Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Recipe Development

I'm on a shoot this week, so I can't cook. Before I left, I did make a valiant attempt at a caramel cake. Not the traditional yellow cake with caramel icing, but I actually wanted caramel in the cake. How do you do this without the caramel sinking to the bottom? What if I wanted a caramel swirl in the cake? (Don't tell me, let me figure it out.)

It may not be possible, but the mistakes are delicious! Maybe I used too much caramel; I got a slight swirl, but most of the caramel was absorbed into the crust. The crust was wonderfully sticky, deep brown and very flavorful.

Since this was a practice cake, I used a mix and homemade caramel. I wonder if I'd have better results with a cake that was more dense?

Sunday, November 4, 2007

On The Pulse of Morning

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately, trying to get back to me. I got real still and listened to my heart. Some life-changing things have been revealed. I am not on purpose, which I knew in the back of my mind; I just didn't want to face it. I knew my true purpose had something to do with food and cooking, but I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing. I was on my way to a religious conference in Dallas when it hit me. I know now where I want to work, but I'm still unclear as to exactly what I'll be doing. My professional background is in marketing, advertising specifically. My dream company will allow me to combine my professional experience with my love of all things culinary. In additional to my first choice, I have listed others in the same tier as well as second and third tiers. I would love to reveal the companies now, but I don't think that's proper. I've been putting my plan in place for weeks now and things are coming together nicely. I've actually taken a part-time job at my first-choice company for the holidays. Yeah, I get a great discount on the stuff, but I'm getting valuable knowledge about the way the company works. More importantly, I'm getting to interact with the customers. That experience is priceless as a marketer. Since I started really working at this purpose thing last month, I've gotten all types of signs and omens along the way. My favorite sign thus far? My future boss was in the training video I saw today! I have a lot of peace now that I know what my dream is. I'm making progress toward it everyday. The unknown (when and how) frightens me a little bit. I truly believe that when you honestly pursue your best, things will work out in your favor; you just have to have the faith to make it so. I am working on my faith.