Hey friends! I’m Jennifer (you can call me Jenny) and welcome to my blog; I’m so glad you’re here!
I started this blog back when I was a senior in high school. It was a beautiful season in my life when I was about to graduate and move away from my family farm in the Canadian prairies to attend university across the country. As you can imagine this time of change in my life was giving me a TON of feelings (anxiety, excitement). Writing has always been a huge passion and skill of mine and with the need of an outlet for all these feelings and a desire to keep all my friends and family back home updated on my new adventures and experiences, this blog was born! Yay! (I dare you to go back into my blog archives—even though I was quite the sassy teenager, I’m never deleting those entries. They’re equally hilarious, vulnerable, embarrassing, and just a huge part of what made me into the classy and sophisticated lady I am today! Wink wink.)
Between those years and now, I spent one of the greatest six months of my life at Bible school in GERMANY. It was there, at the age of 19 years old where I met my—American—husband, Jarryd. Yep, I’m Canadian and he’s American…cue the long distance relationship and all the fun and struggles that come with it!
Another one of my greatest passions is baking, and you’re probably wondering how it all started. Well, the following year after Germany while pursuing my Social Sciences degree, I was living in a dorm that had its very own kitchen. Being truly independent now, I had to start cooking for myself and for the first time I had the space and the freedom to experiment without any corrective stares (you know I love you, Mom). Pinterest was in its early years then and with me being a visual learner I found so many amazing recipes and experimented with many different dishes and desserts and realized: I love cooking and baking. I love working with my hands and using my God-given artistic ability to create something beautiful and bonus--edible! I need to pursue this!
Shortly after Jarryd asked me to marry him—and me saying “Yes!", I took off to the Canadian Food & Wine Institute at Niagara College and graduated with a certificate in Culinary Skills - Chef Training! Wedding planning, attending culinary school, and applying for a US visa simultaneously is not something I’d ever recommend, unless you’re trying to achieve an anxiety attack, then it’s the perfect recipe for success (?)! But culinary school was the most fun schooling experiences ever—I loved every minute of it.
After a beautiful wedding in the spring of 2014, we settled down in Jarryd’s hometown in Maryland, US; It’s our home, for now. Moving from Manitoba, Canada to the East Coast of the United States has been…wild to say the least. It has had its' fair share of anxiousness, loneliness, and homesickness. BUT it’s also been a fantastic season of meeting new people, building community, exploring new places (hello weekend trips to NYC, Charleston, D.C, and Alabama), strengthening my marriage with Jarryd, and developing my cake-baking skills.
Believe it or not, food is an all-day-every-day kinda thing for me. I’m a chef at a Continuing Care Community for Independent-Living Seniors. When I’m not working full-time in my fancy black chef coat, I’m at home throwing myself into my baking, blogging, and food photography hobby. Since posting my first photo to Facebook of a rose buttercream layer cake, I’ve been getting continuous cake orders from friends and family! From adorable cake-smash cakes, to baby shower cupcakes, birthday cakes, and even WEDDING cakes—they’ve all been such an honour to accomplish! My heart still gets flooded with joy when I receive a request to provide the dessert for someone’s special event!
As of right now, this little blog of mine doesn’t have its own niche but what you will find here are plenty of baking-related posts. I may have a culinary certificate and several years of culinary jobs under my belt, but honestly most of my baking skills have been built right here at home in my very own kitchen. My hope is that I can encourage you guys that you WE don't have to be professional pastry chefs to make gorgeous baking creations! All you need are the right tools, ingredients, alot of imagination and creativity, and especially the determination to pick yourself up when you fail (because we all mess up every now and then). So aside from inspirational baking tutorials, recipes, and food photography posts, I love to write about my travel adventures, marriage, my relationship with God, and of course everyday random updates that come with being a girl in her twenties!
Fun Facts & Quirks About Me:
Fun Facts & Quirks About Me:
- I've been known to sprinkle sugar on savoury foods. Sweet & savoury is a marriage made in heaven, and breakfast bacon cannot be eaten without maple syrup.
- I was born and raised on a farm in Canada for the first 19 years of my life. Growing up in the country was an amazing start to the rest of my life, it truly makes you appreciate farmers and all their hard work.
- I'm a hopeless romantic. Nicholas Sparks', Nancy Meyers', and Hallmark movies are a few of my favourite movies to cozy up to.
- I love traveling! Some of my favourite destinations so far are Israel, Hawaii, and Germany.
- I played flute throughout middle school and high school (band geek)! If I would have kept pursuing it faithfully I'd be playing in a symphony orchestra for Hans Zimmer and you'd hear me playing on all of his motion picture soundtracks, all of which I'm obsessed with by the way! 😍 I'm telling you, Christopher Nolan's movies would be nothing without Hans Zimmer blowing up the background sounds.
- I loved Taylor Swift before she was even famous, just sayin'. I also know every lyric and every meaning behind every song she's ever written, just sayin'. I'm normal...
