I just wanted to give a shout-out to my Number 1 fan, my official taste tester, and my best friend. We’ve been married five years today and it’s flown by! Love you Hubby! Here’s one of my favorite pics from our wedding day, thanks to the amazing Steph Carson.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. (more)
All Original Photographs, Original Recipes & Text belong to Beantown Baker unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. If you repost any material from this blog, please give credit by including a link back to me. If you would like to repost one of my photographs, please obtain written permission first. Thank you!
Hmmm cheesecake might be my biggest accomplishment. Actually, baking a cheesecake that didn’t crack was a huge accomplishment!
Love the new digs, nice work. I am on the waiting list for my new blog design – May.
My biggest baking accomplishment is either the snickerdoodle cupcakes I made which my husband said were the best cupcake I have made yet, or the French Lemon Cream Tart from Dorie’s FMHTY that my Dad went nuts for (and he is hard to please).
I’m a lurker… I have enjoyed reading for many months. I’ve even tried some of your recipes!
My biggest accomplishment happened years ago. Before I knew that it was hard, I made Beef Wellington. It turned out perfectly – beginner’s luck.
Sorry to rain on your parade – I think your old layout was more complimentary to your food photos.
I recently conquered yeast too! Check out my blog for my pretzel update! You’re blog is lookin’ good. 😀
I like reading your blog, it gives me inspiration to cook new things!
I think my biggest kitchen accomplishment lately was getting my husband to request my chocolate chess pecan pie for his birthday instead of a cake… and he “doesn’t like pie.” 🙂
Thanks for all the comments so far everyone!
Congrats Steph on the cheesecake. I have yet to make one that doesn’t crack.
Mermaid – I’m going to have to try those snickerdoodle cupcakes you mentioned.
Thanks for the feedback cHim. I appreciate it. Congrats on the Beef Wellington. I’ve never tried, but I know they always struggle on Hells Kitchen with it (yes, I love reality TV).
Nice work on the pretzels Erin. Pretzels are so good aren’t they?
And Julie – nice work on converting your husband. Hubby used to say he didn’t like sweets. Ha!
I’m a very new reader, but hey – I’ll comment if you want me to!
My April Fools dinner is going to consist of:
“fruit punch” – jello in glasses with straws set in
“grilled cheese” – loaf pound cake sliced and toasted with orange frosting in between
“fries” – apples cut into sticks, tossed in cinnamon sugar and toasted in the oven
“cupcakes” – meatloaf cupcakes frosted with mashed potatoes colored with beet juice
“sundaes” – scoop of mashed potatoes topped with a thick gravy
Hi! You’re my baking inspiration. I’ve been avoiding it all together after a couple fiascoes and just got back into it this year. I’ll say my biggest accomplishment, not screwing up my sisters red velvet birthday cupcakes. 🙂 Your new blog design is pretty. Looking forward to more photo projects with you!
Oh definitely my cherry limeade cupcakes I made for my sister’s birthday this year. They were so CUTE! And so GOOD!
I would have to say chocolate truffles…I was so proud at how they turned out! Love the new design! : )
I also overcame my fear of yeast (which included a couple failures before my successes).
Also, I baked my first cheesecake. It was delicious and it didn’t crack (I hightly recommend the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook).
This year I hope to do more with yeast and tackle making pies.
I’m not sure if this is much of an accomplishment, but one of my most exciting food moments was when I made my first roasted chicken and gravy on my own, away from the watchful eye of my mother. For some reason it had always seemed intimidating to me, though I know it’s really one of the simplest meals you can make. The skin was crispy, and the gravy was perfect (maybe even better than Mom’s….shhh!)!
Hi! I love your blog and I am here in Mass, so that makes it even more fun! I love making cupcakes and I’ve made some pretty fun ones! I’m not super fantastic or anything, but I have lots of fun with them!
I don’t think I’m particularly talented in the kitchen, but one recipe that I thought was difficult when I first made it at 19 was Manicotti.
I enjoy your blog because it combines two things I am very fond of, Boston (lived there 2 years and miss it everyday) and baked goods. Thanks very much for your posts!
Hi! I found your blog a few weeks ago and started following due to your yummy looking oatmeal raisin cookies. I haven’t made them yet but I plan to soon!
My biggest kitchen accomplishment would either be A) starting anad maintaining a food blog; I never thought I could do it!, B) making red velvet cake or C) hosting my first holiday (I’m actually counting my eggs on this one; I’m hosting Easter in a week and a half).
Love your blog!
My biggest accomplishment in the kitchen has been gaining the confidence to come up with original recipes! Sometimes I have a disaster, most of the time we grade the recipe a 6 or 7 and then I have to go back and make changes (only recipes rated 8 and above by both my hubby and I make it on my blog!), but I always have fun!
Hi! I love your blog, but honestly don’t comment very much because I have to log into my google account to do so. My blog is on wordpress and you don’t have the open ID comment option, so it is just laziness on my part!
~Melissa
http://madebymel.wordpress.com
Love the new design layout! My biggest accomplishment was hosting Thanksgiving this year – from the turkey to the taters, it was all me 😉 Except for the pies, those, we leave to the Moms.
Hi Baker! I haven’t been around much lately but I just wanted to say hi and I love the new look.
Amy
Laurel – what a cute idea for an April fools meal! I’ve never even heard of doing something like that!
Amy – you’re one of my main crafting/photography inspiration. That’s a fair trade right?
OPK – Those sound great
Jess J – I hear ya about yeast. I’ll def have to check out the ATK cheesecake…
Jess – I know what you mean about certain recipes just being intimidating
Jingle – Hey neighbor! Cupcakes are fun no matter what!!
Pipabubo – Manicotti at 19 is impressive! I hope to try to include more Boston stuff in my blog this year.
Shoe – I hear you about maintaining a food blog! It’s more work than I thought, but very addictive.
Kerstin – Everyone has disasters in the kitchen right? Congrats on gaining confidence – it can go a long way in the kitchen.
Melissa – I’ll have to look into openID to see if I can use that in my blog. I’m not sure how to set that up, but thanks for the comment.
LOS – Hosting any holiday is a huge accomplishment! Congrats!
blue – Thanks 🙂
Kudos to you and your 18 months of posting! While I am a fan of cutest blog on the block, the gray tones don’t reflect the excitement that your posts and pictures contain. 🙂
My only kitchen accomplishment at this point is my ability to organize it. After all the new dishes from the wedding, I now am happy that everything has its place and my pantry is in order. I’m a bit OCD about it, but when I do go in for the kill on a baking excursion, I know exactly where to find everything!
Hey girl, first time on your blog and it is very cute! i would say my biggest accomplishment is banana bread. can’t wait to go through your site. It looks really cool! Hope all is well!
I’m another lurker as well, and I’ve loved using your blog as inspiration for my baking! I’m dealing with an ancient oven that is from the seventies which makes it tough to try recipes that require a long baking time i.e. cheesecake. My biggest baking accomplishment was not really in terms of flavor but in decorating -shark cupcakes for my sister’s birthday!
Thanks for the feedback Sara. It’s always nice to have an organized kitchen!
Thanks for visiting Beth! I love banana bread. My mother in law has a great recipe.
I heard you bcallegra about an old oven. Ours is getting replaced soon. Shark cupcakes sound cute!
I am also very new (thus my late post!) … I think my biggest accomplishment in the kitchen is a tie between being able to make whole wheat bread and my once-a-month cooking schedule that I mastered this weekend — 20 meals in 5 hours! Phew!
Ms.Green – once a month cooking sounds good to me! We’re actually doing something similar for our upcoming kitchen renovation.
I’m a lurker! 🙂
I’d say the first time I made a homemade apple pie & everyone kept asking me to make more! I havent stopped baking since & I’ve fallen in love with trying it all!
& I love reading/following your blog! It gives me inspiration to try new things! 🙂
I’m a lurker! 😉 My accomplishment as a foodie is to keep up my food blog! I’ve been doing pretty well in maintaining it. Come and check it out sometimes!
http://blissfullydelicious.blogspot.com/
I know I’m a little behind, but I had to comment. My biggest accomplishment was a pumpkin cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving. It took me 2 tries the night before, but finally got it!
Thanks so much for the comments Sonja and h2babe. I love when lurkers come out and say hi 🙂 Keeping a food blog is hard work. I’m definitely going to check yours out!
Wow Steph – I’m impressed. I’d have to say I would have gotten frustrated and thrown the towel in. Nice work for sticking with it and making it work.