Archive for the ‘What’s this all about?’ Category
Round Peg, Square Hole
October 18th, 2011 | Rachel
Square Cake?
It’s amazing what a difference following directions can make. Having rated that last yellow cake recipe a lowly C-, I decided to give it one more try, this time using the instructed quantities of milk and eggs.
The result was a very tasty and moist cake, although it felt a little bit gritty. I have a 5 lb bag of organic cake flour coming in the mail this week, and I am curious to taste and feel the difference. FYI, if you find yourself in need of cake flour and only have all-purpose flour, cornstarch and a flour sifter on hand, I find the ratio of seven parts all-purpose flour to one part cornstarch sifted together at least once to be a perfectly decent substitute.
Speaking of flour sifters, does anyone know the proper way to wash them? I’ve been rinsing mine, but I hate the little hardened pieces of flour that get trapped inside.
Steve and I have less than a week until our California trip, and I couldn’t be more excited. I think I am still a little traumatized from my last job when it comes to planned vacations. With that job, no matter how far ahead a trip was planned, there was always this lurking fear that something would come up and the trip would either have to be cancelled or I’d have to spend half the time typing away on my laptop. That never happened to me, of course, but I heard stories.
I was recently reminded of a fateful weekend back in 2010 when I decided to take Steve on a last minute trip to Nova Scotia for the Fourth of July weekend. The plane tickets were going to be $800 each, but I cashed in some frequent flyer miles and found us a beautiful lodge up in Cape Breton.
A couple of days before the trip, I got an email at work looking for a few extra people to work on a document review project. I needed the extra hours, so I volunteered for the project and explained at the meeting that I was going to be out of town for the weekend but would work as much as I could before I left and after I got back.
Apparently, I was expected to either cancel my trip or spend all of my time in my hotel room reviewing documents because I got a scathing “I’m disappointed in you” email from the partner when the project was over and an even more scathing review at the end of the year — one that the practice group leader made sure I never forgot. It didn’t matter that my other reviews and day-to-day feedback (on projects that were actually substantive) were overwhelmingly positive.
For a long time, I looked back at that experience with mixed emotions. I felt I had made the right choice, but I knew within the context of being an associate at a large law firm it was the wrong choice. When things started to unravel at the beginning of 2011, part of me wished I had played it safe so I would have gotten a big end-of-the-year bonus (the denial of which was attributed to that very same negative review) and job security.
Only recently did I realize that the decision to go on that trip isn’t quite the albatross that I’ve been making it out to be in my head. As some of you know, I am an avid traveler (this year alone I’ve been to China, Tibet, Nepal, Taiwan, and France, in addition to California wine country with my mom and Yellowstone with my brother), and one of the ways that I have traveled so much is I have made it a top priority ever since I took a three-week trip to Australia and New Zealand when I was 18. I still plan on living abroad one day.
There were a lot of things I enjoyed about working at a law firm, but being too afraid (and overworked) to make vacation plans — as most people seemed to be — isn’t the kind of life I want to live. Life is too short for that :-) So, as it turns out, making the decision to go to Nova Scotia with Steve wasn’t me sacrificing my cushy, New York law firm job. It was me choosing to stay on my own path and not get trapped on someone else’s.
Now that I have been away from that job for six months, I am started to see a completely different future take shape ahead of me. It might not be as lucrative, but it is going to be a whole lot more fulfilling.
Stay tuned.
Hiking in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
:-)
A Moose!
Whales!
Driving the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Sunset in Nova Scotia
Follow The Yellow (Cake) Road To Bakerytown
October 4th, 2011 | Rachel
Hello!
Although I haven’t been writing about it the past month or so, Operation West Coast Bakery is in full effect. There are about a thousand things that need to be done, but right now I am focusing on recipe development and educating myself in the area of business management.
For the latter, I am reading this book, which has proven to be a great overview of the necessary steps and components to opening a small business:
I have also begun the process of developing my recipes.
The owner of the Three Green Ducks told me her business started with her recipes, and she has made product quality a top priority ever since. It’s taken 20 years to get where they are now, but the bakery has earned itself a dedicated repeat customer base and are regularly ranked the “best of” in New York City.
I agree with this approach, and therefore I have drafted a preliminary list of recipes that need to be perfected:
Like the Three Green Ducks, my bakery is going to focus on classic American baking. I’ve done a little bit of market research to see what other kinds of bakeries currently exist near the area Steve and I think we want to live, and so far I’ve only found a few large-scale baking operations with a decidedly European influence.
My favorite item on the menu so far is the puddings. I’m going to start with chocolate pudding, but the plan is to offer a standard selection of puddings (vanilla, butterscotch, etc.) and rotate a menu of more interesting flavors. I think pudding might be on the verge of a comeback. I said the same thing about pie when I was in law school, and I was right about that. It’s too bad chocolate pudding is so far down on my list.
I figured one of the most basic bakery recipes is yellow cake, so that is where I am starting. I collected a number of yellow cake recipes that received rave reviews and put them into a chart so I can compare the proportions of each ingredient. With the exception of baking soda and in one case buttermilk, they all use the same ingredients but in markedly different amounts.
As an additional step, I had to learn the volumes of the different pans so I could take that into account when comparing the recipes. Who knew baking was so scientific and mathematical (other than Alton Brown and America’s Test Kitchen)?
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be sharing my bakery recipes with you. Its trade secrets, so I hope you understand. I will still be mixing in some french cooking into the blog and maybe some other random recipes, and those I will definitely be sharing.
The paranoid lawyer in me is nervous about sharing any information about the bakery. I’ve actually come up with a name and a prototype for a logo, but I am still weighing the pros and cons of publishing it this early in the game. If anyone has thoughts on that matter, I would love to hear them.
I’ve always been a little intimidated by made-from-scratch cakes. The boxed cake industry has done a great job artificially creating super moist cake mixes that are hard to recreate texture-wise with just the traditional ingredients. Fortunately for us bakers, the flavor of the boxed mixes can’t compare to the real deal. And that is why we take the more labor-intensive road and make our cakes from scratch.
That being said, my first recipe wasn’t dry at all. I was making half of a recipe and failed to notice that the full recipe called for 8 egg yolks. I used four whole eggs in my half recipe. The result was a very eggy but moist cake. I also left my cake pans at my apartment (right now I am living at Steve’s apartment), and I tried using a ceramic dish. This clearly effected the way it baked. Ceramic is good for recipes that need to be slow-cooked — like pies. I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect cakes benefit from the fast cooking of metal pans.
Perhaps I’ll add that to my list of variables to test.
If you are in the New York City area, there will be some tasting parties in a month or two after I have some recipes figured out. Stay tuned.
Writer’s Block…
September 29th, 2011 | Rachel
… Any advice from my fellow bloggers on how you maintain a steady stream of posts?
Life As A Cupcake Peddler
August 11th, 2011 | Rachel
I’ve been at the new job at the Three Green Ducks for about a week and a half now. So, what it is like finally living out my five-year-old fantasy of working at a bakery? Honestly, it’s kind of awesome.
I’ve sampled about 15% of the products in the store — cookies, cupcakes, slices of pie, cake, coffee cake, and muffins (still need to try some scones and bars) — and everything is truly wonderful. The owner, who is downstairs baking with the team most days, puts a lot of thought into the recipes, and most of them are pretty close to perfect. The bakers are careful and consistent, and we don’t sell anything that doesn’t meet the bakery’s high standards. Even if it tastes right but looks kind of weird, we’ll cut it up and give it out as free samples (or eat it ourselves).
I’ve had a slice of the cherry pie every day this week, and if we are slicing it again today, I just might have to have another one. Its my favorite thing in the store right now.
Coming from my last job, it feels kind of strange to be involved in something I so strongly and personally believe in. I know, it’s sad to say, but I’m not used to it. At my last job, I was part of the general litigation group at a big law firm. We usually dealt with contract disputes between large companies. Our job was to help our huge corporate client protect their money whether they deserved it or not.
I’m not hating on the system. If a huge corporation wants to spend its own money to hire sophisticated lawyers to try and get more money from another huge corporation that can also afford sophisticated lawyers, then fine. Everyone knows what they are getting themselves into, and the lawyers all get paid at the end of the day. The legal side of it can actually be pretty interesting at times… determining which rules and laws are relevant and strategizing about how to present the laws and facts in a way that is most beneficial to the client. I rather enjoyed the intellectual side of it, and I never had any moral hesitations about the work I was doing. I was only in the biz for three years, but I never saw any shady deals or unscrupulous acts by the lawyers.
However, at the end of the day, it wasn’t something I could really believe in.
I do believe in in cupcakes.
In the past week and a half, many people have asked me, “What do you actually do at the bakery?” To clarify, I am not a baker, and I am not a decorator. We have two separate teams for those functions, and they are awesome. We also have a management team that keeps everything running. The fourth team, of which I am now a member, is the retail and hospitality team.
We say hello and smile at you when you come into the store. We ask you how we can help you, and we tell you about the wonderful things we are selling. We help you decide what kind of cake you should buy and how big it should be. We write complementary phrases on the cakes (well, I don’t, but I have been practicing my cake calligraphy) and tell you the best way to serve them. We also put muffins and scones in paper bags, make lattes and cappuccinos, and run the cash register. If you are a regular, we might ask you how the kids are doing or chat about the weather.
I guess you could say I’m a salesperson, but, honestly, the baked goods pretty much sell themselves. One of the managers told me the other day that Living Social has been calling the bakery relentlessly trying to get us to be one of their daily deals. For those of you unfamiliar with websites like Living Social, they offer special discounted deals every day for businesses in certain cities. Living Social takes half of the voucher price (which is usually already discounted 50%), and the business gets exposure.
The Three Green Ducks gets all of the exposure it needs from people taking our baked goods to their offices and family get togethers. People come in every day looking for something they tried outside the bakery. I spoke to two women last week from Arizona who were in the city visiting and ventured up to see us because someone told them we were the best bakery in the city.
Going back to my original point, I believe in what I am doing now because my whole purpose is to make people’s days a little bit better. Baked goods make people happy… I discovered that back in law school when I picked up cake decorating as a creative balance to my otherwise wholly academic existence. Whether someone is buying themselves a treat or picking up a cake for a loved one, they all come into the store with a look of excitement and anticipation and then leave with a smile on their faces. Most people are truly thankful when I hand over their bag of muffins and scones or box of cupcakes or pie. They don’t come to us because they have to, they come because they want to.
Here’s a little bit of what I have to deal with everyday:
Selection of scones baked daily
Part of our huge selection of cupcakes
Decorated cakes
Everyone’s favorite cookie
It’s refreshing, to say the least.
By the way, thank you to everyone who has stumbled upon my blog. If you haven’t done so already, scroll to the bottom of this page and subscribe to my blog. That way you can keep up with my somewhat sporadic posts. I promise I won’t spam you.
What’s This About A Bakery?
July 31st, 2011 | Rachel
First day at the new job
Last Friday afternoon, I had plans to meet up with my friend Arthur for a cup of coffee (since his job is cool and gives him half days on Fridays during the summer). At the last minute, we scrapped the coffee plan and instead met for cupcakes at a bakery in the Upper East Side called the Three Green Ducks.*
I arrived first and immediately noticed a sign on the front door advertising an open position for a full time employee. The thought of applying crossed my mind and I felt a flutter of excitement in my stomach, but the pragmatic side of my brain quickly brushed it aside and I blamed the gastrointestinal reaction on hunger. College students work at bakeries. People who are still paying for their law degrees do not.
When Arthur arrived, he mentioned the sign. Again, I waved off the idea, saying it was too crazy. We each purchased our mini-cupcakes and sat down. The subject of the help wanted sign came up again.
Arthur, like many of my friends, has listened to me ramble about my bed and breakfast dream on many occasions and has always been supportive despite his otherwise very practical nature. “There’s only one way to learn how to run a business,” he said over his red velvet cupcake. “You just have to jump in there even when it means starting at the bottom.” The wheels in my head were spinning. He had a point. He then walked back up to the counter and ordered two lemonades and an employment application.
The humbling part about filling out that application is it quickly revealed how under-qualified I was for the job. Previous employer: Big Anonymous Law Firm. Skills used: research, writing… and, uh, cite checking? I was starting to doubt my odds of even being considered.
“Looks like another unemployed lawyer trying to figure out what to do with her life.”
“Toss it. Let’s hire the high school student who actually knows how to work an espresso machine.”
I left the box for previous salary blank. The pay discrepancy was nothing short of comical.
Nervously, I handed the application to a friendly-looking person behind the counter. She looked it over and told me to wait. She disappeared into the kitchen. A few minutes later, one of the managers came out and asked if I had time to talk. We sat at one of the tables, and I tried to explain that I wasn’t insane and actually had legitimate reasons for wanting to work there. I told her about my future bed and breakfast and California and my love of baking and Martha Stewart.
Since the only employment experience I’ve had since college was in an attorney capacity, she asked a lot of questions about how my lawyering experiences and skills could translate into the bakery environment. As I discovered while I was talking, there are a lot of ways. I was getting a good vibe.
She asked if I could hang on a few more minutes and disappeared into the kitchen. Moments later another manager came out, and I gave my I’m-not-crazy-I-just-really-want-to-work-here speech again. He talked about the hectic pace, the ornery customers, the dismal pay, the working holidays and everything else that might make me change my mind. He said he wanted me to have a clear picture as to what I was getting myself into. In my head, however, I was picturing myself at my desk, the 5 a.m. nights, not being able to have dinner with Steve the night before he went back to the ship because there was a doc review crisis, the thankless partners, the neon lights, the coworkers that never said hello in the hallway, the stale office air…
Suddenly I felt a light bulb turn on in my head. What was I afraid of?
I was afraid that taking a job at a bakery would ruin my chance of getting a job at another large law firm — something I didn’t even want to do. In being scared, I was shutting out the myriad of good possibilities that could stem from having this job — a job I’ve actually fantasized about ever since I picked up cake decorating as a hobby in law school and discovered my knack for baking. Maybe it will help me run a bed and breakfast. Maybe I’ll open that pie shop I’ve always talked about. Maybe I’ll write a book about it. Maybe I’ll be a food writer. Maybe I’ll work for Martha Stewart. Maybe I’ll be the next Martha Stewart. And whatever it is, it doesn’t have to exclude being a lawyer too. Maybe I’ll be a lawyer for small, creative businesses. Maybe I’ll run a bed and breakfast and have my own solo trusts and estates practice. Maybe (or, perhaps, probably) I’ll do something completely unexpected.
The second manager asked me to hold on and disappeared into the kitchen. I turned around and apologetically told Arthur he could leave if he wanted. We had been there for an hour at that point. Arthur said he was going to stay.
Then the first manager came back out and said, “We’d like to hire you.”
A new chapter began.
*The bakery isn’t actually called the Three Green Ducks. Out of respect for them I’m not going to use the real name because I don’t want my personal viewpoints to be mistakenly attributed to them.
