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talkanatalka.com

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still a work in progress...but it's getting there! :D

i do miss blogger though.

fancy a cuppa?

In my 5-6 years as a baking enthusiast, and more importantly in my 5 years at a tech school, I’ve decided there are two types of bakers: the technical, and the home grown kind.

The technical bakers, like one of my former roommates, are awesome at cake decorating, complicated recipes that involve zero tolerance for error, and anything involving yeast or a candy thermometer. The home grown kind are sloppy, rarely if ever measure things, don’t level off cups of flour, and experiment with recipes.

I’m definitely the second kind, mainly because of my God-given natural laziness. I can’t help it – I hate washing dishes, I despise following recipes too closely, and I rarely if ever have all of the ingredients necessary for a recipe on hand at any given time (this is another result of my laziness. I never plan ahead for baking!).

Luckily, most of the things I like to bake don’t require precision or specific ingredients that can’t be substituted! Brownies, cookies, muffins, and some types of cakes are all great for that kind of style. Bread pudding is also one of those great slop-it-all-together kinds of recipes – it takes well with almost any ingredients as long as you have the basics of bread, custard-type dipping stuff, and any extras/spices.

I found this great Earl Grey Bread Pudding recipe on a blog while I was wandering the internet looking for some new recipes to try. I didn’t make many modifications, only adding in coconut to the layers with almonds and chocolate. For that reason I’m not posting the recipe here, but please click the link to see the recipe! Yum.

la la latte

 

probably the most adorable coffee I’ve ever had.

I was all around downtown today finishing up my Christmas shopping before I pack up to go home to be with family. Some rough news hit my family on Sunday so it was nice to enjoy the good weather and just focus on the holidays!

At one of my favorite coffee shops I encountered a bit of an unpleasant surprise – not just a lunch rush, but a lunch rush staffed by EXTREMELY grumpy employees. Now, I’ve worked every kind of customer service there is – food industry, retail, retail during the holidays, telemarketing, and summer camps (if you don’t think summer camps are a customer service industry, just think about the parent aspect for a bit! ;)..). I understand bad days, bad customers, and working through those difficulties. But being in that coffee shop made me feel so unwanted and so physically uncomfortable that it took all of my willpower to stay in that line and wait for my coffee instead of running back to my car!

It really turned me off of the whole experience for awhile. As a social scientist, it’s my job (and passion!) observing situations and picking out and analyzing social cues. So I tend to receive them about 10x stronger than most people, and often have to hold back my responses accordingly. Or, on the other side of the spectrum, I won’t respond at all because I’m so involved in watching in thinking. Sometimes I forget how to be normal. I think that happens when you go to a tech school though!

Anyway. Even though being in the shop was a very unpleasant experience I couldn’t help but grin as soon as I was handed my drink. How freaking adorable is that?! I couldn’t stay mad after that. And then I hit up my other favorite coffee place and had a much better customer service experience, and all was right in the world :). The end!