"My bakery opens next month and I am about as far away from being ready as I can get" Pie

that would be graham cracker crust, and a lot of peaches, with raw sugar.

don't even bother baking it - we don't have time.

i love culinary movies. i love things that involve food - i love books and articles and even movies that somehow tie in the glory of the cooking world. 

No, i haven't seen No Reservations, but it looks cute. Mostly because of the fact that they're in a kitchen - Aaron Eckhart is one of my growing favorites, though. 

Moment of the day? The past two ish hours.

watching 

^^^^^THIS.

and may i just say, i have never been so happy to have heard spot on reviews. i heard nary a negative thing about it, and they came through.

it was smart.

it was sad.

by the way, me crying does not automatically constitute a movie as sad - i get choked up if a puppy is left alone.

but the entire movie - the entire thing, just exuded such a passion, such an amazing message of hope within a stupid situation. 

more than anything, i wish there was a cookbook - because I would love to try some of the recipes.

i love the happiness that comes from coming up with recipes - even the shots of the empty shells made me smile, and i know the feelings well. it made me just really - excited.

Adrienne Shelly did a fabulous job, and I'm sad we won't be able to experience more of her genius in years to come. Cheers to you, love. May you rest in a strawberry pie filled heaven. 

also exciting - the last three minutes of the academy awards, when i saw a sneak peek at Julie&Julia... a delicious book i just read by julie powell.

she sets out to make her way through all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking - it was great.

i never read nonfiction, but it of course drew me, if nothing else, from the miniegg whisk on the cover, and the fact that it was a bargain book from barnes and noble and i had a gift certificate burning a hole in my proverbial pocket.

however, those things aside, things DO happen for a reason. 

i was meant to read that book - it's subtitled something along the lines of how she risked her job, her husband, and her life's sanity to do this entire project in her tiny long island city apartment.

i really really enjoyed it- powell is a light but thorough writer with a flair for the funny - found myself laughing out loud a lot. plus, chris messina will make a fabulous eric. 

it made me feel good to know that MtAoFC doesn't just scare me. things of that nature - that... complicated... nature... i don't know.

i'm trained in classic French patisserie, but i would be just as happy creating the craziest cookies for the rest of my life.

or combinations of flavors that people aren't willing to try but then have to come to only me to find.

the dream will grow. 

also pretty much addicted to Good Grief, by Lolly Winston.

in the wake of losing my final pet, i picked it up thinking what better than to wallow in a sad, hopeless romantic novel.

instead i found a woman who gets over her grief by opening a bakery.

again, meant to happen.

amazing, actually - another book i sobbed through, but with happy hopeful tears, and the renewed energy to go make a Swiss meringue. 

and not to forget the mindy klasky "miniseries" of jane and her witchy ways... 

Sorcery and the Single Girl, Girl's Guide to Witchcraft, and Magic and the Modern Girl. 

all slightly cheesy titles, but jane's best friend owns.. you guessed it! a bakery.

a really cute bakery with a million great ideas and fun things that i would bet klasky came up with in perhaps an intention of writing a book about a baker.

alas - the end product has me waiting for melissa's appearances in every jane breakdown. mojitos and bunny bites, yes please. 

i always wonder if my creativity could ever really carry out the stories of these people. it's funny, i have yet to read or watch a movie (unless you count Moonstruck) where there is a male baker whose work i appreciate. wait, i take it back. Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dance and Charm School... incredible. John Goodman is a creepdawg extraordinaire, but Marisa Tomei has a great introduction to a butcher block. and in an entrancing, only-appreciated-fully-by-any-weary-baker sort of way.

i know that i have ideas brewing inside me. i know i have these things that could take off and make millions. but i also have the ultimate feeling that i have to breathe and start small. small, as in plans, not as in doing 3" cookies instead of plate sized. although my plate cookies are a best seller. i'm just not egocentric enough to push my product to the ends of the earth until i can stand behind it fully. i am proud of the things i can do, but i still want to be able to really love everything i can produce, and feel the resolution in trusting someone else to churn it out when i finally decide to sit down for a minute. if you haven't seen posessive, try finding a cake decorator that will not stand over your shoulder the first eighty times you do a shell border on one of their orders. 

i seem to be inexplicably drawn to these novels, and they each teach me more things. well, waitress was on my netflix queue, but even for more reasons than a pie being featured in the promo shots.

i love seeing baking and culinary fascination take over. 

i love having people ask me a million questions about baking 

(especially if it's something OTHER than - 'oh, do you watch Ace of Cakes? that show is awesome!)

because i love that i have chosen a path that means something to EVERYONE.

everyone loves to eat. if they don't, they're probably lying to themselves. 

everyone does enjoy sweet. if they don't, i'm sad for them. dessert has been some of the most pivotal moments in my life.

plus, you celebrate life with dessert. 

who ever heard of 1st birthday casserole?

75th wedding anniversary oil change?

negative.

not that these careers are not important, for they very well are.

but i am excited that i have chosen a path that usually ends in smiles.

relaxed, delighted, heavy lidded with satisfaction smiles.

which leads me to the title of this blog. the inspiration.

stranger than fiction. 

will ferrell is an irs auditor, who has never lived the way life should be.

maggie gyllenhaal is a kick ass baker.

cue indie music, some great lines, and mostly - another movie about baking that is smart and just so calmly worthy of my appreciation for the nod to people who do what they love to do, how they want to do it. that's my dream - to have my own aprons and have my employees wear what i want them to - but they like it to.

to accept a boxful of flours from someone who genuinely cares and understands that this is what my life is truly about. finding the fun in the science, finding the good eats among the pages about aspic and ribbons.

it's finding passion where passion lives. 

this is only the beginning, that i know.

but i must say - it's awfully fun so far.