Bio

Hi there! My name is Eve, and I'm a data scientist in Denver with a thing for baking. "Just a Byte" (or JAB) is my first blog ever, in which I share my journey into baking, programming, and life. The plot twist is, I'm not a very good baker...yet. This blog is more of a progress account than a how-to. (It's probably more like a how-not-to, if anything.)

All my recipes will be gluten-free (or gluten friendly) because I'm also **drum roll** gluten-free! I had an allergy blood test done in the late 2010's, and it found that I have the gene for celiac disease. My reaction to gluten is not deathly (yet), but I try to limit my intake. Figuring out baking gluten-free at high altitude means my learning curve will be pretty high - at least a mile high. But that's what makes it so much more fun!

Okay, last plot twist, promise: I'm also dairy- and egg-intolerant (womp womp). I know this also because of that blood test. Again, my reactions aren't horrible, so I am lucky enough to include it in my diet on occasion. (Still, breakfast sucks to work around.) Therefore, most of my recipes won't reflect this, but I will occasionally try alternatives to dairy and egg in my recipes. Sometimes they add an extra oomph!

Before taking on this hobby, I was exclusively a boxed mix kinda gal, more interested in the end result than the process. I didn't appreciate baking from scratch until I started this project. I was looking for a hobby that was hands-on, away from screens, and less physically intensive than most of my other hobbies, which include mountain biking and rock climbing at the top of the list. When I realized that I could incorporate my other lightly-used passion, writing, I was sold. Even though, obviously, blogging involves computer screens, it's a fair trade-off, as creating my own website is something I've always wanted to do.

I'm a huge fan of word play, which is something you'll find all over JAB. My blog name had to be something fun, and I eventually landed on "Just a Byte". It's a triple entendre, and if you'll indulge me, I'd like to explain. As a baker, naturally there are the bites of food that I'll have as part of my baking practice. From there, I wanted to play off the first Eve, taking a bite out of the apple and daring herself and others to go beyond what's in front of them. Finally, it's in reference to the one's and zero's that make up the Internet that enable someone to do just that. It ends up framing the Internet as the modern day apple - for my part, in the form of a baked goods blog.

So here we are, my first blog. I'm excited for what I'm bound to learn, and to share it with a larger community. I hope you have as much fun as I do.