Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

All I can say is "Thank you St. Patrick's Day is finally here!" I know your probably asking yourself why an Italian girl is so happy this day has arrived ..let me explain why. Recently, I came in contact with a great man who own's Greene's Beans Cafe in Sparta, NJ. You can visit their website here: Greene's Beans Cafe. Dave, who stumbled across the article about my business in the NJ Herald a few months ago decided to take a chance on me and carry a few of my menu items in his cafe. I had the opportunity a few months ago to attend a tea tasting at Dave's cafe and I provide his guests with freshly baked cranberry scones, rasberry white chocolate muffins and Madeleines baked right out of the oven(a tea time favorite). It appears everyone including Dave was pleased with everything I made and since then Dave has been placing orders with me every week!!!

Yeah!!! This all brings me back to why I am so glad St. Patrick's Day is here. One of the first things I leaned how to bake in culinary school was bread. I was very scared and very intimidated by .. you guessed it YEAST! Yeast is extremely tempermental and when you mix yeast with flour, butter, water,salt and sugar... disaster can happen at anytime. One day at school, I was asked by the Chef to turn to the chapter on bread making in my BIG BOOK of professional baking and pick something that I wanted to make that day. I was in a complete panic ... I knew I wasn't totally comfortable with the science behind baking bread and I knew I had to serve what I was making for breakfast the next day for breakfast... so what's a girl to do? You got it ... I searched that chapter from top to bottom trying to find the easiest bread recipe that did not involve yeast, fermentation, punching, or proofing. With the Chef breathing down my back asking me what I was waiting for and finding myself wanting to walk out the door and throw in my chef's jacket .. I turned to the last page in the chapter and found the recipe for Irish Soda Bread. No yeast, no fermentation, no proofing! I called out "Chef, I am making Irish Soda Bread" the chef replied "Good, get to it little chef". It all worked out that day in school for me. Everyone enjoyed the bread the next day for breakfast and I received a B+ in Pastry Arts I .. The Art of Bread Making.

Now, months later I have made over 100 Irish Soda Breads this season made to order for Greene's Beans Cafe. If you asked me that day in class if I could have ever imagined myself doing what I am doing today ... I would have replied "Yeah, right".. NO way". I am so glad I was wrong!

St. Patrick's Day is over but Easter is just a jump, skip away and Dave placed an order for 100 Easter cookies due by tomorrow! YIKES!!!!! Stay tuned to find out how it all unfolds.

Talk to you soon!!!