I lose count of how many times I have told people how much I love Jessie Oleson Moore. We first met at her former art gallery and shop in Seattle few years ago; and I could say that, she is ONE OF THE KINDEST PERSONS on earth! I have been a devoted fans of her blog, CakeSpy ever since then.
Couple years ago, Jessie Oleson Moore wrote this most amazing and creative recipe book: CakeSpy Presents: Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life. I bought it and have been loving the book; the recipes in the book is so easy to follow and extremely innovative. The ultimate success of her first book was leading her to prepare the second book, the Secret Lives of Baked Goods. I have not bought this new book yet, but definitely put it on my TO-DO list. Here is a sweet chat between Jessie and I about her new book and some of her future new projects:
1) Your first book was such a great hit. Did it give you any pressure of preparing your second book?
Interestingly, my first book didn't figure much into the experience of the second. I think this is probably because they are SO different. I did feel more insecure at points about my writing, though, because the first book had just headnotes and the second actually required paragraph structure and storytelling rather than just telling about the recipes. It was almost like writing another first book!
2) Tell me and our readers a little bits about your new book and how did you come up with the idea of the theme?
I've always thought that foods taste better with a backstory. You know, grandma saying that she won grandpa over with her apple pie, or something like that. I thought that by choosing the stories behind well-known baked goods that are accessible to everyone would be a fun and engaging theme--especially for those who, like me, can read cookbooks as if they are novels!
3) Do you have any book tour/book signing in California? If yes, when and where?
I was in San Francisco last month, at Omnivore Books and Book Passage, respectively. Though it's not specifically a book event, I will be at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles this summer and will be selling books at the event.
4) It looks like you travel quite a lot for your passion and work, is there one place in the world you desperately want to check out? And why?
If I could make myself a traveling machine that transported me free of cost to anyplace, I'd choose Vienna--I think of it as a pastry Mecca.
5) Do you think the doughnut trend will overtake the cupcake craze?
These things come in cycles. Yes, more doughnut shops are opening and it makes for good press and a new "it" baked good (fried good?) but really it amounts to the same thing: sugar is tasty and we want it. Same thing, different delivery method. But am I eating more doughnuts as of late? Heck yes.
6) Do you have new projects coming up?
I am working on a pitch for my third book right now!
7) Do you have any artists (could be a chef, pastry chef, writer, illustionist, fashion designer, etc) you want to pair up with to create something amazing?
If I could conjure up a dream team of people to work with RIGHT THIS INSTANT, it would be: Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, They Might Be Giants, Stanley Tucci, and Dorie Greenspan. Why Stanley Tucci? Why not?
8) Any new sweet artworks you would like to share with us?
Did you know that I did all of the illustrations in my new book? It's rather a different style for me and I'm quite proud! Here are some examples in my book:
