Cupcakes 4 Haiti

Collectively we baked, frosted, advertised, advertised, advertised, advertised, advertised, advertised, sold, sold, sold, packaged, sang, clapped, swayed to the music, chatted with media and media, and raised $9800 for MSF/Doctors Without Borders. Our government will match these funds, dollar-for-dollar, and thus, it brings our effort to a grand total of $19,600. This total does not include the money that people have promised...so I'll follow-up with those promises and over the next two weeks our grand total will probably exceed $20,000.


There were approximately 30 bakers; there were some baked goods that we still haven't figured out who dropped them off. The cupcakes ranged from $2 to $437.50. Bakers whose blogs/websites I know of included: Rhondda Nancy, Alexandra, Amanda T-M, Amanda M, Cordelia, Erin, Kathleen, More blogs and websites to be shared as soon as I know. A complete credits to all list to be published as soon as possible. There is so much more to say about our community spirit in the days to come.

Thank you for being a part of such an incredible communal accomplishment.xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

how two people became a family

Photo credit: Brian Gahan


HIGHWAY ELEVEN

I say
it looks like a big silver salmon.
You are driving
so it takes you longer to make out which cloud I mean
I grow anxious
thinking you will miss the shape.

As we head north
Ontario flashes by in hues:
pre-historic brown of Canadian buffalo
blazing-afternoon-red on a lonely barn
its planks smelling like a sheet of wind,
a mouthful of torn grass and a lifetime of rain.

The blue sky so bright
I wonder if it’s fake.
I focus on solid tree lines,
on watery mirages of highway
and glassy ponds that stretch forward for miles.

No radio just the car humming.

We barely talk
as we inhale
pine
corn
field of blueberries
a choir of midsummer green
our urban eyes grow soft.

A lazy wind slowly surrounds us,
its arms hang like diluted honey,
trees reach in through the windows
a lullaby of rustling leaves grabbing us.

On trips like these
I know I will grow old with you
because you
participate in this stillness.

LOVE

My cookbook is going to include a section on showing love 'the culinary way', so no recipe today, just some sneak peaks at photos which will end up in print.

Next time I'll post details about my upcoming children's cooking workshops.

Happy Tuesday!

double-crust apple pie, a poem

we picked apples at Avalon Orchard
watched wasps dancing in rotting appley flesh

the next morning we awoke and took on a challenge:
bake 'double-crust apple pie' - we baked two!

we served our homebaked love for dessert
the family awed and oozed with adoration for the kid bakers
their Cuban uncle amazed that apples bake 'inside' the pie!

I am 38 and a half, I'm a baker, cook, and lover of apples, yet I was
an apple pie virgin, yep, never ever baked one in my whole life,
it two young assistants, the loves of my life to help me finally bake apple pie, from scratch.



(the recipe, pg 152, Nov '08 issue of Food & Wine is delightfully easy if you are baking with a 2 and a 4 year old by your side. fun times!)


ps the photo was taken Aug 21 of this year, one of the happiest days of my life, thought I'd share a snapshot