29 October 2007

Amai Store Now Open

You may remember that in Episode 11 we interviewed Kelli Bernard, owner & chief baker of Amai Tea & Bake House. Well, just last week Amai opened their very own store in New York City. It has been exciting to watch Amai grow and become successful [especially after tasting their yummy Tea Sweets], and this is just the next fabulous chapter for them. In the photos on Kelli’s blog Lovescool, the store looks cozy, warm and inviting. I can’t wait to taste their new creations, as I most definitely will be making Amai one of my foodie stops next time I’m in NYC.

Amai Tea & Bake House
171 3th Avenue
New York, NY 10003
+1 212.863.9630

posted by Becky at 12:17 | no comments

21 April 2007

Congratulations, Alton!

Good Eats, the wonderfully entertaining show of Alton Brown, has won a Peabody Award! The Peabody is given out by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Georgia, and it recognizes distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio stations, television networks, and the like. According to the Peabody website, Good Eats is being honoured because “rarely has science been taught on TV in such an entertaining—and appetizing—manner as it is in Alton Brown’s goofy, tirelessly inventive series.”

As you may know, Erin & I love Alton Brown, my personal affection for him only heightening when I attended his cooking class about ice cream. Alton is just as silly, smart and awesome in person as he is on the show, and he certainly deserves this award.

Congratulations, AB!

posted by Becky at 21:23 | 2 comments

5 April 2007

Episode 11: Amai Tea & Bake House

11:48 | 15.4mb | QuickTime 7

Low Resolution [15.4mb]
Medium Resolution [50.1mb]

While on holiday in New York City in December, I met up with the delightful Kelli Bernard, owner and chief baker of Amai Tea & Bake House. We convened at Wild Lily Tea Room for tea, cookies and a chat all captured in our 11th episode.

posted by Becky at 0:47 | no comments

4 April 2007

Vidcast? What vidcast?

So there are a couple reasons why it has been so long since we’ve posted an episode of our vidcast. First off, my cameraman moved to Sweden at the end of last summer. Despite our lax filming schedule, when Jimmy & I were ready to shoot, we would keep each other motivated to get the episodes done.

A few months after Jimmy moved, I became inspired and finally filmed an episode in December. However, soon afterwards my main hard-drive nearly died. Combine that with being crazy busy at work, and you get a slow reemergence into the land of the technically living.

Since Jimmy’s camera also moved to Sweden, the upcoming episode was filmed using my camera, so—sorry—but there will be no HD version available this time. Also, we’re still trying to work out the details of our cross-continent video editing. When he would edit, Jimmy would use Final Cut Pro with the intro & credits created in Motion. Not wanting to send several GB of raw video across the Atlantic, it was up to me to edit this episode. However, I only have iMovie into which I imported the video and inserted Quicktime files of the intro & credits Jimmy had sent me, followed by some back & forth between us nitpicking over details before exporting. Doing something relatively simple is made much more complex when you’re 6 hours and 4,500 miles apart.

I am only boring you with all these particulars so that you can understand we are still working out the kinks of a dual-continent vidcast team. Feel free to with any suggestions you have; we are always open to feedback.

posted by Becky at 23:52 | no comments

18 March 2007

Mmm… Garlic…

This quotation was included in 1 of the recent A.Word.A.Day emails, and I’d have to say I agree.

Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.
~Alice May Brock

posted by Becky at 18:47 | no comments

11 March 2007

From the Resident Potluck Director

For the past half year or so, I have been holding a monthly potluck with about 15 friends at work. I always emphasize that while contributing homemade dishes is preferred, doing so is not necessary to attend. The potluck is about coming together over food, not about culinary skills.

In recent months the potlucks have had themes. October’s potluck had an autumn motif, which lead to far too many apple-based desserts and not enough main dishes. Now I attempt to make everyone tell me in advance what they’re bringing in order to avoid what I refer to as “the dessert fiasco.” The combined November/December potluck was centred around the holidays and winter fare. For something a little different, January’s theme was my co-worker Brad & myself since we both have January birthdays. Invitees were encouraged to come up with dishes based on our preferences. For Brad: crescent rolls, casseroles, cream soda. For me: vegetarian dishes and the colour pink [not necessarily in food, but I was just curious as to what people would come up with]. And with the last potluck in February we celebrated Chinese New Year.

Everyone always seems to enjoy the food and the company, and it’s always interesting to see & taste what people bring. Sometimes you really are reminded that it’s a potluck.

So as the Resident Potluck Director at work, here are some helpful tips to make your potluck a successful one:

9 March 2007

The Cupcake Transportation Issue

You just finished baking a tasty batch of cupcakes, and you took the time to apply the frosting professionally and artfully. Then you realize that the whole purpose behind baking the cupcakes was so that you could take them into work for a friend’s birthday. But how can you ensure that the cupcakes will make it to the office in the lovely state they are in currently? You cannot simply stack them in Tupperware like cookies because that will crush your perfect frosting. And even if you had a container that was wide and long enough, how can you be positive the cupcakes won’t topple over during transit?

This is where the Cupcake Carrier from Crate & Barrel would come in handy. It comes with 12-cup steel pan for baking and also a 12-cup plastic holder that has legs to stand above the steel pan, plus a tall, locking cover with a handle.

I don’t know if there is anything else like this carrier on the market, but when I saw it in the Crate & Barrel catalogue I thought, “Finally! A solution to the cupcake transportation issue!”

24-Cup Cupcake Carrier: $19.95