About this blog..
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– | If there was an award for the lifestyle writer who had taken *the* most meandering path to her ideal career.. I’d be a shoe-in.
Growing up in Canada, my mother was a professional cake decorator. I learned those skills as a child/early teen, and have used them part-time ever since, while embarking on a career as a fashion designer (15 years)… and graphic artist (10 of those years) .. and floral designer (8 of those years). Certified as a bridal consultant early on, comprehensive training as a bartender from a leading bartending institute.. |
.. but I’ve *always* loved to bake. Baking and cooking has been my dream career since I learned to walk! I am still shocked that it took me so long to put two and two together and actually do it! I made a wedding cake as a favor for my favorite bridal client (floral and design) of all time.. one thing led to another.. and here I am!
I find that the years I spent in those various facets of design have helped me immensely! Many – if not all – of the principles of fashion design transfer over to cake design well. Fondant, my medium of choice, is very much like fabric in how I can work with it, drape it, and more. My skills and eye for color, proportion, design, balance, line, texture, shape, etc aided me in floral and graphic design, and now apply to my cake design. Additionally, the floral and graphic design backgrounds have added their own strengths to my cake design arsenal, for one hell of a complete package! The bartending? One look at our flavors listing will show the impact of *that* particular experience!
In April of 2008 I officially became an “award winning” baker, taking home a gold medal in the first baking competition I’ve ever entered – at the Upper Midwest Bakery Association convention. In November of 2008, we followed that award up with an even bigger honor! We were awarded the Twin City Bridal Association’s ICON award! Sylvia Weinstock was the judge for the “Excellence in Cake Design” category.
We followed that up with some interesting experiences at competitions (A Tremor’s wedding cake submitted when the theme was “animals”… a gory Silence of the Lambs cake for a competition theme of “Food and Wine”, etc). Those cakes – and some of our others – have received blog attention from around the world! Our Chai cake landed us in the pages of “Every Day with Rachael Ray” magazine – it’s been a wild ride!
I LOVE a challenge, and loved how cake design allowed me to explore new techniques on a daily basis… but of course, my ADD set in, and it was time to branch out! In August of 2010, I released my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker, with several other titles releasing in the next two years!
This blog is the place for me to chronicle.. well, everything and everything. A lifestyle blog with the odd rant about something completely unrelated (Bullying, for example!). As a general outline of our new format:
Recipes: Pretty self explanatory! Our recipe section features a wild variety of tasty goodness, from basic techniques, comfort food, and seasonal treats, to recipes featured in our cookbooks. Looking for something specific? To the right side of the screen, recipes are all categorized!
Spirited Living: Anything related to the enjoyment of alcohol: Cocktail recipes, bar techniques, boozy baking, cooking with beer, even recipes for making wine and beer at home!
Celebrations: This blog started out very wedding-oriented, and has morphed from there. Our new “Celebrations” section contains all of our posts related to special events – weddings, birthday parties, holidays, whatever. Learn about a cool wedding product, find our tips for celebrating “Pi Day” in style. It’s all good!
Crafts: This section is very much in its infancy, but will be growing. Learn how to make stunning centerpieces, a unique and personal guest book, or a pi day pinata!
Rants: Fondant, Bullying, The Wedding Industry, Immigration, Eurodance … whatever inspires me to let lose with my opinions!
Enjoy!
- Marie Porter
As of today – 12/04/10 – there have been absolutely no sponsored ads, PR-instigated reviews, etc on this site. I like to rave about people & things that I find interesting, and like to go about doing that, unfettered.
That said, I AM open to having interesting stuff pointed out to me. I’m only one person, and can’t have my finger on the pulse of random awesomeness 24/7, you know?
Whether you’re a person completely unaffiliated with the “something awesome” you think I’d be interested in, work for the “something awesome” company, or are a PR rep hired by that company, feel free to contact me. If – and this is a big if – I think that what you’re pitching would be something I would love, and that my readers would love, I’d be interested in discussing ideas.
Dear readers, I open myself up to this to be exposed to more cool things, for you. Rest assured, unless I adore something, I will never promote it on this site. When I AM mentioning something that was pitched to me, I will absolutely disclose the nature of it. Good? Good!
