Morning Person: Yeshe Dawa (The Midnight Baker)

At our 4th Birthday Party in October we were treated to some shockingly delicious toast treats care of bloomin’ brilliant bread-maker, The Midnight Baker. Motivated by a love of baking treats late at night and a desire to find wholesome, healthy alternatives for people with special dietary requirements, Yeshe created the Freedom Loaf, a Gluten and Dairy free bread alternative.

Yeshe can be found at La Cigale Markets every Sunday morning from 9am - 1pm with fresh bread and Toast with toppings, or head to her webiste to find how to get your hands on a Freedom Loaf. 

We’re looking forward to seeing Yeshe and her tasty treats at a few more CreativeMornings in the future, but until then we thought it was time you met The Midnight Baker 

Who are you?
Yeshe Dawa / The Midnight Baker.  Baker of gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, yeast and refined sugar free bread in the evening hours.  Consumer of treats. Addicted to nut butters.  

What gets you up in the morning?
The thought of enjoying a really delicious breakfast.  During winter that’s creamy rice porridge with home made chia seed fruit jam and coconut yoghurt on top.  In summer it’s smoothies with lots of cacao, frozen banana, spinach, almond milk and anything else interesting and yum I can find in my cupboard.

Explain what you do in five words or less…
Measure, mix, bake, slice, eat.

What’s a surprising fact about you?
I’m a huge Classical History nerd. I learnt how to read Ancient Greek at university and was / am pretty obsessed with Alexander the Great.

Tell us about your creative community:
My friends and family would be at the core of my creative community.  I’m fortunate to be surrounded by so many inspiring people, especially women, who are striving for and attaining success in their different fields.  

At a wider focus, it extends to people I don’t know personally but whose work I follow and which inspires me.  

Best piece of advice you’ve received?
Choose to respond, not to react.

Who would you love to hear speak, alive or dead?
It’s hard to choose just one, but I really like hearing the Dalai Lama speak.  The philosophical information would be gold, but I also feel like he would have a wicked sense of humour and that he’d be great to hang out with.

Wild card? Potentially Alexander the Great.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?  
Honestly? I usually go to the kitchen and wander around hoping something delicious will materialise.  Sometimes I go find the flat cat and talk to her for a bit.   Then I probably go online to look at some of my favourite blogs or Instagram accounts for some visual inspiration.  

What’s your Secret Superpower?
Being able to make the exact mix for a mini banana cake for two in under 5 minutes.

What’s the most recent thing you learned?
Apparently if you end a shower with a 30 seconds of cold water, you’ll get an endorphin kick for the start of your day.  I’ve only been game enough to try it twice…

Also that the Italian word for Flowers is ‘fiore’.

Alright, stop, Collaborate and … bake!

Find out more about Yeshe and The Midnight Baker at her website, www.themidnightbaker.co.nz or follow her on Facebook and Instagram