Ooolala! La Patisserie is O-P-E-N. Fasten zee seatbelt!

I met Soraiya Nagree a few years back, when I interviewed her about The Kitchen Space, a commercial kitchen on the East side that she and her husband Azim own and rent out to local chefs. Soraiya also operates her own business, Luxe Sweets, out of the location, selling her amazing baked goods to coffee houses all over town. But as legend has it, her true dream, since she was a little girl on a big trip to Paris, had always been to open a French bakery.

On November 30, 2010, just as I was preparing to hide under the covers for a month, Soraiya realized her dream, opening La Pâtisserie by Luxe Sweets in South Austin, at 602 West Annie Street. She had no idea at the time that she was also making my dream come true by saving me airfare to France which, much as I'd love to go there every other weekend, in this economy?!! Sheesh-- it's more like every THIRD week, you know? Fortunately, now when I am jonesing for a chouquette or a brioche, or when I wish to fill my claw foot bathtub with macarons or pile delicate chocolat petit fours upon my throne, or simply feel an urge to inhale an eclair and chase it down with chocolat chaud or espresso so thick and strong that it will put (or remove-- depending on your current follicle situation) hair on various body parts-- well Soraiya's got me covered. She also provides croissants, almond croissants, pain au chocolat AND-- Get thee behind my ever-expanding derriere, Satan!!-- chocolat pistachio raspberry cake.

Even though I missed the November opening, the good news is that Soraiya held off on the media party until after the holidays. So last week, a few days after my birthday, as if IN HONOR of my birthday (please say it's so, Soraiya), Warren and Em and Bug and me headed on down to taste pretty much everything. Plus we brought some home. The shop is SO CUTE!! Mon Petit Cherie! Soraiya and Azim's son is SO CUTE!! My sugar buzz NOT SO CUTE!! But it did seem to amuse Warren to watch me attempt to speak the language, by which I do not mean French but my own native (allegedly) English. I mean buzzity-buzz-buzz-buzz....

I am not kidding when I say that I wake up now, every day, and imagine that I'll just run down and get "a few things" from La Pâtisserie. Seriously, thoughts of its beauty-- the place itself, and all those confection jewels in the shiny case, the lovely barristas in their lovely aprons-- cause me to drool anew. Deux pouce up! Waaaaay Up!

Okay, more pics, including a shot of their KIDS' area! Seeing a little place designated for the children, WELCOMING them even-- how this made my heart soar. Anybody remember the old Martin Brothers and that little play area they had for kids? I took Henry there all the time when he was tiny. So, yeah, LP has a nice little area for smaller pastry connoisseurs, replete with kids' books en Francais. Yay ouiiiiiiiiii!

In Lieu of Several Thousand Words...

A few pics from my ongoing celebration. You'll see I acquired a throne (it's about time). And after a very anxiety-inducing Kick Ass Awards ceremony (yes, I still get nervous in front of a microphone) I had an extremely quiet day at home. Just me and the dogs all day. Then Warren showed up with shrimp and garlic sandwiches from Tam Deli (food so good you can hear a porn movie bass guitar playing in your head when you bite into it) and my darling Henry arrived with a gorgeous cake that one of his friends made for me. Splendid day!

And the Winners Are...

I've had a request to post the Kick Ass Award winners, and so I shall. The catch is, I don't have links to all these folks, or even descriptions. So winners (and/or presenters) perhaps you can post info in the comments about the programs you do so folks can find you.

I can tell you that Casey Smith, who won for coming up with the Cooking Up English project-- teaching ESL folks English through cooking classes-- has a new series starting February 10th. You can find out more at the Cooking Up English website. Awesome program!

Thanks to all of our sponsors and to Southpaw Jones and Robin Chotzinoff for singing.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS:

Simon Studd

Casey Smith

Priscilla Boston

Jane Walton

Dan Crow

Debbie Russell

Rene Brit

David Schulman

Celia Hughes

Lindsay Franklin

Aralyn Hughes

Elizabeth Bellanti-Walker

Palmer Neuhaus

KUT

Jody Denberg

Dave Steakley

Martin Burke

Meredith McCall

Alamo Drafthouse

Cindy Widner

Kate Messer

Sandy Silver

Courtney Moore

Buy a Pillow-- Help Legalize Gay Marriage: It's That Simple!

pillow by Gus Dexheimer

Hey Y'all,

Those of you who attended the Kick Ass Awards last night (thank you) already know about my friend Gus's push to legalize gay marriage through her upcoming Pillow Project Auction. For those of you who missed the awards (forgiven!) and for anyone wanting more info, well that's what I'm here to tell you today.

Gus is preparing for her bat mitzvah and as her act of service she decided to enlist her crafty friends in Austin and Denver to make pillows which she will auction off to raise money to fight to legalize gay marriage. All money raised will go to the American Foundation for Equal rights which is working to overturn Prop 8. At the end of this post, I'll include a note from Gus. But first, here are some details about the event. Even if you can't attend in person, there is already a silent auction happening online, so the bidding has begun. To be part of the online auction, click here.

The live auction takes place on Sunday, January 16, 2011 from 3 - 5 p.m. It will be held at an art studio located at 1211 Ravine Drive. For more details about the auction, you can check out the Facebook Page here.

pillow by Ramona Sever

And now, a word from our wonderful Mistress of Ceremonies, Gus, who offers the following statement:

Hello all! Gus Dexheimer here. Would you like to help me overturn Proposition 8, which is the law that keeps gay marriage illegal in California? If you or any of your friends can’t get married—which is unconstitutional—you might be interested in raising some money for the

American Foundation for Equal Rights, by making a wedding pillow. I will now explain. In February, I will have my Bat Mitzvah for which I am required to do a service project. When I first heard that gay marriage was illegal, I was nine. I was simply appalled. I don’t know how old I was when I learned about gay and lesbian relationships but it was never something to hide in my family. My sister is straight, I am straight, my parents are straight, but that never has and never will matter. So when my Bat Mitzvah rolled around and I had met still more gay and lesbian people, I began to think about what I could do for them.

And so, y'all, I ask you to please step up, help Gus fight the good fight, and bid on a pillow today, or meet me at the auction on Sunday.

Thanks.

What I'm Doing Saturday-- And YOU SHOULD TOO!

This week for my Austinist column I was talking about how bowled over I am on a regular basis by the endless amazing art offerings in our fine town. One of the best jobs I ever had, before it went away (boo) was the gig I had for JetBlue writing about all the great things there are to do here. Well, just because the job went away doesn't mean the cool stuff has stopped happening. Nor has my enthusiasm for recommending this cool stuff waned.

I was driving the other day listening to KUT when Michael Lee (yay Michael) came on with one of his Arts Eclectic segments. He was interviewing director Jason Neulander, the founder of Salvage Vanguard Theater, about The Intergalactic Nemesis, which is playing for ONE NIGHT ONLY this Saturday at the Long Center.

The show, billed as a Live Action Graphic Novel

played to sold out audiences last year and is being brought back due to popular demand.

I AM SO GOING, PEOPLE! And you should, too!

Instead of trying to explain it to you, check out this trailer you can watch to get an inkling of how amazing this show is going to be. Graham Reynolds on keyboards, Buzz Moran as Foley Artist (FOLEY ARTIST!!) and three actors (playing a whole bunch of characters) are coming together to present a mash up between a comic book and an old time radio show. Plus there are 1250 hand drawn comics that will be projected on a wall. Oh wait, I'm trying to explain it, aren't I?

I cannot believe I get to live in this town where you can't swing a thespian cat without hitting some stage with a spectacular performance occurring upon it. Don't even think about missing this one-- like I said: one night only. Here's where you can get tickets.

See ya there.

Kick Ass Awards-- January 9, 2011! Pass it On!

Hey Everyone,

Hooray! The 2011 Kick Ass Awards are coming right up. We have some fabulous winners selected this year and the event is always so much fun. I hope you can make it. Please help me spread the word. Here are the details:

KICK ASS AWARDS 2011

Recognizing stellar Austinites for their outstanding contributions to life!

Sunday, January 9th

7 pm - 9 pm

BookPeople @ 6th and Lamar

FREE FREE FREE

With refreshments. Tell all your friends.

Thanks to our sponsors: Anonymous, The Austinist, BookPeople, and Dolores Phelps.

Thus Concludes Another Work Year: Tomorrow We Begin Again

Earlier today, I finished out my work year for 2010-- a short, fun wedding rehearsal at Umlauf Sculpture Garden. Two nights ago I performed my last wedding of 2010. It was a small gathering at Old Pecan Street Cafe, very nice, very short. I met the couple because the groom was the son of the best friend of my ob/gyn's wife. Talk about networking. The good doc himself was in attendance and I managed to not say something like, "Isn't it nice to see me with my clothes on?"

See, I am getting more professional with every passing year.

Months ago, I made a vague promise to myself to work as little as possible in December. The universe had other plans and in the end, between writing (and rewriting and rewriting and REWRITING) a very long document for my day job, and performing weddings, and my writing coaching-- well let's just say I didn't not work in December. I pretty much worked seven days a week. That was a blessing for the most part. And while I could've done without revising the same document forty times, for the most part much of the work I did was a very pleasant distraction from what is my least favorite time of the year.

I especially love the weddings. I am now in my fifth year of performing weddings and it's one of the few jobs in my life that I haven't burnt out on. Is it ironic that I'm a twice-divorced woman who is opposed to marriage for myself? You know what I like to say: Those who can, do. Those who can't, preach.

Performing weddings is really fun because I get to put on nice clothes, everyone seems pretty happy to see me, I can stay and eat great food if I want, I get to feel very useful (my favorite feeling), it pays well and it doesn't take long.

The picture at the top, taken by the amazing Sara Bork Hamilton, is me at the scene of the my first December 2010 wedding-- that was a personal challenge. Could I, a Christmas hater, pull off being cheerful at a Christmas-themed wedding? Well what do you know-- I did. And it got the month off to a great start.

I've already got a ton booked for 2011-- the first is tomorrow: 1/1/11-- but I still have openings so if you're getting married or know someone who is, by all means give me a holler (spikegillespie@gmail.com). You can find details about my wedding services at my wedding website. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of just a few of the wedding cakes I saw this year-- I used to make wedding cakes and I can't say I'm sorry I put that behind me. But I have a great appreciation for the creativity that goes into these masterpieces. I'm also including pictures of my all-time favorite wedding cake-- that was a wedding several years ago but I'm including it here because well... you'll see why. How could I not?

my all time favorite wedding cake

not just any cake, but an anatomically correct cake

because i used to make wedding cakes, and because no one had a clue how to cut this one, the honors fell to me.