Sorry for the delayed post – due to the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy I was not able to post this when I originally wanted to.

It is rare that I am able to take a vacation, so as soon as Beth and I got the idea to travel to Prague I was excited. While you can view the trip as a getaway from the city, it was much more meaningful to the both of us. I was on mission to taste all things pastry and coffee and she wanted to dissect the wondrous city before her for a book she is currently writing. It was our first adventure together.

There is true nothing better than a nice flaky pastry for breakfast except for multiple pastries to start your day. The biggest challenge for me was to eat everything without overeating. Okay, maybe I am making this expedition sound a bit more difficult than what it really was. I love to eat, so my research was quite easy. The first night I knew I had to have dessert (a breakfast pastry at night) and that is when I stumbled across Krusta. This lovely little bakery chain had lovely preserves, jams, and spreads. They also had an out of this world black sesame pastry.

A small taste of local baking.

A pleasant silence. I couldn’t speak after tasting the black sesame.

Bakeries were not the only locations I had in mind during my tasting tour. Prague has such wonderful markets – and when there’s markets, there are bakers. We woke up extra early every day to ensure a visit to the marketplace and honestly who could blame us?

Prague is gorgeous and is filled with a deep, rich sense of culture. I recommend anyone who likes travelling to add this city to your list.

I just started watching season 2 of The Walking Dead on Netflix (I don’t have cable) and I must admit… I love zombies! In the spirit of Halloween and all thing zombies. There will be a bunch of zombie related pastry, tattoo, and t-shirts posts within the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

If you also like zombies and want to share something with me, contact me:
Instagram: CJEasyBake
Twitter: OvenFreshDreams / CJEasyBake

These are a few questions I have been asked last month and figured why not share my answers with the interwebs.

What chefs inspire you? Where do you seek inspiration? What do you want to with your career? All these questions and I am still figuring out the answers.

*Any passionate chef inspires me. As long as they cook/bake with love and care about the quality of the ingredients being used. I mean what’s not to be inspired by?

*To be honest, I look at people like my fanatastic friend, Samantha, for inspiration. She is currently working a premiere bakery in New York City and has even bigger dreams. We literally talk about food and dessert 90% of the time. Sam is someone who is self taught and is extremely talented. She once asked me about my culinary school experience – Do I find it valuable? Is it necessary? My answer is yes and no. I found my experience in culinary school to be extremely valuable; demanding lessons and great networking opportunities. But when it comes to being necessary my answer wavers a bit. In the food, like any other, industry experience seems to be just as valuable as education. As long as you apply yourself and work under the right people, I think you can bypass culinary school (however you’ll be missing out on many perks). Sam is known for her colorful personality and has a great future ahead of her!

*There are many things I want to do once my career reaches the level I am aiming to take it. However, at this point in time I can not say.

P.S. The minimalist graphic design approach also influences my outlook on pastry.