About Me & This Site
My name is Ariela, though my friends often call me Ari. I’m a 27-year-old graduate student who lives in Connecticut and studies in New York City. In addition to being a full-time graduate student I juggle a variety of jobs. I work as a teacher at both the elementary and high school level, which I love for many reasons not the least of which is challenging young minds to look at the world in new ways. (I have to admit that I also enjoy occasionally acting like a goofy ten-year-old with my 5th graders. How many 27-year-olds get to do that without the other adults giving them funny looks?) I also work as a youth group advisor, helping teens at a local synagogue plan events like scavenger hunts, or social action projects like building houses with Habitat for Humanity. In February 2008 I became a New York Cluster Coordinator for “Rosh Hodesh: It’s A Girl Thing!”, which is an amazing program that teaches pre-teen and teen girls to develop positive body image, self-esteem and leadership skills through Jewish values. All that’s my “official” background and explains, I believe, why coffee recipes take up such a large portion of the drinks section on this site.

I live with my husband and our five-year-old Labrador Retriever, Oreo. My husband and I absolutely adore her even if she’s a little mischievous. Oreo is completely obsessed with baseballs and likes to spin around in circles until she falls over. Recently she became a huge iPod Nano fan, which sounds weird until you realize that the reason she likes it is that I bought a Nike+ pack and have since taken up jogging. Oreo LOVES to go jogging - she’ll even ignore squirrels if they pop into view. That’s focus right there. (If you’re interested, Oreo has an outdated Dogster profile located here.)

“Baking and Books” is a personal blog where I like to share some of the recipes and books I spend time with. I’ve always loved to cook, but it wasn’t until this past year that I really began to explore my foodie passions in depth. Baking and cooking is, if you ask me, more than just following step-by-step recipes. That’s part of it to be sure, but it’s also about learning how your ingredients work, experimenting with recipes, and eventually creating your own dishes. I find that truly satisfying, especially since something delicious you’ve baked can easily be shared with others.

As for the books part of this site: books are a life long obsession of mine, plain and simple. So when I decided to create a food blog I thought it would also be a good idea to include the novels and cookbooks I’ve spent so many hours pouring over. I especially enjoy reading historical fiction, but there is also a special place in my heart for theology, sociology and history books. I used to be an impulsive book buyer but then I ran out of shelf space, so now - with the exception of cookbooks, which I can’t resist - I go to the library instead.

Book Reviews
If you are an author or a publisher who would like me to review your book please feel free to contact me at bakingandbooks [at] gmail [dot] com. As long as you allow me to be honest with my review and complete it on my own timetable I am generally happy to review books, though I must admit that lately my schedule has made me very picky when it comes to the texts I’m able to spend time with.

FAQs

Q - What plugins and add-ons do you use on this site?
A:

• Auto Shut-Off Comments
• Spam Karma
• WP Lists
• Miniblog
• Project Plugin
• Reading List & Library
• Contact Form
• WP-Polls
• WP-Print
• WP-Email

Q - Can I convert you to _ insert religion here_? I want to help you see the truth!
A: No.

New 10.04.06:
Q - How come most of your recipes are vegetarian? Where’s all the meat?
A: My husband has been a strict vegetarian since he was 5 years old, so out of respect for that I rarely cook meat at home. As of June ‘07 I’ve also become a vegetarian (technically a pesco-vegetarian since I still eat fish).

New 11.18.06:
Q - I was looking through your site today and saw weight-loss progress-o-meter…and you’re losing weight! How are you doing it and wow…how can you lose weight and eat all those delicious white flour and sugar laden baked goods?! What is your secret?

A: I get this question a lot so I’ve decided to post my latest email response. That doesn’t mean you can’t still email me about this, I just thought you’d appreciate the convenience of an immediate answer!

I have been losing weight while eating what I post on my blog (plus everything I don’t post) but I think there are a few reasons for this:

First, I never literally eat everything. I taste and try it all, have a serving or two, but especially when it comes to baked goods I usually give the majority of what I make away. So, for instance, I had two chocolate chip muffins over a two day period, then sent the rest of them to my husband’s office so that other people could eat the rest. When I do eat a treat I also keep an eye on what I eat during the rest of the day. If I have a huge, decadent breakfast (like I’m about to in twenty minutes) then I have a light lunch and dinner with a healthy snack in between. Light lunch is a small sandwich with un-buttered popcorn, light dinner is half a plate of spinach salad, then whatever we are eating on the other side of the dish. A light snack is a handful of almonds. The same goes for drinks: if I have a pumpkin spice latte in the morning, I drink chilled water the rest of the day. I really don’t think eating sweets and baked goods are incompatible with losing weight so long as you don’t a) literally eat every single item you bake and b) are aware of what you’re eating otherwise.

Second, although I don’t do intense exercise routines I do incorporate movement into my life. Every day I walk between 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, either as part of my general routine back and forth from school or as part of a workout with my dog. I try to supplement this by riding the bike for 30-40 minutes 2-3 times a week and by doing yoga. I don’t always succeed at this last part because my schedule is so hectic, but oh well! When I remember and have the time/energy I add an extra workout.

Third, I only bake something “sweet” a max of twice a month. I still bake bread and dinner dishes on a weekly basis, but with the exception of this past week where I allowed myself to indulge for my birthday, there is a “twice a month baking rule” when it comes to things like cupcakes and cakes.

Lastly, I drink a lot of water and try to get as much sleep as I can, which is generally about 7-8 hours a night. Not drinking enough water or getting enough sleep has been linked to weight gain and it’s an easy thing to control so, why not? Oh and I take a multivitamin + fish oil + vitamin E every day. I think the vitamins help too.

Press
‘Baking and Books’ is honored to have been mentioned in the following locations:

• C&H Sugar’s Summer Newsletter (2007)
• Culinate’s “Blog Feed” Column (2007)
• The New York Times - “The Author Will Take Q’s Now” (2007 Interview with author Amy Cohen)
• The Forward - “Viral Philanthropy Starts to Spread.” (2007, in connection to my fundraising efforts this past summer)
• The Jewish Journal -“Virtual, viral fundraising brings real donations.” (2007, in connection to my fundraising efforts this past summer)

Contact Me
If you have another question please feel free to email me at bakingandbooks [at] gmail [dot] com

I appreciate (read: love) that you’re taking the time to get in touch with me and will do my best to respond to your email. However, if it takes me a few days please don’t hold it against me. I get tons of messages and don’t always have the time to sit down and sort through them all.

Misc Info

• Blog system: WordPress
• Some icons are from ATP
• Smilies are from Ilumine.net and Bouncy Bubbles
• Hosted with E-Starr, an incredibly well priced company with excellent customer service. Register with them and get a free domain!
• Background image from Squidfingers