A Place Called Home

(Post title taken from a song by Friend of the Bakery, Mr. Nick Malloy :) )

Hi cake fans!

If you're looking for an actual update on my life, sorry. The blog has been temporarily (?) hijacked by official bakery business, and besides, nothing interesting is going on anyway.

Let's take a moment, on this most festive of December 23rds, and talk about the holiday season.

It's been a long time since I spent Christmas day with my parents. For the past 4 years, Pete and I have been trying to create our own family traditions, since neither of us was particularly tied to what our families chose to do as celebrations. (Neither were most of our families, come to think of it.) Some of these traditions, such as eating my grandmother's spaghetti and meatballs for Christmas dinner, have stuck around, and we hope to continue them for many many more years. Others, such as eating dinner at the Waffle House on Christmas Eve before I have to rush back to get a newscast on the air, I hope to avoid in the future. (Not that I don't love the WaHo, but really?)

In thinking back on Christmas of my childhood, I remember very little about Christmas dinner. I mean, I know we'd always go to my grandparents' house and see our cousins and whatever other relatives were in town, but I don't really remember what we had for dinner. Probably because the kids always had steak and rice at my grandparents' house, regardless of the occasion. (Yeah I know, it's wierd, but it was sooooo good.)

Anyway. What really sticks in my mind as food surrounding Christmas are the various and sundry baked goods that my mom and grandmothers made for what seemed like months leading up to the actual day. One of my grandmothers makes a killer pound cake, the other makes some amazing shortbread cookies and cinnamon yeast-bread twist thingys, and my mother makes the cake that I'm about to share with you. I have no idea where this recipe came from originally, but it's been a holiday staple in my house as far back as I can remember. It's my mom's holiday trademark of sorts, and with good reason. Normally when I make an old recipe, I'll do something to it to make it my own in some small way. I've never changed a thing about this cake, and I don't ever intend to. It's that good. I can live without cookies in my house at Christmas (I'd rather not, but it's possible), but there is no celebration in my house without this cake.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the poppyseed cake.

*drum roll, please*

(Please excuse the ugly disposable loaf pan. But check out the white stuff in the background there-- that's snow!!)

This recipe makes 3 loaves-- they freeze well if you wrap them up in plastic wrap and heavy foil, and they also make great gifts.

Here's what you'll need:

For the cake:
3 cups of all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons of poppyseeds
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/4 cups of vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoons each: vanilla extract, almond extract, and butter flavoring

For the glaze:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon each: vanilla extract, almond extract, and butter flavoring

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour 3 loaf pans. (I use Baker's Joy or something like it. Best 2 bucks you can spend if you ever bake anything in a pan with sides.)

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients, stir to moisten, then beat for 2 minutes. (I use an electric mixer but I think just whisking would probably work too if you did it hard enough-- just so everything gets combined.)

Pour into prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

As soon as they come out of the oven, poke holes in the top with a fork. Then make the glaze: combine ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Then pour the glaze over the cakes while it's still hot.

That's it! If you want to take the cakes out of the pans, wait for the glaze to cool off. I really wouldn't take them out though... it gives the cake plenty of time to absorb the glaze. Here's a tip for you: the best slices are the pieces right on the ends, or the one smack in the middle. My younger brothers and I have made an extensive study of this over the years.

I've never met anybody who doesn't like this cake-- and knowing this, I may have made a calculated move back in college and put one of these in the dorm kitchen oven when I knew the boy I had just started seeing would be dropping by. I'm pleased to report that it worked-- we're about to celebrate our 5th Christmas as a married couple.

Enjoy!! And may your days be merry and bright.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Have I seriously only posted 3 entries ever? Wow. Blogging fail. I'd like to point out that I've written more than that but haven't finished several entries, and thus they've never gotten posted. Anyways.

Hello, cake lovers!

The reason for this greeting is two-fold. One, I thought since this blog is linked to the Macon Cakes website (shameless self-promotion), maybe I ought to actually write something about cake. Two, stuff is going on with the bakery, and that's what this entry will be about. We'll probably cross-post this on the Macon Cakes Blog as well, just so you know. (Also if anybody knows how to change settings on Blogger so that two people can update one blog, help a girl out and tell me how? 'Preciate ya.)

So let's see. Bakery news. In short, we're taking a brief break while some things get organized and sorted out and made more official. As most of you are probably aware, I'm no longer in the fine metropolis of Macon, Georgia. The husband and I moved to Washington, D.C. at the end of August, and have been getting settled in well up here. Obviously, this has posed a few challenges for Macon Cakes, as I can't very well bake a 4-tier red velvet wedding cake and mail it 700 miles south to Katie for assembly and decoration. (Although I did make enough chocolate cake to feed the U.S. Senate for the lovely Ms. Collinsworth to form into a car for a friend's groom's cake in September. Kind of a long story.)

A lot of people have been asking both of us how this is going to work now that I've moved. The short answer is, we don't know, but this wasn't a surprise. We always knew I was going to be leaving Macon, and we always knew when. When we set up the business, it was planned around that. We're still both doing this thing; it's now just a question of figuring out how this works.

While I plan to open my own branch of our charming company wherever it is that I land permanently, I've been reluctant to do so without really knowing where it is I'll settle. Yes, the goal is still Birmingham eventually for me, but things are very up in the air as to the "when" of that outcome. Could be June, could be in 2015. (I really hope it isn't 2015, for the record.) Meanwhile, Katie is busily working away in Macon to get our business license up and running officially. Soooo... here's what's going to happen.

In short, until around mid-February, we aren't taking new orders. While Katie takes over getting the final licensing stuff done (and obviously the actual baking/decorating), I'm taking over the management aspect of things. That means, if you send us an email, I'll be the one that answers you. (After talking to Katie, of course.) Hopefully this will help us get things sorted out in a timely manner. I'm also going to do a better job of blogging, just as a personal goal in general. I figure, I have this fabulous kitchen (seriously, for a 538 square foot city apartment, it's amazing. It's amazing anyway, but especially for where we are.) and all this time-- I'm going to test out different cake recipes to try to expand our recipe repertoire (say that 5 times fast). I'm also going to work on improving my piping and fondanting skills... the better to decorate with!

Ok, that's about all the news there is. Until next time, go eat some cake!

The thunder rolls

There's something so beautiful about summer afternoon thunderstorms in the south. I'm currently sitting at work in complete silence, listening to a storm rolling in above us. Looking back on pretty much every summer of my life, most of my memories involve a thunderstorm of some kind.... probably because there's a downpour most every day down here.

I'm sure it's probably the same in other places, but I've never lived anywhere else, so I can't be sure. I do know that, strangely enough, it almost never rained the entire time we lived in the Atlanta area. Seriously, there were 2 thunderstorms. In about 8 months. For a Birmingham girl, that is crazy talk. I've also learned from one of my NCDC coworkers that it almost never rains in Colorado... at least not compared to how it rains in Georgia.

Yes, I realize that I just spent 2 paragraphs of my life talking about the weather, but it interests me. Afternoon thunderstorms are another thing that I'm wondering if I'll have to learn to live without next year.

For those that haven't heard, we're moving! In about a month we'll be heading up to Washington, D.C. for a while. Pete's doing his one year LL.M. program at Georgetown, and then who knows what will happen. I hope that a year from now I'll be writing that we're moving to Birmingham, that we both have fabulous jobs waiting there, and that we'll be buying a cute little house, but who knows. If a fabulous opportunity falls into either of our laps in DC or the surrounding area, neither of us is adverse to staying there on a somewhat permanent basis.

We couldn't be more excited about this development in our lives, and not only because D.C. seems to be turning into "Sewanee in the City." (Seriously, it's getting ridiculous how many people I'm running across who live up there, or will shortly.) I could also not be more freaked out about the actual act of moving (apartment renting, job hunting, etc.), but I'm trying to make progress everyday on the details. (Pete will freak out later-- right now he's too busy freaking out over the bar exam. One thing at a time.)

What seems so strange is that we've already started to say goodbye. It would seem that once we move, we'll be staying up there until next summer, probably with no trips home. Obviously one never knows, but it seems unlikely that we'll do much in the way of travel to the south. It's still just so unbelievable that what seems like the longest three years of our lives is actually almost over, and we're really leaving. And soon.

We were in Sewanee this weekend for the 4th of July, and it was so strange and sad to leave, knowing we won't be back soon. Granted, it has been almost a year since we've been up there anyway, but this will be on purpose. We took hundreds of photos, and would have taken more if the camera battery hadn't died, and I hadn't run out of film. (Yes, film. I have a wonderful digital camera, but film is my first love.) I know there's not a chance that I'll ever forget even a square inch of that mountain, but it seemed to urgent to document every second of our trip just in case it took forever to come home again. And yes, that's home. Still is, and I hope it always will be.

The stupid people at Walgreen's messed up one of my rolls of film, and the others aren't great, but what I have will go on Facebook as soon as I get the chance. I'm thinking of making a Facebook album scrapbook of sorts-- reminicense (is that a word? And did I spell it right?) for my fellow alumni of the best place on earth, and education for my friends who haven't been there. It feels strange that so many of my friends have no idea what I'm talking about when I'm telling a college story, and while I know pictures can't do the Sewanee experience justice, it's the best I can do until I have enough money to buy a mountain house and throw parties for everyone I know. It's pretty much my goal in life.

Be on the lookout for pics on the 'Book, and expect me to update more in the next several weeks as I freak out more about the next phase of our lives.

Oh, also, I'm considering making the blog private for various reasons... I'd be glad to add you as a friend, or however you do that, so that you can read it, but I need to know if you want me to. Comment or send me an email or a FB message and I'll make it happen.

Peace, y'all!

Exciting things to come...

No, not really exciting things having to do with me, or really anyone I know.

I've got a bigger actual entry in the works (not that it contains big exciting updates, since really I have none), but I just had to convey my excitement over two rather irrelevant things that will come to pass in the next couple of months...

April 28: Bob Dylan has a new album coming out!! Yaaaay! Say what you will. I've loved Bob since the mid-90s, and that's not changing any time soon. And furthermore, I don't even care if this one is any good-- if Columbia put out a 10-disc box set of the man playing the Kazoo, I'd mostly likely buy it.

Just a few days later-- May 1: The new X-Men movie comes out! Yaaay!! Although I'm sure the story will be worthwhile and all, I think we all know the real attraction here. Folks, this is primarily a movie about Wolverine. Read: Hugh Jackman. I'll be honest, I don't care about the story. Hugh Jackman could stand in front of a camera for 3 hours and play the Kazoo, and I'd still be in the theatre.

Disclaimer: I have nothing against Kazoos, and in fact, I live in the city that claims to be the Kazoo's birthplace. (Bet you didn't know that. Unless you live here too. Then you probably did.) But a 10-disc box set of Kazoo music, or a 3-hour movie with just a really really attractive man playing said instrument... come on. That would be annoying.

Late April/Early May, people. Get excited! :)

More than a month passes...

And here we are again. I do apologize for the lack of updates, but I really can't promise that it won't become a habit. I'll do my best not to neglect you all in the future. :)

I want to take a moment, however random it may seem, to reflect on my apartment. We moved in here a little more than a year and a half ago, after about a year in North Macon. With help from some willing family members and friends, we painted the walls with the colors of our choosing, and moved in around Memorial Day 2007.

I absolutely love it here.

This place immediately felt like home. For those of you who aren't really aware with where we are, let me 'splain. We're on a beautiful street downtown, in an old house that's been cut up into apartments. We're in the upstairs, and from our huge (for a tiny apartment) green kitchen full of windows, we can see the law school, as well as most of the rest of the city.

This house is about 110 years old. There are hardwood floors, high ceilings, and a bathtub with claw feet. I love that we're near the library, a park, good coffee, and the gym. I love that we can walk downtown for the evening so nobody has to drive home. (Not that this is usually an issue, but it's nice to have options.) Are there things I'd like to change? Sure. I wish the fireplace worked. I wish we had a little bit more space, and a lot more storage. I wish the roof didn't leak during a hard rain-- but y'know, I grew up in a 100 year old house. There are some things I've gotten used to, and leaks that absolutely refuse to be fixed are on the list. Mostly though, I wish I could pack up this whole place and take it with us when we move. Not just the books and the ugly hand-me-down furniture and the gigantic refrigerator that we got for a wedding present, but the whole house.

See, occasionally I get in these moods where I feel a compulsive need to plan for the future. Right now, I still have no idea where we'll be going or when, so it's not really that productive to do this, but I like to think that this will help us be more prepared when the time comes to make a choice. Tonight I've been looking at apartments online, and I'm not happy with what I'm finding. I mean they're perfectly nice, for the most part, but they're all just so *boring*. I like that my house is colorful and eccentric. I don't want to live a beige apartment with beige carpet. Come to think of it, I don't really want to live anywhere with any color carpet, because frankly, I think wall-to-wall carpet is an overrated pain in the butt.

I think what really bothers me is that most of the apartments I'm finding are just so pristine. They remind me of dorm rooms because they just seem so uniform and bland. (Ok, I think everyone I knew in college can agree that none of us lived in a "pristine" dorm room, but you get what I mean, I hope.) I'm so over living in a "package" like this... I'm about to move across the country, probably, and while that's really kind of exciting, I don't want to live in a bland white box. I want to be done and settled. I want a house and I want to decorate it and make it mine, and that will not involve beige wall-to-wall carpet.

On the bright side though, if I live in a beige apartment, maybe I can get rid of the ugly white slipcovers on our even uglier couches in favor of something colorful. I'd really love to get rid of the ugly couches altoghther, but that's another show.

See you in March. Haha. I kid. Or maybe not.

Till next time...

Crossroads seem to come and go....

...gypsy flies from coast to coast... 

Well, here we are. 

I've finally decided to get around to starting a blog! (*pause for collective cheer*)

There are several reasons for starting now as opposed to 6 months from now, or 2 years ago. (Other than the fact that I'm giving in to peer pressure so a certain Mrs. Johnson will quit bugging me. :)) Truth be told, I've been throwing ideas around in my head for a while, and I just haven't gotten around to putting them down anywhere, so I guess that explains why this hasn't been done before. 

More though, now seemed like the best option because we're about to undergo some major upheaval in our household. Pete starts his last semester of law school in a week or two, so it's almost time to move on from Macon. This is unbelievable, but certainly not unexpected. The new twist in the story of our lives is that we don't know where we'll be moving too. As it turns out, there's another degree you need if you're going to be a tax attorney who's worth anything (which Pete aspires to be), and this degree is offered at schools across the country. Unfortunately, there's not a program in Alabama, where we intend to land eventually. (Well, actually, there is, but for various reasons it's not going to work. Short version-- it's part time, which would put our lives on hold for another 2 years instead of just one. Not cool.)

Anyway, for the past few months Pete's life has been consumed with applying to graduate schools from Massachusetts to Colorado (both of which would be awesome places to spend 10 months), and I've been consumed with figuring out how this is going to happen. As you might guess, this opens up a whole new can of worms with the moving thing, as I do not plan to schlep all my crap across the country, just to schlep it all back in less than a year.  Options for places to move include Chicago (currently the front-runner since it's the location of the only school Pete's heard back from); DC; Boston; New York; Charlottesville, VA; Gainesville, FL; Ann Arbor, MI; Denver.... I think that's all. More to come. Stay tuned.  

Anyway, though the times, they are a-changin' (to quote the great Bob), I wanted to deviate from that line of thought for a second to start things off on a positive note. I'm sure that this blog will become a forum for venting about the various random and petty things that irritate me in life, as blogs often do, and I want to close the first entry by saying that the last year has been pretty good. 

I am for various reasons, much happier than I was at this point last year, but that's not to say that '08 didn't have some great parts. 

In 2008, I made some great friends, and got closer to some friends I already had. I lived on my own for the first time, and even though I hated it, it was a good experience. My cat, Ivan, is healthy again after being very sick this summer, which was both very stressful and expensive for the human members of the household, and very painful for the poor kitty. Pete and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary, and our 5th anniversary of being together. Several of my favorite people got married, and several more of my favorite people welcomed beautiful, perfect children into the world. Within one week in November, my beloved car "Jeepy" and I celebrated 7 years together (and still no major issues--*knock on wood*), my parents celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary, and we elected a new president. (And for the record, yes, I'm happy Obama won, but that isn't the point here. The point is that watching democracy in action to create the peaceful transfer of power is a pretty remarkable thing, and I'm glad I got to see it.) A few weeks later, my grandma turned 90, and the entire family got together for the first time in years to celebrate. In December, my dad got sworn in as the president of the Birmingham Bar Association, which is something he'd wanted for 30 years. And in my latest endeavour... Katie and I are officially starting our bakery!! But more on that later.

In short, though, things are good. I hope they get better. Till next time....