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Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

Change is in the air

Thursday, June 4


Anyone who knows me personally knows that if I'm feeling stuck in a particular situation, I'm pretty quick to change my circumstances. Growing up I learned that if I'm not happy, I'm the one who needs to identify what is making me unhappy, and then change that. It's something that has stuck with me as I've gotten older, and it has become (what I think to be) an endearing aspect of my personality. Where most people tend to avoid change, I embrace it! There's just something about that figurative shifting of paths that calls to me and draws me in. Sometimes it's not the right path (and that's where most people get frightened and backtrack); but every path, right or wrong, eventually leads you somewhere...

People who know me personally also know that I'll often do things in spite of other people. Because, by golly, if you tell me to do something but you don't expect me to do it, I'll show you how it's done! I call it the Barney Stinson philosophy - "Challenge accepted!".



All of this to say... I start a new job in two one week, and I'M SO EXCITED!!!
(When I found out I officially got the job, I totally did this and a little bit of this.)

For the sake of a storyline though, let's backtrack a bit...
Shawn and I have been frequenting our favorite local brew cafe for almost two years now. We're pretty friendly with the staff because we go most Sunday afternoons, and because most of them also like to go have a beer or two where Shawn works. So when they announced that they were opening up a second location nearby and that they were hiring for it, I told Shawn that he should apply. I even helped him beef up his resume! Well, after pestering him for weeks about applying (and why he hadn't yet), he turned to me and said, "Why don't you apply? It sounds like you're the one that wants to work there."

It was like he had flipped a switch on in my brain, because after he said that, I couldn't stop thinking about it. So a few days later, I emailed them my resume. I casually told Shawn about it later in the day, since I knew he never expected me to actually apply. Heck, I had never even seriously considered getting a new job; it was more of a "What the heck, why not?" kind of move. Except that once the thought was in my head, I couldn't get it out of there. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted the job. All the perks were there - the shortened commute (from 35-minute drive to 4-minute walk? Yes, please!), the different schedule (more time to actually see my husband? Yes, please!), the experience (bread and savory things? Yes, please!), oh, and all the beer doesn't hurt either. Once I thought about all the perks of a new job, my head went to the little things bothering me about my current job, and all of a sudden, the thought of change didn't sound like a bad idea.


I won't go into detail, but it took over a month between when I initially contacted them and when I officially got the job. I just had to be persistent! If you know what you want, you can usually get it. (Hey, it's how I got Shawn!) Just go for it! And don't be afraid of change - it can lead to something amazing.

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Mother's Day Tea

Wednesday, May 13












In case you're new here, or I just haven't mentioned it in a while... I work at a British-style tea shop. I'm the baker there, so I make all the scones, mini pastries, and assorted crusted-savory things. For some of the major restaurant holidays (Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day) we come up with a special menu that allows us to have a little fun and offer things we don't usually offer for tea. It tends to be a lot of prep work for the kitchen, but they're always fun to work because it's a set menu, which means we're serving the same thing all day (easy-peasy in the kitchen!). Everything is served on tiers, just like our usual tea, and people get their choice of beverage and scone, though I always come up with a special scone just for that day.

I rarely actually work any of the holiday teas, but this was my second year working the Mother's Day tea! It's a fun change up for me because my usual work day consists of prep, prep, and more prep. So when I get to work the actual line, it's, well, as Monty Python would say - "and now for something completely different!" I enjoy the change up every once in a while.

For this year's Mother's Day tea we served: waldorf chicken salad on croissants, truffled deviled eggs, crab cakes with ginger tomato jam, chilled cucumber mint soup, salted chocolate truffles, carrot cake, butterscotch blondies, key lime tarts, and lemon blueberry scones. Everything was a big hit!

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April Baking

Thursday, May 7


Lemon drop cookies



Mini orange cranberry crumb muffins



Petit fours fit for spring!



Carrot cake cookies



Almond orange cloud cookies



Chocolate vanilla swirl cupcakes (they remind me of soft serve!)



Teapot sugar cookies



Mini chocolate salted caramel tarts


I thought April pastries were more colorful, but these photos don't seem to tell that story... regardless, I tried some new recipes that I think will work well for the shop and I'm excited to make them again. May is a whole new month (with hopefully more color!) and this week is all about prepping for mother's day tea. I'll be making some fun things, and I'll be working the tea on Sunday, so I'll actually get some photos of the tiers with everything on them! Can't wait to share :)

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March Baking

Thursday, April 2


Oatmeal cranberry cookies with macadamia nut butter



Raspberry coconut macaroons



Irish potatoes



Irish soda bread



Bailey's Irish cream cake



White chocolate macadamia nut cookies



Nanaimo bars



Petit fours fit for spring!



Chocolate mousse



Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes in pretty cake cups for a catering




Oatmeal raisin cookies with cinnamon cream cheese center

I love that the different holidays each month influence the things that I make. Obviously March was about all things Irish (or should I say - American-Irish). April is going to bring a lot of color back into pastries - I'm ready for spring! Lots of pinks and yellows, just like the flowers outside will soon be.

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February Baking

Wednesday, March 4


Lemon cupcakes




Linzer cookies



Shortbread hearts



Butterscotch blondies



Chocolate sandwich cookies




Chocolate chip coconut macaroons



Tart shell prep



Bridal shower cake



Petit fours (this particular combo makes me think of mermaids....)



Vanilla cupcakes


While I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, I am a fan of any excuse to make themed pastries! So February was all about hearts and the color pink. We had Valentine's Day tea with a special menu, including a raspberry double chocolate scone, flourless chocolate cake, macadamia nut bark, fruit tarts... and other things I can't remember at this point because I didn't take any photos (!) and it was too long ago. We create special menus for all the major holidays, which means making treats that are a little 'fancier' than our usual goodies, or that use more expensive ingredients we don't normally get a chance to use. The only problem is that I'm rarely working on those days, since they're always on a weekend. So I hardly ever get photos of the finished product! And the prep photos are never as exciting. Boo! February was fun though; a great month to get all caught up again after the frenzy of the Christmas/New Years holidays of the months prior.

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January Baking

Tuesday, February 3


Mini lemon tarts



Chocolate and salted caramel scones



Pre/post bake



Petit fours, petit fours, and more petit fours



Double chocolate walnut cookies



Vanilla cupcakes for a pink themed party


This year, I thought it'd be fun to do a recap at the end of each month of things I've baked at work. Give the pastries their own posts! January was actually a slow baking month creativity-wise because I was busy catching up from November and December. Everything needed to be re-stocked, which meant I turned to my known and trusted recipes. Those chocolate walnut cookies are a new thing for me though... and THEY ARE AMAZING.

We're only a few days into February, but I've already been playing around with some new things... which I'll be excited to show you in a month or so!

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Week in photos: Week 19

Sunday, May 11

Whew! What a busy week at work! Between Mother's Day prep and various weekend catering orders, I haven't really had time for much else! As a result, this week in photos is mostly photos of what I've been making at work lately. Don't read this on an empty stomach. Enjoy!




Whoopie pie innards.





Assembled and delicious.





Cranberry orange cookies, with an orange drizzle.





More of these damn petit fours... different flowers this time.





Our scone of the month - coconut lime! Finished with a lime macaroon center.





Someone ordered a coconut cake. It's filled with lemon curd!





Chocolate covered pretzels with macadamia nuts.





Yesterday was my one day off so we went into center city and met up with some friends.
(Photo snapped by the Franklin Flea crew!)





Afore-mentioned friends, who gladly put up with us despite our tired selves.





We had a late lunch at Smokin' Betty's. Delicious! The cocktail too. (Grapefruit & gin - doesn't get any better!)





The Betty burger. Look it up.





Tree art at the train station. (I love living 20 minutes away from center city!)





Lloyd is going back to his roots... he's been sleeping on the newspaper.





See?





"Why do you insist on taking so many photos of me?!"





A new globe, purchased at Franklin Flea! It's an old one.





I started this post with food and I'm going to end it with food. These were the Mother's Day pastries at work. Chocolate mousse cups, mini fruit tarts, chocolate covered pretzels, and blueberry lemon bars.





They also got chocolate hazelnut scones (with a side of clotted cream, lemon curd, and raspberry jam).





Roast beef sandwiches with fig jam and arugula, mushroom and swiss frittata, herbed cheese rolled asparagus, and caprese skewers.





We didn't forget about the kids! They got turkey and cranberry butter sandwiches along with nutella and pb sandwiches.



I hope you had an awesome weekend! I'm looking forward to the next one :)

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