progress

the concord grapes finally got made in to jelly..canned and cooling as we speak!!!

not your average smuckers jelly...this has soul and character!

What I like about you

I once had the pleasure of working in a world class kitchen in the Napa Valley. It was an incredible experience that moved me in oh so many ways. The short six months I was employed there left a great big impression on me. So many things were inpressive. My father asked me as I was packing up my tiny apartment to leave Napa, "what made the biggest impression on you"

I paused thought for a long time and answered with great conviction "the level of thought"

I tell this story becouse the bake shop I joyfully roll along in has that "level of thought"

to be continued...

the autumn leaves

Yesterday on my drive to work I was reminded that summer has finally left us, as the cool breeze made the fallen leaves dance and sing; and again this morning as my favorite farmers at the market had no tomatoes to sell. I was inspired to pull out an old sweater and an old poem.

Ducks in flight
Leaves gone gold
Jumpers on and air gone crisp
Game on the table
Pumpkins are smiling bright
Autumn is here and
Joy soars to a new height

progress on the home front

Today I have bought a smoker for when the bacon comes off cure next week. Tomorrow I process concord grapes for jelly!!!

feels like the first time

Last night I was a commis again. Lost in a world that revolves around the manipulation of the life cycle of yeast. The bakeshop has it's own sounds, it's own language, it's own pecking order and it's own rhythm.

The first sound my ears had the pleasure to imbibe as I rolled up the door (bike in one hand confusion in the other,) was The Clash "Rudie can"t fail". I took it as an omen of good things to come. It was only a prelude of choice musical selections for the durration of the shift.

Then the storm of jargon roared past me. Batches of bread being called FB's or FL's or french 1,2,3,4, or retail, or or or...

Shaping bread will be my primary task for weeks to come I'm told. I must have rolled 200 bagettes, it's so Zen like. With each loaf the opportunity to improve on the last one. Looking down at the other shapers loaves for inspiration and wonder. I ponder how many bagettes I've eaten in my lifetime, and whose hands they were born in. It is a slightly intimate connection I have with my comunity now, knowing that my work has become their daily bread.

first day of school/bacon is on cure

this morning was dedicated to bacon....and bread and butters.
off to work I go, few jitters says the newly titled baker..