I had been following Megan Gordon’s blog for some time before we met in person. I was drawn to her writing and storytelling style (not to mention her delicious recipes). When we started chatting on Twitter, I knew that we’d get along in real (read: non-Internet) life. It turned out, we already had a real-life friend in common, so the three of us decided to meet for dinner. To be completely honest, I haven’t met that many food bloggers in person, so it was refreshing to dish for hours about all of the bloggers we follow, recipes we’d tried recently, cookbooks we were swooning over, and restaurants we were excited to visit. We were like three fifteen year old boys discussing and dissecting our favorite video games. Shortly after our first meeting, Megan mentioned that she had been thinking of starting a bakery. It was a totally scary (understandably!) thought, but something she had always wanted to do. At first, it seemed like a roughly conceptualized dream, but then she actually made it happen.
I’ll admit, I’ve had many dreams in my life (and I’m not even 30 yet!) but I’m the last person to take a huge risk. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t. Watching Megan ponder her dream, debate whether she was ready for the instability and insanity, and finally just dive right in, has been inspiring. It’s hard to believe how quickly it happened, but I guess that is how dreams work: you just gotta kind of…do them..If you think too much about the scary stuff, you might miss out on a big opportunity to be, well, happy. We caught up with Megan at a recent SF Underground Farmer’s Market, where she was selling her out of this world ‘Toaster Tarts,’ granola, pies and Oreos. Our interview was originally a video, but our collective camera skills are still a bit rough (we’re workin’ on it! Got skills? Care to help a girl–and guy–out with some video training?), so I’ve gone ahead and transcribed our conversation. Megan’s nostalgic American baked goods are a refreshing offering – they’re homey, fun, and most importantly, tasty! They remind me of some of my favorite goodies from one of my go-to baking books from a bakery I’m dying to visit in New York – Baked. Megan’s story reminds me that a. not only can a girl dream, but b. she can do it and c. she can do it well. You go girl!
Megan is offering a special promo for Turntable Kitchen readers: 10% off initial orders of $50 or more for the month of January!*
*Delivery rates apply. Call Marge for more info.
TK: Megan, tell us what was the inspiration behind Marge?
M: Well, I’ve always loved to bake. I was an English teacher and my contract expired, so I sort of regrouped and decided this is what I really wanted to do. My grandma’s name is Marge; she loves sweets and was the inspiration behind Marge. She has a major sweet tooth (she loves ho-hos, Little Debbies and all sorts of ‘bad’ sweets).
TK: If you had to eat one cookie for the rest of your life, what would it be?
M: Oh gosh. That’s a good question. I’m a big fan of the snickerdoodle. Like a big, fat, yummy snickerdoodle. With a nice mug of tea, I don’t think it gets better than that.
TK: Do you make snickerdoodles?
M: I do make snickerdoodles. They’re on our regular menu!
TK: What’s your signature treat?
M: The pies are big. The apple pie has been the Marge signature. It has a really flaky double crust and is loaded with apples and subtle spices. We do a cute 5 inch version a larger 9 inch one that weighs in between 4 and 5 pounds!
TK: So we noticed you sell homemade Oreos, which is so fun and creative. What sorts of ingredients do you like to work with?
M: The Oreos I’m really proud of. I spent a long time developing the recipe for them. There is tons of great Valrhona cocoa powder in them–tons of chocolate. The inside is a nice vanilla butter cream. They’re a little softer than the traditional Oreos (Kasey: I like soft).
TK: So, as you know, Turntable Kitchen is a food and music blog. Tell us what you’ve been listening to lately.
M: Lately I’ve been listening to Regina Spektor, The Avett Brothers, and Mumford and Sons. I’m big into Pandora, too. I definitely listened to a lot of that Pandora holiday channel these last few months.
Thanks so much for chatting with us, Megan!
Images c/o Megan Gordon.
