Baking With Mom

Perfectionist. Strong. Resilient. Mom. The role filled by many and cherished by all. When our team thinks about their mothers, these are the first words to come to mind. Whether it was the invaluable lessons they taught or the tremendous joy they spread, we find our moms always had just the right ingredients. We sat down with our team to reminisce on mom and how she shaped their skills and memories in the kitchen.

When Chef Jade reflects on memories baking with her mom, she remembers the many hours in the kitchen. It was an all-day event around the holidays to bake cookies, cakes and candies with her mom. The hard work didn’t come without fun though, listening to music, dancing and laughing together. “Those were the sweetest and most cherished moments in the kitchen growing up” she says.

Our owner Steve remembers assuming the role of sous chef, helping his mom put the finishing touches on wedding and birthday cakes. “My 5th grade teacher ordered a cake from mom, and to this day the teacher doesn’t know that I actually baked her cake!” And while it may not have been the actual baking that our General Manager Brian remembers helping with, he does recall receiving the golden ticket to lick the bowl after his mom had placed a cake in the oven.

Cookies or cakes, sweet or savory, we all remember our favorite thing to make with mom. Chef Stuart’s beloved sweet was pecan pralines. “They are something specific to my childhood and even in my adulthood they bring back childhood memories.” Or maybe it’s the new memories that really bring back the fondest times together. Chef Jade may think so as she now watches her mom help her son decorate gingerbread houses around Christmas time.

But perhaps it’s not the baked goods we cherished most, but the lessons mom taught us from creating them. Steve felt the lessons were continuous in a kitchen full of non-stop activity, and he cherishes the importance of careful measurements, temperature and following processes that his mom instilled in him. Chef Jade reminisces on her mom teaching her how to make something grand out of very little, and Chef Stuart follows his mom’s direction to eat and enjoy good food together.

Mom has been an important role model in every part of our teams lives. Both in and out of the kitchen, she has shaped us into who we are today. Chef CJ reminisces on her close relationship to her mom being an only child, and Brian recalls his mom calling him her “miracle baby” after being told she wouldn’t be able to have children after his brother. We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, we’ve learned and we’ve loved. All with the direction from a woman we like to call mom.