When I received the judges picks for Pietopia back last week, I was immediately drawn to one in particular and knew I had to design that print. There were three winners + one for best Portland pie–I have three designers/artists plus myself designing the winners prints as their prizes.
This particular story resonated with me as the young woman was an architect and has now started her own baking company. Before I started Eating Design, I was an urban planner. I loved the community aspect to what I did, working with lots of different people from all different backgrounds, even different countries. However, I was frustrated with the lack of effective communication to diverse audiences with totally different cultural, economic, education, and language backgrounds. And despite these differences they all came to the community meetings with the same goals in mind: bettering their communities for their children and themselves. So how could I bridge this gap? At first, I thought graphic design, so that is why I went back to school for an MFA. But during my time in school, I found my time in the kitchen more fulfilling than my time in the studio–how could I then bridge that gap? Thus, Eating Design was born. But enough about me, here is a sneak peak at Pietopia winner Sabrina Miller’s essay:
unemployment may be {a} tart {cranberry,} but starting a new business is sweet {apple pie}
The ingredients in my pie are both tart and sweet . . . similar to the recent events in my life . . . and when combined, the result is unexpectedly sublime (and a force to be reckoned with, according to my husband)! After completing a graduate degree in architecture two years ago, I found my first job in the field rather quickly. As the recession started to come on full steam this past winter, the design community was being hit hard and I began to wonder what I might do if I was laid off. I decided to pursue a long-time hobby, that of baking, and start a small business. In February I was laid off from a local architecture firm, due to a reduction in work, and I devoted my full attention to my new venture. I have selected this cranberry apple pie as it resembles my life as I look to create something enjoyable from these rough times and move forward. Cranberries can test a baker’s skills when making dessert due to their tartness. They often pose a challenge and adjustments need to be made when they are incorporated. Unemployment can threaten one’s stability and hopes for the future. It too causes a need for adjustment, but its incorporation may also make way for new beginnings. Just as a baker may struggle to incorporate cranberries in their dish, I am taking my unemployment as a new beginning, a challenge I can and will face. As the cranberries gave me an opportunity to make my apple pie unique, my unemployment is giving me an opportunity to bring happiness to people through my baked goods. I look forward to the sweet future in my baking business just as I hope others enjoy the sweetness in my pie!
While reading this, I couldn’t help but find a little bit of myself in her story–adjustment, new beginnings, a little bit of fear, and of course comfort in baking. The design came to me during the many hours of driving last weekend home from Yellowstone–but it came fairly quickly. It was the words that came quickly; and I love the beauty of using real objects (the cranberries in this case) translated through a silk-screen print.
I decided to hold off making Sabrina’s pie. I wanted a virgin tasting of her life via her hands in her pie, I am looking forward to trying it at the event. Instead, I made a Vanilla Cranberry Coffee Cake that is any vanilla lovers dream come true. It calls for vanilla sugar to be crumbled on top and used in the center, plus more vanilla for the cake. I used real vanilla bean instead of extract and it was simply amazing. You can use any fruit you wanted really, I am going to use this cake base for many others: blueberry, apple, raspberry, cherry, the list could go on and on!
Vanilla Cranberry Coffee Cake, via Gourmet
–Vanilla is arguably one of the best scents in the world, and it permeates this tender cake in the form of a simple vanilla sugar. A zesty cranberry filling lies beneath the crumble top.–
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (I used a whole vanilla bean…it was well worth it)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (6 oz)
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, divided
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9- by 2-inch round cake pan. Line bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment.
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into a food processor with tip of a paring knife (reserve pod for another use if desired). Add sugar and pulse to combine. Transfer to a bowl.
Pulse cranberries with 1/2 cup vanilla sugar in processor until finely chopped (do not purée).
Whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt.
Beat together 1 stick butter and 1 cup vanilla sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down side and bottom of bowl. Reduce speed to low and mix in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour, until just combined.
Spread half of batter in pan, then spoon cranberries over it, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge. Top with remaining batter and smooth top.
Blend remaining 1/4 cup vanilla sugar with remaining Tbsp each of butter and flour using your fingertips. Crumble over top of cake.
Bake until a wooden pick inserted into cake (not into cranberry filling) comes out clean and side begins to pull away from pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely, crumb side up.
Cheers!
(This is my mock up of how I did the print. First, I laid out real cranberries on a white board and took a picture. I then laid the words over with a design program on the computer. I turned that picture into a black and white which I then exposed to the screen and mixed the inks to get what you saw as the final poster in the post. It was a two color run:)
