Interview with Cupcakes in Rome founder Alexandra (International baked goods on a small scale.)

If you didn’t already know by now I’m a bit of a Twitter addict. It’s become a great venue to meet like-minded people like myself and frankly tweets are all the rage these days. A few months ago I did a post on baking blogs I enjoyed and admired and it was around this time that I was made aware of Cupcakes in Rome (CiR), a new independent baking venture started by Alexandra. Who is also a fabulous photographer. As an up-and-coming baker I was intrigued about what got Alexandra started as she begins to put Cupcakes in Rome on the map. She was super excited about doing an interview and since launching Cupcakes in Rome has made great progress connecting with bakers and bloggers and baking bloggers on the worldwide web. Her cupcakes use no preservatives and natural ingredients a plus these days and she said she rarely makes the same thing twice.

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JBH: Cupcakes in Rome is a small business. What was the moment that made you realize you wanted to start this business? Was it something you had been considering for awhile or did you just wake up one day and realize you wanted to follow your passion in baking?

CiR: I’ve always enjoyed being creative and keeping busy. In addition to this, I’ve always loved baking and cupcakes for me have been the perfect way to mix both these activities.

The idea of starting a business, even if it’s home-based and still very small, sort of happened by chance mainly on the suggestion of family and friends who at every occasion I’d bake some cupcakes, would tell me they were so good, I should sell them!

I guess after hearing this for so long, I just took them up on it! It’s really been more of a personal challenge than an actual business choice, really!

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JBH: On your website you mention having traveled a lot from a young age. Where did you travel and what types of sweets and other cuisines did you try that you particularly enjoyed?

CiR: I’ve been very fortunate because I travelled a lot thanks to my dad’s job. We’ve lived in 4 countries, including Indonesia (in Asia) and this has given me the opportunity to see, smell and taste all the wonderful things these places have to offer, from tropical fruits to different kinds of desserts.

I must say though that, having grown in an Italian household, REAL Italian remains my fave, but I do also love Asian-style cuisine (so long as it’s not too spicy!). As for desserts, American and English are my faves! I guess they remind me of treats during school friends’ parties or other occasions.

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JBH: Why the fascination with American cupcakes? What is it about our type of cake that intrigues you? Is it the texture? Layers? Variety of flavors? How does it differ from ones you’ve tried in Europe and other locations?

CiR: There’s something about these tiny cakes that just makes me smile! I love the variety of decorations I have discovered. I love how one tiny bite-sized cake can often become a work of art… like a canvas waiting to be brought to life! I love how, depending on the flavour and decoration, they can be great for any occasion!

Personally, I have not experimented with too many “cake” flavours, though I plan to slowly expand the variety we offer. Italians have a much less “sweet” tooth than the Americans or English… so I have somewhat adapted the selection of what I offer.

I think that the best cupcakes I’ve had were definitely in New York!

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JBH: You also have a blog that you’ve recently created. The tagline says that you aim to have a loving relationship with food and share that on your blog. By delving into your loving relationship with food do you aim to mainly post recipes that you’ve created and comparisons with baked goods native to you versus those native to America?

CiR: The aim with my blog was and is, to offer simple yet interesting recipes any working girl like me can whip up without too much trouble. I’d say I mainly prefer sharing Italian recipes that not many foreign readers may be aware of or know how to prepare.

On the contrary to my cupcake site, the blog is only in English, because my intention was to share these easy (mainly) Italian recipes and tips with English speaking readers.

The fact that I don’t update it too often, is another story!

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JBH: Beyond cupcakesinrome.com and your blog are there other ways that people can connect with you online?

CiR: I am very passionate about photography, though I’ve somewhat neglected my first love, ever since I got involved in “Cupcakes in Rome.”

My photography has always been just a hobby, but it’s something that I care about and that is another way to flaunt the creative side of my character!

Cupcakes in Rome is on Facebook and Twitter.

Websites where you can see some of my work:

http://alextakesphotos.carbonmade.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexandra_n

Thanks, Alexandra for sharing your inspiration for baking and these lovely photos of your creations. Wishing Cupcakes in Rome the utmost success!

National Novel Writing Month Begins...Again! (And Update on Bout of Books)

I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) again. Last year you may recall that I failed miserably at it. You can see my bevy of excuses here. The aim last year was to finish a new idea I had been tinkering with but 1/3 of the way through I just did not like what I was writing and went back to my passion project--yes that short story collection you keep reading about!

This time I have a plan. For over a year I have been mulling over the side story of one of the characters from my collection. In realizing that an additional 'coming of age' story wouldn't work as a short in the collection I decided to write a companion YA contemporary novel centered around this character where the collection ends. While I was away at my artist residency at Jentel I wrote an outline for this YA novel. I've tinkered with it since but have steadily not written a thing (though have made copious notes) in preparation for NaNoWriMo. I figure that since I do love the characters in this collection and this particular character, Kayla, very much (hell, I've been living with them for 4+ years at this point) that it made sense to delve into something I wanted to do and reserve a set amount of time to do it. And having a framework for the story arc(s) will help me so that I won't be scrambling for ideas of what should happen next like I was last year.

Like always the premise for NaNoWriMo is to write a 50k word novel (or more) in 30 days taking place throughout the month of November. There are write-ins where you can participate with other NaNoWriMos and a large online community.

While I anticipate I'll have much on my plate with a full-time job, freelance work, and social outings (it is wedding season after all!) I hope to be able to focus on this piece while also dabbling with others during the month. But we'll see. I aim to get a completion badge dang it!

If you're also on the NaNoWriMo site feel free to tag me. My username is jenn.bakerhenry.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon update

On October 23rd I posted about being a part of the Bout of Books read-a-thon.

Results: I read all three books I had listed and enjoyed Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and Wonderstruck very much. Eve I was lukewarm about. (You can see my reviews on Goodreads.) But, the kicker is that I read Wonderstruck in 2 hours the day before the read-a-thon officially began. So my total count from October 24th to October 30th was actually two whole books. Not bad, but I could've done better had I had my weekend free for just reading.

Pluses: I met some great people and one of the entrants in Bout of Books organized a Twitterchat a couple days in which was fun. We talked about what we liked about read-a-thons and books in general. Connecting with avid readers and all-around cool people.

There were also some cool giveaways and contests held during the read-a-thon and I think in general it was nice to see other writers and book reviewers sites to see what they were reading, are reading, intended to read and were excited about.

I'd definitely do it again and have already signed up for another read-a-thon, a holiday one, set for December 2nd-4th. So hopefully I'll be able to block off time to actually read.

Bout of Books Read-a-thon 2011!

Via the Twitter-verse (where I get much of my networking info these days) I learned about Bout of Books Read-a-thon (October 24th-30th) via Amanda at On a Book Bender. And this past Friday I signed up for it.

Why did I participate in this read-a-thon?

A) Because I'm a book lover and as a writer I love learning from books.

B) See A.

With my ever growing crazy schedule the fact that this read-a-thon takes place over a week and not a weekend seemed feasible. And plus I'm kind of backed up on books I got from Book Expo and that I'm just dying to read in general. I already have an indie bookstore trip planned where I intend to do my part to help stimulate the economy. And it's good prep since NaNoWriMo starts in November. So get in a bunch of reading just before for inspiration! Good idea? Yes.

Plus, it's always good to connect with fellow book lovers! Book bloggers are gaining followings because they tend to give voice to books that get lost in the shuffle. In speaking with an editor for a major NY publisher he affirmed that publishing houses reach out to book bloggers more and more because of the fact it helps get the word out about their books.

So, the goal that I have set for myself is to read 3 books in a week. Considering my schedule this can be a stretch as I do most of my reading on the subway to/from work and sometimes in the evening. Basically for this read-a-thon one must spend every extra minute you have reading!

The books I am hoping to complete are as follows:

  

Since I've been writing my own short story collection I wanted to delve back into contemporary ones. And Danielle Evans' collection has won the PEN/Faulkner and she was chosen as one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 this year.

I snagged ARCs of Eve by Anna Carey and Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick at Book Expo and haven't had the chance to get to them as much as I wanted to. So I'm eager to finally get to them. Especially Wonderstruck as the illustrations look gorgeous.

If I'm unable to read one of these I may switch it out for another book I have on my shelf to be read, Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

I'll be logging my progress on Goodreads and posting finished titles on Twitter as well. And I'll be rooting everyone on!

If you're interested in still signing up feel free to do so via Amanda's website. She's leaving sign up open until October 28th. (You have to have signed up to be able to participate in giveaways hosted at a new website daily during the Bout of Books challenge.) And if you're on Twitter remember to tag #boutofbooks in your post on status and to other participants.

Happy reading everyone!