I’m sitting in the bakery enjoying one of my favorite times here – It’s 6am and the sun is just coming up. I have a cup of french pressed coffee in my favorite mug (Stumptown, Indonesia Sulawesi Toarco, for you coffee nerds). Aaron did all the work, so I didn’t even have to get up to make it, one of the joys of having great employees. It’s quiet except for the soothing sounds of food prep coming from the kitchen; refrigeration humming, knives chopping, pans clanging, oven doors being open and shut. Every once in awhile Jesse and Katie laugh at something as they work and I can’t help but smile. Outside traffic is starting to pick up, and when the wind blows the air is full of pink petals, flying like snowflakes, from the blossoming trees lining the opposite side of the street. I know in an hour it’s going to get hectic, and I’ll forget this moment.
by now i should probably know what kind of trees these are
It’s finally spring, and after all of the impatient waiting, the tulips are blooming, and we’ve had our first warm sunny days. It’s already getting too warm in the kitchen, and we’re started wearing shorts. We’ve been thinking about fresh local fruit coming soon, and all of the new things we’ll bake. As much as I love fall holidays, I think this time of year is my favorite. It’s like a fresh start.
In the theme of working on new things, we’ve been featuring more savory items lately, my favorite of which has been this roasted garlic and tomato tart. It looks fairly unassuming, but the intensity of flavors are incredible.
waves of tomatoes
Easter came and went already, so quickly that we barely had time to take any pictures. My Mom made a big deal of Easter when I was a kid, so I have more of a sense of excitement about it that the rest of my staff. I know it’s only because my Mom put money in our Easter eggs instead of candy, but I think that’s just because she’s a smart Mom – it kept me and my sisters interested in egg hunts well into our teens. Julie always seemed to get all of the money and I would get the eggs that had notes in them like “Empty the trash” and “wash the dishes”. Here at the bakery we made some cupcakes that were so fun and adorable that they sold out in minutes. And no chicken eggs were used in the process!
he's too fat to fit in the hole. too many cupcakes for breakfast.
It’s 8am now,and time to get to work. Hope your Spring starts as well as ours has, and we hope to see you in the bakery soon, wearing a tank top and shorts! Maye you can show us all the new tattoos you got this winter.
-Lisa
Tags: bunny butt cupcake, Eatster, holiday, new items, pasty people, portland, spring, sweetpea, tattoos, tomato tart, vegan
Uncategorized | admin | 
April 13, 2010 8:32 am | 
Comments (9)
The PCC catalog just came out, and my face is on the cover! I can’t tell you how weird it was to pull my mail out of my mailbox yesterday and find a giant picture of myself in there. Here it is:
i love you cupcakes
There is also a little article in the back of the catalog about how I started the bakery, and a great photo of my recently finished sleeve, by Jerry Ware of Atlas Tattoo. But the best thing about this picture is that John is in the background again. Last time I was in a magazine he was in the background, and now I’m starting to think he is sneaking into all my photos on purpose. The PCC classes were a lot of fun, and they are listed again in this Winter catalog for February. More info is here – PCC CLASSES
We made it through Thanksgiving week, and we’re really excited about all the great feedback we got about our pies this year. Thanks so much to everyone who bought one! We made well over 200 pies – I need to ask Katie what the exact number ended up at. Our oven got a real workout. Katie forgot her camera that day, so I had to take photos with my phone. Not as good.
can you tell which one is yours?
We’re getting ready for all of December’s holidays now, we’ll have rugelach and Star of David and dreidel sugar cookies for Hanukkah, and then Christmas themed stuff too. Leela, of Bright Designlab hung fresh wreaths and garlands in the bakery a couple of days ago, and it feels so cozy and wintery now! We are going to have a lot more packaged “to go” items for the holidays, so you can take stuff home to share with your families, and items to give as gifts. Drop by when you can, and see what’s new!
Tags: 200 pies, bright designlab, Christmas, classes, gifts, hanukkah, holiday, pcc, pies, vegan
Uncategorized | admin | December 4, 2009 11:02 am | Comments (3)
This took me awhile to figure out, so it’s a little short notice, but I’ve finally figured out a time to have a class for all of you who missed the PCC one and need holiday help.
The class will be Tuesday Nov 24th at 7:30pm, and will be 2 hours long. The fee for the class will be $20, and you will go home with a whole bunch of recipes and some cookies and seitan. You can sign up by calling or coming by the bakery to reserve a spot, and you can pay in advance or on the day of.
This class will be great for anyone trying to make a totally vegan holiday meal, or if you need some options to share with your non-vegan family members. We will cover seitan basics, desserts, side dishes, and I will do my best to talk about allergen options as well.
Space is obviously kind of limited, so reserve your spot. If it fills up really fast I’ll try to squeeze in a second class time.
Our holiday items are as follows:
Pumpkin Pie (wheat free) $10
Shoofly Pie $10
Dinner rolls (dozen) $6
Pumpkin Cheesecake (serves 12) $35
Floral Centerpieces $35/$50
Wrapped Bouquets $20
Plus you can order all of our regular cakes and cupcakes too! I’m gonna talk to Katie tomorrow about a Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie option as well.
So, call us whenever you’re ready at 503.477.5916 and pre-order your treats, and scratch it off of your list.
Pickup is Wednesday Nov. 25th from 7am-8pm, or on Thanksgiving (Thurs. Nov. 26th) from 9am to 12pm. We’ll probably be the only place open in the ‘hood, so come by for a coffee!
"we're suffocating in this bag!"
Yay scarf weather and holidays! I know a bunch of you are total scrooges, but I love the holidays. So many awesome things to bake and cook and who doesn’t love presents?!
We are taking pre-orders for holidays items now, I will post a thorough line-up tomorrow. We are doing some new things this year, including selling holiday centerpieces (made with organic apples and cranberries, amongst other things) that you can order and pick up with your pies and dinner rolls.
In the cafe we’ve been bringing back some old favorites, like rugelach, pumpkin pie and cheesecake, pumpkin bread, and holiday themed sugar cookies. We’ve been adding new stuff as well – like Katie’s amazing pumpkin sticky buns, pumpkin pecan nothin’ muffins, and the other day I took a stab at a chocolate hazelnut yule log…
rolled it myself
My first attempt at sponge cake was not a total failure! Check back tomorrow for more holiday details and an announcement about some classes here next week.
Subscribe