Hidden Treasures!

Man, what a rainy day in Pittsburgh!  A little part of us wants to bake up a storm, but we're on a new "eat healthy" regiment, and if we have nothing to bake for we're going to sit here and eat all of the goodies.  So maybe we'll wait to cook up some amazing new goodies.

Last year when we started toying around with the idea of opening a bakery, so many people asked "Why baking?  Why cupcakes?  Why now?"  And we could spend all Sunday breaking these questions down on our blog, but the simple answer is that we love to bake.  Cupcakes are fun and whimsical, and in the beginning of this adventure we might have told you that cupcake baking is what really made our day (and it certainly does), but if we're completely honest with you, any kind of baking makes our day.  The sweeter it is, the more we love it.

That being said, PSR is always looking for new techniques to try, recipes to bake, and random books to read to educate ourselves more on the art of baking.  Remember, we've never taken a baking class in our life, so the self-taught handbook is what we depend on to learn all our secrets.  We blog hop, and recipe search, and Food Network watch, but sometimes the best secrets we find in the most unexpected places.

This is a book we found yesterday at Ikea.  For those who don't know us well (or who have sudden memory loss) we LOVE Ikea.  We would live there if they'd allow it (and maybe if they installed a few showers too).  Hmmm...maybe we could work out a deal...free baked good for a permanent home within those wonderful blue and yellow walls.

Anyway....while shopping yesterday for new furniture, we stumbled across this cookbook.  For those of you who can't read the tiny print, the cover says "Fika: 30 Classic Swedish Baking Recipes.  From Bite-sized Cookies to Festive Cakes"  And when we saw it, and the beautiful artwork on the cover, we knew we had found a gem of a book.  And so well priced too at only $7.99.

The wonderful thing about baking is there are so many different things to learn.  International recipes and baking secrets help make anyone a more well-rounded baker, and this book, though found in an international furniture giant, is no exception.  Have YOU ever baked with cardamom?  Better yet, do you even know what cardamom is?  If you don't, it's ok, it's not a super common ingredient in Mrs. Field's warehouse.  In Swedish baking, however, it is often used.  And we're going to figure out the best way to use and bake with cardamom.

Sweden has given us so much to be thankful for...Ace of Base....Ikea......the Muppet's Swedish Chef...and now Swedish baked goods.  

Can life get any better than eating Swedish baked goods in Ikea while listening to Ace of Base?  Seriously, anything??

We might be embarking on an international baking kick that knows no bounds.  How great will this summer be if we bake from around the world and perfect all sorts of awesome pastries and cakes?  Anyone interested in gaining 20lbs?? :-)

For now, we're going to take notes on this book, watch the rain, and grill out on the the grill.  Helllllllllloooooooo summer, it's like you're almost here!!

Have a great Sunday!  We're so close to May you can smell it!!

Good Deeds

What a week.  For America, for our bakery, we've been sitting here relaxing on a cool Saturday just thinking "Thank goodness tomorrow is the start of a new week!"  We think everyone just needs a new week.

Glad everything in Boston is taken care of.  Thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.  We're such a Yankee-hating bakery we've always had a soft spot for the Sox. :-)

As we mentioned in an earlier post, the baking business has its ups and downs in terms of schedules.  Sometimes we watch our mixer gather dust as we wonder when our next order will come in (and then start to worry WILL our next order ever come in!?!)  Other times, it's a constant go-go-go-go-go that requires long hours, no sleep, tired limbs, and an occasional glass of wine to get through.  This past week, our baking business has experienced the latter.

We're thankful for the business, please don't mistake us when we say we wish we had a few more hours of sleep in our system right now.  We understand that YOU the customer are choosing US the bakery and trusting our product, pricing, and professionalism for those moments in your life you want to celebrate.  We cannot begin to express how thankful we are that many of you put your trust into us.  That being said, though, we'd be even more thankful if anyone would be willing to pay us to quit our day job and take on baking full-time.

This week we had a fun task of baking for a charity auction.  Something we've always been taught, and always believed in, is that every person, no matter what their situation in life, has something to be thankful for, and should make time for others who may not be as blessed.  Sure we're broke as a joke financially, but we have a roof over our heads, a loving family, a full-time job, a hockey team that is EN FUEGO (let's go Pens!).  Who needs monetary wealth when we're wealthy and wise in so many other ways?

So when we were approached a few weeks ago to see if we'd be willing to donate some time and bake for a charity auction that was coming up, we figured why not?  We are blessed with the ability to create wonderful baked goods, why not donate our time and gifts to someone who doesn't have the ability to do the same?

We ended up sending over several dozen cupcakes and a cake to the charity auction which benefited a local high school student in need of a double lung transplant (wowzah!)  The supplies were paid for by someone else, and we donated our time.  

It wasn't easy, to be honest.  It's a busy time at work, and OT is slowly draining the life out of us.  With so much to bake, ice and decorate, we had several long nights in a row...get home around 7pm, apron it up, and bake until midnight or 1am.  Exhausted?  You bet!  Worth it?  Absolutely.

We said we're firm believers that every person has something to give to others, and should whenever they can.  We're also firm believers that all good and selfless deeds are rewarded in some way.  After staying up late baking for several nights, we arrived to drop off the cake yesterday with our box of business cards, hoping to drop a few off with our goods.  Wasn't it wonderful when they took about 100 of them, and promised to hand them out to everyone there.  Maybe it will lead to nothing, but it's more than we could have hoped for.

Now it's time to rest, on this chilly Saturday as tomorrow is another day of baking.  We wish we could say we're tired of baking, but we're totally not!!! :-)

The Evil Galactic Empire

(The opinions expressed below are the opinions of us and us alone.  We were not paid for these opinions, and do not profit from voicing them.  All we ask is you read with an open mind!)

Ever fight for the little man?  If your answer to that question is no, have you ever wanted to fight for the little man?  I think most of us with a heart would say yes to at least that second question.  No matter how much we may claim to love the big guys, the bosses, the creme de la creme, deep down, somewhere, we all want that little guy to win once in awhile.

Most of the time, we all have something we're passionate about when we fight for the little man.  Maybe you volunteer your time at animal shelters helping animals who are unable to help themselves.  Maybe you're a die hard Pirates fan who truly believes this is the year they finally break this losing streak!  Perhaps you support local businesses and shun those big box companies that can make or break a community or town.  We all have that thing we fight.

For us at PSR, the thing we're most passionate is baking.  And as most of you know, we don't have some magic worm hole that delivers all of our baking supplies to us free of charge.  So we're forced to head out to the store for flour, sugar, eggs, and lots and lots of butter.

Unfortunately, we live in the North Hills, and as any North Hills resident will tell you, the only place for us do any major grocery shopping is Giant Eagle.  That's right, the closest Super Wal Mart is 30 minutes away in Cranberry, and the closest Shop N Save is 20 minutes away in Etna.  Long hauls for groceries.

We hate Giant Eagle!  Maybe that sounds a little harsh, but we've been frustrated with the company for years in terms of service, products, and most importantly, pricing.  We grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and we lived in a town where there were multiple supermarket chains in one town, leading to competitive pricing, better coupons, and superb customer service.  Owners of each chain lived by one simple rule: they knew if their store didn't provide everything a customer wanted they could (and would) go somewhere else.

Here in Pittsburgh, the only major grocery store chain is Giant Eagle.  Nothing else is even close to competing in terms of size, locations, and products.  And it's hard to stomach shopping at a place that has such a stronghold over an entire city.  With little to no competition in some areas of the city, it's easy for Giant Eagle to set whatever prices they want, because if people aren't happy with it, they have few other options in terms of food shopping.  We're stuck with the high prices and no where to turn to.  Don't believe us?  Check out this Wikipedia link on Krogers.  Sure it's Wikipedia, but they have an entire section on the monopoly Giant Eagle has in the Pittsburgh area.

It annoys us that we're forced to pay unnaturally high prices just because Giant Eagle has cornered the market in the area.  As a new company, PSR has a careful tracking of all of our finances, and every penny counts.  Why spent $2 for a bag of powdered sugar when other places sell it for $1.29?

So we've fought back at Giant Eagle, one company against another.  Sure our employee list is one and only one, and our net profit last year was $-200, but as a business we like to think we have some say in where we spend our earned money to advance our company.  And for us, as a company, we don't spend a penny at Giant Eagle.

It's not always easy, because we also don't believe in supporting Wal Mart if we don't absolutely have to.  But we've become friends with the wonderful people at Aldi's, and have fallen in love with their products.  The powdered sugar prices we listed above: Giant Eagle sells a 2lb bag at $2/bag, while Aldi sells a 2lb bag for $1.29.  Seventy cents adds up when we regularly go through 8-10 bags a month.

What's surprised us the most is how comparable Aldi products are to Giant Eagle.  Who cares if it's not name brand if it tastes the same?  Finding that there's no taste difference has sealed the deal for us and our switch from Giant Eagle.  Our customers don't know the difference, but our bank account certainly does.

Again, please remember these are our opinions, and our opinions only.  Some of you may love Giant Eagle.  That's great.  But we encourage you to check out the prices of things you're buying next time you're there.  Is it any surprise that Giant Eagle's new advertising campaign is "New Lower Prices"?  There's new grocery blood being slowly breathed into the area, and the high prices are going to slowly have to come down if Giant Eagle wants to keep their cornerstone in the market.

For us, Giant Eagle's high prices, combined with their poor stores (have you ever been in the McKnight Rd Giant Eagle??) makes the switch to Aldis and online suppliers easy for PSR.  It's something we'll continue to fight for until Giant Eagle learns how to fairly price their items.

We'll be back next week with an all new baking story, and some fun new treats to share!  Have a wonderful week!!

April Showers

Springtime in Pittsburgh!!!!!  Ahhhhhhhhh!!!  Don't you love that morning when you wake up and realize that winter is officially over?  For me it usually happens in the middle of the night when I wake up sweating because my winter comforter is too much for the mild spring night.  It's that moment, that wonderful moment, when you finally realize SPRING IS HERE!!!

We are busy this April, which excites me.  March was pretty boring, but you'll have those moments in any business.  We have 3 dozen cupcakes ordered, a cake to prepare, and a meeting with a bride for a wedding cake...you heard me right, a wedding cake.  *fist pump*  So there will be lots of baking going on in the coming month, which greatly excites m\us.

In other news, we are trying to go organic at PSR, and we're starting at home with some old-fashioned plant life. We're all about healthy eating (crazy, I know, we are trying to start a bakery), and while we love decadent treats that make your mouth water, we also believe in moderation, and mixing those treats with some better-for-you alternatives like low-sugar cupcakes, gluten-free cupcakes, and all natural organic.  Don't worry, guys, we make all of these!


So we spent the weekend planting lots of strawberries...some we bough, certified organic, from a local nursery.  Others we planted by band, to see how we can fair growing them from scratch.  But we are bound and determined to get these strawberries growing in time for strawberry season.

Have you ever had a strawberry cupcake?  Better question, have you ever had a PSR strawberry cupcake? If not, you definitely need to make a goal to try some.  They are one of our favorite cupcakes ever, and trust us when we say we've tried a lot of cupcakes!!  Sweet, moist, and full of summer flavors, we can't stop making them.  And what can make our strawberry cupcakes even better?  Knowing our strawberries are home grown, organic, and free of chemicals we don't want in our system.

We're hoping to really make this a yearly thing, and if you have any other ideas for fruits to plant, give us a shout out.  There's something about baking that's so much better when you grew some of the ingredients yourself!

For now, though, enjoy this beautiful weather!!!  It's springtime in Pittsburgh!