Last March, I was summoned to Bear Creek Studios outside Seattle to help [...]]]> Have you even wondered how this baker-blogger makes ends meet; buys all that butter for batter? No? Well, darn it, I am going to tell you anyway. I work in the music business mostly behind the scenes, sometimes in front of microphone.

Last March, I was summoned to Bear Creek Studios outside Seattle to help on a project with the extraordinary singer songwriter Brandi Carlile. My job, to ask Brandi questions from off camera to help her speak naturally about the project on camera. Call me The Artist Whisperer.

Have you even wondered how this baker-blogger makes ends meet; buys all that butter for batter? No? Well, darn it, I am going to tell you anyway. I work in the music business mostly behind the scenes, sometimes in front of microphone.

Last March, I was summoned to Bear Creek Studios outside Seattle to help on a project with the extraordinary singer songwriter Brandi Carlile. My job, to ask Brandi questions from off camera to help her speak naturally about the project on camera. Call me The Artist Whisperer.

Here’s the first piece from our day at Bear Creek. Blink and you’ll miss my handy work; Brandi speaking about her Mom’s influence on this song. But stay for the song and exclusive version of ‘Hard Way Home’. Like I said, she’s extraordinary.

Here’s the first piece from our day at Bear Creek. Blink and you’ll miss my handy work; Brandi speaking about her Mom’s influence on this song. But stay for the song and exclusive version of ‘Hard Way Home’. Like I said, she’s extraordinary.

(If titling my blog after a Staind song wouldn’t hasten the four horsemen of The Apocalypse, I would have called today’s blog ‘It’s Been A While’. It’s not that I haven’t been baking; it’s that I’ve been cheating on my blogging by actually…er…working. I love my new job; it’s all going swimmingly but I [...]]]>

(If titling my blog after a Staind song wouldn’t hasten the four horsemen of The Apocalypse, I would have called today’s blog ‘It’s Been A While’. It’s not that I haven’t been baking; it’s that I’ve been cheating on my blogging by actually…er…working. I love my new job; it’s all going swimmingly but I do miss the quiet tippy tapping in the soft light of the laptop.)

The title of this blog refers to what I must now acknowledge is a common occurrence: I f*ed up a cake. As I  bake out of my comfort zone, I realize I have to make accommodations for mess ups. Let’s call it the Mistake Cake.

Unlike my Pretty On The Inside cake, The Mistake Cake (officially Martha Stewart’s Chocolate Bundt Cake) was pretty gorgeous.

The Dry Ingredients

Using Sharffen Berger Chocolate Adds Flavor (and sadly expense)

Yeah Yeah Yeah, get To The F Up!

Well, it came after the came out of the oven.

Right?

The recipe called for a chocolate glaze; very simple. Really just 4 ingredients melted together on the stove. Everything was melting according to plan, and then suddenly: separation! The elegant chocolate glaze turned into an ugly, gloppy mess. I threw it out, and made it again, this time paying extra care to the measurements. Same result!

Man, did I fret. I literally couldn’t sleep that night. But the next morning I looked at my cake and thought, “Consistency is hard.” It’s not that the consistency of the cake was hard, it was lovely, but being consistent is well, hit or miss. Or at least it is for me. That’s part of things being made from scratch and after months of baking and blogging, I accept that!

I also have more respect for people and things who do things consistently well: like Tina Fey, Bakery Nouveau and the makers of Gossip Girl. I hope someday to be a flop free baker, but until that day comes, I accept the mistake cake!

For those of you who cannot accept mistakes, I found this video of the making of this cake. Watch it: HERE

The Easter Bunny has been very good to me. Over the years, he has brought me beautiful colored eggs, candy, kaleidoscopes, chocolate bunnies, and one special year, a snowboard.

But the best Easter gift I have ever received, I got 25 years ago today when Kevin rolled away the stone of addiction [...]]]>

The Easter Bunny has been very good to me. Over the years, he has brought me beautiful colored eggs, candy, kaleidoscopes, chocolate bunnies, and one special year, a snowboard.

The Black Widow

But the best Easter gift I have ever received, I got 25 years ago today when Kevin rolled away the stone of addiction he’d been chained to and rose up to embrace life. He is risen! 25 years without a relapse, without white knuckles, and without drama; what an amazing accomplishment.

Easter is a very special day for us. In fact, I’ve only a moment to write as I need to get into the kitchen to start Kevin’s feast. But I wanted to share one of his Easter treats.

How clever is that cookie from Bakery Nouveau? I wish I had baked that! And guess what? Thanks to the Easter Bunny, next year, I can. In my Easter Basket this morning? A set of Easter cookie cutters including a cross, a church, and an egg! Now that’s miraculous.

Happy Easter!

Found deep in the digital archives, that’s me with a platter of pre-Shawnologue cupcakes, handcrafted for our friend Pete’s birthday. Truth be told, not a lot has changed since that photo was taken. My hair’s a little blonder, my crow’s feet are a little [...]]]> Here’s proof that there were birthdays before we blogged about birthdays:

The Ghost Of Pete's Birthday Past

Found deep in the digital archives, that’s me with a platter of pre-Shawnologue cupcakes, handcrafted for our friend Pete’s birthday. Truth be told, not a lot has changed since that photo was taken. My hair’s a little blonder, my crow’s feet are a little deeper, but I’m still baking from the same recipes, still using the same kitchen aid stand mixer, still finding joy crafting birthday treats.

Pete’s birthday is always one of my favorite days of the year for 2 reasons:

1. Pete’s parties are always filled with music.

2. Pete always lets me bake. He’s never “on a diet” or “lactose intolerant”. He’s not anti-frosting, and he never thinks baking is going to too much trouble. He even gives direction; this year he wanted chocolate cupcakes.

I baked up my old standby cupcake recipe, but decided to try a new frosting. Click here for Martha Stewart’s Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting. To be honest, I broke a cardinal rule and used the wrong kind of baking cocoa in the frosting and the delicate little cakes paid for it. The frosting turned out more like fudge: too dark, too thick, and unsightly. I couldn’t bear to throw them all away, so I resorted to guessing them up with a little candy decoration having the same effect as putting a flower in your hair when you have terrible bedhead. Deploy distraction!

The "Bad Hair Day" Cupcakes

I knew I had to recoup, so I went straight back to where I’d started and decided a simple birthday cake was in order.

When I first read Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook, I thought Martha saying ‘a homemade cake will always be something to celebrate’ was a bit corny. But now, I’m prepared to reverse my opinion. I enlisted my girl Amy to come over and DJ while I was baking and the celebration was under way!

Here's Your Next New Favorite Song

Next, I had Amy read me a quick refresher course on emulsifying from a cake blog and discovered that my house is so cold it prevents proper emulsifying. Time to gently warm up my eggs, mixing bowl, and whisk. What a revelation!

Once the cake was in the oven, I decided a simple Swiss Meringue Buttercream would be the appropriate outer wear for this occasion. I didn’t bother with trimming the cake or even a crumb layer; no time to fuss. But when all was said and frosted, I felt a lot better about Pete’s birthday cake than Pete’s cupcakes.

A Reason to Celebrate

To my delight, once we got to the party, kids snapped up the Bad Hair Day cupcakes and ate them with no complaints. Pete proudly sliced up his cake with a machete and the grown-ups revelled in a slice of pretty, pure, love.

Martha was totally right. The simple humble homemade cake was something to celebrate. Can I call it? Cupcakes with their individualized portions and flashy decor…as yesterday as Pete’s birthday. Let’s keep it simple and commune together over a humble cake.

Oh, and as for the music at Pete’s party, well…

Butterscotch, It's Not Just a Flavor Anymore

Kevin and Butterscotch brought some sweet treats of their own. Happy Birthday, Pete.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard my very good friend, Jodi Brothers, mention on the air of the radio show she appears on that she’d always wanted to milk a cow. She’s a Jersey girl, after all. I grabbed my phone and texted her, milking a cow was on my bucket list, [...]]]>

A couple of weeks ago, I heard my very good friend, Jodi Brothers, mention on the air of the radio show she appears on that she’d always wanted to milk a cow. She’s a Jersey girl, after all. I grabbed my phone and texted her, milking a cow was on my bucket list, too. All punning aside, I knew Jodi would get tons of offers with that big microphone in front of her face; I was just hoping she’d let me tag along.

She did! Yesterday, we spent a cold rainy day out in Monroe at the family run Werkhoven Dairy. We learned all about their applause worthy sustainable farming practices and then took a tour of the farm.

Here’s how I pictured dairy farming:

Here’s the reality of dairy farming:

No pales, no rosy cheeks pressed up against a warm animal, no squirting milk into the barn kitties’ mouths. Truth be told, the cows rear ends are right at eye level to make it easier to fasten on the metal suction cups that do the milking now. But some old fashion notions do remain like keeping the cows calm making for easier milking and tastier milk.

Jodi and I did get to learn how to milk by hand, and by the end we were fighting over the utters which could not have been calming for the ladies. But we both managed to coax a few squirts warm milk from the utters and left feeling satisfied. Here I am acting like an oversized 4-H-er.

Even though it’s a bit controversial, I tasted a little raw milk and a million flavors and sensations raced into my mouth at once: warm, sweet, butter, cream, milk, ice cream, every vanilla milk shake I’d ever consumed. I’ve never been a milk drinker, but I love all of milk’s satellites. And seeing milk come straight from Mama cow gave me more respect for the humble healthy beverage.

To pay tribute, I came home and made a Tres Leches Cake, my first. I used Darigold milk because that’s the cooperative Werkhoven sells to. But it’s not just milk, it’s whole milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream which is actually quarto leches but who’s counting? The humble healthy beverage makes one hell of a humble cake, we’ll just graze over the healthy part…

No Need To Pour A Glass Of Milk

By the way, did you know that Tres Leches is rumored to be an international all girl gang? Where do Jodi and I sign up? That’ll be 2 things off the bucket list!

A simple chocolate cake looks beautiful to me.

So, why would anyone bake an ugly cake? Because you don’t always know [...]]]> Why would anyone bake an ugly cake? I’m not saying every cake needs to look like the outrageous (and possibly inedible) whirling, spinning, moulded, folded fondant creations you see on Cake Boss.

A simple chocolate cake looks beautiful to me.

So, why would anyone bake an ugly cake? Because you don’t always know what a cake will look like before you make it. So, I’m here to warn you, this is an ugly cake.

This weekend, I went searching for a recipe to bake a thank you for 2 friends who had helped me with separate projects this week. Kevin suggested trying something German, as both gents are of German decent. Yawohl, that Kevin is thoughtful!

I searched around and found a recipe for German Apple Cake that looked simple and had great reviews. I whipped it together, put it in the oven and waited. I took it out of the oven and threw it straight into the trash. “That can’t be right,” I thought, going back through the recipe to see what I’d done wrong. Maybe I hadn’t measured something right, or perhaps I’d used cake flour rather than all-purpose flour? Could that have done it? I decided to try again, almost immediately,  this time being even more precise than if I was trying to defuse a bomb.

2nd try? Still pretty ugly. This is as pretty as I could get it (I added a little homemade creme anglaise to gussy it up a little):

Ugly (Apple) Betty

I decided to give it a taste test. Lecker, as they say in Deutschland! I took a piece to Kevin; he agreed. Still uncertain (Kevin knows how to keep the peace), I took a few pieces over to Marty Riemer’s house. Marty tasted and cried, “this might be the best thing you’ve ever baked!” Maybe he was just feeling sentimental for his homeland or maybe I had misjudged my little kuchen.

Is there a better reminder that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Or that being pretty on the outside isn’t everything? That’s very hard for a baker to hear. It’s even harder for a vain baker to hear. So I will keep this in my repertoire, if only to remind myself that being pretty on the inside it what counts.

Junior High School, Grade School, hey, even Pre-School, kids love music. They love making it, they love listening to it. When I was a kid, I sang in choirs, choral groups, and with the band. I had triangle and xylophone solos, and strutted my stuff in plays like The King And I, Hello [...]]]>

Junior High School, Grade School, hey, even Pre-School, kids love music. They love making it, they love listening to it. When I was a kid, I sang in choirs, choral groups, and with the band. I had triangle and xylophone solos, and strutted my stuff in plays like The King And I, Hello Dolly, and Godspell. Not only did I learn to sing and play and appreciate music, it also gave me a much needed social group. Up with leg warmers! And it’s not just fun and games, there’s real evidence that kids who take up instruments in school do better academically, as well.

But with school budgets being winnowed down to next to nothing, school music programs are being slashed. That’s why I’m raising my jazz hands high in support of Synergia Northwest’s Music Matters Live event taking place at The Paramount Theatre on May 12.

Star Anna and The Laughing Dogs, Howard Leese, Vicci Martinez, and Alan White will all perform songs with a full orchestra made up of professional and student players. We’ve got a couple of very special guests we can’t announce for a bit, but trust me when I say you never know what the night…or day might bring.

All the proceeds from the evening go into the Music Matters Youth Music Education Fund, the same fund that benefits from this snazzy new license plate:

(Our friends at Carter Subaru in Shoreline and Ballard have come on board to encourage you to purchase the Music Matters license plate, too. They’ll generously kick an additional $10 into the Music Matters Youth Music Education Fund for the first 500 plates sold!)

Tickets for Music Matters: Live go on sale on Friday, March 9. Students get in at half price. Please come! It would mean so much to me. And more importantly, helping kids learn to love and play music will make our community a richer, smarter, weirder, and more tolerant place for years to come.

Details and to purchase tickets: click here

Curtain!

Back when almost all my friends and I were single, one of my girlfriends was out of her mind in love with a very shy boy. He liked her, too, she thought, but she wanted to take the relationship to the next level. She kept doing all these somewhat romantic/somewhat crazy things [...]]]>

Back when almost all my friends and I were single, one of my girlfriends was out of her mind in love with a very shy boy. He liked her, too, she thought, but she wanted to take the relationship to the next level. She kept doing all these somewhat romantic/somewhat crazy things to show him how she felt: she had his astrological chart done for him, she made him mixed tapes of all her favorite songs and left them in his mailbox, she broke into his house one night when he was kept late at work and walked his dog, she built a little set in her back yard and put on a play for him. Nothing was working…in fact, it was kind of driving him deeper into himself. Over coffee one day I said, “You need to learn to say ‘I love you’ in a language he understands.” She asked what language that might be. I said, “Shy”.

It took me a long time to take my own advise and learn to express my feelings in a way that the people I’m having feelings for understand. Kevin likes  miles and miles of space (and fancy vegan food), my mom likes me to return her phone calls and emails immediately, my friend Daniel? He likes meat!

Daniel is my go to guy for all medical questions for me and my dog, Charlie. He’s a doc and I know he gets pestered for free advise all the time, mostly by me. Dog bite, bad fall, runny nose, itchy eyelids, fleas, limp, coyote on the sidewalk; Daniel has advised me through it all.  So last week after an urgent care call (sprained wrist), I invited him over for dinner.

Charlie Napping, Me Healing

Fresh from two days in the kitchen making Kevin’s vegan birthday feast, I knew I had to come up with something savory and meaty for Daniel. If I didn’t use at least two sticks of butter, Daniel wouldn’t have know how much his free health care means to me. So I put aside my Voluptuous Vegan and set about making Daniel a meal Martha Stewart calls: Roast Chicken With Wild Mushroom Sauce. I must really like Daniel because I really hate mushrooms. But I have to say…this meal was delicious. And well received.

Daniel's Dinner

Meat, cream, butter, milk…the anti-vegan meal. We even defiled Kevin’s leftover Vegan Chocolate Cake with home made whipped cream  for dessert. Daniel loved it.

But here’s the thing about love:  when you try to show your love or gratitude in a language your friend or family member or partner understands, even if “the meal” doesn’t turn out as delicious as this one, your person will be touched. You might have to get out of your comfort zone to do it (Mushrooms? Me?), but it will make your message that much more savory.