Yesterday was my birthday and now I am only 364 days away from 40! I still think of myself as 35. It seems like just yesterday I had moved to California. Turns out what feels like yesterday is actually 15 years ago. I had16 roommates in the 15 years from college to marriage. Don’t judge living in the bay area ain’t cheap and many of those houses had two or more roommates at a time. One of those 16 told me the toughest years for a woman are 27-32. I thought she was nuts and just spouting some nonsense she had read and maybe she was but she couldn’t have been more correct.
Just over a dozen years ago during my 27th year I had just been laid off from a job as a website builder. I was so proud to have earned that job. I taught myself HTML, got a job a web design company, kept learning and proved myself to the engineering staff until they hired me. I was part of the dot.com boom and bust. It was a blast while it lasted. I took advantage of the severance and took 3 months off work until I got tight on money and bored. I had always been in retail so I went back to Crate and Barrel until I figured out what I wanted to do. I went through a lot of ideas and was one payment away from going to culinary school for pastry. It is prohibitively expensive and finishing school and making $8 an hour didn’t seem like a good idea in the very expensive idea. So it was put on hold while I worked on my current career. I wouldn’t change a thing but I have always wondered what it would be like to have my own bakery. I had tons of baking equipment but when I moved into a tiny place in the city I purged most of it. Must have been a great find at Goodwill for someone.
One perfect birthday present from my husband and I am back in the saddle. I have a list of equipment I want to get so I can try some of the amazing recipes from my new cookbook.
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Miette is an adorable bakery in San Francisco that was started by a self-taught baker that made a career change at the dot-com bust. I love everything about her bakery. All the cakes are smaller 6-inch cakes. her macarons are beautiful and she spends as much time on the presentation and packaging as the cakes themselves.
The cookbook is just as amazing. The pages are cut with scalloped edges. Pictures of the cute bakery decor and the tasty treats fill the pages. Each recipe is written with great care and explanation of technique. I am sure the cakes appearance makes them look deceptively easy. I know they will be harder than they look and still I can’t wait to dive in. I am already dreaming of pulling off homemade graham crackers and marshmallows for a cute Christmas gift. S’mores aren’t just for summer. They work just as nicely in the fireplace as the campfire. Oh there are so many delicious things in the book.
Do you have a favorite cookbook? How about a favorite present from your birthday?
