#82: Getting Back on the Horse

Readying Pie Cottage for In-Person Classes

Getting Back on the Horse

I have been on the fence about opening back up to in-person teaching. Having my house be just mine during this time, and not having to move the furniture and rugs and turn it into a baking studio every other week has been pretty darn nice. In fact, this has been one of the few times in my life that my home was not also a place of business.¹ But, now after these two long years, in addition to virtual classes², I am ready to open back up to in-person workshops. So yesterday my dear friend and assistant Cindy came over for tea and brainstorming about how to move things around and still be able to keep my cozy cottage feeling like home and I think we figured it out.

We moved the prep tables together to make an L shape in the corner by the window that looks out to the water…

Prep/teaching tables. One had been stored in my front entry way with plants on it.

and the French doors that go out to the deck and garden.

Gretapie checking on the new space where the round table used to be and I now have views of the water while I bake…and write. I love this! Why didn’t I move this before?

The table is now closer to the kitchen…

The table is in the middle of the room closer to the kitchen.

And, I still have my comfy spot!

The comfy spot!

So my friends, in the next week or so I will be sharing with you the dates for the return of in-person baking workshops that will start in June in Port Angeles. If I do say so myself, Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula is stunningly beautiful and I look forward to you coming to Pie Cottage.

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National Apple Pie Day: May 13

Since it is National Apple Pie Day, be sure to take a look at Jolene Handy’s newsletter today about apple pie and the making of The Quintessential Apple Pie in Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life. And why is it today? Well, the only reason I can think of is that apple blossoms are happening right now promising apple pies to come. What do you think?

Time Travel Kitchen

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What I’m Reading:

Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn

I’m just a few chapters in and it really isn’t a subject I thought I would be reading about but the writing grabbed me on the first page. I learned about it at What to Read If.

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Tune for Today:

Any one remember this one?

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1

• My mom taught piano in our living room and the house needed to be presentable at all times.

• I had a music studio in my home for 35 years and my home needed to be presentable also.

• When I started teaching pie making it became even more intense as now there was cleaning and prepping for hands-on in-person culinary experiences with meals. All cupboards, fridge, and pantry were fair game for look-see.

2. May 2022, I celebrated two full years of virtual teaching