to get a license (since we have pets) and thus, no way to bake the bread for orders via Aurora Local Foods.  The orders that were placed during this last week will be filled, but after that I wont be able- legally – to bake and sell through them.  I still have all the ingredients to make bread though, soooo… if anyone is interested in bread or other goodies, please let me know and I will bake and sell directly to you.

I had added a new bread as well as a cookie to my products available on Aurora Local Foods, the newest bread being a 5 grain whole wheat bread which uses Bob’s Red Mill 5 Grain Cereal as well as flours from Bob’s Red Mill.  I also added chewy ginger cookies which are really really yummy!

I’m really really bummed about not being able to continue with Aurora Local Foods, I was really excited about this venture and everyone should still join and buy veggies, fruit and whatever other fresh local products are available!  I know I will!

mmm bread!

Auroralocalfoods.com is officially selling two breads both of which will be made fresh to order weekly!  The first of these two breads available is a white pan loaf bread which I am using Bob’s Red Mill unbleached white whole wheat flour to make.  Denser than the average bread you’d typically find at the store, this bread makes for a very satisfying/heart sandwich bread or a great addition to breakfast as a piece of toast.  You could even cut a whole in the center and use it for an egg in the nest! (my brother grew up eating them for breakfast, and they would have been even better with this bread!)  My personal favorite thing to use this bread for though, is for snacks.  It’s really tasty if you warm it in the microwave for 15 seconds and spread just a little bit of butter and home made jam/jelly on it!  The second type of bread currently available for sale is a Honey Buttered Oat bread.  Made using both Bob’s Red Mills flours as well as Rolled Oats, this is a wonderfully slightly sweet but very delicious whole wheat bread.  The title does indicate that Honey is used in the process of making it, however I have switched to using Agave Nectar as it is friendlier to more people’s diets – Including diabetics.  I also use Tillamook butter to to try and keep as much of the bread local and sustainable.  The only warning about this bread: it won’t last long!  This is a family favorite and seems to be gone with 24 hours of making it!  Good for snacks, sandwiches, toast, to go with soup, and whatever other applications you can think of it, this is a winner!

Currently only these two breads are listed on the website, however I hope to list at least one more type of bread in the near future as well as talk with the owner of Auroralocalfoods.com about including cookies and possibly cinnamon rolls as sale items.  The breads are priced at $5 for the White Milk Bread and $5.65 for the Honey Buttered Oat Bread.  Please buy local and sustainable and support your local farmers and bakers!

something old, something new

The Old:

In the last posts that seem as though I wrote them eons ago, I had been talking about a wedding cake I was working on.  Well, it turned out great.  A moist white cake with passion fruit curd filling, and frosted with coconut swiss buttercream… mmmm … it was quite delicious! And it looked pretty dang awesome too… wouldn’t you agree?

Also in the past months I’ve graduated from Western Culinary – now called Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts – Portland. And was commissioned to make a baby shower cake. It turned out really well! Again it was a white cake, but this time with a whipped ganache filling as well as a raspberry filling, and raspberry swiss buttercream; though rather than do individual layers of ganache and raspberry, I layered the two on top of each other, so each layer had whipped ganache as well as raspberry.  I was later told its was the best cake the ladies had ever had!

Also past blog posts talked about starting up a possible scottish shortbread business.  That’s still on the back burner for now, however I am getting some business for my shortbread as I’ve been asked to make it as favors for a wedding this late summer/early fall.  I’m pretty excited, the bride even has asked me to create some sort of business logo/sticker to put on each of the containers she’s going to put the cookies in! Free marketing! woohoo!

THE NEW!

The last few days have been jam packed with crazy happenings and exciting things.  One of the biggest things being that I was laid off on Sunday (May 30th)!  I know, I might seem a little bit excited about this… kinda weird, and don’t get me wrong, I’m freaking out at the same time, because who doesn’t like knowing that they have a paycheck coming every two weeks, right? But this is a whole new opportunity for me.  I mean I stayed on at Farm to Fork after my externship, and thought it was going to be great, and don’t get me wrong, parts of it were, but part’s of it weren’t so great.  While I have learned quite a bit while working there – mostly what not to do – I made a few great friends and know that I need to work somewhere that has an actual appreciation for Pastry and Baking – be it a bakery where you know there’s an appreciation and love for bakers and baking, or a restaurant which places value in having a really elegant upscale dessert menu.  The truth of it all is, I wasn’t going to learn anything more at Farm to Fork, and I wasn’t really able to use much of the creativity that’s going on up in this head of mine, so now hopefully I’ll be able to find a job that really is a good fit for me, somewhere where I can learn, grow and be the creative passionate person that I am!

So now I’m looking for a new position, but in the mean time have some opportunities that have recently presented themselves as well.  The first being anyone in the area (Canby area) should check out.  A friend of mine from high school, has started a local csa/online farmers market, where local farmers, producers and … bakers!!! can sell their goods, and every week people place their orders and pick them up the following week.  Fresh local veggies, fruit, eggs, milk, bread, etc… it’s amazing!  And if you haven’t guessed it already, I’m the baker for this adventure!  If anyone is interested in checking this site out, it’s www.auroralocalfoods.com and membership is free. Just to clarify that, if you go on and create a profile with the website you don’t have to pay anything, the only time you pay is when you place orders for goods listed on the site every week.  This is a great way to support local farmers, support the green movement (because your buying local and in season), and to support your community!  I’m very excited to be a part of it, and plan to offer a few types of breads as well as hopefully a gluten free bread and maybe even get into a sweet/breakfast type bread as well!

This summer (if the weather ever decides to turn to summer weather that is) looks to be a promising and exciting time, keep an eye out for bread recipes, other recipes and  updates on what I’m doing with Aurora Local Foods!

Flavors of a Tropical Paradise

When you think of the word ‘tropical’, what comes to mind? Personally, I think of Hawaii, the Bahamas, Jamaica, sand, sun, beaches, and most importantly amazing fruit flavors unlike anything we have/can grow locally here. Pineapple, mango, banana, coconut, passionfruit, star fruit… just to name a few! I do like to stay local and in season, but sometimes when special occasion comes along where you just have to throw it all out the door!

Enter said special occasion: The Wedding Reception for one of my favorite boss’s past!

The bride, who was my boss back in the day working for both the J.M. Smucker Company as well as the Sabroso Company, has been one of my favorite bosses ever, as well as being a family friend, and someone I look to as a mentor and role model.  She and her fiance are having a destination wedding in Hawaii!  The only problem with destination weddings?  Well, most of your friends and people you’d like to have there besides close family, can’t afford to go.  How to cope?  Wait and have your big reception back at home after your destination wedding!  This is where I come in!

The bride and I talked and both think it would be fun to have not only a cake that is decorated with tropical flowers to go with the reception’s theme of a tropical wedding, but also cake and frosting that go with the theme as well!  So, since pineapple, coconut, passionfruit, etc, don’t grow locally and even if they did wouldn’t be in season at the end of March, just this once, I’m throwing those “principles” out the door.

Just imagine it….

White caramelized pineapple cake, with layers of passionfruit curd and passionfruit italian buttercream frosting OR white caramelized pineapple cake, with layers of passionfruit curd and coconut italian buttercream frosting.

Covered in traditional white fondant and decorated with orchids, lilies, and whatever other tropical flowers I can get my hands on in March.

* A note to those using flowers that could be either poisonous, sap filled, or if you’re just unsure: melt a candle and dip the ends of the flowers in the wax and let the wax set fully before inserting flowers into the cake*

When it’s all said and done, this could be one of my best cakes ever!  But one way or the other this will most definitely be one unique, tasty wedding cake!

New Adventure… an update

As some of you may have previously read, I have been working on starting my own small shortbread company.  The official name I decided upon is ‘Shay’s Shortbread’, however there may be a bit of a delay if not a total stop in the adventure.

While much less expensive than paying rent monthly for my own kitchen and space, renting kitchen space from another bakery is turning out to be a bit to expensive at this point as well.  Basically what it has come down to is that when all the costs are added together, to even turn the smallest profit, I would have to have a minimum of 3 orders per use of the kitchen.  And generally speaking, at the start of all this, I probably would get a random order here and a random order there.  Which makes it not worth investing in.

However there is still some hope.  After some discussion, the idea of  approaching small independent coffee houses/drive through houses has some promise.  There are lots of these drive through coffee places as well as small independently owned places who bring in baked goods from outside sources on a weekly basis, who potentially could have an interest in my cookies.  If I were to say, get 6 of these places to want to buy 1/2 a dozen cookies a week – that would be my 3 batches of cookies, and it would cut out some of the major costs of selling online, so then 3 batches would actually turn a profit.

The only other thing that’s kind of holding me back is where things may go with my current job as the assistant pastry chef at Farm to Fork Restaurant in Dundee, OR.  Things should start picking up at the restaurant come May-ish, and depending on what kind of hours they need me to work, I would hate to build some customer base up now, only to not have the time to keep providing them with cookies later on.  Lots to think about and work through, so for now, fingers crossed and hey! if you have any suggestions on places near Canby/Aurora/ Wilsonville/Newberg/ Dundee/Sherwood that you think may have an interest, let me know!

Upset Stomach’s and Flavorless Food

We’ve all heard of the BRAT diet; Banana’s, rice, applesauce, and toast.  But does anyone actually enjoy the BRAT diet?  How could they?  It’s a mellow, plain, and let’s face it, boring diet that helps you calm your tummy ache, and get rid of other not so fun problems.  But as anyone ever thought to stop and take a minute and look and see if there are other possibilities that would accomplish the same goal?

Personally, when my stomach is upset, I do avoid the spicy, rich, and super sweet foods.  But that doesn’t mean I give up good tasting foods, and/or foods that help with said gastrointestinal issues.  My favorite thing to drink when I’m sick with a sore stomach, besides tea and water anyways, is Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale Soda.  Besides being delicious, the amount of ginger in this soda is amazing.  I compare it to eating candied ginger, or at least, as close as you can get without actually eating the candied ginger.  Ginger has long been known for settling and soothing upset stomachs, and stopping nausea.  So much so that most sea going folks swear by the stuff.  *Note to self, natural yummy ginger  way better than chemical motion sickness pills*.  So why not drink the cheaper ginger ales you find in the regular soda aisle at the store?  Well, it comes down to what you want to get out of it, and what you want to put into you body.  Natural Brew is made with filtered water, evaporated cane juice, brewed ginger, natural flavors, and citric acid.  Other popular soda aisle brands ingredients look something like this: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate, natural flavors, and caramel coloring.

So it comes down to which do you prefer putting into your body, and do you want something that is going to help that upset tummy or just fill that tummy with sugary soda.  I choose helping my tummy!  I generally end up going to stores like Fred Meyer since I live in a town where Freddies and Thriftway are the two main stores, so if you’re looking forNatural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale, you’d probably find it in the natural foods section.  However the more upscale stores like Whole Foods, probably have it in their main drink aisle.

So what about the food part of eating/drinking when you have an upset tummy?  Well, we could always turn to the Brat diet, where in about 2 minutes you’ll be bored with what you’re eating and desperate for something else, or we can think smart!  I try to think of things that are mellow but still flavorful – foods that are going to be interesting to my palate, but gentle on my stomach.  Oatmeal for example, is a soothing, mellow food.  However, it does take a bit more effort to digest it, so depending on where your tummy is at, it might not be the ideal flavorful but mellow food to eat.  I like to turn to soup, homemade always being the best, but if not there are plenty of good soups out there that your stomach will handle with ease, and will taste a lot better than plain old brown rice and a slice of dry toast.  I’m a fan of chicken noodle myself, or at least broth with noodles.  Noodles are pretty easy to digest and you can get a lot of flavor from a good broth.  Pair this with your plain toast and you’re looking at a meal that is at least a little less plain.

I think the most important thing to remember when it comes to trying to eat something flavorful but still gentle on an upset stomach, is moderation.  Think of it this way, if you went out and ate 4 bananas plus a bowl of brown rice and a side of apple sauce, your stomach wouldn’t be too happy with you, right?  Well, the same principle applies to foods that are better tasting/more exciting to the palate, but still easy on the stomach.  Try half a Natural Brew soda, with a coffee cup of chicken noodle soup and a slice of toast.  Then see how you’re feeling.  If you’re feeling like you can handle a bit more, then try some oatmeal – my suggestion being to make your own from scratch so that you can decide what goes into it.

I like:

Apple Spice Oatmeal (spice being optional depending on your tummy)

1/2 cup     old fashioned rolled oatmeal

Pinch of salt

1/2      of an apple peeled and cored, diced into 1/2″ dice

1 Tb     Brown Sugar

1/8tsp     apple pie spice (combo of ginger, cinnamon and allspice)

How to make it:

Boil together 1 cup of water (or low fat milk for a creamier oatmeal), oatmeal and salt until oatmeal begins to soften and thicken, then add diced apple, brown sugar and spices.

Serve with milk if desired.

Sit down, relax, and enjoy your hot bowl of flavorful oatmeal!

New Adventure

I know the groundhog saw his shadow today and all, and thus we have six more weeks of winter, but it was sunny and beautiful today – not winter weather with the exception of the brisk temperature.  Six more weeks of winter, six more weeks of the same old thing… Well, I dont know if I agree with that!  It feels like a new beginning, the start of spring, the coming of new adventures, and the opportunity to learn new things.

I wasn’t sure before if I wanted to talk about this publicly or keep it just amongst close friends, however I feel like if it’s a problem for someone then they just dont get it.  I’ve decided to take on a new venture… my own in fact.  With the help of friends and family, I am starting my own small business.  And when I say small, I mean very small.  Essentially what I am looking to do, is to start selling my Scottish Shortbread online at Etsy.com and at Foodzie.com.  During Pastry school, I was told by all of my Chefs, that I really needed to make a business out of selling my shortbread.  So, that’s what I’m going to attempt to do.  The amount of work involved is a bit daunting, but I think if I can just take it step by step, that I should be okay.

Here’s where I could use some help from all of you, I’m having trouble deciding on a name for my business.  The shortbread I make is based on my Great Grandma Thain Simpsons recipe that she brought with her from Scotland and is supposedly a pretty old recipe/method. So the names I’m leaning on are :  ’Grandma Thain’s Scottish Shortbread’ , ‘Shayna’s Shortbread’, and ‘Grandma Thains Shortbread and more’.  So any comments or thoughts you may have would be greatly appreciated!

I’m also working on ideas for other types of shortbread.  Right now, I’m thinking original, browned butter, brown sugar and lemon.  Hopefully if it starts to take off even in the slightest, then I would aim at doing original as well as chocolate dipped original, and browned butter and chocolate dipped brown butter.  I’m also hoping down the road to attempt making vegan shortbread – don’t know how it will work as one of the key ingredients is butter, but I’m up for trying!  The other thing I’d like to do with it eventually is to go organic and be locally sourced.  It wouldn’t be hard to do right now, but it’s pretty expensive to go fully organic, and since I’m just starting out and have no idea what sales might be like, I want to start not with the cheapest ingredients, but with ingredients I can buy from the bakery who’s kitchen I’ll be working out of.  But down the road – Tillamook butter, flour from Bob’s Red Mill, and while I may not be able to by locally grown/made sugar, I know I can get organic sugar!

I keep wondering where this could go – you hear of all sorts of successful business that started out of the back of someone’s kitchen, or working out of their garage until they could afford an actual office somewhere, maybe the same sort of thing will happen for me – though the one thing I know for sure is that I will always want to be hands on, and involved – none of that having people i dont even know running things for me while I go on fancy vacations and spend the money that my great grandmothers cookies is making me!  haha!

None of this matters though, not really, at least, not until I decide on a name for the business!

What We Won’t Do for Chocolate

Of all the flavors out there, chocolate is by far one of the best.  It’s also one of the most universal.  If there is a country where chocolate is unknown or never eaten, I haven’t heard of it.  Have you ever noticed that chocolate isn’t gender specific either?  Men, women, children… heck, even dogs like chocolate!

I saw pure proof of this today at Portland’s Chocolate Fest 2010.  As I waited for a few friends I took in the site of people of every sex, nationality, color, etc get in line to experience chocolate fest and hopefully taste some darn good chocolate!!!  The World Forestry Center was a packed house, and in my opinion people were going a little chocolate crazy… however it was worth it to hear some interesting stories and learn about some interesting Oregon companies who use chocolate in so many ways.

My favorite discovery of the day, Choffy & Missionary Chocolates.  These guys do truffles like nobody else.  Vegan, gluten free truffles… and if you had the most die hard anti vegan-food/anti-gluten free consumer try one of these, he or she would never guess in a million years that they were eating a vegan, gluten free truffle.  They offer their truffles at 10 different locations in the Portland area, and of course, online at www.missionarychocolates.com. I sampled a few of their delectable truffles – my favorite the spicy cinnamon chipotle.  You get the sweet taste of chocolate right off the bat, but that soon transforms an amazing smokey spicy flavor coming from the chipotle.  The cinnamon isn’t as strong on the palate, but is still noticeable and creates a great depth in the flavor profile.  This truffle isn’t for those who can’t take the heat, as you savor this amazing treat, the heat and burn build, but oh baby… it hurts so good.  My other favorite, and the other that i purchased along side the spicy cinnamon chipotle was the salted vanilla caramel truffle.  Don’t be fooled, there isn’t a caramel, it’s an amazing rich truffle, that has rich notes of caramel and vanilla along the beautiful chocolate, and it’s all set off with a bit of sea salt.  Simply delicious!

Not far behind Choffy & Missionary Chocolates, was Coastal Mist ‘Fine Chocolates and Desserts’.  Chef Kevin, his wife Tara, and their sous chef Nicole, have created chocolates and desserts that are nothing short of amazing.  I spent most of my time hearing Chef Kevin talk about the chocolates that he has developed, and less time on the desserts, however the desserts were beautiful and since they are made by the same people, I can only assume, extremely tasty.  The chocolates however… oh the chocolates… Strawberries and Champagne, Dulce de Leche, and the oh so amazing Caipirinha were amongst a few of the amazing flavors of truffles.  What, however,is a Caipirinha? , well for Kevin,  it’s a beautiful truffle that he’s crafted with the help of his Brazilian brother in law – they’ve based it and made it taste quite similar to the Brazilian drink called, you guessed it, a Caipirinha.  A Caipirinha is a drink made by muddling limes with sugar, and mixing it with cachaca – a Brazilian liquor similar to white rum, however it is made by distilling cane sugar instead of molasses.  The muddled limes, sugar, and cachaca is mixed with ice and then enjoyed.  This truffle is that same enjoyment without the work or the alcohol.  Beautiful and delicious, how can you go wrong?  Judging by the number of people at their booth, Coastal Mist hasn’t made a wrong move yet.  You can find coastal mist at www.coastalmist.com.

Chocolate venders have even taken to offering special combinations of truffles/chocolates aimed at both ‘her’ and ‘him’.  At Cocoa Velvet, they have crafted sets of truffles that are aimed towards the palate of either a male or female.  For men, you find truffles like Single Malt Scotch Truffles.  A sample of this truffled made me wonder if I might have a ‘man’s’ palate, however my friend Lentine seemed to enjoy it as well, so maybe it’s just that the truffle was very well crafted and very delicious – though I very much see how it is aimed at men rather than women.  For the women, there were truffles as well as caramels: honeybush caramels and pomegranate green tea infused truffles were a couple of the examples they mentioned to us.  Cocoa Velvet can be found at www.cocoavelvetchocolates.com.

There was one thing missing at chocolate fest… a chocolate vender for the dogs!  Dogs like chocolate, though vets tell us that chocolate and dogs don’t get along.  I have found though that some dogs are special, my pup for example – she once ate a whole Hershey’s bar, and while Hershey’s may not be the best quality chocolate, it’s still chocolate – and she never even blinked an eye!  My thinking is the people out there making gourmet dog goodies, need to start using white chocolate (which has no actual cocoa solids in it, and those are what ‘supposedly’ hurt our dogs) and making doggie chocolates.  This way I can eat my chocolate and have a special stash just for my pup.

Beef tenderloin white chocolate truffle anyone?

The first of hopefully many.

Viva una vida sabrosa; translation ‘live a flavorful life’.  I think this is something more of us should try to do.  Not just in terms of going out and trying new foods and experiencing new flavors/types of food, but in terms of doing things that spice up our lives.

Over the last few years, without consciously making an effort to live this way, I started being more adventurous in all avenues of life.  The biggest change however was deciding to go back to school.  I graduated from the University of Oregon in 2007 with a bachelors degree in spanish and a business minor.  Over the next year and half, I worked and found out how little having a bachelors degree in spanish means if you’re not wanting to pursue higher education.  Eventually things changed and new pathways opened to me, which along with encouragement from my family and friends, led me to going back to school to become a pastry chef.

Food is passion and passion is food – or at least that’s how I see it.  And the idea of ‘viva una vida sabrosa’ encourages both.  Being at a culinary school, surrounded by different types of people, with all sorts of life experiences, as well as being surrounded by amazing food all the time, gave me the passion to start trying new things.  Rather than just dealing with the mundane, day to day, week to week, day in and day out drudgery of working and unhappiness, going back to school helped me find my passion and love of life which so many of us never find.  Being excited to live, to go on adventures, to try new things, to take a risk once in a while… these are the flavors of life – the things that spice things up from plain vanilla, to kickin’ key lime.

So I hope in my journey through food, life, love, and everything else that I may encounter, to keep my life full of flavor and hope that maybe I can encourage a few people to do the same.