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by Russell Warnick

The Baking of a Businesswoman

Jenna Huntsberger is living out every amateur foodie’s dream. She’s gone from office wonk to food blogger to professional baker. Her blog, Modern Domestic, has inspired her to get serious, partnering with fellow blogger Stephanie Willis of Adventures in Shaw to launch Whisked! a bakery order business and market stand at one of Washington, D.C.’s most popular farmers’ markets.

Jenna’s story is one that proves food bloggers are not just whiny arm chair critics but people with real talent and love of food. I talked to Jenna on how she came to be co-founder of Whisked!

You went from being a full-time office employee and part-time blogger to real-world baker. What made you take the plunge?
I was really miserable doing office work. It’s not necessarily that I worked for a bad company but I get really bored with a desk job. It never seemed immediate to me. I went to a food networking event and I met the owner of Treet, a bakery in D.C. She was living my fantasy, she was running her own baking business, being her own boss and she loved what she did. Theresa was looking to hire a baker and I asked if she’d consider me. She didn’t think you needed to go to pastry school to be a good baker, which she did but didn’t think it was relevant. I told my job I was going to do a part-time baking job but they were against it, so I quit.

Theresa’s husband got a job in New York so she moved her business there, which is why Treet no longer exists in D.C.

You also worked in the kitchen at Birch & Barley, why didn’t you stay there?

by BS

Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

– Patty H. is lovingly concerned for those peeps in a jar:

Love it! Made me smile, but then, just as I clicked to leave the site, I thought “Oh no, I bet they can’t breath.” So, just wondering about maybe some holes in the lid.

We’ll make sure they’re safe. PS — an ES sneak preview — next week we’ll be featuring different ways to cook with peeps. Have any ideas? Send us your links.

– Hope everyone has made good use of our 100 ways to cook with sriracha post. Michael Birchenall of Foodservice Monthly checks in with a 101st recipe:

by gansie

Perfectly Seasoned: Pickled Ramp Vinegar

It. Is. On. It broke 80 degrees in Washington, D.C. yesterday, signaling the return of humidity and a new crop of vegetables. We have a few more weeks before it’s time for tomatoes, but in the meantime, I welcome our spring children: fiddlehead ferns, ramps, asparagus, spring garlic and strawberries.

First up Jackson 20‘s Chef Dennis Marron will teach us how to keep that ramp flavor going after its short season yields to summer produce. I use his tangy ramp vinegar to better Feta and Arugula Spring Rolls, Parsnip, Sweet Potato and Cabbage Couscous Salad, Tiger Eye Beans with Chipotle Cabbage and Dal Palak Dip.

Let us know what you spruce up with ramp vinegar.

Pickled Ramp Vinegar
from Chef Dennis Marron of Jackson 20

in New / Recipe / Veggie 3 comments

by BS

America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches — Veganized

Our recent article on America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches has caused quite a stir in the blogosphere, but no one was more riled up than a group of spunky vegan bloggers. Their de facto leader, Namely Marly, explains:

We read this article with great curiosity but it didn’t take long until the curiosity faded and was replaced with something else. OK. We were grossed out. Particularly at one sandwich that referred to an ingredient called suckling pig. We hoped this was a reference to something other than the obvious, but it appears it is exactly as it sounds. Only one of the 10 sandwiches appeared to be vegetarian. We felt like a cross between Stan Laurel and Rodney Dangerfield, scratching our heads with a half whimper and half scowl thinking, “Why don’t we vegans get any respect?”

So they decided to demand their own respect, teaming together to create tasty and healthy versions of each cholesterol-laden entry on the list of America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches. Hence, America’s Top 10 New Sandwiches — Veganized. Here are all ten of ’em. Follow the links for recipes.

10. The Vegan Spuckie

We called this olive-carrot-mortadella goodness from Cutty’s in Boston “the one sandwich that most successfully merges the old-school method of overdoing it on Italian meats with the new world of artisan, veggie-centric goodness.” Drop the meat part and it’s still drool-worthy. Trina Jaconi Biery of Your Vegan Mom made her own meat-free mortadella, featured here on a ciabatta roll topped with vegan mozzarella and a sweet carrot-olive salad.

Recipe: The Vegan Spuckie

(Photo: Trina Jaconi Biery)

9. Vegan Bulgogi Steak Sandwich

When Allyson Kramer of Manifest Vegan learned there was a Bulgogi Steak Sandwich (from Koja in Philly) on the list, she jumped at the chance to veganize it. As a child she used to eat bulgogi steak sometimes twice a week. Now a vegan, she’s been hankering to try a veggie-friendly version. Served on a hoagie roll (Allyson even provided a recipe for gluten-free hoagie if that’s to your liking), marinated tofu is topped with caramelized peppers and onions, chili garlic sauce, and melted vegan mozz.

Recipe: Tofu Bulgogi Steak Sandwich

(Photo: Allyson Kramer)

in Featured / Lists / Sandwich / Veggie 16 comments

by BS

Top Chef All-Stars Exit Interview: The Winner

Poor Padma & Co. could barely make up their minds in this squeaker of a Top Chef All-Stars finale. The judges insisted that both of our finalists were deserving of the TCAS crown, but of course only one of them could take it home. We talk with the chef-testant who topped all the other All-Stars, after the jump.

in Celebs / TV 3 comments

by gansie

ES Goes to the Circus

Instead of watching elephants balance on their hind legs and 90-pound women fly through the air, I ate lunch in the Pie Car, the dining area for the 300 or so members of the Ringling Bros circus. What does a circus performer eat? It’s certainly not the cotton candy found at concessions, but it’s not health food either. A few D.C. food writers were invited to eat in the dining car and try Chef Michael Vaughn’s food.

Think wedding food. Hotel meeting food. It’s not easy to cook well for hundreds of people, and in a tiny traveling circus train kitchen, it’s no different. The chef prepares breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks totaling 3,000 meals per week. Performers live 11 months out of the year on this train so everyone has some sort of cooking device in their “room,” from a microwave to a full-fledged range.

in Food Travel 2 comments

by 80 Proof

Gas Tax

Think of the latest craze in food and what comes to mind? Food trucks are a safe bet. The suddenly ubiquitous downtown lunch option has created such a new market that here in D.C. the Park Police have even had to step in. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for food trucks. They’re mobile, diverse and force people to take a break from minesweeper and get some well needed vitamin D. On the other hand, I’ve seen people wait in 20-30 person lines for a slice. It’s almost too much, too trendy even.

Enter the gas station.

in Restaurants / Sandwich / Trends 8 comments