Richard Fleischman for AOL
Barefoot and baking in St. Paul, Minnesota.
It's a chilly Friday morning and Christine Hoffman is cranking out pies. Friday is "Pie Day" in the Hoffman house. The oven is on high and the kitchen is toasty warm. Christine's cherry red toes peek out from her cozy woolen leg warmers.
Now more than ever, Christine spends time in the kitchen. When outside work sources started slowing down last fall, Christine, a color-consultant, visual merchandiser, and
HGTV stylist, began to look inside. In her home, especially the kitchen, she found all the inspiration she needed to begin something new. In her heart, she knew she was in the right place.
Christine started
Pies & Aprons, a blog about "keeping a home and everyday joys." While Martha may have paved the way for celebrating domestic achievements, Christine is crafting her own quirky path in the home arts, as she records daily life around the house. Cooking and baking are de rigueur; her photographs alone get the salivary glands excited. Organizing, decorating, crafting and shopping are also on the menu.
Christine takes the cake as today's relevant, hip hostess, executing the role with thrift, simplicity, and gratitude. Her blog is familiar, inviting, and wholly authentic. Born and bred in the Midwest, she comes from a lineage of cooks, bakers, and candy makers. She recalls Grama Claire pulling peanut brittle and kneading dough, and the clamor around Grama Elsie's fresh cake doughnuts. Christine's father, in fact, is still keeping his famous baked bean recipe a secret.
Nurturing through nourishment creates comfort and happiness for Christine, and the lucky recipients or her work. "Baking is a great way to celebrate and make people happy," she says. When she began dating Steve, now her husband, she celebrated him with a rhubarb pie on his birthday. Some might say she baked herself into her husband's heart. To this day, Steve is her official taste tester. He is rewarded with a brand new mouthful every Friday.
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St. Paul Kitchen - Hoffman
Christine Hoffman blogs about life in the kitchen and its many delicious tangents. "Pies & Aprons" tells all about the meals and desserts that are made in her St. Paul home. They nourish, please, and comfort, and always come with a generous helping of Midwest common sense and practicality.
Richard Fleischman for AOL
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
Christine Hoffman blogs about life in the kitchen and its many delicious tangents. "Pies & Aprons" tells all about the meals and desserts that are made in her St. Paul home. They nourish, please, and comfort, and always come with a generous helping of Midwest common sense and practicality.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
To offset insufficient counter space, Christine purchased this rolling island at Ikea. It serves as a prep area and as storage vehicle. Mixing bowls, such as the mottled plastic Texasware ones stacked here, have always been an obsession.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
After prying back a thick layer of grease-encrusted vinyl flooring, Christine and her husband Steve, a skillful carpenter, discovered this "funkarific" linoleum. Christine loves this distinct pattern for its kookiness. As for the leg warmers, Christine has a very large collection, mostly old, and a few new pair.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
When Christine is in the kitchen, she doesn't feel rushed for time and it usually doesn't feel like work. For the most part, cooking, baking, even cleaning relaxes her. "It's such a natural process to me by now that it just kind of flows."
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
Two doors were removed along the bank of cupboards providing some visual relief and affording "prime display space for silly stuff." This particular selection of items was inspired by the color palette in the floor. Though the scene rotates depending on whim and perhaps season, the vignette always relies on some odd smile-provoking kitsch (such as a happy face salt and pepper) powered by an oomph of color (the turquoise pottery).
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
In this modest 130 sq. ft. kitchen, Christine's organizational skills, coupled with her talent as a stylist, come in handy. Though more counter space is desired, she makes do, utilizing under cupboard and wall space.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
A magnetic strip makes it easy to see and select knives. Christine loves her collection, and uses them constantly, but she sadly slacks in the sharpening department. Christine fesses, "Steve will often roll his eyes at me as I'm trying unsuccessfully to saw through a tomato."
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
Unless the temperature is cruelly cold, Christine will prop the back door open for some fresh air. She painted the door red, commenting, "I almost always end up with red doors – classic, welcoming, the perfect accent for just about any color scheme." The Sub Zero refrigerator was a welcome perk from one of Steve's jobs.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
Christine says that a good pie crust is not brain surgery. "It's all a matter of finesse and practice in the handling and liquid." It shouldn't be too dry or overworked.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
Christine has a stash of blue Ball jars in her pantry. She uses them for pantry staples such as dried fruits, beans, and grain.
Barefoot and Baking in Minnesota
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