ME.
Hi. I'm Natasha, a self-taught baker and cook who loves to experiment both in the kitchen and in the chemistry lab.
My family LOVES food! And by that I mean my parents, my brother, my cousins, my aunts and uncles, and I guess most of our friends, too. When we all get together, we talk about food, then we eat, and then we talk about the next meal while doing the dishes. It's a wonder that we are not rolling out of our chairs at the end of the day! In my family, food is not just about eating. It is about sharing the love and the appreciation for one another. Food brings everyone together and starts conversation. Perhaps this is why I have always found my place in the kitchen. I honestly cannot remember when I started cooking. I probably was born with a spatula in hand. My mom once told me that she walked into the kitchen one morning to find that 6-year-old me was just taking my scrambled eggs off of the stove! When I was younger, my mom typically did the baking. She likes the discipline of following a tried and true recipe. On the other hand, my dad did the cooking. To this day, he has only followed one recipe (my grandmother's shortbread cookies). He just throws ingredients in a pot or onto the grill and they magically turn out well. I think that I fall somewhere in the middle of my parents. I love using recipes for inspiration and for a general sense of what to do, but I use them as loose suggestions. I like being able to have a creative outlet like this, but I also like to know that what I make will turn out somewhat okay. As I continue my journey in the kitchen, I hope to acquire skills and knowledge that will allow me to develop my own recipes from scratch. I am currently social distancing where I grew up in Newton, MA! I am a student at Barnard College majoring in chemistry, and I plan to go into nutrition or public health in the future! I love being able to apply knowledge from the classroom to the kitchen to better understand what I am making. On top of my studies, I play water polo and advocate for mental health around campus. toastytash Baking CO. |
In the spring of 2018, I created cupcakes with dog faces on them for a bake sale that my track team was doing. After posting them on social media, people from my community began sending me photos of their own pets and commissioned cupcakes of them!
After a busy senior fall semester, senior spring rolled around. The season of graduation parties and celebrations was upon us! Cake orders ramped up, growing in numbers. Perhaps an early pivotal moment for me was an order of over 200 cupcakes. This forced me to begin shopping for my business and planning weeks in advance instead of raiding my cabinets for ingredients we already had. Today, I have just finished my spring semester of college, and business is great! I just completed a Mother's Day fundraiser for Rosie's Place to support homeless women in Boston. Orders are coming in for graduations and birthdays, and I couldn't be happier to spread the love during these difficult times. I am safe and healthy and ready for your orders! |