Warm, crusty bread

There's an artisan baker in town. Her Facebook page features lovely photographs of her wares. She is on the more savory side, breads, croissants, pretzels, turnovers, rather than cakes and cupcakes. She does do pies. But the breads are the thing that keeps me coming back to her page. She is influenced by German style, and her wares are just wonderful to see. As one customer said of her photos of the breads, "staring at your creations makes the Internet worthwhile."

But I've never eaten any. I've only stared.

This is because she packs up and sells it all at the Athens Farmer's Markets. Her bakery is baking-only, no on site retail. I don't drive into Athens. It's a bit far to go for bread. This is disappointing especially since her bakery is a half mile from my house, and there is nowhere else in the county to get crusty bread.

A couple of years ago she announced that she was moving into an old pizza place to open a storefront/retail location a block away from her present location. I was so excited. However, they are doing all the work themselves and since she is still baking for the twice-weekly market in Athens, the work in rehabilitating the old pizza place into a bakery has gone slow. That's OK. I'm patient.

Well on Friday she announced that she was doing a test bake on Italian bread. For $2 a loaf people could come to the in-progress bakery and pick up a warm loaf. The sale would go on until she sold out. This happened in the mid-afternoon. I was just getting home from school and hadn't seen the announcement yet.

However soon after I arrived home, so soon in fact I had not even changed out of my school clothes, my friend arrived with two warm loaves for me. She had seen the announcement and launched into the car to grab some.

Of course I sliced some right away and I was pleased to find what I though I'd find, a perfect balance of lightness of the bread to crust, low amount of salt and delicious crunch. It is one of the best loaves I've ever eaten.

A friend who brings you bread, thoughtful and kind...is there anything more wonderful than a friend handing you a warm loaf of bread? I do not think so.

Fresh bread and staying in

I'm still in my pajamas. I'm savoring every last moment of school break.

In my defense, I was making bread in the machine and I didn't want to leave the house until it was finished. A safety precaution, not leaving the apartment with electrical appliances running.

Now I'm waiting for the bread to cool for ten minutes, so I can slide it out of the pan. But then I'll need to wait another thirty minutes to slice it so I can taste and see if the switch to different ingredients improved it any.

After that I'll be guessing I'll need to wait until the carb coma nap has passed. But then it will be dark and I won't want to go out anyway. If you give a mouse a cookie...

I'll probably go out, really. I need to use my $5 off coupon from the Dollar Store and I definitely need some groceries. I don't have the ingredients to make pea soup, and what would the start of my winter week at work be with no soup??

screen grab

I watched an independent documentary last night, "The NY Pizza Confessions." It was an OK movie, consisting of mostly stopping people on the streets of NY to ask them their opinion about pizza. Only one guy, a recent immigrant, said he did not like it. But he said he DID like the fact that New York is exactly the same as in the movies.

One gal who was pretty expressive, said that getting a slice last thing at night after a hard day, is like putting a pillow inside of you. Right on, sister.

One guy who was stopped on the street gave his answer to the pizza question, then said like a typical New Yorker, "Um, I don't want to be offensive...but...you're doing it wrong." The cameraman laughed and said "Is that right? Would you like to try?" And the New Yorker said, "Yes!" He took the microphone and put on the headphones and walked up and down the street interviewing people for a long time, lol.

There was a very affecting and poignant interview with a homeless man. Apparently there is one spot down near the wharves where you can get a slice for a dollar. The homeless and migrants panhandle for change until they accumulate enough, then they buy a slice. And then start all over.

This man the crawl said was "Al Carpenter" spoke poignantly of life on the streets. Of trying to get people's attention who studiously look the other way, of the reduction in spirit until crime is the only way to stay alive, of all the people passing him, have a home to go to. A place where they put a key in. He spoke of loneliness. He was sad but didn't appear to be bitter, just a lost soul on the streets. It was the best part of the movie.

But then a while later he appeared again in the movie and this time his language, previously clean, was foul to the max and he was angry. Spittingly, gesticulatingly angry. Perhaps the man is schizophrenic, or perhaps simply focusing on his life to a stranger roused long suppressed emotions. I don't know.

Now here is definitely a good thing to think about. One man who was interviewed ran a pizza condiment company. You know at McDonald's you get packets of sugar or salt or pepper and they're in paper packets? This is the same, except they're strictly for pizza. The Red Pepper pack, or the Parmesan pack, or the Oregano Pack...the man said that the most unsanitary thing in a pizza parlor is the cheese shaker. People who use the bathroom and don't wash their hands use the shaker. People who cough into their hands use the cheese shaker. And then you use it and touch your pizza with those same hands. Ewwww. He has a great point.

It was a movie about pizza, why we like it, what we like on it, how to eat it, and what it represents (the more philosophical interviewees opined.)

It's warmed up here. I suppose I ought to go out and be a productive citizen and do my chores. Let me think about it for a while...while I finish my tea...