Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Buddy Valastro is a fourth generation baker.  Born in New Jersey into a traditional Italian family, Buddy showed incredible talent as a baker and decorator.

Star of the hit TLC reality show Cake Boss, today Buddy Valastro is a household name that upon hearing it brings visions of masterpiece cakes that are gorgeous to look at as they are a sensation tot he taste buds.  Buddy’s often asked to demonstrate, compete, and teach his craft around the country.  In his 10,000 sq foot state of the art facility, Buddy and his staff turn out thousands of wedding cakes, specialty cakes, and pastries weekly. His award-winning designs have been featured numerous times in different bridal and baking magazines. Carlo’s Bakery has also been featured in books, newspapers, such as, The New York Times, and television; most namely The Food Network.  He and his cakes have also been featured on The Today’s Show, Good Morning America, The View, and HBO’s hit series, The Sopranos.

By uniting time-honored quality with modern innovative techniques, Carlo’s Bakery is rated among the best.  Their distinct old world taste is hard to come by.  This is what sets Buddy apart from other sugar artists.  Buddy hopes to one day pass on his passion and knowledge to fifth generation members of the Valastro family and continue the Carlo’s Bakery legacy.

A must see in Hoboken, New Jersey

Cake Boss is more than a gorgeous book with mouth-watering recipes.  Cake Boss is a memoir of the Valastro family, Buddy’s remarkable father who played such a positive role in where Buddy is today… and within the first few pages of this book you will know that this is a book about family.  From Danny Dragone, who helps out wherever he is needed, Stephanie who was the first woman to work in back with the bakers (no small feat), Joey the brother-in-law who is not only married to Buddy’s sister, but is also one of the top bakers, the counter is run by Buddy’s sisters. Little Frankie who’s been in the bakery business since he could walk, and Sal who has been with the bakery since 1960.  This is truly a family business.

And that is just the beginning, as I turned the pages I found myself immersed in what family means to Buddy.  As I found myself reading the history of the “Cake Boss” I became immersed in the strong sense of history.   I enjoyed reading about the first cakes Buddy was allowed to make, to his growing talent as a baker… to his first wedding cake where he really began to flourish.

(Who knew reading about the history of a bakery and a family could be so interesting?)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  While I have heard of the show Cake Boss, I admit I have never watched it.  I can assure you I am going to start now.  This book jump started my heart for a family I did not know, and reading this book makes me want to know more.


Fun Facts:

1. How many pounds of flour are used in a week:    Over 3000
2. What is the most used ingredient in the bakery?    A special type of flour called soft as silk

3. How many cannolis are made in one week? Close to 6000 a week
4. How many employees work at Carlos’ Bake Shop?    35
5. How long does it take to make the average wedding cake? At least three hours
6. What is the most popular item in the bakery?   lobster tails
7. What is the most popular cake flavor?    French cream
8. What is the most unusual item sold at the bakery?  Sfogliatelle -a flaky pastry filled with orange-flavored ricotta

9. When should a bride book her appointment to discuss her wedding cake?  Six months before the big day
10. Most frequently asked question of Buddy:   “Can you make my birthday cake?”


While I did not have time before I wrote this review, I will be making the Biscotti from the recipe section of this book for gifts for co-workers and friends this Christmas.  When I make the recipe I will be sure to post about it and link you back to this book.

I think Cake Boss would make a wonderful gift book to that person you know who loves to bake.

Buddy is on tour, check out the dates and locations!

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading map to include Cake Boss

When in New Jersey, the obvious “must see” stop would be Carlo’s Bakery

Cover Story:  Fantastic!  It says it all!

I received this book for review from Free Press Publishing

Simon and Schuster

Morning Meanderings… Decking The Halls? Here is how to do it!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Good morning!  I feel… refreshed.

I just took my pups to the groomer for their trim.  They are pretty shaggy looking and they will come out looking like they each lost about 5 pounds of hair.  My timing is not the best as the weather is getting a bit cooler now, however by the time we get into the real heart of a Minnesota winter they will be putting the coat back on and all will be fine to get to them their next cut in late February.

I have been promising all week that I was going to share the recipes and the crafts from my girls weekend last weekend and in my hustle and bustle of life I have managed to give you one recipe so far.  GAH!

Today I will share with you the craft that I brought to the cabin for us to do, painting Christmas ornaments.  Here we go!

 

Christmas ball ornament painting

 

 

You will need:

An assortment of glass ornaments like pictured above.  The craft stores have some fun shapes – squares, tear drop, egg-shaped, heart-shaped, coin shaped, etc….  mix it up – it is fun

A variety of colors in craft paint  (Delta ceramcoat works well,or any acrylic craft paint) **If the paint is too thick add a little water to the paint bottle and shake it well.

Pretty ribbon for the ornament to hang

assortment of items (optional) to hot glue on to the ornament such as:  craft pine, craft berries, sequins…

There are the ornaments my friends and I made last weekend

To do this project, choose the colors you would like in your ornament… drip them down the side inside the glass ornament, not too heavy on the paint – you can always add more.

Some people like to slowly turn their ornament to let the paint run together to create the design – I take a napkin over the opening of the ornament and shake it to cover all the spaces inside with paint.  If you have a spot that is still unpainted, set ornament down with that side as the bottom and the paint will eventually run to it – or I gently pat that part of the ornament until the paint fills in.

If there is excess paint inside your ornament we usually have a large ornament that we tip the excess paint into to create a “community ornament” which winds up with a mix of everyone’s excess paint – and usually turns out quite pretty.

You should let the ornaments dry out with their lid off for a day or so.  (It still works if you do not have that kind of time to finish them)

Choose your ribbon and if you wish choose decorations for the outside of your ornaments as well.

These are fun and fairly easy to make, plus you can customize them for friends and family by using their colors of their home in the ornament, or decorating with their homes theme:  woodsy, antique, modern, etc….

Here is one use I came up with for the ones I made

Ideas beyond the tree….

A few ideas we came up with besides putting these ornaments on the tree are

Put the ribbons at different lengths and hang them on the curtain rod in a window

make a large ornament and hang it off a hook

make a glass bowl centerpiece and fill it with the ornaments

Hang them from a stair railing

Have you made these?  What ideas or tips can you share?

😀

 

 

Morning Meanderings…. Top Of The Morning To You (Zumba style) :)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning!  Coffee Cup and I are sitting here a little sore when I move but feeling good.  😀  I completed yesterdays office painting job and I am very happy with the results.  My goal was to get in early and have it done before the rest of the staff started coming in and I was in their way.  Mission accomplished, by 9 am when a few started trickling in I was cleaning brushes.

 

The Finished look of my office

 

 

I had my first Zumba class yesterday afternoon and I brought 3 friends with me.  We were all newbies and I assured them that if we could not do the steps – laughter burns calories too.  I think I did some of both.  The steps were easy once you got the hang of them but the fast paces music occasionally made it so by the time you got the step… the instructor had moved on to a different step.    I loved it though and laughed a lot!

Here is a sample video I found on You Tube of Zumba:


I am so glad it is Friday today and other than the pups getting haircuts tomorrow morning and Zumba class 2 , I have a day to read and maybe do a bit of writing which currently sounds very appealing to me.  My house is all clean from Tuesdays book club so I am really in a good spot to just melt into a chair and enjoy some time.

Any big weekend plans?

Morning Meanderings and a favorite cookie recipe

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Good morning!  I am off super early this morning – 4 am to be exact.  I know I know…. I am a bit insane but I am moving around my office and as long as I am switching things around and I am getting new shelves installed on Saturday…… so to keep this run on sentence running…..

I am painting my room.  😀

AND I am going in so early so I can get the majority of it done before the office traffic starts to come in around 8 am and then I am in everyone’s way.

And you thought there was no method to my madness…. 😀

I am leaving you this morning with one of the promised recipes from my girls craft and baking weekend.  A few years back my friend Cindy and I went to a community education cookie class where we paid $25 to work with a group and each make a cookie recipe that made 12 dozen cookies.  There were 12 of us in the class and we each received a dozen of each of the cookies as well as the recipes to do them ourselves.  My favorite that I could not keep my hands off of was the Snicker Surprise cookie.

This was the cookie I shared with my friends this past weekend, and now I will share it with you.

 

Snicker Surprise Cookie

 

2 sticks softened butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag SNICKERS Miniatures
1 cup milk chocolate chips (melted)

Combine the butter, peanut butter, and sugars using a mixer on a medium to low-speed until light and fluffy.

Slowly add eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Then mix in flour, salt and baking soda.

Unwrap all the SNICKERS .

Divide dough into 1 tablespoon pieces and flatten. Place a SNICKERS  in the center of each piece of dough. Form the dough into a ball around each SNICKERS .

Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 325 for 12-15 minutes.

Let cookies cool on baking rack or wax paper.

Melt  milk chocolate and drizzle over cookies.

The first time I made these cookies I could hardly keep my hands off them – the gooey melted snickers inside this peanut buttery cookie is the perfect combination.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe?

The Boticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

In the heart of Medici Florence, part-time model and full-time prostitute Luciana Vetra stumbles across a deadly secret when she is asked to pose for the central figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli’s famous Primavera. When Luciana is turned away without being paid for her posing for the picture, she steals a smaller scroll of the painting in compensation, only to find that within the picture holds a secret.  The secret is so deadly that her friends are being killed all around her as she is forced to run for her life, and finds help in the one man who has never exploited her, Guido Della Torre, a novice at the Monastary of Santa Crose.

I do like a good mystery, and in that way,the Botticelli Secret did not disappoint. I found it to have a very Dan Brown feel to it, much the same as I found in his books The Davinchi Code and also in Angels and Demons. However the main characters Luciana and Guido (a prostitute and a monk) are not Sophie and Robert Langdon.  I mean – Luciana has quite a reputation for herself and Guido is a man of the cloth….

however – in that sense the book works, and is mainly why I kept reading.

Where I struggled is that the first 250 or so pages, when Luciana is still quite rough around the edges, the language is foul, some of the acts that the reader is allowed to “witness” is stomach turning, and there is a point where I had to skim in hopes of the books tone changing as Luciana spends more time with Guido.

It does.

The painting features six female figures and two male, along with a blindfolded putto, in an orange grove. To the right of the painting, a flower-crowned female figure in a floral-patterned dress is scattering flowers, collected in the folds of her gown. Her nearest companion, a woman in diaphanous white, is being seized by a winged male from above. His cheeks are puffed, his expression intent, and his unnatural complexion separates him from the rest of the figures. The trees around him blow in the direction of his entry, as does the skirt of the woman he is seizing. The drapery of her companion blows in the other direction. Clustered on the left, a group of three females also in diaphanous white join hands in a dance, while a red-draped youth with a sword and a helmet near them raises a wooden rod towards some wispy gray clouds. Two of the women wear prominent necklaces. The flying cherub has an arrow nocked to loose, directed towards the dancing girls. Central and somewhat isolated from the other figures stands a red-draped woman in blue. Like the flower-gatherer, she returns the viewers gaze. The trees behind her form a broken arch to draw the eye. The pastoral scenery is elaborate. Botticelli (2002) indicates there are 500 identified plant species depicted in the painting, with about 190 different flowers.

The second half of the book shows that Luciana’s heart is softening and I was able to relax more into the details of the read and beauty of the details as they travel around trying to solve the clues that are given within this amazing (and real) painting.  I enjoyed the clues and the solving of them and liked the second half of the read a lot more than the first half.

Overall, if you can hang in there, the book is filled with colorful details of the cities they travel fifteenth century Renaissance Italy.

Bookies (Book Club review)

The Bookies found the book centered around the painting to be quite interesting.  Of the 13 of us at the review, only one of us had ever heard of the painting before.  In that sense, the book gave us a little bit of culture that we were not quite expecting, but enjoyed.

Most of us found the beginning of the book and Luciana’s character to be quite crude and the language and acts in that part were probably the worst we have encountered as a group in all the years we have been meeting (since Aug. 2001).  However, only 4 of the Bookies at the review truly disliked the book.  The rest found that if you could get through the first part, and realize that the author is creating a very vivid picture of who Luciana was, it makes the ending all the more sweeter.

On an overall scale of 1 – 5, five being the best, The Botticelli Secret rated a 4 average with the Bookies.

 

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading map to include The Boticelli Secret

When in Florence, there are a variety of excellent coffee shops to fit your tastes.

Cover story:  I think that it fits the story well.

I purchased my copy of this book from Amazon.com

Morning Meanderings… Botticelli Moments

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning!  Coffee Cup and I are basking in the early morning light (or lack there of) and still basking in the events of last nights book club.

I don’t think I have said it yet in November…

I love my book club.  😎

Last night we reviewed what I would consider a long-awaited review on a large read – and a potentially controversial book.  To be honest, I struggled with it too.  Yet the Bookies come through and I don’t know why they surprise me, but they do – in good ways.

I am not going to talk about the book yet because the review is coming up later today.  So instead now I am giving you the pictures from our Italian potluck, themes after the book, as well as the pictures of our baby shower we had at book club for one of our members.

 

Italian themed potluck for book club

 

I know, I know… I should have grabbed pictures before everyone dived into the food.  We had a penne, chicken, and sausage pasta, a tossed green Italian salad, Tiramisu, french bread, homemade mozzarella, cake, and more.

 

 

The Bookies, after the book review and on to the baby shower!

 

 

Today is another crazy Wednesday for me.  I have another event planning for tonight – this one however is smaller than last weeks.  So work this morning until mid afternoon, gym, then back to work for security training followed by Leadership Training (which is the event I am referring to).

Tomorrow is the first Zumba class and I am soooo looking forward to that.

Have a super fab day everyone 😀

Morning Meanderings…Weekend With The Girls

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning!  I had a wonderful weekend with the girls at our cabin.  It was our first weekend where we planned a baking and crafting weekend and it turned out fantastic.  Here are a few pics:

Heidi and Sara baking at the cabin

We had so much fun baking!  We each brought a cookie recipe to make enough so each of us could have 3 or 4 dozen to take home and freeze for the Holidays.

 

Me, Heidi and Sara standing on rocks in the Baptism river

I did not realize I was clinging to Sara’s hand until after I seen the pictures…. well… we were standing on little rocks and the water I am betting was pretty cold this time of year!  😀

 

Cindy and I in the Baptism River

Cindy and I – also balancing on little rocks in the river!

 

The Geisha girls: Cindy, Heidi, and Sara

Who knew that .97 cent spa masks would be so much fun?  We laughed in these for about an hour!


Talking Heads: Cindy, Sara, Heidi and me

 

This was fun and I had no idea how much I looked like The Joker until we shot these pictures.  Hmmmm…. next years costume perhaps…..

 

We had a lot of fun and have already planned to do the same thing same weekend next year!  YAY! I will post cookie recipes and the craft pictures throughout the week as well as “how to’s” on them as well.  🙂

Tonight I have book club at my house.  The Botticelli Secret was a monster of a book and I will talk more on that tomorrow…. lets just say tonight’s discussion should be interesting and oh yes… there will be pictures.  Our theme is Italian and we are potlucking!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)94 Comments

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too!  As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment.  You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Last weeks winner (using Random.Org) was:

Elisha from Rainy Day Reviews

 

Congratulations!  Please choose an item out of the PRIZE BOX and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

Coming in a little late here…. I had a fun weekend at our cabin on the North Shore with friends and just got home this afternoon.  What a blast we had!  We baked cookies and completed craft projects and had a little fun with facials too…. (pictures will be coming of that on Tuesday..)  😀

Sara, Cindy, Me, and Heidi - showing off our wine glass charms we made

As for my reading this last week…. let’s just say it is not impressive… I have been reading most of the week one book- The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato for my book club on Tuesday…. weighing in at 514 pages… yeah….

Anyway here is what did happen this past week:

Random Things On My Chest (includes a pic of the Halloween costume….)

Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagizi:  An amazing book that I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read!

That’s it!  Can you believe it?  I have books finished that I need to review, just need to get caught up.  So….


Here’s what next this weeks plan is:

15th century Spain – YES!  A little Historical fiction… just what I am in the mood for!

1492 – Kings and Queens…. marriages and the battle for the throne…. I am just a flying through these historical fiction reads!

 

That’s it for this week.  I hope to get caught up on reviews and Tuesday evening will be our book club review and a surprise…. you can read more on that on Wednesday!

Now it is your turn….. my trigger finger is itching to get to see what you have been reading.  Add your What Are You Reading post to the linky below 😀

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

HAPPY READING!  😎

Morning Meanderings… Homeward Bound

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning!  This is probably the first post I ever wrote from the back of a moving vehicle.  We are on our way home from a wonderful weekend on the North Shore.  I am with my friends Heidi, Cindy, and Sara, and we are just passing through Two Harbors, Minnesota.  We forgot about Daylight savings time this morning so we were up pretty early, cleaned up the cabin stop and had brunch at out favorite place in Beaver Bay Minnesota before we realized that we were actually an hour earlier than we thought we were.  😀

We had such a fun weekend of baking cookies and making crafts.  We didn’t leave the cabin the entire weekend and had tons of fun eating great food, and laughing like crazy (stay tune for Tuesday – I will post pictures then).  I plan to post the recipes and the craft projects as well and how we did them.

Split Rock Light House - in the cabin area

See you tonight for the Monday What Are You Reading post!  😀

Morning Meanderings…. 20 minutes to out the door….

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Good morning.  😀  I am off to the North Shore for the weekend with my friends Heidi, Cindy, and Sara.  In fact they are picking me up in about 3o minutes and I am sooooooo not ready.   Seriously….

not even packed yet.

This will probably be the last cabin trip for a while, the rest of November is pretty busy and we leave for Honduras on December 1.  I can’t believe it is coming up that fast….

I am not sure if I will be able to pop in throughout the weekend or not – no internet service at the cabin (which is good…. but also bad….).  I am hoping to get a little reading done – at least maybe on the car ride there and back as it is three hours each way.   I a still working on our book club book The Botticelli Secret, which we will  reviewing on Tuesday of this week at my house.

I know I have not been around much this week but I believe this next week it will start getting back to normal.  My training is pretty much done for our new office manager and I have no big events this next week except the book club which is well….. just fun.  😀  The weekend coming up will be at home (YAY!) and Zumba starts this week…. more on that as I get into it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!