We were staring down a bitter cold pandemic weekend, with sunny forecasts obscuring "feels like 10 degrees" temps, and Stephen was restless after a week spent glued to computer screens for work.
I'd been eyeing the @juniorbalaboosta Instagram account where Julia, my childhood friend, has been pandemic-baking her way through fabulous cakes and goodies, and where she'd just posted a first attempt at a traditional buttercrunch. Chocolate doesn't hold much power over me but buttercrunch is my jam. I needed it, and could conveniently claim that I was supporting a small, woman-owned business with an order : )
I caught up with Julia about the order and after learning that her weekend plans included even more ambitious baking projects, I decided to engineer a little Stephen // Julia meet-up, where Stephen could film Julia's process for constructing a six layer M&M explosion cake. I could picture him sitting behind the camera (with a mask and properly distanced) in her toasty, light-filled kitchen, while she assembled a new masterpiece. Julia was instantly game to host her own little afternoon show and brought all of the extra creative energy needed to tell a fun story with some real tactical baking know-how.
Stephen loves creative side projects and found a lot of joy playing sous-chef on this project, and I'm angling to be promoted as talent agent. Thank you, Julia, for actual icing on the cake!!
- Kerry O’Brien
