A DAY IN THE LIFE WITH JORDAN RONDEL
Jordan Rondel crafts cakes to die for. She’s the culinary goddess behind The Caker, a specialty cake salon in Auckland. Jordan caught the baking bug as a young girl in Paris with her grandparents, who taught her creative cooking and how to bake with love. The Caker has been a roaring success since it launched in 2010. Jordan currently spends half her time in Los Angeles, working on exciting Caker related things. Here is her LA day
8.30am
In LA I’ve been waking up a lot later than I usually do in Auckland (where it’s normally 5.45am), it’s very luxurious. It definitely feels like the day starts later in general for everyone here, so I’m just jumping on that bandwagon and really getting into the LA lifestyle! The thought of coffee is what makes me spring out of bed. As soon as I get up I make a giant plunger of black coffee and a bowl of organic fresh berries and coconut yogurt, almond butter, granola and cinnamon.
9.30am
My day always begins with checking emails and social media on my phone. From there I’ll write a list of things I want to achieve in the day. I’m a huge advocate for lists and have been known to add completed tasks to them if they weren’t already on there, just so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off. Ridiculous, I know.
10.30am
I go to a Bar class just down the road and grab a matcha latte on the way from Matcha Bar. If I’m feeling chilly I’ll go for a hot latte with almond milk, but if the sun is shining and it’s warm I’ll get an iced version. Both are incredibly delicious and provide the perfect little energy boost to top off my earlier coffee.
11.30pm
Now it’s time to head back home and tend to my laptop, alongside a cup of Detox Tea. Because of the time difference between LA and Auckland, the day is only just beginning back home, so there will start to be an influx of emails I’ll need to reply to. I’ll usually FaceTime my sister and business partner, Anouk, to touch base with her about everything.
1.30pm
Lunch time! I am a creature of habit and have two spots that I always go back to. I’ll either take a walk down to Echo Park and have my favourite grain bowl and a green smoothie from Honey Hi, or I’ll walk in the opposite direction to Sqirl where I’ll get a smoked white fish tartine and kale tabbouleh salad with crispy rice and a turmeric tonic. Both options are to die for.
3pm
At this point I’ll return home with the aim of doing a couple more hours of work. This can include anything from recipe creation to Skype meetings or phone calls, to simply jotting down ideas for content I can create, or goals I need to work on.
5pm
By 5pm I’m usually starting to think about what my evening will entail. If I don’t already have dinner plans with a friend, I’ll look at my long list of restaurants that I want to go to, or if I’m feeling like I’ve been eating out too much, I’ll put my headphones in and talk a walk down the road to Lassens, a wonderful health food supermarket, to grab something to cook.
6pm
Let’s be honest, I’m most likely going out for dinner! It’s really easy to eat healthily and inexpensively out in LA and there are so many places I want to check out that it seems almost silly to eat at home. If it’s a weekday I’ll usually wait for my boyfriend to get home at around 8pm, so in the meantime I’ll pour myself a glass of wine, put on some music and nibble on some olives, carrots, cucumber and hummus. During this time it’s an ideal moment for me to post something on social media so I’ll work on that and wrap up anything else that needs to be completed.
8pm
By this point I’ll be getting starving so the minute Stefan walks in the door we’ll jump on his motorbike and head out for a delicious dinner. Some of our favourite spots are Night Market (Thai), Kismet (Middle Eastern), Jon and Vinny’s (Italian) or Silverlake Ramen (Japanese). If we’re feeling tired after dinner we’ll head home, otherwise we love going tenpin bowling at Highland Park Bowl, or meeting friends for a drink at Cha Cha Lounge, Little Joy or Good Luck.
10.30pm
Usually the first thing I do when I get back home is boil some water to make tea. I have a nice selection of organic herbal teas to choose from, but I’ll usually pick one that I know will help me sleep well. I love to drink my tea in the shower, so this is what I do most nights. After the shower I moisturise heavily with Aesop Rejuvenating Body Balm for my body and Trilogy Night Cream for my face – it’s so dry in LA that my skin really needs this. Next I’ll put on my pyjamas and snuggle up in bed or on the couch with a Netflix show, until I’m too tired to keep my eyes open.
12pm
Sleep time!
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