In Long Island, New York, Bree Licata grew up frequenting Italian American bakeries that stocked dozens of varieties of cookies and pastries. Customers would eye up trays of baked goods in a pastry case, order what they want, and their selections would be boxed up and priced by weight.

Licata’s family was one that had always leaned toward cooking rather than baking, depending on these bakeries to sate sweet cravings; still, Licata picked up a love of baking as a hobby at age 18, zhuzhing up boxed cake mixes as a start. On Wednesday, November 15, Licata will open Flour Bloom in Portland (OR), where she’ll share some of the Italian American delicacies she misses most from the East Coast.