Joe, Felix, Max and Toni, our culinary partners in crime, spent 3 weeks cooking for 2 retreats in Joshua Tree, Ca, a desert community about 2 hours east of Los Angeles. There is a lot to see and do, and not a lot to see and do at the same time. It is a one street kind of town. Joshua Tree is known for the state park that features amazing, space age-Dr. Seuss like trees. Somehow it took us 14 days of being there to discover the delectable Teacakes Bakery……I know, very strange that it wasn’t the first place we sniffed out for early morning, pre-cooking pastries…..

I loved that they had a few simple coffee drinks and a few AMAZING pasttries for sale for a few hours each morning. When they ran out, they ran out. The best one hands down was the apricot and cream cheese danish…..nothing like I had ever had before, the pastry crust was painfully perfect, swet, with the right tinnnnny it of salt and looots of flaking going on. Ohhh, I remember that first bite…….

A sweet French woman worked there and I kept meaning to ask her how she came to live in JT…….I like to think it was for love.

There are lots of other interesting things to see and do in the desert for sure, but good coffee and pastry are important no matter where you are!

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blog, cooking school, IN THE KITCHEN by Wendy Van Wagner