I got an article written about me!!!

Food Entrepreneur

Girl Seeks Kitchen For a Hot, Sweet Relationship

By Laine Doss, Thu., Apr. 28 2011 @ 9:33AM

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Categories: Food Entrepreneur

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Melissa Toro has a cupcake and a dream.

​Melissa Toro just wants a freaking place to bake her cupcakes and brownies.

The Miami native and owner of Meli Bakes has been looking for a commercial kitchen or bakery for almost a month without much luck.

"I've been trying to start my own baking business, and I was looking into what it would take, and I found out I would need to bake in a commercial kitchen in order to get my license," Toro says. "I've been looking and it's impossible. There's nothing on the internet. I've contacted schools, churches, and caterers. It's been really difficult."

Toro grew up in Miami and went to school in Boston. In the past year she's been trying to get a job without much luck. "Basically I'm a housewife, not by choice," she said. "I started getting into baking for friends. Now I'm obsessed with it. I dream about baking at night. I'm a hoarder of kitchen gadgets."

Not wanting a little thing like lack of an oven to stand in the way of her sweet dream, Toro decided to take matters into her own hands.

She's started the Commercial Kitchen Miami Facebook page, seeking out both independent chefs who are looking for kitchen space and business owners with kitchens they want to lease.

"I thought we could pool together our resources, so I'm trying to build a community. There are other people who are in the same boat, and I just want to get the word out so we can work together."

Toro's certain there's a lonely kitchen somewhere in Miami, just waiting to meet her. Until then, this passionate baker will continue to bake and to dream.

Follow Short Order on Facebook and Twitter @Short_Order.

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Commercial Kitchen Miami, Melissa Toro

link to actual article here

i threw up today

today for the first time since surgery, i threw up. i've come close a few times...eating too fast, getting stuck, dump like episodes. but i never threw up.

today...i took my vitamins on an empty stomach. i could have sworn i've done this before. with no bad side effects. i suspect it was my new iron. 65mg from 18mg of the chewable ones. i think 65 was too much. i got the worst attack of nausea and cramping. i rushed to eat something but  i felt a projectile vomit coming. weirdly enough i threw up only the iron. ugh i hate the smell of it. disgusting. i hate throwing up. i'm the type of person that never throws up. i hate it. its an awful feeling. the whole rest of the day my stomach has been messed up. i'm afraid to take this iron tomorrow. i feel like shit man.

Am i the only one?

Easter has never been a big deal for me. As a kid we would dye eggs and eat candy and that was fun. Then we'd go to church which was kiddie torture. so boring.  since about 16 i have never really done anything on Easter. Its just another sunday for me.

But boy i seem  to really be in the minority here. I feel like i can't even express that for fear of offending friends and loved ones. Some people are even quoting the bible on FB and it just makes me a little uncomfortable. don't get me wrong, i believe in God. I know right from wrong. But i'm just not into organized religion. i've seen too many over the top religious nuts using religion for hatred that i got really turned off to it in  my teens. i don't feel comfortable being preached to or being in a situation where people are getting very religious around me. makes me very uneasy. but i don't ever force my beliefs on others. if you have religious beliefs and you use it in positive ways i say good for you. you do what you do. i'm not an atheist or anything. i don't go around telling people there's no god and that they're foolish. i think thats  disrespectful. and besides, like i said, i believe in God myself.

anyway i just felt the need to express these feelings on my blog since if i did it anywhere else i might offend friends and family.

when i have kids i'll celebrate easter. but just the egg decorating, candy eating, fun part. i won't make my kids go to church because its not even something i believe in and my husband and i both talk about how bored we were in church and how it never did anything for us. if our children are curious and want to go to church, we'll take them. but i think we'll make our own easter traditions.

Gained weight

This is the first time in my 8 months since surgery that the scale has gone up. I gained 1.5lbs. Which is weird because i lost 1/2 an inch on my waist.

But I totally deserve it. The carb/sugar monster got me. I let it in with the first cupcake and boy its hard to shake it. i've been trying this week. I got down to sugar free candies instead. but i haven't shaken it completely. I was supposed to work out all week but i only ended up working out on monday. with my new, no cooking except for thursdays/fridays rule and "don't bake it unless its for someone to purchase" rule were put in place to get me back on track. but laziness. she's a tough mistress. i'm copping up to it though. i deserve it. i'm not even gonna dwell on it because i kind of saw it coming. i was half convinced it would still go down just because its gone down since surgery and never up. but i got a rude awakening today.

not getting bumbed because A. i did lose 1/2 an inch, but mostly because B. I have an order to fill today! My very first order! My cousin ordered cupcakes and brownie pops for her sister in law. its an hour away so i charged a heft $20 delivery fee. and rightly so. so its a $67 order all together. i'm so excited because this is my very first order! i have my cake boxes all ready to go. i have my stickers on everything. its looking so cute. i swear you take my love of making things with my love of wrapping things and this is my dream job. lol. i'm so excited!!

i made a test batch of banana/nutella cupcakes with a caramel cream cheese frosting. but i haven't tasted them. i made 8. i'm going to throw 6 in with the order just as a freebie and leave the other 2 for my hubby to taste. he ate one last night and approved. after i pack up everything there will only be one cupcake left in this house and nothing else! yay! i love having my house cleared of sweets. my joy is to make them and then to have people take them away. lol.

my husband is off today. so maybe we'll take advantage by going poolside or hitting the gym. i def have the motivation. lol.

you know whats weird though? i woke up one day this week and i felt really skinny. i measured myself  (because i only weigh on fridays) and i saw the inches lost. i was like wow...what caused this?? the only thing i did different was not to drink a protein shake the day before but eat cereal and milk instead. it was weird but i was optimistic about weigh in. then i woke up this morning and i did not feel thin, i knew it wouldn't be good. lol.

oh well. back to fighting the good fight. gotta kick that carb monster's ass! lord give me strumf.

thanks ladies :)

Just wanted to say thanks for all your awesome comments and all your support. means the world to me!!

woohoo!!

woke up this morning floating on air! weighed in and i lost 2.5lbs. its probably water weight from the pouch test but I'LL TAKE IT-thank you, come again.

it took me forever to lose these last 5lbs. madness. the next 35 will be a sloooow mission indeed but thats ok. this officially puts me at 85lbs lost and i have 35lbs more to go!

happy dance, happy dance

loving the way i look

Thats me in the middle with my cousin Juan on the left and my cousin erika on the right. I love my cousins. one lives in NY and the other in ATL and we very seldomely get to get together. usually only at christmas. so it was such a treat to go out to dinner with them. my cousin michelle was also there. she's awesome. she lives in miami. but i forgot to take pics before she left.

can you believe i'm older than both of these kiddies?

ps. i have to confess. i was seated across from a wall with a big mirror on it and i found myself glancing at myself the entire night.  i just kept thinking...damn i am so pretty. LOL!!! its surreal though isn't it? to love what you see in the mirror? when i went to the company picnic a few weeks ago i kept visiting the bathroom to check myself in the mirror (self conscious around my husband's co-workers who i was meeting for the first time) and each time i had nothing to fix. my hair was always cute and my face was always cute! i love this!

i tried on what i'm gonna wear for this big family party saturday (the reason my cousins were in town) and i was like...LOVING how cute i look! i'm so enjoying my femininity these days. :)

ps. i hate to even validate them but all those ppl who said i have a pretty face, if i would just lose weight i would be so pretty....turns out they were right. loving my face :)