Bacon and Chocolate?

I got this wonderful care package from my sister... full of fabulous goodies! Along with lots of my staple favorites like red wine and sea salted dark chocolate was some fun stuff to try.
I was very intrigued when I saw Mo's Bacon Bar ...Hummm I thought. I know I like the whole bacon maple combo...so why not chocolate? Some things do not work this one being one! It was terrible! I'm blogging about it to warn you that bacon especially bit like pieces are not good with chocolate.. Fun to try but do not buy! Thanks Lorie I loved everything else :)

{ I think Abby agrees}

Pastry Shop Hop

On my trip I of course wanted to go to as many bakeries as possible. One... to eat but most importantly to see price points, quality,quantity,skill and their pastry variety. Over the next 6 months I will be getting myself geared toward my own store front. With LOTS to do and many UNknowns I have lots of investigating to do. The beautiful Lemon Tarts above was from one of my favorite bakeries Shaadzee Bakery Bistro in Pleasant Hill,CA. we actually went in there for breakfast but found a great little bakery. I really appreciated that whoever does their pastries,cakes and tarts has REAL skills and training behind them. You can tell in the way the cakes are layered and the by the types of pastries they offer that they know what they are doing. I didn't want to take too many pictures of products because people don't like that very much!FYI
Next place that was very good was Walnut Creek Baking Company They have a petite little shop downtown Walnut Creek. I enjoyed my black bottom cupcake with cream cheese frosting! but wasn't impressed with my lemon bar because the curd was not strained and the eggs got over cooked leaving a chunky texture plus I like really tart lemon. I also wasn't fond of their pecan apple tartlette..flavorless. I do think their cakes looked good.

Off to Napa Valley where they have The Culinary Institute of America. What a beautiful area to learn. They do have a {AOS} baking program that is temping to want to be apart of but after this semester of my current Pastry Program in KC ... I'm done with school...

We stopped by Bouchon's bakery which is one of the many high end establishments of Legendary Thomas Keller. The bakery was petite and OH sooo expensive...I like their pastries, bread and even cookies {which is amazing for me} but they offer No cakes.... which is a shame.

{Me enjoying Yountville}

Now for my must have Cardamom roll from Village Bakery in Calistoga,CA I also picked up a chocolate souffle cake {YUM!}

and a Chocolate Framboise which was just okay...

The picture above is of Dean and Deluca's Bakery... cute flower pot cakes but everything else seemed just okay and the worst part is that they do even less production then we do at the Leawood,KS store.Moving on the Sonoma County Bakeries...My favorite is Michelle Marie's It is do to the variety and quality of skill that they bring...I would work here!
Viola is not too far from Michelle Marie's but lacks much! I felt that their selection was boring the only thing I wanted was their Salted Carmel Ganache Tart {which we make at Dean and Deluca so I didn't waste my money} I thought their cookies were dreadful!
YES that is red velvet cake! My friend Rosie got it for us to try from Nothing Bundt Cakes. it was very good! Their staple Cream cheese Icing is something I would love to recreate! In conclusion...
I feel at seeing what's out there and knowing what I want to do and what I don't want to do is going to help me be successful in my future..

Restaurant/ Market Trend

I notice something on my trip... a trend of these organic Local Markets combine with a sit down restaurant.The first one I went to was in Lafayette, CA called Chow .It was a very pleasant experience.
I was so excited to see all the fresh meats, cheese and of course desserts! One of the people who worked there was so awesome he showed me some of their pies { all made there!}. I really wanted to take one with me but I was headed to Sonoma County which was a bit of a drive....

We stayed for breakfast and I was impressed! I really do love this place!

The following day I went to St Helena in Napa Valley. One stop of course Dean & Deluca! I work part time at the one in Kansas City so I had to visit the sister store. I guess you could say that they essentially started the Local Market/ Gourmet food movement. I find the one in Kansas City to be closer to a restaurant then the one in Napa Valley.
Though they have sandwiches and prepared foods, they don't have the seating, Sushi or Gourmet Burger bar like ours. But they do sell lots of wine :)

Next stop Fresh In Santa Rosa, CA. Very cute and they had a beautiful bakery! I had fun seeing all the wine country local goods!

Unfortunately I was unimpressed with our dinner! It was like they had a rookie wait staff and frankly it seemed chaotic! My poor daughter's food came out cold and my $18 cake cake was good too bad it was sitting on soggy greens. I will not dine there again. It is a great idea it just needs a kitchen manager...

Falling in love with a pumpkin..again

Fall is here and I'm loving it! I think this year in Kansas is going to be great {last year was a shame}. So of course It's all about PUMPKIN!!! I started with my new pan from CSN ! Their company is amazing they have so many products. My next purchase is going to be cream horn molds!
I made these little pumpkin muffin cakes.

Here's the recipe
preheat 375

cakes/muffins

Sift
1 1/2 c. Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp salt

whisk
2 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
until smooth
mix in 16 ounces of pure pumpkin puree and 1/4 cup melted butter

once blended add all your dry ingredients mix just until it's dissolved{don't over mix}.
pour in to pan and bake 20-25 minutes.

Cream Glaze
2 ounces of soft cream cheese
1 Tbsp butter softened
1 cup sifted powder sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1-3 Tbsp milk


One of my favorite things is toasted salted pecans. They add the best texture and flavor to any fall treat..

That same morning I made my sister a pumpkin muffin {with cream cheese in the batter},My beautiful 3 year old nephew had to be hospitalized and under go multiple surgeries for a horrible case of strep pneumonia. My mom was catching a plane and I wanted her to bring my sister a fresh baked treat from me.Wish I could of delivered it myself..

Baking something for the ones you love is what makes it a labor of love. I hope they enjoyed a piece of homemade while they are in the hospital. My love always...

and to finish this blog post a...
Pumpkin donut { I woke up one morning with this waiting for me....so good!}