Another year has passed

Wow, it seems like yesterday that we moved to Napa. But it has been now over 13 months, and another full year is almost to an end. Things have happened so fast, that in restrospective, it feels like I lived 2 years in one.

Between moving cross country, adjusting to a new home and town, making new (and wonderful) friends, connecting with old friends (Facebook is good for that), and starting a new business, no wonder it went by so fast.

The Farmer's Markets are coming to an end and it is a big milestone for me. And that is what sort of triggered this posting. Words cannot express how much it meant to me to be part of them. The community experience, the gathering of so many creative and talented people, the customers; wow, what a journey.

Some of my Farmer's Market friends:

My poor tent gave up on me last Tuesday, during the Napa Market. We had wind gusts of 20 miles/hour and more, and the poor thing twisted and snapped like a twig. It lasted through the market, thanks to prayer and the help of friends such as Maxine and David, that held on to the tent with me at each strong gust. But, it finally drew its last breath. With only one more week to go, I decided not to buy a new tent and just wait till next year.

I learned so much this first season, that I am going back to the drawing board and coming up with a new layout. No point doing the same old, same old again, right? Just wait and see... :-)

Beautiful Napa is going through its seasons; harvest is almost over and "fall" is around us, even though the temperatures are quite mild. No more hot air balloons this year, I think, but I will look forward to seeing them brightening up the sky next year, they are sooo pretty, they always make me smile.

Beautiful Napa

The food, such an focal point of my life, needs to be noted too. It was (and is) so much fun coming up with new products and watching people eat it. So far the YUMMY response has outweighed the yucky one, so it leads me to believe I am in the right direction. But that, too, cannot stand still, so look out for new products coming up, hehe :-)

Hmm, food....

It was a lot of fun to participate in local community events, such as the Napa Humane Society event and the Wine and Chocolate Tasting at the Westin last week. People are always in such a bright mood during these events, it is just wonderful. I am looking forward to joining again next year.

Special Events

As the markets go into hibernation mode, I am very happy to announce that some local stores are carrying my product. I get to go out and make demos and keep in contact with my customers. Just keep an eye on my website for the list of stores, and come check it out. There is more to come... :-)

Demo at a local grocery store:

The final point I want to make is about the wonderful support I get from my husband. Without his help, this season would still have happened, but by all means would not have been so much fun. Despite his serious demeanor, he is quite a character and I love him dearly. Thank you for being there for me Jos!




To my dear tent, may you rest in peace, you were a true TROOPER!!!!!

Piano Piano si Va Lontano

Today's title goes in line with the new quote, it is all about taking one step at a time. My grandmother, who was 2nd generation italian, used to say "Piano Piano si Va Lontano" which literally means "little, by little, you go far". That is a saying that has stayed in the family throughout the generations.

So the market started with a bang and I had the best sales ever. Then it got slow, and slow and really slow and now it seems to be picking up again. A lot had to do with the weather, which was really weird for the last couple of weeks. So I have to have patience (which is not my forte :-) ), and continue to forge ahead with my action plan, one step at a time.

As promised, I have been introducing a new flavor every week and now we are up to four different ones: Traditional (plain cheese), Roasted Garlic, Jalapeno, and Black Olive, which will debut tomorrow. Jalapeno was a hit and people like the Garlic too. The traditional is kid safe, which is always convenient for the parents.

The most important thing is that I am having the time of my life, the market is great and people are wonderful, customers and colleagues. Here is my friend Annie, who happens to be my back to back neighbor at the market and also cooks at the same kitchen, on the same day. She is great, always in high spirits and her cookies are very yummy too :-)



Oh, and here is what my food looks like when it is baking at the market :-)


Jos has taken up a new project. He wants to make a display package that I can put on the table so people have an idea of what the food looks like without having to waste a real package and without having to keep opening the cooler all the time.

So he bought a "bake-at-home" clay set at a toy store and he is making fake paes de queijo that he will then vacuum pack. Isn't he awesome?

Now switching subjects entirely, imagine that, at this advanced age in my life, I seem to have developed an allergy to gluten. And it manifests itself as a dermatitis that is pretty inconvenient by the way, because it itches like there is no tomorrow. So I am off from gluten, which is in pretty much every processed food, and that means I need to cook more :-)

What a great coincidence that the Pao de Queijo is gluten free... Destiny maybe.

So today I remembered a recipe that my Mother used to cook for us when we were kids, of gluten free mini burgers. Except that shaping them as burgers, I shaped them as meatballs and now I can have gluten free spaghetti with meatballs!!!! Isn't that great?

So I would like to share that recipe with you:

GLUTEN FREE MEAT BALLS

- 1 lb of ground beef (of your choice, I used chuck)

- 1 egg

- 1 medium potato, boiled and passed through a potato ricer

- 1 small onion

- 3 cloves of garlic

- salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Mince the onions and garlic, put a little olive oil and microwave for about 1 minute on high. Let it cool down.

2. Combine the meat, onion and garlic, egg, salt and pepper and run the potato through the ricer over the mixture.

3. Combine it all using your hands. Add spices and herbs, be creative!!!!

Shape them as balls (whatever size you want, I made mine of about 1/2 oz). Place them on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper and bake at 375F for about 30 minutes. They freeze great! My recipe made about 35 units. Enjoy!!!!!

Dreams do come true

Saturday was my grand opening day at the Farmer's Market. What a blast!!!

Despite the wee hours of the morning (had to get up at 5 :-O ), the whole process went very smoothly. We pulled up the car by the stall area (stall #28, I love it!!), unloaded all the stuff and while Jos went to park the car, I started assembling. Then he came back and helped me and the tent was open in less than 15 minutes. Then he went and helped other people open their tents, because he is a wonderful man. (sorry Girls, he is taken)

The market atmosphere is great and every one looks out for the each other. I have great neighbors: Annie the Baker is behind me to the right and she makes yummy cookies (not bad for a neighbor :-) ). She is also a lovely Lady, full of energy and great spirit. Then there is this nice young fellow next to me (I forgot his name, sorry ...), who sells Afghan breads and Italian spreads. It seems like an odd combination, but it actually works out nicely, because the Afghan bread is like a flat bread.

Across the aisle, right in front of me, is Dana, who makes organic dog food, and Vegas, her dog, who stays in the car behind her and is just happy to be close to Mom.

Really nice people, I could not ask for more.

In the beginning, I was really nervous and I only sold 1 package from 7:30 until 10. But then all my dear friends showed up to support me: Lori, Sheri, Mary and Terry, Kathy, Sandi and Bob, thank you Guys!!! It suddenly got really busy and I was running out of free samples. Yay!!!! People seem to like it, I always got a "yummy" sound once they tasted the cheese bread. I met my self-imposed sales quota and it is very exciting. A lot of customers had been in Brazil or knew someone who had, so there was a lot of connection, really great.

I also ran a customer feedback survey (back to the organization thing, very important) and now I know which flavors to work on next, which I am not going to share, otherwise I will spoil the surprise. Next Tuesday is going to be my next appearance at the market, and from then on, it will be most Tuesdays and all Saturdays. I can't wait, it is really a lot of fun.

I know it sounds corny, but to see people try the food and like it, is the whole point why I made this career change. Who said dreams do not come true? Of course they do, but you have to work hard at them.

A BIG THANK YOU goes to my wonderful HUSBAND, without whom, this perfect moment would not have been perfect at all.

What it goes into making it happen:

The final product, TA-DA!!!! ( yes, that is it!)

It's SHOWTIME!

I created a page on facebook too, so you can also see me there and place your comments (if this was not already enough! :-) ) But you gotta stay connected, this is the way of the future! Just login to face book and search for Alexandra Fochi, and there I am, the only one so far... :-)

Check the Checklist!!!!!

Yesterday was my first production day for my upcoming opening day at the Farmer's Market, Saturday May 23rd.

It was both exhilarating and stressful to be producing food for my own business for the first in my life. It definitely gave me a liberating feeling, no one looking over my shoulder, except for the good old "perfectionist" self.

The commercial kitchen I am renting is great and I had the pleasure to meet a lovely lady that has a a story similar to mine. She too changed from a long and successful career in corporate life to start her own business doing what she loves. Among many products, she makes dog cookies, which are so yummy and made with great ingredients (whole grains, herbs, honey, olive oil) that humans eat them all the time. So she is venturing in the "human food" business too. I have to say, they cookies are great and both my dogs and I loved them! If you want to learn more about her, check her out at http://www.napafarmhouse1885.com/index.html.

Now back to my production day..... ORGANIZATION is the key to success. I know you all probably heard that already, but without organization and good time management skills, you are most likely to drown. So if any of you are thinking about making food for living, do not focus on the cooking part only, but brush up on these very important organization skills.

Not that I am proficient at them, trust me, but all that corporate training did help. I made a great checklist of all items I needed to take along with me to the kitchen, including equipment, ingredients, generic items (like paper towel, gloves, etc...) and guess what? I forgot a few items behind (that were on the checklist, by the way). Hence today's title: CHECK THE CHECKLIST, no point in making one if you're not going to use it :-) Thank heavens the kitchen is only 3 miles away from home.

So after 9 hours on my feet, and a few mistakes along the way, I had a good productive day: 627 cheese bread rolls, all hand made and weighed individually. Nothing to sneer about but at the same time that equals 38 packages. So as you can see, a lot of work goes into it.

Friday I will go again to produce another big batch so I am ready for my opening day and hopefully next week, I can start making the other products.

My booth arrived too and it is pretty neat. It has a blue top and white screen walls. I will have a big Brazilian flag on the side too, so very colorful. We (Jos and I) assembled it on our backyard and it was quite a project. The dogs did not understand much hehehe. Lady did not want to come near it and Shooter was just hanging out. Here are some picture of the try out assembly.



It is not finished yet; we will have a huge banner on the back wall and the table on the front has a forest green table cloth with yellow place mats. I will publish the pictures of our assembly at the market, do not worry. Including the food, I promise.

Well, this is it for today. Several little details still to be dealt with before Saturday and I am sort of freaking out a little bit, but all will go well :-) Keep all your fingers and toes crossed and wish me good luck!

Oh, and here is Shooter, managing the process :-)

Save the best for last

Wow, it has been too long since my last posting, I am so sorry. A lot has happened and the weeks are going by crazy, but that should not be an excuse. I will be a better girl, from now on :-)

The cake decorating class is over, sniff sniff :-( We went out with a bang, though, saving the best for last. We worked with rolled fondant, which is pretty much a dough made of sugar cooked to a ball point and kneaded until it becomes pliable.


It is by far my most favorite media to work with, because it allows for a lot of creative decorations, it gives a very smooth and sophisticated finish to cakes and it is not as messy and sweet as icing. ( I am not a big butter cream fan, in case you have not noticed...)

To keep things in the Spring spirit, I made a lemon cake, filled with lemon custard and chocolate chips. I made a lemon-marshmallow icing for the crumb coat and then layered the fondant on top of it. And I just could not resist the polka dots, I love polka dots. So here is my last creation:





I can't avoid symmetry, I am too much of an engineer, still, that everything has to be equally distributed. I do not like CHAOS :-) !!!!!!


Yesterday I worked at a wedding party which cake was strawberry with mascarpone and that got me thinking... I might make a strawberry-zabaglione cake, just for the fun..... I will obviously let you know, if I ever come around to making it.


On the professional front, I am no longer at Gigi's; the graveyard shift did not agree with me very much, but it is a great place and if you're ever in Napa, stop by and try their cupcakes! That's how it goes when you change career at my age, the experiences fly by and you just make the most of them.


However, I will be in the Napa Farmer's Market this summer, selling Brazilian food. I am in the process of getting all the paperwork and logistics together, but I will be exhibiting soon. I will keep you posted and send you pictures of the set up and the food. Just wait :-)

Here is a link to a recipe of homemade marshmallow rolled fondant; it is a great option to the store bought one. http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm One of my classmates made this and it came out pretty good. Enjoy!!!!

PS: This month's quote was the contribution of my baby Sis, Fiorella. Obrigada Fio!!!!

Spring has sprung on the Valley

After 2 weeks break from baking cakes, I am back. We had one class where we practiced making flowers using royal icing, and there was really nothing to talk about that.


Last week we had Spring Break, which is very appropriate, because spring has arrived with full force at the Napa Valley. The vines are budding and it is a beautiful site.


But we're back in session and the theme this week was once again flowers, to keep pace with nature around us. So the cake has Lilly of the Valley and, of course, Roses.


Remember when I mentioned that putting the icing on the microwave to use on the crumb coat was a mistake? Well, not exactly. I decided to try again, but this time, instead of dumping all the warm icing over the cake and then start spreading it (which was my first approach), I scooped a little at a time and spread it over the cake. If the icing got cold in the bowl, I just warmed it up on the microwave again. It worked like a charm and it definitely hardens much faster and creates a better crumb coat.


This week's cake flavor was chocolate/espresso, filled with chocolate icing and macerated strawberries and topped with vanilla icing. I macerated the strawberries with sugar and a little bit of kirsch. They oozed a lot, and you will probably see the pink liquid on the pictures. My teacher told me that you need to bind the fruit with either pudding, custard cream (any type of cornstarch product) to avoid the oozing. So note to self for the next time :-). I got positive feedback about the taste though, and they loved the Lillies.


Here are the pictures of this week's cake:

I just started working at a cupcake store nearby my house and I am really excited about it. It will give me great opportunity to apply the skills I have learned and learn a lot more. Check it out, it is http://www.gigiscupcakesnapa.com/.

There are some important differences between decorating big cakes versus small cakes and I will be sure to share that with you in the coming weeks.

For those in the Northern hemisphere, enjoy Spring time. For those in the Southern hemisphere, well, enjoy it vicariously through us! :-)

When in Napa, do grapes!

This week's cake might not be the prettiest but it was deemed the tastiest by my loyal customers! :-)

We actually did not learn anything new this week. It was more of a review of all we did on level 1 and we worked more independently, which is part of being an "advanced" student, I guess, hahaha. So the teacher showed us a picture of the design she wanted us to work on, told us what tips to use and off we went with little supervision. Not bad...

So because we are in the Wine Country after all, the motif was grapes and grapes vines, and because it is cake decorating, we had to throw in some roses too! :-) Gotta love our roses.

I had fun playing with the actual cake before class. I saw a cupcake recipe on this month's edition of Bon Appetit that used coconut milk both in the batter and icing. So I decided to improvise and use coconut milk in my box cake mixture (white cake) and in the icing (instead of regular milk) and it came out nice. I added mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to the cake batter and the filling was chocolate pudding. So all in all, it was not a bad cake at all.

I tried to do the crumble coating with apricot glaze instead of icing and that was a BIG failure. So I ended up having to redo the crumb coat with icing. Glaze only works if you are going to layer the cake with marzipan or fondant. However, it added moisture to the cake and I think it is a great contributor to its success.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures of the Coconut Grape Vine!!!!! :-)



We are not making a cake next week (awhhh :-( ) because we will be practicing molding flowers out of Royal Icing. I am looking forward to it, I know it will be fun. Royal Icing has eggs whites in it and it gets really hard once it dries out. So it is great for 3-D decorations.

On another front, I am putting together a Brazilian Food class for a local private cooking school in the Bay Area. We already have one student registered and we are working at advertising it so that we have many more, hopefully. I am very excited about it, because it is the realization of a long standing dream of mine, which is to teach about cooking. So, all of you out there, spread the word and SIGN UP!!!! http://www.pauldingandco.com/calendar/event.php?709

There is no everlasting joy and no endless grief

Cake Decorating Level 1 is finished, five weeks went by pretty fast. That is what usually happens with time when you are having fun, or so they say. We are already well into March and there are Easter things all over town, so it was befitting that we ended the class with an Easter cake.

The basket weave pattern is very pretty and not difficult to make at all. It is time consuming and requires patience, but it is easy, and the overall effect is well worth the effort.

This week's cake (pictures below) is chocolate and the filling is a chocolate cream made with condensed milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips, it is what in Brazil we call "brigadeiro". The icing is vanilla.





The biggest challenge for me in the last five weeks was not the decorating techniques, but consistently icing the cake. I can feel some improvement from the first time I did it, like it is getting a little easier, but it still is the hardest part for me. I want the cake to be a smooth and perfect canvas for whatever decoration I will put on it, and that is the trickiest part.

I have been watching a lot of videos on the Internet and every person has a different technique and style. I figured with time and practice I will develop mine too.

I am looking forward to Level 2, which starts next week. We will learn how to make flowers out of royal icing (which is an icing that uses egg whites and it gets really hard when it dries out) and we will also work with fondant, which is pretty cool.

I realized I did not share the icing recipe with you all, my apologies. It is actually pretty simple, our teacher is a very practical person.

Butter cream Icing (Pegg's recipe):

- 3/4 cup shortening, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
-2 tsp vanilla extract ( or other flavoring agent you want. I used almond extract once).
- 2 lbs confectioner's sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup of milk

Method:

1. Beat the butter and shortening together until creamy and smooth. I use the standing mixer, with paddle attachment at low speed and this stage takes up to 10 minutes sometimes.
2. Add the vanilla
3. Alternate adding the sugar and the milk, a little at a time. Watch out because the sugar flies everywhere if you add too fast. Easy on the milk too, a few drops at a time. It is always possible to add more liquid if the icing is too stiff.
4. Continue to mix until it is smooth and creamy. Just a few minutes more.
Refrigerate before you use.

Note: If you want chocolate icing, then sift cocoa powder to it to the desired strength. You might need to add more liquid, because the cocoa powder will stiffen the icing.

Remember:

1. If you are going to add color, it will thin out the icing a little bit, so make sure the consistency is a little on the stiff side to begin with.
2. If you are making roses, you want the icing to be stiffer too.
3. If you are making loops, hanging on the side of the cake (see lesson 4), then you want your icing a little on the softer side so the strings don't break easily.
4. As you manipulate the icing, it gets softer with the heat of your hands, so it is helpful to keep the icing container on a cooler.
5. Cover icing container with a moist paper towel as you work with it so that it does not dry out and form a crust.

I hope you make some icing and decide to play with cake decorating, it is fun, relaxing and entertaining.

Cornelli Lace

Oh, I am having so much fun! Yesterday was lesson 4 of my Cake Decorating Level 1 class and we learned how to make Cornelli Lace. Never heard of it? Well, neither had I until yesterday. I had seen it though...

Side note: Cornelli Lace is the name of a freehand piping pattern consisted of continuous curving strings that do not overlap or touch. It is mostly used in wedding cakes or feminine motive cakes.

Lines that never meet or cross each other, very much like a unrequited love, so romantic! I am in love with it and I want to decorate a whole cake with it. Yesterday we did just the top and then we made roses (of course), little cute ones this time. And I finally used color!!!!

I know I said in the beginning that this is about appearance and not contents, but I can't stand it. So I tried to make a more palatable cake this week. It is still all from box mixes, but I used a vanilla pudding (sort of a custard..) as the filling and I added some orange peels to it to infuse a little bit of citrus flavor. The cake is white, but it has color sprinkles on it, sort of a rainbow cake. Maybe next week I will experiment with chocolate cake.

I really enjoy decorating and making food for others, as long as I do not have to eat it, hahaha! That is one of the reasons I love teaching so much. You get to make lovely things, teach people how to make them and everyone is usually in a pretty cheerful mood. It is quite different from the line cook environment in a restaurant. I do not think it is less stressful, because performing in front of an audience is always challenging, but it is also very rewarding, and it beats being tucked away in a kitchen. I have taught for over 10 years in my previous career, and I always enjoyed it very much.

So, in my quest to find my spot in this new world of Culinary Arts, I will continue to endeavour in finding my little place in the sun as a teacher. It is not so easy to break through, but I will keep on trying...

Here are some pictures of the lovely lace.....