This week

This is gonna be a quick blog...

Although I was shooting for every other week at Yorkmont I am going to have to skip this week. I have Mom duty! Jess, my daughter is taking the entrance exam to Charlotte Catholic High School on Saturday morning and wants me to drive her. Since Drew is out of town I must.

I here it is going to be snowy on Saturday so maybe it won't be busy there anyway. In 2 weeks Maria Fisher of Fisher Farms and I are going to do our Pizza Day again. Maria will be featuring her sauce and we will provide the pizza crusts! Of course we will have some for sampling!!

The store is coming along (slow) . It is officially BRIGHT Yellow ! We are looking for a mural painter to have a Tuscan scene painted and our logo etc. I got lots of pictures of bread to put up too. I am meeting a group of friends there to get their input for decorating tomorrow night! Wish us luck! For those that don't know we are re-locating to 3909 South Providence Rd Waxhaw :)

Well, that is all for now. Blessings to everyone, Chris

quick update..

Hello! So we are into the New year so why not start anew. We signed the papers last week to open a store in Waxhaw. I know you are all thinking why so far out? The answer is simple-opportunity! We got a great opportunity to open in spot that was in the food business so the conversion is easier. We hope to open within a month or two. There are many inspections so I can't be sure.

I am really excited about this ! We painted the interior yellow this week--a nice sunny color I think. We are going to have many vendor spots within the bake shop so we can share all the wonderful products we find at the markets. We want that to be available the the people of Waxhaw and give them additional reason to come in! We are at 3909 South Providence Rd!

We still plan in doing the farmer's markets as much as we can. Jess is set for working her own market this year. Dan still needs a bit more training (boys mature slower :)

Please let us know any thoughts of what you would like to see in the bakeshop! Blessings,Chris

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. I am going to get better at this since so many people ask me about it. Obviously DHBC has been changed a lot this year. We have had a really tough year as have many business'. I blame myself for much of the change. I am not good at reading people.

I had a great time working at the Stringbean and we were very successful there from a baking point of view. Customers were really happy with our product and my staff did an awsome job. Sometimes that is not enough. I learned alot about trusting too much when it comes to business.

So where do we go from here.... Well, my staff has moved on (miss them tons) since we left Belmont so that just leaves me, your humble Baker and her family. I love baking and it is such a part of my life! I thought I could just walk away after finishing the holidays now I am not so sure. I thrive on being busy and creative. In truth, I really want my own small bake shop. I don't want a full scale bakery that has to be open 18 hours a day because I love my family too much. I would love an open kitchen kind of store where when we are baking we can communicate with customers and they can buy from us as it comes out.

On the flip side I am a Mom first and I don't know what my kids would do all summer while I am at a store? They are teenagers and can stay home alone but it is not healthy to be left on their own to be occupied. I think that just gives opportunity to make bad choices. I know they could work in the store but how much?

Eventhough I have a certified kitchen at home it is a matter of pride and professionalism that keeps me from wanting to bake at home. I also cannot get away from it! So that is where I am at.... I am off to Florida on Christmas to spend my 42nd birthday with my family. Maybe when I get back I will know what I want to be when I grow up?

For now I leave you with a recipe:

Shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate:
4c flour
1c powdered sugar
1 # butter
1t vanilla
combine by hand until smooth. roll out and cut into rounds. Bake at 375 until light brown. Cool and dip into melted chocolate . eat. Yum

Chris, the crazy baker.

Merry Christmas Blessings too all.

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone we are back and ready to start the wonderful new year off right. We will be at Charlotte Regional Mkt this weekend (Yorkmont). We will be featuring WHOLE GRAINS! Since everyone is on ther New Years Resolution diet (even me) we thought we would focus on the healthy grains.

We spent most of today looking at picking new equipment for our location in Belmont. Things are moving much slower than I would like there but that is out of my control so I will try to be patient! We are really looking forward to the move over to Belmont!

tomorrow will begin our posting of selected recipes and formulas for all the at home bakers!

Schedule from Dec 24- Jan3rd

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

Here is our holiday schedule:
Dec 24th aside from shopping like a crazy people we will be at Matthews Farmer's Mkt from 4:30-6pm

Dec 25-Jan 3rd: we will be closed for recovery from the holiday season. We are all exhausted but thankful from the successful holiday.

We are so Blessed to have all of you as customers. We will miss all of our Wholesale customers as we transition to our new retail space in Belmont.

Belmont location is still being upfitted slowly be we hope it won't be too many more months!!

We will see you 2009!

Schedule for the week of Dec 15th

Saturday we will be at Yorkmont Charlotte Regional FM, Matthews Farmer's Mkt and Tailgate Mkt (Green Monster Garden will be selling for us there).

Please support your local artisans! God Bless and Merry Christmas

Schedule for this week Dec 8th

We will be at Charlotte Regional Mkt, Tailgate Mkt and Matthews Market this coming weekend.

Our new location in Belmont is coming along. It is cleaned out now so after the String Bean is done we will be next!!! I am estimating being open in approx 4 months

Have a wonderful week ! Merry Christmas.