A warm hello to all my friends and new web page visitors,
This new year finds me in a new state: Arizona! My two horses, Baghdad and Jazz, moved also and have adjusted happily to life on the east side of Tucson. Ted and I are having a wonderful time riding in the Tanque Verde wash (a dry, sandy riverbed this time of year), and soon will ride into the Rincon mountains.
Things are moving along at Alaine's Bakery. I am already baking orders and shipping them to customers on the West and East coasts. Re shipping cakes: I have been pre-slicing the 7-inch cakes into 12 pieces and individually wrapping each piece. In groups of four, I put the wrapped slices in zip-lock bags and freeze them. Then I can send them UPS Ground in many cases, which saves the customer a lot of money - usually costing less than $15.00. (Versus UPS Overnight, which can be $65! And, UPS raises their rates every year, so there have been lots of increases since 1993, when Alaine's Bakery started.)
The cake slices are shipped in an insulated container. The customer can, upon receiving them, put any slices into the refrigerator that are to be eaten within a week; the others can go into the freezer. Now they have their own "stash" of delicious, healthy cake, unlike anything else on the market.
Of course some items don't ship well: the Fresh Fruit Tart, for example. We are looking forward to offering these items as well as beautifully-decorated special occasion, birthday, and wedding cakes to new customers here in the Tucson area.
I lived with and helped my parents from the end of 2005 thru 2010, making 21 meals a week. I had them on a healthy, vegan diet, free of processed foods and salt. At ages 94 and 88, they are thriving. I made many friends while I lived in Danville, and I was asked to share my recipes many times - which I did gladly, because I am always happy to help people eat better by preparing their own food and getting off "standard American fare". After I became vegan in 1989, I was often asked to teach cooking classes - and I did. My bakery business grew out of the classes, and that precluded my teaching for years. Now I would like to teach again, and I would like to share the recipes that I prepared for my parents for years. I will share them here on the blog.
This year will see us traveling and moving around a bit. We have to spend some time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico as well as Vermont. For a California vegan, this is exciting; I get to work with different ingredients beyond the small sphere I've lived in. (I used to say that in LA, I lived in a vegan world of my own creation.) As I prepare nearly everything we eat (we rarely eat out), I may be challenged and surprised by what I have to work with in our travels. I know I will be learning and experimenting, and Ted knows a great deal about indigenous herbs and plants that he will be showing me. I plan to share this information, too.
Here's to a year of change and expansion!
Happy Trails,
Alaine
This new year finds me in a new state: Arizona! My two horses, Baghdad and Jazz, moved also and have adjusted happily to life on the east side of Tucson. Ted and I are having a wonderful time riding in the Tanque Verde wash (a dry, sandy riverbed this time of year), and soon will ride into the Rincon mountains.
Things are moving along at Alaine's Bakery. I am already baking orders and shipping them to customers on the West and East coasts. Re shipping cakes: I have been pre-slicing the 7-inch cakes into 12 pieces and individually wrapping each piece. In groups of four, I put the wrapped slices in zip-lock bags and freeze them. Then I can send them UPS Ground in many cases, which saves the customer a lot of money - usually costing less than $15.00. (Versus UPS Overnight, which can be $65! And, UPS raises their rates every year, so there have been lots of increases since 1993, when Alaine's Bakery started.)
The cake slices are shipped in an insulated container. The customer can, upon receiving them, put any slices into the refrigerator that are to be eaten within a week; the others can go into the freezer. Now they have their own "stash" of delicious, healthy cake, unlike anything else on the market.
Of course some items don't ship well: the Fresh Fruit Tart, for example. We are looking forward to offering these items as well as beautifully-decorated special occasion, birthday, and wedding cakes to new customers here in the Tucson area.
I lived with and helped my parents from the end of 2005 thru 2010, making 21 meals a week. I had them on a healthy, vegan diet, free of processed foods and salt. At ages 94 and 88, they are thriving. I made many friends while I lived in Danville, and I was asked to share my recipes many times - which I did gladly, because I am always happy to help people eat better by preparing their own food and getting off "standard American fare". After I became vegan in 1989, I was often asked to teach cooking classes - and I did. My bakery business grew out of the classes, and that precluded my teaching for years. Now I would like to teach again, and I would like to share the recipes that I prepared for my parents for years. I will share them here on the blog.
This year will see us traveling and moving around a bit. We have to spend some time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico as well as Vermont. For a California vegan, this is exciting; I get to work with different ingredients beyond the small sphere I've lived in. (I used to say that in LA, I lived in a vegan world of my own creation.) As I prepare nearly everything we eat (we rarely eat out), I may be challenged and surprised by what I have to work with in our travels. I know I will be learning and experimenting, and Ted knows a great deal about indigenous herbs and plants that he will be showing me. I plan to share this information, too.
Here's to a year of change and expansion!
Happy Trails,
Alaine
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| At Tanque Verde Falls, Tucson, Arizona |
