Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Before I head off to the gym and come up with new things to complain about for this page, here are a few interstitial thoughts for your consideration:
On Snowball‘s sage advice, I have registered http://www.bakerina.com, and as of now you can use it to access this little page. The old URL (bakerina.typepad.com) still works, though. It’s all about choices here.
Like a fellow blogger ‘round these parts, I have spent thousands of hours at a website called Plastic, where members are invited to write discussion pieces about vital issues of the day, and then discuss them. When I started PTMYB, I put a link to it on my Plastic member page. Because my Plastic-universe name is jenmac (a combination of my first and last names), one of my buddies asked me if I am also nakedjen. Holy cow, dude, how much free time do you think I have? I mean, no, I am not also nakedjen. nakedjen and I live on opposite sides of the country, and I am not nearly as pretty naked as she is. Go visit Jen’s site; you’ll be glad you did. (Keep in mind, though, that although the banner photo of Jen is beautiful, it is probably not safe for work, at least if you work at a company like mine.)
My most excellent brother (who, until I get permission to use his name, will be known in this space as BOB, not as in short for Robert but as in Brother of Bakerina) gave me an e gift certificate for my birthday, which I used to buy, among other things, this beautiful new book by the Canadian husband-and-wife team of Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. Even if it were just a collection of excellent recipes and beautiful photographs, it would be a book well worth having. But it is more: it is also a collection of essays on their travels around the world, alone and together, and the introduction contains a loving apologia for home baking, and why it is worth our while to not let this tradition die out. That said, the recipes look terrific, and I am at a loss for what to try first: the rye quick bread? the Silk Country Road naan? kouignamann, the sublime Breton yeasted butter cake? the fascinating Thai tuiles, sweet rice-flour cookies wrapped around a savory scallion filling? the Persian cardamom cookies, made with rice flour instead of wheat? I might just have to call in sick for the rest of the month.
Back in August, I went to Pittsburgh for a week to visit my college roommate, find a neighborhood to which Lloyd and I might like to move, and scout out locations for what was supposed to be my bakery, and now appears to be “the futile obsession over which I spin my wheels nightly.” From the news weasels at Plastic comes this AP story, which states that Pittsburgh is so broke that its credit rating has been reduced to junk-bond status and the mayor has asked for both a “distressed city” designation and a team of state receivers to review the city’s budget. I went to college in Pittsburgh. I loved this city from the first moment I laid eyes on it, I love it still, and the thought of this happening to it makes my heart hurt in a way that nothing else ever has.
been to naked jen (thanks, clothed’ jen!) no longer feel so self-conscious re this tummy of mine. if popular accalaim doth impell, i may have to put up my own nudie pics. stay tuned.
I am touched. Honored really. You said such wonderfully kind and lovely things.
I have always wanted to open a bakery and teahouse. Santa Cruz needs one. A lovely one. Come here and open it. You would like it here. And if you like, you can learn to be naked.
We are getting ready to move next week to a great smaller town (72,000) people that does not have one bakery. Folks seem to feel that the bakery departments in the various grocery markets fill that need.
NEVAH!
I am a lousy cake kinda baker, but I make wonderous bread. Did you ever think about moving to Red Deer Alberta?
Michael, consider this your first vote. If you post your nudie pics, I’ll post mine. Actually, I won’t. I’ll say that I will, then I’ll wuss out at the last minute. But that shouldn’t stop you from posting yours. 
Jen, you make me smile. I meant what I said. I’m sure that I would love Santa Cruz, and heck, I could be persuaded to bake. I’ll get back to you on the naked.
Vicki, you have summed up the breadbaker’s dilemma in a nutshell. I would have to compete against grocery stores, which most people think are “good enough,” and because they can take advantage of economies of scale that a small baker can’t, there’s no way I could match their price points, at least unless I use cheap nasty ingredients like vegetable shortening instead of butter, which is not what this bakerina is about at all. There’s also a lot of customer education involved, like explaining that no, those croissants aren’t burned; that’s what happens to butter when you bake a croissant properly—it gets dark! That dark means that the sugars have caramelized and the croissant will taste better! (Sorry. Can you tell that this is a well-practiced rant?)
You and I need to talk about your wondrous bread. Feel free to send me an e, if you’d like. I LOVE talking bread shop. And do you really make lousy cakes? I have my doubts.
Mmmm....fresh bread...anyone who thinks that pap sold at grocery stores counts as actual bread simply doesn’t care about what goes in their mouth. I might add that the local bakery (there are several, but only one of local origin & ownership that isn’t wholesale) also sells wood-fired brick-oven baked pizzas....*drools*
Come to Pittsburgh - finances are temporary - Pittsburgh has been there for a while - it’s not going anywhere!
Lots of nice neighborhoods to live in in Pittsburgh! Pittsburgh’s financial pain equals cheap rent for you! We were paying $400 for a very charming one bedroom on the Northside in 2000-2001. My family moved there in 1973, and I lived there off and on until my husband and I moved out to California in 2001, and it has really become a nice little town. There are not enough good bakeries, and the bakeries that do exist do a brisk business, so you should be able to figure something out. Good luck!
Naomi
Page 1 of 1 pages
been to naked jen (thanks, clothed’ jen!) no longer feel so self-conscious re this tummy of mine. if popular accalaim doth impell, i may have to put up my own nudie pics. stay tuned.