June 26, 2011

Dear Readers,

I am so excited you are here!  There is a lot here for you to digest!  It’s hard to believe, but I have been baking for years now (to think my sisters once predicted I would be helpless when it came time to fend for myself in the kitchen)!

In the years leading to this blog, I was always snapping a camera, usually documenting the recipes for the resulting concoctions and mentally collecting the stories behind the baking.  For a long time, I just maintained my highly organized baking archive and waited for an outlet.  I finally came to terms with two relevant points about myself:

1.  I probably won’t learn web design unless it is a requirement for a class or a job.  Thus, I had to negate the notion of a baking website.

2.  I actually like blogs!  I started to see more and more blogs in the art, design and food realms, which finally convinced me to start With The Grains!

Since most of the content is about the occasion and the celebration of food, friends, family and places, the blog’s debut deserved a celebration as well.  Accordingly, I holed away for months in order to pack all the past baking stories into my private blog before presenting the site to the world.  I wanted something polished to present!  Rather than just post a link on a facebook page or send an email to announce my new creation, I had a better idea, a more celebratory idea… a launch!

The Waffle Shop is a neighborhood restaurant that produces and broadcasts a live-streaming talk show with its customers, operates a changeable storytelling billboard on its roof, and runs a take-out window that sells food from countries engaged in conflict with the U.S. The shop is a public lab that brings together people from all walks of life to engage in dialogue, experimentation and the co-production of culture. The project functions as a classroom for students from Carnegie Mellon University, an eatery, a TV production studio, a social catalyst, and a business. Our customers are our funders, audience, and participants as we film during open hours, inviting interested patrons to express their unique opinions and personalities.

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Photos by Dana Dolney.  Editing by yours truly!