New pastry chef at Gigi

The Gigi Trattoria in Rhinebeck and Gigi Market in Red Hook has a new pastry chef with local roots. Ashley Kearns joined Gigi a month ago.

Here is her bio:

Ashley grew up in Poughkeepsie where she fell in love with baking at the age of ten; working alongside her grandmother and mother she baked pies, cakes and cookies for the neighborhood. At 16 she approached Barnes and Noble with the idea of making gelato for the cafe and quickly found herself making many flavors such as lemon, wild berry and chocolate hazelnut. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, she did an externship at Terrapin in Rhinebeck where she met Gigi Executive Chef Wilson Costa. Ashley also worked at the CIA's Apple Pie Cafe assisting in teaching adult baking classes, Taste Budds as a customer service supervisor and front of the house manager at Nordstrom Cafe in Pennsylvania.

OK, don't drool on your keyboard -- here is a sample list of Gigi desserts at the market: Brownies, Biscotti, Cookies, Muffins, Scones, Quiche, Tiramisu, Gigi Cupcakes, Seasonal Fruit Pies, Sliced Pound Cakes, Mini Seasonal Fruit Gallettes, Gigi Home Made Ice Creams & Sorbets, Seasonal Individual Cheesecakes, and Seasonal Bars: Lemon, Chocolate Coconut, & Strawberry Mascarpone. A seasonal selection of some of Ashley's new dessert items offered at Gigi Trattoria include Gooseberry Tart, Lemon Semolina Cake, and Lemon Cheesecake with Blueberry compote.

Ashley's desserts will be part of the patio barbecues offered at Gigi Market (located on the Greig Farm on Pitcher Lane) from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays during these weekends: June 28 & 29; August 30 & 31; and September 14 & 15. Eat indoors, in the air-conditioned café, or outdoors on the pet-friendly patio. (I better not tell my dogs -- if they went along, I'd never get them to come home again!)

The menu includes entrees ($7.50 each plus tax) such as Barbequed Pork Ribs, Barbequed Northwind Farm Chicken, Grilled Northwind Farm Kielbasa, and Local Beef Burgers. Side dishes ($3 each/two for $5/three for $7 plus tax) include Gigi Potato Salad, Confetti Cole Slaw, Mediterranean Pasta Salad and Tomato-Cucumber Salad. To go full circle, there's the BBQ dessert menu ($2.50 each plus tax) which includes Bakery Cookies, Gigi Cupcakes and Gigi Ice Cream.

Did I say "yum" yet?