benefit dinner cancelled.

Sorry folks. Not enough people signed up, but we’ll try again later.

not baking related.

I promised I would post pictures of the cherry trees across the street, so in typical “boss” style I walked in the bakery and said Katie, will you go take some pictures of the trees across the street? and since she was on the clock she was probably excited to be getting paid for her photography,  so she did.

the rest of the year, this sidewalk looks like crap.

That girl is a whiz with a camera. For a few weeks we get to look at this outide of our windows every day.

this was my grandmother's favorite color.

I’m putting together a cupcake tree for a wedding in a few days that will feature these flowers, alongside pink and white icing. Wedding season is just gearing up, our first two are next week, so good pictures will be coming!

-Lisa

Hello, how are you?

If you have been in the bakery, you have probably met Audra. She probably knows your name, your favorite drink, how you like your bagel, and noticed that you just got your haircut.  She might tell you about her cat, ask you about the creature that has covered your coat in hair, and you might catch her throwing down some dance moves while she makes your latte.

sly.

I love this photo of her (taken by Katie, of course). Audra is not only amazingly friendly, but has a great talent as a Barista. While the alternative milks that we use (soy, almond, hemp, rice) are poo-pooed by coffee snobs as unable to produce good foam and have good structure, Audra proves them wrong.

breakfast of champions

You’re probably thinking (if you live in Portland or Seattle) “I’ve had a soy latte that looked that good before.” but not so fast! This latte is made from a mix of almond and hemp milks, and it is lovely. And now you’re thinking (since I’m already reading your mind) “but what about that delicious looking muffin?!” It’s a vegan marionberry streusel muffin, one of my oldest recipes, made fresh every morning. Crunchy sweet muffin top full of sweet tart berries, muffin heaven.

(As a side note, they are sitting on one of our new benches, which are made from reclaimed bowling alley lanes, taken from a bowling alley on SE 82nd. I love them!)

-Lisa

Shadows

Its no secret that it rains a lot in Portland, and even when it isn’t raining it is generally overcast. When the sun suddenly appears from behind the clouds people find any and every reason to be outside – walking the dog, taking a smoke break, lunch in the park. All of us are squinty eyed and pasty skinned, but shedding layers of clothing to get just a tiny bit of vitamin D. Everyone is suddenly smiling and chatting, standing on apartment stoops and gathering on sidewalks, or going for an impromptu bike ride. Some people are just standing in the warmth, staring up into the sky. It makes spring one of my favorite times here, not just for the beautiful blooming trees and flowers, but watching Portlanders expose any inch of skin that they can to the sun. I admit, I immediately roll up my jeans and wear a tank top under my shirt, just in case it gets warm enough!

Inside the bakery, the sun reminds us that we sell soup.

there's no soup in that bowl.

The decals that Jared so kindly put in our windows get wonderfully shadowed on our wall, and this is me, willingly posing for a photo to enjoy a moment of sun. If you don’t live in Portland, you should really try to plan a vacation here in the spring, the tulips and cherry blossoms alone are worth the trip. I’ll try to post a picture tomorrow of the row of pink trees right outside of our door.

-Lisa

Benefit Dinner at the Bakery

The Apron Activists are back! This time, a benefit for the 2009 Let Live Conference. Our menu is focusing on all the lush local seasonal produce that Oregon has to offer. Think lots of fresh, green flavors and creamy textures with with some crunch.

Root Veggie Sushi
Roasted rutabaga, parsnip, beet in beet-pink sushi rice

Shiitake Tempura Over Red Cabbage Pear Slaw
Light rice flour battered tempura over a red cabbage slaw in a creamy avocado dressing with slivered pears

Spring Green Risotto With Creamy Spinach
Risotto in a rich puree of green spring veggies and cashew creme over creamy spinach, topped with grilled asparagus and toasted hazelnut

Lemon Coconut Creme Pie
Graham cracker crust, meyer lemon syrup, cashew macadamia base

When:
Friday, May 1st. Please arrive between 7:30 and 7:45 for a reception with Let Live organizers. Dinner will be served at 8pm.

Where:
Sweetpea Baking Company
1205 SE Stark off SE 12th Ave
Google Map

Ticket Prices
Since seating limited, you must buy tickets in advance to attend the night’s festivities. Tickets are a sliding scale, from 40 to 100 dollars. Diners who pay 60 dollars or more will also be receiving an as of yet undetermined cool goodie bag. 100% of the proceeds go to the Let Live conference.

To Purchase Tickets
To purchase tickets, paypal 40 to 100 dollars to postpunkkitchen@gmail.com. Print out your thank you email, this will be your ticket when you arrive to the dinner. Please put “May Dinner” in the subject. Or, drop by Herbivore store to purchase tickets.

Seating
If you are buying tickets for more than yourself, please put their names in the paypal comments and a table will be arranged for you. If you would like to sit with people in addition to the ones you are purchasing tickets for, please put their names in the comments as well, and let me know that you want to sit with them. If you are flying solo, you may end up sitting with strangers at the community table. But we promise that they will be fascinating strangers.

Allergies And Substitutions
Please email us with any dietary needs you have and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Alcohol
Please bring your own beer and wine.

Any other questions? Just email us! postpunkkitchen@gmail.com. Thanks!

Weekend Update

Busy weekend over here at the vegan mini-mall. I’m gonna start you right off with a mouth-watering picture:

who wants to eat those strawberries when there are doughnuts?!

Need I say more about that? Saturdays are doughnut days, see you then! And before then too, right?

Ensalada

When you drop by the bakery today for a coffee, you can be one of the first to try our new salads!

fronch dressing

They will be made fresh daily, and packed up to go so you can get one on the way to work. We are starting with three dressings, Ranch, French, and Raspberry Vinagrette, all vegan of course, and all made in house from scratch by Jesse.

This is Fantastic!

Yesterday I made a second attempt to go whale watching on the Oregon coast. My first attempt was on a blustery, rainy day and while the boat ride was like a totally awesome wet roller coaster, there were no whales in sight.  None that I could see through my rain splattered glasses anyway. Yesterday was a beautiful day, in Oregon terms, so I tried again and it was amazing. Totes fantastic.

it's fudgy the whale! (anyone get that? anyone?)

This was the only decent picture I got, because I was too excited to take pictures and the boat was bouncing around. A woman on the boat kept saying “this is fantastic!” over and over and it was hard to be annoyed at her because it really was! Seeing these giant, beautiful animals is such a great reminder of why I’m vegan, and how amazing all creatures are.

And that’s why we baked some awesome stuff today, and no animlas were harmed to make it happen.

army of pastries

This is our daily assortment of scones and cupcakes, which are probably pretty overlooked as far as photos go. The are such mainstays, but never get their picture taken. Our scones have a die-hard group of fans, and particularly the cinnamon ones.  The cupcakes vary daily and depending on the cupcake maker’s mood, but there are always blackbottoms (the first recipe I ever made vegan), and a selection of Gluten Free.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny so come by and grab doughnuts, and a sandwich to go, and go hiking! or whale watching! or sunbathing (with sunscreen)! We’ll be slaving away in the hot kitchen, just for you.

-lisa

Little bit of Nothin’ (you say you have allergies?)

Let me introduce you to Katie. I’ve mentioned her a few times, and I feel like a formal introduction is necessary before I get into the baked good portion of this post. I took this picture as we were waiting for our lunch last summer after setting up a wedding cake.

so serious!

Katie is amazing at a million different things. She comes up with tons of new recipes, decorates cakes, keeps the bakery cases full of new stuff as well as the old standbys. She also takes pictures of everything – most of the photos on this site are hers – and keeps up our flickr page. She helps me with wedding cakes, bakes and decorates all of the special orders, and she still bakes at home for fun!  You can also watch her demonstrate her caramel nut bar recipe on Everyday Dish.

Her latest experimental recipe has wowed us all, and has been flying out of the bakery in your excited hands every day. It started with the name Freedom Muffin, but the word freedom has been so ruined by things like “freedom fries” or “freedom dressing”, that we didn’t want you to think we were making french muffins and get all confused. So, it was renamed Nothin’ Muffin, because there is nothing in it! Yet it still exists! (here it is)

nothin' never tasted so good!

This one is almond poppyseed, my personal favorite muffin flavor. This is a Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Sugar-Free masterpiece. The texture is lovely – moist, light and fluffy, so soft and not crumbly! Sweetened with agave, it should be suitable for diabetics, and as always we remind you that we are not a Gluten-Free facility, so there is a chance of cross-contamination with wheat, but we do our best to be careful about that.  Katie has been making new flavors daily, stop by and try one and be amazed.

-lisa

Crumb Cake

get in my belly!

Oh man, oh man! Crumb cake is one of my favorite things. Remember that packaged sara lee crumb cake you could get at convenience stores? This was just like it!  Kim, who is interning at the bakery for a few weeks, needed to veganize a recipe on her own to fulfill the requirements of her project. She chose this crumb cake from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook.  The recipe was fairly simple, but required replacements for butter, eggs and sour cream.  I’m keeping her recipe changes secret for now, but she nailed it – it was moist, delicious, and the top was perfectly crumbly. Nice job Kim!