Well.

Here I am. I’m here. I’m completely myself and then completely not myself at all. It’s been 153 days since I wrote anything on here and even longer since I’ve posted a recipe. Thank goodness that’s over! I loved (LOVED) my break from blogging. The happiest moments of my life happened on that sabbatical, you know. But I’m excited to get started again.

1. One of my best friends was married. I got to be a maid of honor for the first time in my life. :)

2. I wrapped up my little catering business with a Hello Kitty birthday cake and finished out the summer nannying.

3.  I watched my favorite human being graduate from Cornell University a semester early like the genius he is.

4.  I gained a best friend, a lifetime of eye-candy, the best husband a girl could ask for.

I've spent the better part of two years missing this face and everything that comes with it. I've missed his smile, and his laugh, his ridiculous jokes, his wise insight, his support, his hugs, his questions and answers. We have spent hours and days and weeks’ worth of conversation on face time and the phone. We wrote letters and emails, received and sent packages. We were pretty obsessed with each other.

So we got married. It was perfect and beautiful and I thought I would die of happiness. And now I don’t have to live without this amazing man anymore.

We went to Rome; we came home to our new little apartment. We learned what it’s like to not have to hoard minutes when having a conversation. We don’t have to cram every moment together with exciting life changing activities because who knows when the next visit will be? We don’t have to endure plane trips back and forth. No more early morning airport visits, just early morning kisses.

Anyway, enough of my gushy mushy love stuff- on to blog plans and happy happy foodie times!

I’ve spent about a week now thinking about this little corner of the internet and what I want to do with it. I don’t have a purple door anymore, should I change the name? I closed my catering business, so I have to revamp that whole idea. Change the focus? Not so many sweets, more meal recipes? Should I change my platform? I’m tired of dealing with blogger. Is this still going to just be a “hobby”? Will I eventually try and monetize this?

I had an intense conversation with the Hubster and he made a pretty good point. It was really insightful and smart; he was being thoughtful when he mentioned it. And I really didn’t like it.

He said that if I was going to do something, I should do it seriously. If I was going to blog for a hobby, that’s fine. But then it’s a hobby. If I want to really have a stellar blog that people will follow and that will grow I have to have more purpose to this whole thing. He pretty much told me to get my stuff in line and get to business already, stop talking about creating a great blog and do it already. I got a little miffed, my baby girl feelings got hurt, but as usual he was right. What’s great is that he wasn’t only right, but he set me to thinking and planning. He was right AND inspiring. Man, I hit the husband jackpot. ;)

This is my public announcement saying:

“Sorry, babe. You were right and I was pretty dumb to get defensive. This blog is going to be as awesome as I can make it and I’ll owe it to you.”

This is also a public announcement saying:

This blog is going to be as awesome as I can make it! It’s going to be super fun. I’m planning on keeping this platform and name until the end of the year, but I’ll be working behind the scenes to develop recipes, a new look, a new name and new schemes, themes, and fun times. J (I’m pretty excited) I hope to see you along the way. Until thennnn...enjoy all the instagram foodies I've been posting while I've been away. ;)

Strawberry Jam makin'

Jam favors for the wedding!

Homemade cherry pie filling. You've never put anything better in your mouth, I swear.

Typical cupcake order

A summer wedding order of mint chocolate cupcakes.

Summer is defined by tomatoes. They are like the candy of the vegetable garden.

Homemade Salsa! It was gone in a week. Geesh. 

First apple of the season. It was perfection.

In addition to making 100 jars of homemade jam for wedding favors, I kinda made enough pie for 120 guests. Who needs cake when you can have fresh pie?

Pumpkin seeds, roasted and delicious...

First pie crust in the new apartment. It's officially home now. :)

The latest cupcakes out of the kitchen. Little Halloween ghosties!

Birthday Chili! I'm 25 years old now. Kinda creepy. But chili makes it all better. 

Duvall Plant Sale

The best time of the year!!! At least, it is for anyone living here in the Pacific Northwest. Winter is a dreary, wet, gray, soggy, ugly mess of a month in Seattle. So now that it's May and the sun is shining a bit more it's time for this gal to get baking!
At each change of the seasons I always get inspired. All of my spring and summer baking goals pop out of the woodwork from last year and I vow to bake something new every day. Of course, it doesn't always work that way...but you will see a bunch of baking projects I think!
May 12th our purple booth will be open at Duvall's Annual Plant Sale. Last year was a blast and everyone had fun and enjoyed the baked goods. I'm hoping this year will be even better. But you are all waiting for the menu so let's get that out of the way...

First things first...cupcakes! We have five flavors for sale this year instead of four.
Coconut Cream- everyone that eats one of these vows they are the best...and they are fun because they are filled with coconut custard. Filled cupcakes are always the best, don't you agree?
Orange Dream- This was a request from the little brother. He said they were a very spring themed garden cupcake. He has good taste...vanilla frosting, orange cake, filled with marmalade, topped with candied orange peel. I'm excited for these!
White Chocolate Raspberry- At first I wasn't going to add these to the menu. Until EVERYONE started asking me if I was going to be selling them. They are the most famous of PDB's cupcakes I think. And who wouldn't love em?
Chocolate Peanut Butter- Another returning favorite. These were the first to sell out last year.
Spiced Chai Latte- And to add to our "healthy" options, our vegan cupcake: spiced chai! You can't really tell he's vegan or healthy, though...just as tasty as the rest of the bunch.

We also are planning on selling
Mediterranean Focaccia: Olive oil bread, Parmesan cheese, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and tasty spices...
Pesto Rolls: Soft buttery crescent rolled with pesto...
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies: lots of people wanted gluten free options last year. We heard you! We are also selling Gluten Free Brownies.
Jumbo Decorated Sugar Cookies: For the kiddos! I'm planning on all sorts of shapes including dinosaurs, smiley faces, and flowers.

Plus Homemade Lemonade, Coffee, Water, and Tea. Go ahead and comment below. Anything you were hoping to see this year? I'm still deciding if we should have slices of pie available as well.

I'm super excited and I'm so glad my grandma and mom will be there helping as well. Three generations in the Bakery Booth. Doesn't get much better than that. :)

Family in the Kitchen

One of my favorite things to do is cook with my family, or even just cook with people I really love. Last spring break I came home after a grueling 3 months without a kitchen. I had been living in a tiny dorm room, without a roommate and without a good place to cook and I felt like I was going insane. I couldn't even go home for a kitchen fix on the weekends. To top it all off, I had also been eating cafeteria food the whole semester beforehand. I was desolate. So the first day I arrived in rainy Seattle for spring break I burst into the new kitchen and set right to work! My mom and I love cooking, and one of my sister's passions is photography. Needless to say, we were soon all chopping, stirring, clicking, and snapping away. The results? Some great pictures that bring back great memories and a delicious dinner of Pecan Crusted Cod. Unfortunately, I don't have the exact recipe we used. However, I found one that I'm pretty sure is very close to it. Try it out and leave reviews as comments if you'd like!

Pecan Crusted Cod Fillets 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1cup nuts peanuts or pecans, chopped
• 4 ounce(s) fish fillets, we used cod but tilapia would work as well
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, cayenne
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

1. In a small bowl, combine flour and cayenne pepper. Spread flour mixture on a plate. Spread nuts on a separate plate.
2. Season fillets with salt and pepper on both sides. Dredge one fillet through flour and shake off excess. Dip floured fillet into egg whites. Press the fillet into chopped pecans until it is covered.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Place fillets in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes on each side.
4. Serve with lemon wedges and fresh parsley for garnish if you want to make it look fancy. ;)

Me, slicing lemon wedges

My beautiful mother frying up the fillets

 The perfect side dish--baked potatoes!