OMAHYPE Article

Like any blossoming or thriving city, Omaha has a myriad of resources dedicated to informing its public of local events and goings-on. One of our go-to sources is OMAHYPE. It is exclusively online and it specializes in telling us about interesting events around Omaha, including films, concerts, art shows, and performances. There are also stories and reviews of local eateries.

Two Birds Bakery is fortunate to have a wonderful friend/pleased customer who also writes for OMAHYPE. She asked us last month if she could interview us for an article in the 'YUM!' section of the website. And last week the Two Birds Bakery article was published! Thank you April! The article gives you some information about us, where we came from, how we got started, and or future hopes and plans for the bakery. Check it out here... YUM: Two Birds Bakery

Meg

The Sunday Egg

Sundays are set apart for me; a day of a special breakfast and ritualistic reading of the New York Times.  (Business section first, Sports section never, and Magazine last)  Being a recovering Catholic, it's not surprising that I spend my Sundays communing with food and the written word.  

Rarely do I waver from my Sunday breakfast of choice, thus maintaining the ceremonial nature of the weekend's end.  Kale with lemon juice, scrambled local eggs with a dollop of yogurt, and a cup of coffee is Sunday breakfast, and sometimes a Curry of Kali muffin for dessert.

During my last year as a vegan, scrambled eggs would pop up randomly in my dreamscape and leave me hungry in the morning.  I guess the egg symbology could have been interpreted myriad ways, but I chose the literal route, rather than considering my ovaries or regeneration.  While I added eggs to my diet about two years ago, I only eat local eggs, and only eat them in a singularly pure state, such as scrambled or hard boiled, to assure that I'm witness to the peculiar nature of what it is unrealized potential.  

Common Good Farm near Raymond, Nebraska, where the chickens are pastured on biodynamic fields, is my source for Sunday scrambled eggs.  

Yogurt, of the non-fat-organic-hormone-free variety, was reintroduced to my diet at the same time eggs made their reappearance.  A big, spoonful of yogurt adorns any eggs I scramble, yet I've recently been made aware by house guests and friends that yogurt on eggs isn't a given.  (No one likes when I toss a handful of fresh peas into eggs scrambled in spring either)  The cool temperature and tart flavor of yogurt combined with the sulfuric warmth of an egg creates a grand companionship in my mouth.  Go ahead, mix textures - dare yourself to smother the egg of a chicken in the milk of a cow, or goat.  But don't think on it too long as the image lends itself to a nature too graphic for a Sunday morning. 

I only eat eggs on Sundays, though kale is cooked, on average, five times a week.  I've considered figuring out a way to include kale in a muffin recipe - maybe a savory muffin with a kale chip topping! - but I would surely eat the profits as kale is one of the few foods that I covet, and will "share" unequally. 

My Sunday morning has been spent, and the reel mower is waiting for a workout.  How do you celebrate Sundays?

~ Trilety

Dear KC Mo, Keep on Truckin'!

Last weekend while Trilety was at her stepdad's birthday with a cake that I would have liked to shove handfuls of into my face, I took a quick trip to Kansas City with my honey.

On the first Friday of each month, masses of locals and visitors ensue on the Crossroads Art District in Kansas City. And we jumped into it. Galleries large and small open their doors to passers-by and potential patrons. The streets come alive with music, food and dancing. It is a mix of all walks of life. And they come together to share in a pure, fun, positive energy that we don't necessarily get to experience in our daily routine... unless you work for the circus I suppose.

Weaving through the crowds and past the galleries, we also encountered food! There are restaurants and beer gardens and coffee shops and bars mixed in amongst the shoppes and galleries, but what caught my eye was this food truck. It was a bakery truck! Or rather, a shared coffee and cake truck... that is, it sold cakes from a Kansas cake business (Ms Nene Takes The Cake Bakery) and coffee from a Kansas coffee shop (E.F. Hobbs Specialty Coffee). And as I walked by, I looked back longingly. How fun!

I realize that food trucks abound in cities other than Omaha. Sure we have a few taco trucks and even a soup truck. That's cool, but there are no bakery trucks right now that I am aware of. These birds kicked around the idea of a bakery-mobile after it was suggested by a friend of ours. I don't know if that will happen, but it's fun to imagine.

~Meg

Cakes! Birthdays!

Birthdays need cake!  Without a cake, you don't actually age.  Meg and I are both known for our birthday cakes; hers are delicious and lovely, mine are delicious and interesting.  

A few years back, Meg made a birthday cake for her brother.  It was eaten with abandon amidst a table of friends wearing dresses and ties.  Frosting was licked from lips and no one noticed whose cheeks were smeared with chocolate because our eyes were focused on cake-laden forks making their way to our partially open mouths.  Eating is a sensually destructive process, and yet we do it in front of our loved ones.  Here's a picture of Jason's birthday cake prior to being destroyed by mastication.

A few months later, in celebration of Elisabeth's birthday, Meg and I came together and baked our first cake as a team.  Elisabeth had one request; no cashew frosting.  These two birds built a three layer lemon sponge cake that was cushioned with a fresh lemon curd, and frosted with a lemon cream cheese frosting.  The decorative element of stained glass lemon was achieved by dipping slices of lemon in sugar and then letting the crystals melt in the heat of an oven.  

Baking together for the first time, like any first-time activity, was an awkward but loving experience for these two birds.  Putting two people together in the kitchen is no different than putting two people together in a bathtub, except that you keep your clothes on and come out dirty rather than clean.  But it's still an exercise in learning how to maneuver.  We learned it that day, and it showed in our masterpiece. 

A few months after our inaugural experience as kitchen companions, Meg and I made a birthday cake for our dear friend Joshua Brownfield Jones (boyfriend of Elisabeth).  We were regaled with tales about the dessert deficiencies of his childhood birthdays.  You see, Josh's birthday is only four days later than his older brother's birthday.  As lore goes, Jeremy's birthday was celebrated with a Cookie Monster cake, and Josh's birthday was celebrated with the remains.  Was the belly of the monster redecorated to resemble a newly formed cookie monster head? That seems to be the tale that I remember.  Two years ago, Meg and I made Josh his very own, red velvet birthday cake in the shape of none other than the Cookie Monster muppet.  He was pleased. 

He has cupcakes for eyes!

These two birds bake incredible cakes together.  However, when left to my own devices, the birthday cakes I bake tend to require a patch or bandage.  These stitches become avenues to elaborate changes in the look of the cake.  

My step-dad, pictured with me below, turned 73 yesterday. 

Fall 2010 (Tom's eyes are rarely open in photos)

In celebration of his birthday, I made Tom a cake.  Two thick layers of silken chocolate, that emitted an alluring "squish" when you bit into it, were held together by a vegan chocolate ganache and frosted with a traditional buttercream frosting.  Due to a hot house, and a little impatience on my part, part of the cakes stuck to the pans which resulted in separation and slipping.  I considered holding the cake together with my hands all night, but figured asking guests  to lick the frosting from my fingers may have made some folks uncomfortable.  The solution was to build a wall of chocolate bars around the perimeter of the cake.  The dollops of ganache capped off by enlarged spice drops are purely decorative; there was nothing structural in that decision.  

 

Enjoy the eye-pleasure that comes with fixing your mistakes.  It make the stumbles seem more like flips rather than falls.  Happy Birthday to All!!

~ Trilety