Meet Theo!
Adrienne sat down with Theo this week to learn more about her and the new items she’ll be introducing to the café and farmstand this season.
A.K. - What are you most excited about for the upcoming season?
T.D. - I am so excited to have the opportunity to create a wide variety of products to offer in the farmstand and café this year using the amazing produce that is grown on the farm. Having had the past year in the kitchen to familiarize myself with customer favorites, and then now start to introduce new products for the farmstand and café, is a challenge I am looking forward to.
A.K. - What new products can our café and farmstand customers look forward to?
T.D. - From the baking side:
Freshly made baguettes every day! Towards the weekend, we’ll make specialty breads as well as classic french pastries such as croissants and danish. Gluten-free cookies will be introduced and bagels too!
And in the farmstand:
A new selection of krauts, using an expanded combination of vegetables, fruits, seeds, and nuts. Farm-made yogurt with Strafford Milk, with our freshly made jams and new this year, yogurt infused with aromatic combinations from the farm. There will be an expanded menu of green salads, protein salads, hard boiled organic eggs, and other single-serve offerings. And last but not least we are also expanding our selection of frozen, ready to go dinners and sides.
A.K. - What’s your favorite dessert to eat? How about to make?
T.D. - This is a very hard question! My favorite dessert (and I tend to not be a dessert person), is my paternal grandmothers Risogalo, Greek Rice Pudding. Very few ingredients but such a complex texture and flavor.
My favorite dessert to make would probably be Opera Cake, a classic European torte cake. Made with thin layers of almond jaconde (thin sponge cake) soaked with coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache, a deep chocolate glaze on top and decorated with edible gold. This cake is pure heaven.
A.K. - How long have you been in the profession?
T.D. - I have cooked since as I like to say, I was a single-digit kid! I truly don’t remember a time when I wasn’t cooking. I had long dreamed of some form of business in which I could pursue this lifelong passion. After a near twenty year career in public education in Cambridge, MA. I enrolled in The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in the Professional Pastry Program and studied with Master French Chef Delphin Gomes to receive my Professional Pastry Chef Certification. I have been cooking professionally since 2008, and was Owner/Chef of Trap Door Bakehouse & Cafe, in Quechee, VT from 2010- 2014.
