For the Love of Baking

Blondies with spiced gumdrops (my favorite childhood pastry invention)… Rice Krispie treats with double marshmallow… rugelach made with scrap pie dough. The signs were all there.

“Do what you loved as a child.” I’ll never forget when someone said that to me when I was in my twenties, waiting tables.

Baking was something I loved. And when I was a kid, I used to write a menu for my mom before I brought in breakfast in bed. What kid does that? I’ll tell you: one destined to serve. I wasn’t a great brain in school; I actually never really liked school. I had wonderful friends and was good at sports, but I didn’t follow the path that my friends did. The restaurant business turned out to be a safe place for a kid like me to land. It was a family of sorts. I’ve always felt very lucky to be in this community of hard-working people who feed and serve others and are nice to them. In other words, hospitality professionals.