Dog Days of Summer

Man, guys, it's so hot!!

We hate this stretch of the year, when the heat and humidity just kill any motivation to bake that we have.  It's no small wonder we love baking in the winter, when it's super cold outside.

Our sister is a photographer (shameless plug, click here to view her ridiculously good photos) and she always talks about how her wedding business has a "down time", usually in the winter where not a lot of people choose to get married.  We wish we had the same "down time" in July with our baking, but alas we don't.  It seems you people always want to eat cake!

So through these hot months we crank up the air conditioning and pray for cooler days.  As in, nothing like this past week.

Nevertheless, baking still goes on.  We have quite a few orders in these hot and humid summer months, which is great news for us.  Starting a business is a ridiculously slow process (we think we've seen paint dry quicker than this business take off), but we're happy to see things starting to snowball. We have more orders now than we did a year ago, and it's a trend we're looking to continue in the coming months and years as we move into the next phase of our "Build a Bakery" stage.

We have another themed birthday next week that we're excited to tell you about in future posts.  If you follow us on Facebook you might already know what the cake is going to look like.  It should be a blast to make, and will allow us to do something we've never done before.  This blog is all about new experiences, so we're happy for the chance.

We're also trying to find some good reasons to spread our skills around for reduced or no costs.  If anyone reading out there knows of a good cause in or around the Pittsburgh area that might have need for some baked goods, give us a call.  Your talents and gifts are wonderful things, but they mean so much more when you share them with others.

We're out to go cool off the kitchen.  Wheeeew-eeey, this heatwave needs to break!

Stay cool, friends!

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!!! :-)