Walking into Sweet Relief Pastries is like walking into a page of a Martha Stewart cookbook, complete with sprinkle-lined walls and pristine white display cabinets proudly showcasing owner Deidre Lotecki’s sugared delicacies. The aptly-named Sweet Relief promises exactly that – a break from a tiring or stressful day to retreat back into your childhood as you peer into the glass encasement full of sweets. But the pastries themselves are not the only sweet thing – Deidre's kind and effervescent personality makes it no wonder she found her vocation in sugar.
Deidre says she has been baking forever, spending her free time as a child experimenting in the kitchen. After a brief stint in university, she found herself craving a more creative career. She chose to transplant from Dalhousie University in Halifax to The Culinary Institute of America in the Napa Valley, where she completed a one-year program. “The best thing I learned at the Culinary Institute of America was to go and learn from as many people as you can before venturing out on your own," Deidre says, "because the best way to not make mistakes is to learn from other people’s mistakes."
