My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time
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Product Description
A ex- Hollywood insider trades the Hollywood Hills for Green Acres—and lives to tell about it in this hilarious, poignant treat of a memoir.
As head of her celebrity sister’s production company, Gesine Bullock-Prado had a closet full of designer clothes and the ear of all the influential studio heads, but she was miserable. The only support she establish was in her secret leisure activity: baking. With every sugary, sweet confection to emerge from her oven, Gesine took one step away from her glittery, empty being—and one step closer to her right destiny. Before long, she and her spouse left the trappings of their Hollywood lifestyle behind, ending up in Vermont, where they ongoing the gem known as Gesine Confectionary. And they never looked back. Confections of a Closet Master Baker follows Gesine’s journey from sugar-obsessed child to miserable, awkward Hollywood insider to reluctant master baker. Chock-full of eccentric characters, perfectly detailed descriptions of her baking process, relentlessly amusing renditions of Hollywood nonsense, and recipes, the ingredients of her tale will appeal to anyone who has ever considered leaving the life they know and completely starting over.
From the Hardcover edition.
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Gesine Bullock-Prado was leading a crazy life as a Hollywood executive, running her sister Sandra Bullock’s production company. She realized she was most pleased when she was at home in her kitchen baking. So, she and her spouse stirred to Vermont and opened a bakery.
Of course it wasn’t so simple. This book tells the tale of her journey to finding happiness in baking. From early childhood food memories, life in Hollywood, and her professional baking life in Vermont, each chapter tells a tale and includes a recipe for a tasty baked item. There are 18 recipes including Espresso Cheesecake, Apple Pie & Carrot Cake – Yum!
Her tale is inspirational for anyone thinking of building a drastic career change and it’s also just a excellent small cookbook!
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
Gesine Bullock-Prado’s book is a waste of time. She is self-indulgent, constantly telling the reader how annoying her Hollywood job was. The more she wrote it the more you feel she is trying to convince herself.
Each recipe at the end of each chapter is a minimum of three pages. They are impractical for an average home baker. Combine this with her telling the reader how clever these recipes are and a right baker never gives out the right recipe anyway. What, then, is the point?
She talks about this dream life of being a baker. By the end of the book she writes of growing tired of it. Didn’t she have an editor?
Book was annoying. Feel I wasted my money.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
Since I live in NH and like to cook, I was excited to read a book about cooking from a VT leader. Gesine Bullock-Prado tells her tale of being a glamorous hollywood insider and trading it all to go to VT and spend time dedicated to baking. Re-inventing herself and removing herself from what some consider to be the essential lifestyle. Gesine finds out what really is the essential lifestyle and we get to join her in that journey. A fun, and inspiring read, you will see a small of yourself here.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
Gesine (pronounced Geh-see-neh, with a hard g) Bullock-Prado’s sinfully tasty memoir-cum-cookbook “Confessions of a Closet Master Baker” chronicles her early life spent in Austria and Germany, where the devil first tempted her with chocolate at age three, to her frustrated adult life effective at her sister Sandra’s Hollywood production company. Somewhere in the middle, Gesine realized that what she *really* liked to do was bake. The German confections of her childhood were her comfort food, and she delighted in baking for friends and coworkers. Bit by bit, through flying flour and kitchen chaos, the reader is introduced to Gesine’s quest to turn her passion for baking into a full-fledged bakery, Gesine’s, and the many trials and tribulations that this entailed, including a cross-country go to Montpelier, Vermont.
Tales from the not-so-glamorous side of soul-sucking Hollywood provide a stark contrast to the lush, unadulterated drool fest of decadent desserts, from smooth ganache to glistening plump fruits, flaky croissants and the heavenly scent of espresso lingering in the air. The behind-the-scenes world of movie production is anything but glamorous; Gesine is used as an in to her more legendary sister, and ends up as thankless sounding board to mountains of worthless scripts. Her frustration with the artificial, underfed, and overmedicated lifestyle finally propels her to place Hollywood and seek inner happiness through pastry.
Along the way, we’re treated to humorous anecdotes from Gesine’s (and Sandy’s) childhood under the thumb of her German mother, a glamorous opera singer who happened to be a militant health food nut before it was even well loved (but who tragically died from colon cancer after a prolonged battle). Her mother forbade processed American foods (buh-bye, neon breakfast cereals, processed cheese, and transfats), so Gesine would devise clever ways to indulge (resulting in a suger-fueled rampage, no less).
There’s a lot of fantastic humor interwoven into the narrative, from the creative chapter titles (Tiers of Frustration, Be Nice to Your Mother (Sponge), Montpeculiar) to the illustrations. In some ways, it reminded me of Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover’s Courtship, with Recipes. The eighteen recipes include German classics (apfelkuchen, mandelhoernchen, zwetschgendatschi, opera cake), a potent espresso cheesecake (1/4 cup espresso beans, 1 cup brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder), fruit desserts (cherry filling, apple pie), cakes (carrot, Helga’s (aka Orgasm) Cake, New England), sticky buns, and scones, with clear measurements and simple instructions.
My only complaint would be the brevity of the book; it’s a very quick and enjoyable read, but I don’t know how many times I’d want to reread it additional than for the recipes. Also, amidst the sprinklings of chocolate are sprinklings of an expletive scenery with a few graphic body part references thrown in for excellent measure, so if you’re sensitive, consider yourself warned. Overall, this is a refreshing memoir with some tasty-looking recipes thrown in for excellent measure, and would make a fantastic gift for any foodies on your list.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
The book reads well, refreshing. I am nervous to try the recipes. The Yellow eggs sounds like a buttermilk cake recipe I have used for years. One question, but. The Cheese cake title lists “large 8 inch cheese cake” but the recipe say “pour in a 9 inch spring-form pan”.
Even if you don’t use the recipes, or they are not that unusual the book is a excellent read. More like chatting with a friend with wonderful insights.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5