FeaturesPage 7 n November 19, 2012

thekirkwoodcall.com

Starting in the 18th century, cakes were con-sidered a symbol of wealth by early American cooks on the east coast.

Each American consumes 53 pounds of bread per year, on average.

At age seven, Annamarie Phillips began her baking career when she sat down at her kitchen table and picked up cake mix and a wooden spoon. Now a junior, Annamarie’s tal-ent for making cakes has become well-known around Kirkwood.

“I think I first started making my cakes be-cause I loved sprinkles, and I loved icing,” Anna-marie said. “I never thought a cake had enough icing or sprinkles, so I kind of started there.”

Making cakes and cake balls, Annamarie uses baking as a way to relieve stress. Baking is how she makes time to do what she enjoys and escape to where she can just focus on herself.

“It’s really nice to just be able to sit down and do what you want to,” Annamarie said. “Wheth-er it turns out good or bad, you still get to eat it, so it’s a win-win situation.”

Annamarie said she has involved her friends and family with her baking, but since they have little experience, they do the less complicated things such as icing the cake.

Annamarie bakes for various people and events, but when it comes to baking for good

While many students get their food from quick runs to Taco Bell or McDonald’s, David Grigsby puts his meals together the old-fashioned way: baking bread in a brick oven.

“[My father and I] built the oven by ourselves, by hand,” Grigsby, junior, said. “It was his idea in the beginning, as a family plan that we would build [the oven] for everyday cooking.”

According to Grigsby, building the oven was a chal-lenge, but by the time it was completed this summer, the hard work paid off.

“We had family over this summer, and we all baked pizzas together,” Grigsby said. “It was good to be recognized for all the hard work and experience food in kind of a unique way.”

Phillips’ baking takes the cake to KHS

Bread baker makes it grainIn addition to bread, which Grigsby and his father

make in white, wheat and rye in the form of baguettes and pizza, the Grigsbys have also utilized their oven to make soup, cornbread, kabobs, fried eggs and to roast chicken, pork and tomatoes.

Though the bread coming out of Grigsby’s backyard is sold to neighbors and even Kirkwood police, Grigsby insists his throwback style of preparing food is not in-tended for profit.

“It’s really more of a hobby,” Grigsby said. “It’s kind of becoming a little tradition, because every weekend it’s an experience to have with my family, and my father in particular.”

Although Grigsby said artisan bread-making is a dying art, he has been noticed for his work by The Oc-tober issue of Feast Magazine, and by his customers.

“We’re a unique little thing in Glendale,” Grigsby said. “People just enjoy the quality of our bread.”

Madeline McEvoy features writer

friends, Annamarie likes to design her cakes in a personal way.

One year, for her friend Melody Staicoff’s birthday, Annamarie baked a cake in the shape of a violin, which represented the importance of music in Staicoff’s life.

“It was really amazing and creative to see that she can make a cake and have it be mean-ingful to a person,” Staicoff, junior, said.

When it comes to her designs, Annamarie just goes with what she feels like making that day. She says she enjoys being surprised by her own cake designs and creations.

“It’s most rewarding when I can look at the finished product,” Annamarie said. “Seeing the smile on people’s faces when they see their cake is rewarding, too.”

At home, Annamarie’s family loves her cakes, but she is trying to branch out from just making cakes for her relatives. Annamarie now gets her name out to the people around Kirk-wood through Facebook to make cakes for vari-ous events.

“It’s such a creative way to express herself,” Maria Phillips, Annamarie’s mom, said. “We all enjoy the cakes, and it’s wonderful to see all her hard work pay off.”

Annamarie’s friends and family can see her pursuing cake-making in the future. Annamarie said she has gone back and forth over the idea of taking her cakes and opening up her own bakery when she grows up. She loves the idea of being able to bake everyday and continue learning new things about baking.

“I can most definitely see her opening up her own bakery and going through with this in the future,” Maria said. “She has such a strong pas-sion for it.”

With much support from friends and family, Annamarie is able to achieve her goals more of-ten, Maria said. The passion and getting recog-nized is what makes it worth it.

“I get her name out there as much as I can,” Maria said. “She posts pictures on her Facebook profile, and people see them and ask her to make cakes for them whenever they’re interested.”

Annamarie has raised a couple hundred dollars from her cake making. Maria feels she has improved at cake-baking and her talent has escalated.

“She really is amazing at what she does,” Staicoff said. “She is so driven at becoming bet-ter each time she makes something new. She truly has a talent.”

Jake Balmer features writer

Andréa Keltz photographer

Suzanne Pocost artist

Out of Willy Wonka, Ratatouille, Supersize Me and How to Eat Fried Worms, 55.5 percent of KHS students chose Ratatouille as their favorite movie.

Out of Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffet, Birthday Cake by Rihanna, Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson and Hot Dog by Led Zepplin, 33.5 percent of KHS stu-dents chose Banana Pancakes as their favorite song.

Out of Krusty Krab from Sponge-bob, Breadsticks from Glee and The Dot from Degrassi: The Next Generation, 71.6 percent of KHS students chose Krusty Krab as their favorite television restaurant.

Survey ResultsThe Kirkwood Call surveyed KHS students on their thoughts about food references in pop culture. Of the 120 students that responded to our online survery, the fol-lowing were the most popular in each category.

55.5%

71.6%

33.5%(67/120)

(86/120)

(40/120)