Hi & Welcome!

Hi all,

Welcome to my blog!

I'm Bridie West and Treats by Bridie is my new business.  The concept of 'boutique baking' is using the highest quality of ingredients and combining stunning flavours to make exquisite treats that are all handmade and beautifully presented.  My philosophy is that the food should taste even better than it looks and that word of mouth is the best advertisement.  My treats can be purchased to take home to share and are also beautifully gift wrapped.  They make a lovely gift and many lucky people received them over christmas time. 

I currently sell my treats at the Port Fairy markets and by personal order.  The Community Market is on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month at the Village Green 8am - 1pm.  I'll be using this blog to tell you all what I am up to and what treats to expect at the upcoming market.  I hope to share pictures with you and recipes that have taken my eye.  I'll also post product lists for you all to have a look at.  Please feel free to post comments, ask questions or seek help with your own creations (I'll try to help).

A little about me:
I'm 32 years old and live in Port Fairy, Australia with my husband Michael, 4yo son Jonty and 2yo twins Greta and Eamon.  We are lucky to be surrounded by close family and friends and live in a beautiful town.  We are near the end of the renovation of my mum's home, an old weatherboard commission.  Never again!  At least not while you're living in it.  But we do now have a beautiful house, a kitchen that I have always wanted to cook in and some great stories to tell.

I have always loved to cook, particularly sweet things, cakes, desserts, biscuits, pastries, nibbles anything yummy to satisfy a sweet tooth.  I have fond childhood memories of helping my mum in the kitchen making one of her famous sponges or pavlovas and staying up to 3 in the morning with her waiting for the xmas pudding to be boiled.  Most of the recipes were her mums which have since been passed down to my sister and I.

All my life I have been torn between study and cooking.  My afterschool job whilst growing up was at Portofino Restaurant in Port Fairy in its early days, starting with dishes and working my way up to food prep, sides, salads and desserts. People still ask me to make the bread and butter pudding from Portofino 16 years on.  I loved weekends, the restaurant was always full, people enjoying themselves, John, the chef and owner, sweating over the stoves, barking orders at me, Amanda, his wife trying to keep things under control.  We worked really hard but still had time for a laugh.  Amanda and John were a big influence, mentors really, they opened up my eyes to the world of food, the way food can bring people together and the enjoyment you get from making other people happy with your creations.

When I finished year 12 the big decision came - university or cooking?  I chose university - a bachelor of arts (criminal justice).

This could go on forever so each blog I'll add more to the story of how I came to start Treats by Bridie.

Enjoy!
Bridie