I absolutely hate the word “blog”

They say there are two types of cooks — bakers and chefs. Bakers are generally thought to be methodical and rule-abiding, and they deal mainly in chemistry. Chefs are innovators and risk-takers, and they deal more in physics. I had always thought myself to be more of a chef than a baker (as evidenced by my complete inability to follow a recipe exactly) — but I believe one can learn to bake even if one’s heart sings a main-course song.

I’ve received lots of compliments and inquiries about my baked goods, and I think I’ve managed to put my finger on the specific chef-like risks that I’ve incorporated into my baking practices with great success. (This is not to say I haven’t had MANY failures — I just don’t blog about those!) So here’s a list of some of the specific tweaks I tend to apply to most baking recipes.

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My dad turned 75 this year, and he specifically requested a German chocolate cake to celebrate. I kinda ho-hummed at the thought, but of course I was game to make my dad a special organic treat from scratch, even though I didn’t care for it myself… or so I thought.

Turns out I only hate crappy fake-ass German chocolate cake. The thing that really grossed me out as a kid was the frosting, but I think I had only ever tried the hydrogenated-tastic Betty Crocker type before. REAL German chocolate cake is essentially frosted with a mixture of homemade caramel, toasted pecans and toasted coconut — and it is AMAZING.

I found this recipe online which was clearly written by a German woman, as evidenced by some of her adorable grammar quirks. But another quirk was that she didn’t lay out all the steps ahead of time like most American recipes do — things like greasing the pans, preheating the ovens, and roasting the pecans were all interspersed with the other information. So it took a good couple reads to get organized.

Plus, as always, I added some of my own twists. Amongst other alterations, I used chocolate ganache to stick between the three layers, since I needed some anyway for the decoration. And I think it helped glue it all together better, plus it added an extra kick. And I toasted the coconut and pecans more exactly than the recipe called for, just to bring out their flavor.

And it was EXCELLENT. Man, am I excited to have a new cake recipe to enjoy! It’s not a *pretty* cake, by any means, but what it lacks in glamor, it makes up for in flavor.

I started trying out duck eggs a couple years ago, since my favorite farmers’ market stand would always sell out of chicken eggs by 8:30 AM. At first I was freaked out (largely because I can’t stand goats’ milk, so I’ve been paranoid to switch animals all willy-nilly!) but I soon discovered that duck eggs are delicious. And they’re also more nutritious in many ways, and they hold up better in baked goods.

So I was extra-thrilled to find out that Madison Market sells duck eggs — I thought I had to get myself to the farmers’ market to enjoy them. Sure, they’re kinda misshapen and weirdly colored, and they don’t even come close to fitting in those cardboard egg trays. But that’s part of their charm!

I think hard-boiled duck eggs are much more flavorful than chicken eggs. (Initially I was worried because the lying, mean Internet made me think they would change color. But, as you’ll note from my photo, hard-boiled duck eggs are just as white and yellow as ever.) And for some reason, chicken egg yolks sometimes gross me out, but duck egg yolks are creamy and rich and wonderful. I also think duck eggs work better in dishes like potato salad.

I’m thrilled that the ducks are back in action — I can finally start incorporating duck eggs into my cooking again! I just enjoyed a lovely snack of a hard-boiled duck egg with Barrique Chardonnay finishing salt — delish!

For a recent World of Warcraft raid, I actually dug a cooler out of our storage closet and filled it with ice, beer, Mexican Coke for me, and Diet Pepsi for Grant.

You know, so we could enjoy our favorite beverages without having to get up in the middle of a boss fight.

We are such nerds.

Whole Foods officially discontinued their awesomely durable, heavy-duty plastic bags as of Earth Day this year.

So what are they offering instead? Paper. Yep, tree-harvested, not-so-sustainable paper. Sure, I know paper bags biodegrade, but they also disintegrate in the rain and require us to chop down and process trees.*

I kept hoping they’d replace their plastic bags with alternatives like bamboo or corn, which are sustainable and biodegradable, but feel like plastic. These bags are also super-durable and don’t fall apart when wet — a major concern of mine here in Seattle, since I sometimes try to walk to the grocery store instead of driving, and I can’t always plan ahead in order to carry my canvas bags.

But the word from Whole Foods is that those alternatives are too high of a price point for Whole Foods. I could understand this in theory for a smaller organization, but Whole Foods has plenty of money with which to be more responsible. They should a) suck it up and do it anyway, since it’s not like they’re losing money in their business; and/or b) start charging customers for the bags. So friggin’ simple.

And the real kicker? The Whole Foods delis switched from paper containers to plastic shortly after the bag changeover. Yeah, take a minute to let that sink in. Now I not only can’t walk home in the rain with my groceries, but I also can’t microwave my deli dinner in its container. How’s that for green logic?

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