Darcie Bakes //

Random Sides // Mise En Place.

A little Sunday food for thought: mise en place.

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{Art by me; the original bowl icons are from The Noun Project. I colored + designed everything.}

“The system that makes kitchens go is called mise-en-place, or, literally, “put in place.” It’s a French phrase that means to gather and arrange the ingredients and tools needed for cooking.” – Article via NPR.

Mise en place. Have you heard of that phrase? It’s a French one, as all “fancy” [to we English-speaking folk] food-related phrases are.

As aforementioned, it simply means to organize all of your ingredients and tools needed for cooking and baking. I learned of the phrase about a year ago. It’s a simple concept, but one that sticks with me as I continue onward in my baking and cooking adventures. The phrase reminds me to put everything in its place, to read and re-read recipes to ensure correct comprehension of them, and to be fairly organized before I begin. Mise en place saves me a lot of headaches and mistakes, that’s for sure.

Do you practice mise en place? Do you find it useful?

-xoxo.

 

Random Sides // Choose Butter Over Bros.

Sometimes I really love playing around in Photoshop and Illustrator. I’m no graphic designer, but I’ve got a soft spot for typography. Graphic design – for me – is very much like baking. It’s the perfect combination of utilizing my technical (left) brain along with my more creative (right) brain. Here’s one sample of something I’ve been up to lately. Of course I had to tribute my beloved butter.

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{Butter graphic by Tom Glass, Jr., via The Noun Project. Print created by me. Inspiration via 100 Days of Fonts.}

More baking posts coming soon; just thought I’d share some fun inspiration in the form of graphic design! <3

Random Sides // Baking is My Love Language. <3

It’s true. Baking is my love language. What does that mean? Well, there’s a theory out there that says we all show love and affection to others – whether it be romantic or platonic or familial – in a particular way, that is unique to us. The five “love languages” are as follows: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch… Or something like that.

bakingismylovelanguage

Of course, we all have a combination of the five love languages in how we interact with our loved ones. However, we all lean toward one way or another. It’s been awhile since I have taken a quiz on love languages, so I can’t even remember what categories I fall under the most.

Anyway. It’s pretty interesting to read about, and I think it can be helpful to learn about when it comes to our relationships. It’s a good way to understand our own needs, as well as our loved ones’ needs, and how we show love and vice versa. That being said, I always like to say that baking is my love language.

Baking is my love language because I love to bake, and half of the reason why I find baking so enjoyable is that it brings so much joy to other people. If I like/love you, I’m gonna bake for you. If I don’t care for you, then you’re definitely not getting any tasty treats from me! 😛 It’s that simple. I show people love by baking for them. [Really, I’m not trying to make you “fat!”]

What is your love language? What skills do you have that show others your love for them? 🙂

/ End random stream of consciousness. <3

Random Sides // Late Night Logo Practice.

Sometimes, I like to spend hours messing around in Photoshop. I usually choose to do this late at night – when I should most likely be sleeping. Whoops. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I am a night owl. And my creative bursts generally come to me at odd times, but I’m pretty sure that’s a common phenomenon for most creative people.

So, tonight’s late night Photoshop binge includes me just messing around with some logo ideas for the blog [plus an upcoming small business venture… more on that soon!]. What do you think? I’m no expert, but I guess I know enough to be dangerous. Plus, it’s just great fun to create stuff like this. 😉

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xoxo. <3