люблю водка!...I love vodka!

8:59 PM | Posted by Kyrie

It's been awhile. Why, you ask? Well, my cake "business" has been taking off! Goal #1 to open a bakery is making significant progress. I know I won't be able to start a business for a LONG while, but I am well on my way to getting the experience that is crucial in cake decorating and business-related cake adventures. But that's for another post. Right now, I'm going to let you in on something I am passionate about - something that I do in between making cakes and something that I love!

Goal #3: Become fluent in 5 languages in my lifetime (besides English)


This may seem like a hefty goal, but remember people: I have my whole life to do it! That doesn't mean I can procrastinate like I usually do and wait until I'm 89 and say, "oh yeah, I better get on that soon". This is a lifetime of work and effort. The languages I want to learn/continue improving on:

1. Spanish
2. French
3. Russian
4. Arabic
5. Greek



In high school I took 3 semesters of spanish and spent a week in Acapulco. Believe it or not, this time with the language has stuck with me for the most part. I learned enough in high school that when I went to Acapulco I was able to charm a gorgeous hispanic man named Ricardo ;) okay, okay...his name was Richard, but Ricardo is so much more dreamy. lol Anyways, currently I work with a few spanish-speaking peeps and I am learning a little bit each day as well. BUT, this is still a language that I need to become fluent in. In NO WAY WHATSOEVER am I AT ALL FLUENT.




French is a language that I have been in love with since a young age. Quand j'étais petite...
I also took french in high school, but I only got 2 semesters in before it got cancelled. I also took two years of it in college, but it didn't seem to stick until I went to study the language in France for a month. It's amazing what immersion can do for a language...and how it can hurt your own. When I was there, I would wake up and go to school from 8am to 6pm, come home to my host family and only speak french, then go out to the bars avec mes amis and speak franglish with them. It was quite conducive to quickly learning the language, but when I would get on the phone with my family or try to write an e-mail to a friend I found it hard to put an english sentence together. It was quite funny actually. Being in France and using french while my friend and I travelled around Europe helped immensely in my knowledge of the language. I wouldn't say I'm fluent, but I'm getting there. Definitely something I need to keep up on. Maybe a trip back to France will help?



And now, I've moved on for a moment to Russian. At the beginning of the month I signed up for a Russian class. This is a HARD language. Not only are there 10 vowels, 21 consonants and 2 letters that don't even MAKE A SOUND - but there are two completely different ways to write Russian: in print and in cursive. Crazy, eh? So I've been to 3 classes so far (two hours long each), and we haven't even finished learning the whole alphabet yet. But I have learned a few words, which I'd like to share with you now:

хлеб (clearing throat + leb) - bread
вино (veenoh) - wine
сигара (ceegarrah with rolled 'r''s) - cigar
яблоко (yahblakah) - apple
Мюнхен (myooun(clear throat)en) - Munich

Obviously I've learned the most important words ;) Some of the letters are going to take a lot of practice, but I'm willing to work hard to reach my goal. I'll be sure to update as I learn more, and as I encounter more language-learning opportunities.

Adios!

Au revoir!

до свидания! (daw sveedahneeyah) - goodbye!



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I'm in a glass case of emotion!

1:53 PM | Posted by Kyrie

One of my goals of mine that I will NEVER be able to cross off my list is my weight loss goal. Because even when I do meet that goal, it's all about maintenance. It's taken me a long time to realize that "weightloss is a journey, not a destination". This is hard for a perfectionist (me), but often times I will slip up with my eating habits and exercise regime and I'll just say f-ck it all! But the feeling I get after a good workout, or when I slip on a new outfit and feel great in it is sooooo worth the hard work. I just need to keep that in mind always.

Goal #2: Reach weight loss goal and maintain

In order to understand where I'm trying to get, you have to see where I came from. Cue photo montage!


Weight: 155-160
This is me in high school at a dance team performance. Back then, I felt like a heffer (which was warranted, if you look at how thin the girls next to me are). When I look at the picture now I think, "Come back to me body! Come back!"

Weight: 163-170
Freshman year of college. This is me after 9 months of eating dorm food and drinking heavily almost every night. Luckily, it was only the freshman 8 - not the usual 15.


Weight: 180-185
Sophomore year of college. I had joined a sorority, but was living out of the house at the time. I was also facing some issues with depression and a bad habit of binge eating. I look and feel yucky.


Weight: 180ish.
Summer 2006. This is me (on the left) at Camp Ojai, a weightloss camp in California. I was lucky enough to be one of the counselors at the camp, and boy did it change my life. This is at the beginning of the summer, when the change started to happen...

Weight: 165-170
And after I returned home from camp I kept up my healthy eating habits and would workout 2 to 3 times a day. I was also taking diet pills at the time, which is SUPER unhealthy. I advise you to never use them - unless you want to have a stroke and die!


Weight: 160-165
Here I am again in Summer 2008 (notice the box of candy on the table). I managed to keep the weight off and continue to lose a bit more weight. But I knew I would have to go back to college soon enough...


Weight: 170ish.
Good old college drinking. That, plus all-night study sessions plus two jobs plus a passion for baking helped me pack some of the pounds back on.
Weight: 165-170
I returned to camp for a final summer as a counselor. For some reason, us counselors thought it would be fun to get fast food everynight and cheat as often as possible. Here I am with one of my bff's Peggy, and boy am I bloaty.

Weight now: 175
Now I just use motorcycle helmets to hide the fact that I'm not as fit as I used to be. Haha, just kidding (kind of). Working two jobs at two different bakeries has definitely helped me from putting weight on due to all the physical work that is involved. However, it definitely hasn't helped taking it off. I am around goodies all day long and my willpower is about as strong as a small pony.

I've made more of a commitment this time to eating healthy, and I've changed a few things in my diet to make sure I acheive that. Most important of that is the fact that I don't eat meat anymore. I haven't had meat for over a year, and my body feels a lot more "pure" because of it. I also don't smell bad when I sweat anymore! I was vegan for about 6 months, but my lack of time to make sure I was getting a balanced diet caused me to gain weight...all I ate were carbs! And now I am a pescatarian, so I get my protein from seafood, tofu, tempeh, quinoa, and a billion other weird things that I have discovered since I began working at Bob's Red Mill.

Things I am doing to make sure that I accomplish my goals are going to the gym as often as I can, working out on my Wii Fit!, and learning more and more everyday about what it means to be healthy. I also have another reason to get fit...Maui in October! My boyfriend and I plan on going there in 10 months, and I did a little shopping on Victoria's Secret to prepare for the trip. Here is what I purchased:



Oooooweeee! I know one thing: this is going to be TUFF (that's the tought version of tough). In order to track my access, I will be updating my weight every two weeks, and showing progress pictures. Wish me luck!
Wait, excuse me? You want to know what my goal weight is??? Alright, I'll tell you. Here is the magic number:
158


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Top 5 Reasons to NEVER use the Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

9:11 PM | Posted by Kyrie

In my quest for finding great goodies for my future bakery, I'll scour the internet and occasionally use recipes on the "back of the box". The Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is quite popular, so I figured I would bake off a batch tonight while my bf had his friend over. What a disappointment! Not only does my bf's friend now think I'm an amateur baker, but what a waste of materials! How could you do this to me Nestle??? I ALWAYS buy your products over Ghirardelli! Well, after a closer look at the recipe, I've come up with 5 reasons why to NEVER use this recipe (unless you want to fail):

1. Oven temperature

First of all, never in my life have a I heard of a cookie baking at 375 degrees. It is well known that cookies bake at 350 degrees. Baking them at 375 caused them to get too brown before they were even done. Keep it at 350 people!


2. Butter

The recipe calls for two sticks of softened butter. Usually that is okay, but with the lack of flour in this dough and the high baking temperature this butter needs to be cold.


3. Wetness of the dough

The recipe calls for two sticks of butter but only 2 1/4 cup of flour...of course the cookie is going to melt in the oven! There needs to be something substantial in the dough to soak up the liquid, like nuts. I decided to try and save the dough by adding shredded coconut and raisins, but even that didn't work. How in the world can we make this dough better??? Well...


4. Flour ratio in the dough

This recipe is definitely an indication of its age. No one uses just white flour in their cookie recipes anymore, unless their making sugar cookies or snickerdoodles. If you swap out 2/3 of the flour with ww pastry flour, then you'll be adding some weight to the dough so it may bake off better...and you'll be eating healthier too!


5. Amount of salt

There is almost too much salt in this dough. In the raw dough it is definitely overpowering, and when the cookies are baked off it is still quite strong. I know this is mostly a personal preference, but when I'm eating a cookie I don't want to be crunching on salt the whole time. Less sodium = less bloated = happy Kyrie.

Now that you know why I think this recipe is crap, I of course have to give you a fantastic recipe! I work in the bakery at Bob's Red Mill, and our chocolate chip cookies are the tastiest ever! Here is the recipe, scaled down so you don't get 288 4 oz. cookies. If you want that recipe, e-mail me at pastelcakeandpastry@yahoo.com!



Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Chip Cookies
(original recipe divided by 16)


1/2 lb. unsalted butter (not softened)
5.25 ounces granulated sugar
1/2 lb. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla
3/4 lb. whole wheat pastry flour
6.5 ounces unbleached white flour
.44 ounces baking soda
.22 ounces baking powder
.13 ounces salt
1/2 lb. semi-sweet chocolate chips (Bob's uses Ghirardelli brand)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until smooth and fluffy.
  3. Add in eggs and vanilla, and beat until light in color and no longer grainy.
  4. Combine dry ingredients in another bowl and add to the mixture, beating slowly at first and then at a medium speed until well-incorporated.
  5. Add chocolate chips and beat until combined.
  6. Put about 2 1/2 tablespoons in your hand and roll into a ball. Place onto an ungreased sheet, and press down slightly (fits about 6 cookies per sheet).
  7. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until light golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

Hey! Why in the heck is there .44 ounces of baking soda and not two teaspoons??? Well, I like to be precise. So go to Bob's and pick up a scale for $25.00. I promise you, the end product is much better when the measurements are exact.

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Food for Thought

9:02 PM | Posted by Kyrie

Growing up isn't easy. After college, my life has been nothing but real life - which ultimately sucks. Going from spring breaks and weekends off to working 50 hours a week and paying bills isn't as fun as it once sounded. I've found that living the 9 to 5 (or in my case, the 6 to 3) has left me a tad bitter. Especially when you have to work with 50-something menopausal women.



What I want to do when faced with all this monotony and frustration is curl up in a ball and cry, or starting punching babies...but as to what I should do, what's best for me, is realize that I have bigger goals in life than being a working stiff for the next 50 years. In my mind I've had a list of life goals to accomplish, and I want to use this blog to keep myself in check and make sure I'm actively working towards those goals. Also, a little public encouragement from others never hurt :) So here I am in all my glory, ready to divulge my hopes, dreams and desires to you all. Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

GOAL #1: Open a bakery

About three years ago I started working in a bakery on my college campus. The hours were 4:30am-noon, after which I would go to class until about 6pm and then engage in various sorority activities: making posters, attending meetings and generally, keeping myself from being completely friendless in college. Working at the buttcrack of dawn should have been the worst part of my day, wouldn't you think? But no, I loved waking up and getting to work (well, maybe not the waking up part). My boss would always laugh at me because I often got there 15 minutes early to make myself a 5 shot espresso with a pump of white chocolate. My tasks for the morning were to finish the cheese rolls, pan up the frozen goods for the next day, and sometimes help my boss with baking the challah or making granola bars. I quickly cut down what should have been a 3 hour job to less than 2 hours, and my boss was gracious enough to let me bake WHATEVER I WANTED in the remaining time before I had to go over and work the coffee side. And for me, that was bliss. She would leave me alone, and I would test recipes of all sorts: cupcakes, french macarons, various cakes and anything that looked tasty.

Ultimately, that's how I came to love baking. Early on, I was allowed freedom to do bake what I wanted and see what I did and didn't like, and my boss was kickass and taught me so many of the basics that were necessary to grow. I remember one week my boss went out of town and left me with the task of making a coworkers birthday cake. This was going to be my first on my own cake - I was so nervous! He was a photographer for the school newspaper and definitely had a passion for it, so I made the cake to look like a Nikon camera:

Laughable now, but back then I thought I was the best cake decorator in the world!


Since that first job, I have had such an interest in baking. I spent the next two years reading baking blogs, baking everyday at home and at work, and learning as much I could. About a year into it, I decided that psychology wasn't for me - I really wanted to open a bakery! Now the issue is learning how to run a business successfully in a failing economy, finding a small group of team players to help run it, and something else...OH YEAH, finding the $$$ to do it when you're super duper in debt from college! My dream of opening a bakery is definitely one that is going to take A LOT of hard work, time and money. Kasie, my boss at Bob's Red Mill, worked as a bartender before she opened her business and lived off of her tips while saving her paychecks...for THREE YEARS! She said that most new businesses fail because they don't realize how expensive things really are and run out of money before they start making a profit. It's disheartening to think about, but doesn't deter me at all. I will open a bakery one day, and you can all keep me accountable by watching and commenting on my progress. Go me!

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