This Woman Taught Me How Make Desserts

I was a lousy student.  Still a college young'un, I had not yet developed any interest in food and was more interested in goofing off with my friend Bird and eating chocolate chips.  I have no idea why I chose to take a course entitled 'Vegan Dessert Making,' unless I was having some sort of rogue flash-forward.  But our instructor, Claire Fitts, was not only patient and kind but also on her way to being a master pastry chef already.  Cooking for a demanding kitchen full of hippies will do that.  Now, through the magic of Facebook, I find that she has opened her own bakery.  Butterfly Bakery in Burlington, VT is all about those values she tried to instill in us many years ago: delicious desserts can be made without animal products or refined sugar.  Also that carob is evil, something that I always suspected.  From cookies to scones to amazing-looking fruit truffles, she has turned her passion into her livelihood, which is all we grads were encouraged to do in the first place.