“Chef's passion takes the cake” plus 1 more

Posted: 09 Aug 2010 12:11 AM PDT

A philosophy of selling "indulgence not cakes" has led Joondalup patisserie Sugar and Spice to take out the title of Australia's best bakery.

Sugar and Spice Patisserie owner and head baker Patrick Vuaillat, who has been a pastry chef for 34 years, said everything he made was a reflection of his passion for baking.

"If you cook from the heart it goes to the heart," he said.

"You have to put some expression into it. You have to give life to the cake rather than just follow a recipe."

The charismatic French-born pastry chef said some of his cakes were designed to be eaten by men and some by women.

"We know that 75 per cent of our customers are ladies so we have 75 per cent very feminine cakes and 25 per cent more masculine," he said.

"(For women) I'd recommend the vanilla slice, it has a crispy base and it's not too sweet - it's one of our best sellers for the ladies.

"For the gentlemen, I'd recommend the Mississippi mud pie. It has a mud cake base with a chocolate mousse on top."

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Kalamazoo Kings stay true to aggressive philosophy in 14-3 loss to Windy City

Posted: 08 Aug 2010 08:13 PM PDT

Published: Sunday, August 08, 2010, 11:03 PM Updated: Sunday, August 08, 2010, 11:13 PM

KALAMAZOO — Since Matt Maloney became player/manager for the Kalamazoo Kings, his edict to his players has been loud and clear.

Run, put the pressure on the defense and force the other team to make the big plays.It seems for first-place teams, that philosophy leads to close victories and long winning steaks.

For last-place teams like the Kings, the close plays always seem to go against them.Sunday's 14-3 loss to Windy City at Homer Stryker Field is a prime example.

Jeff Helps and Bryan Marquez were gunned down on perfect throws from the Thunderbolts' left fielder Mike Mooney in the fourth inning with the game tied at 3.

Windy City then scored two runs in the top of the fifth before exploding for four runs in the eighth and five in the ninth.

"If we had to do it again, I would send both of those guys again,'' Maloney said. "How we are playing ball right now is we want to put pressure on the defense all the time.

"Mooney made two good throws and you have to tip your cap to him.''

Even though the Kings lost, they still took the series 2-1 against the East Division's second-place team. After a horrible start to the season, Kalamazoo (20-52) is 10-14 since the Frontier League All-Star break.

"We're showing more life lately and the addition of Matt Greener and Kris Miller have been great for the team,'' said JJ Sferra, who had three hits and scored a run on Sunday. "We come out with a good attitude every day and then we see what happens. …that's all we can do.''

What happened in the top of the first was Windy City (40-30) scored three runs helped along when Miller was ruled to have dropped a fly ball in right field. It looked like the ball came out of his glove when he was trying to grab it and throw back into the infield. Home plate umpire Jeremy Stangelo ruled that Miller did catch the ball, then after talking with the base umpire, changed his mind.

The Kings scored twice in the second inning on Miller's long, two-run homer to left and they tied it in the third when Greener drove in Sferra with a sacrifice fly.

Then came the fateful fourth.

With one out, Helps singled and Marquez doubled to left. Third base coach Jett Ruiz never hesitated in sending Helps, who did a hook slide away from the tag of catcher Zach Aakhus, but was called out by Stangelo. Helps put up a big argument and was then tossed out of the game.

Sferra singled to left, Marquez came home and was thrown out by Mooney.

"The last one was with two outs and you always send him in that situation,'' Maloney said. "On Helps, it was a bang-bang play that I thought went our way, but the umpire thought differently and it's his call.

"We were down by six runs on Saturday night and came back to win that game. It got out of hand late, but our shoulders stayed back and our heads stayed up.''

Windy City had four runs on four hits in the eighth and five runs on four hits in the ninth. It was bad enough for the pitching staff that center fielder Eric Suttle came on in relief in the ninth to get the three outs.

"This team still has a lot of fight in them,'' Maloney said. "We're winning series and we're doing a great job."

Contact Paul Morgan at sports@kalamazoogazette.com or 269-388-8400

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Philosophy

Monday, August 9, 2010