Artisans in our Backyard: Kristi Jacobsen, baker of cakes

Kristi at our wedding with her husband and
 the incredible cake she made us.

Whenever someone shares a memory with Sean and I about our wedding, it inevitably revolves around one of three things: the church, the music, and (perhaps most often) the cake. Our wedding cake was crafted by my eldest sister, Kristi, and everyone keeps telling us it's one of the best cakes they've ever eaten. Growing up, I remember baking with Kristi; She always made the best chocolate chip cookies and she taught me to make buckeyes. The cakes started coming into play not until about six years ago when she showed up to my birthday with a cake frosted to look like a big orange pumpkin, and it was delicious, too! She's always been an avid reader, and says she really started reading and trying recipes back in the fall of 2005. "I was feeling challenged to stop watching TV for a month, and to fill the time I started baking. I started with the Cake Mix Doctor, and soon after I picked up The Cake Bible from the library and read it cover to cover. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you cut out TV." The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is largely recognized for being an authority on everything from icing to fondant to actually baking cakes. And these recipes aren't for the faint of heart. One reviewer who claims to have culinary training still reports that these cakes take immense precision and can be quite difficult. 

Artisans in our Backyard: Becky Maglich is a Gardener extraordinaire.

Becky with her basket: ready for the harvest.

Last Friday morning I had the unique pleasure of visiting Becky Maglich in her garden. Becky and her family live a few blocks away from us. They were the couple with whom we did our premarital counseling, and her husband Jeff officiated our wedding. I wanted to do a segment on gardening because I feel it takes a lot of imagination to garden and it also brings creative fulfillment to many people, especially in the way that you get to see the fruits of your labors and enjoy them. Unfortunately, our small garden consists merely of four tomato plants in a bucket right now, and they are just starting to produce since groundhogs mowed them down all summer. I needed to call in a ringer; someone with a true green thumb and a joy of gardening. That person was Becky.


More about the beautiful Maglich garden after the jump!