I'm Baaaaaaaccccccckkkkkk!!!

Hello fans! Haha, all 7 or 8 of you that are following me. I do feel the love though, I really do. 

After a 5 year hiatus I have decided to pick back up where Eating Brie left off....eating! In the past few years I have been through A LOT of life experiences. I've moved to Brooklyn and have had a plethora of work experiences. I was the Reservations Manager at Riverpark Restaurant from the very start, then I was in the marketing department for the infamous Valrhona Chocolate. That role was incredible, such a great experience and a job I will never ever regret having. As a pastry chef, one can only dream of working for a company like that. 

I have since moved on to an incredible startup, I am now Director of Operations for Bamboo Bites, Tuk-Tuk Go and Gotham Gourmet. We cater fresh and unique Thai food and snacks from Bamboo Bites and Tuk-Tuk Go as well as participate in Brooklyn's own outdoor food mecca, Smorgasburg. If you haven't gone....go! Your stomach and tastebuds will thank you. Look for the green tent and tell them Briana sent you. ;-)  Gotham Gourmet is our newest addition, we provide soups and side dishes to gourmet food markets and butchers. It's a great accompaniment to that amazing steak you are taking the time to select at the end of your busy Manhattan day. 

So back to what I've been eating...

Toloache, go, just go NOW! I had been complaining that there was no good Mexican in NYC (especially after having experienced Mexican in Cali) and I was proven wrong. My wonderful man looked up Zagat's best of list and found this place. Get the Coconut Mojito, Truffle Quesadilla, Rojo Guacamole, Skirt Steak, and anything with the TJ initials next to it. Those are the signature dishes and we were not disappointed by any of them. I was so full that by the time my enchiladas came, I managed 4 amazing bites and had to throw in the towel. You just want to and have to eat a little of everything. 

Cake boxes

I can’t help but smile whenever I see a cake box. I saw someone carrying one by the bottom yesterday and I had to chuckle to myself at a memory of one I bought a few years back. I’m not talking about those bright pink cardboard ones you get from a professional bakery, but the ones for home bakers. The Target, Wal-Mart, Macys, etc… kind. With the dome lid, you snap on and can carry with you like a handbag to present your hard work in full glory.

During culinary school, I had a request by some international friends for a birthday cake. I had befriended some beautiful Norwegian exchange students while living in Berkeley. It was a blast hanging out with them, and they loved that I was their “token” American. I spent a long time thinking out my very first official birthday cake as a professional baker. How could I show off all of the wonderful skills I had just learned? Ah hah! I would make a four-layer genoise filled with homemade dark chocolate butter cream, and fresh raspberries (as they had just come into season).

I spent two days working on this cake, then realized on the day of the party I had no cake box to bring it with me. Granted, the party was only a block away from my Berkeley apartment, but I wanted to go all out in presentation. Off I went to Target to get my new cake box to carry my masterpiece. I found this awesome light blue retro looking cake box…on sale!! I was so proud of myself for finding such a great deal, but I should have known better. Silly me.

The night came to walk around the block to Fondue Freds and off I went cake box in hand. I was across the street when, I kid you not, the bottom of the box falls out and my beautiful cake goes splat face down in the middle of this driveway. The icing on the cake (pun completely intended) was that five seconds later a car pulled up wanting to turn into that driveway and had to sit there and wait while I scooped up my now ruined masterpiece. I can’t even describe how upset I was, yet due to some teasing we all just cracked up. Even though I was embarrassed to show up with this disaster of a cake, the Norwegians honored my hard work by taking bites from the areas that had not touched driveway.

I hope you have learned from my mistake. FYI, the cake box was returned to Target the following day.