About

Hello, and welcome to my kitchen, The Sweetest Kitchen.  I have compiled a list of questions so that you may get to know me and my blog just a little bit better.

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Who are you?
My name is Jamieanne and I am 31 years old with 3 young children and a husband of 7 years.  We live in Sydney, Australia, but I myself was originally born and raised in a cornfield in Indiana, USA.

Why did you start a food blog?
I originally started this blog in May 2008 at Blogspot and it was called The Cupcake Review – I only made cupcakes at that time.  As I started to expand by baking other types of food I discovered that I needed more flexibility than what Blogspot offered.  On March 3, 2009, The Sweetest Kitchen was born.

I started a food blog for a few different reasons, but mainly because I love food (especially sweets) and I love to share what I bake.  I focus on cupcakes because I love combining different flavors and discovering new, interesting recipes.  I also love cupcakes because they are super cute and they come in just the right size.

I don’t write a lot of my own recipes, but I generally take a recipe that I find online and alter it (if allowed) if needed.  All recipes on my blog are credited to their respectful owners, or to the source, and a link is provided if available.  If you find a recipe on my blog that is yours and it is not credited to you, please inform me so that I may correct it.

All photographs on my blog are my own, unless credited otherwise.

What do you like about food?
I love all types of food for their different flavors and I think it is utterly amazing that one can turn a few separate, plain-looking pieces of food into a masterpiece of art and flavor.

I prefer baking over cooking.  Baking is indeed a science and it can be temperamental and demanding of precise, exact ingredients, but I find the process of baking to be soothing and fun, and always a learning experience.  To watch the ingredients come together in a batter, then bake up fluffy and moist is fascinating, and not only to me, but my children as well.

Have you always been interested in baking?
I certainly have.  One of my earliest memories is of helping my mom sift flour for Christmas cookies.

Another of my earliest memories regarding food is how infuriated my dad would become when my mom always undercooked the spaghetti for dinner – he liked it just past al dente.  We had a lot of spaghetti, so this happened quite often.  I have always remembered this and because of it, I can cook a perfect pot of spaghetti (or so my dad says, as he always give me his approval for my spaghetti)!

Do you own a lot of cookbooks?
Unfortunately, I don’t.  I borrow a lot of cookbooks from the library and then copy down my favorite recipes from them.  I’ve copied quite a few recipes from Donna Hay, Gordon Ramsay and Martha Stewart, and from back issues of delicious. magazine.

My two favorite cookbooks that I have owned are Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking and Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share, but I had to leave them behind when I moved back to Australia from the US.

I currently own Our Family Table by Julie Goodwin, Bourke Street Bakery by Paul Allam and David McGuinness, The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Alyssa Torey and Jennifer Appel, and Sweet by delicious. magazine.

Who are some of your favorite chefs?
I like Nigella Lawson, Martha Stewart, Donna Hay, Gordon Ramsay, Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay and Alton Brown.

Do you watch any food shows on TV?
Of course!  I used to watch Top Chef while in the US, as well as Iron Chef Japan and Iron Chef America, and Hell’s Kitchen.  I also liked Alton Brown’s Good Eats because of the way he explained the science behind how the recipe came together.  I love Ace of Cakes as well!  Now that I’m in Australia, I really like Masterchef.

What are some of your favorite foods?
My ultimate favorite food is sushi, followed by mostly any Italian pasta dish.  My favorite dessert is basically anything with chocolate in it, especially cake.  To drink, I prefer milk or iced teas from T2 Tea, or a cappuccino from a nice cafe.

Where’s the most interesting place that you’ve eaten?
I’d definitely have to say that my meal at the top of Centerpoint Tower in Sydney is the most interesting place I’ve been to eat.  My husband, then-boyfriend, took me and my mother there in 1999.  It was quite spectacular, as the restaurant actually revolves so that you get to see a 360° view of the city while you eat.  The portions were so tiny however, that we left still feeling hungry, despite the fact that our meal had cost nearly $200.

Do you have plans to turn your love of food into a business?
Right now in my life I am a leisure baker.  Having previously worked as a veterinary nurse and a sales associate in a fish and aquariums shop, my resume would hardly be appealing to any bakery!  Eventually though, as my children transition into “big kid” school, I hope to obtain a position in a bakery (preferably a cupcake bakery) or start my own home cupcake business, which I know would be very challenging.

Thanks for visiting my kitchen, I hope you have found something here that inspires you to get into the kitchen and bake.  If you have any questions at all about a recipe, please leave a comment or send me an email.  If you’ve made something you’ve seen here, leave a comment to let everyone know how much you liked (or didn’t like!) it.  I hope to see you here again soon!

You may contact me via email at sweetestkitchen AT gmail.com.

If you’d like to know more about me or have a question about baking or anything related to my website, please ask below, and read what others are asking of me here.


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