Will this ever end?

Photo Courtesy James Isaak
I know, I'm a little obsessed...we all are up here these days. It's all we can talk about, it has made travel strange and difficult. (Sharon and family are stuck in Florida!) and has put a serious damper on summer hotel reservations. Even Alyeska Ski Resort had to deal with an ash-fall in the middle of hosting the National Championships for Slalom, Downhill and GS!
I'm hoping things will get back to normal soon and that the next hot thing you see from me is coming out of the oven and not a VOLCANO!

Redoudt redo!

We finally had a major eruption this morning and with a shift in wind direction, an ashfall advisory went into effect and we decided to close the Bakery and get everyone home and, Boy, am I glad I did! When I arrived to my home on the west end of town I could already see the first edge of the ashcloud as it makes it's way across the inlet. The view from our house of the water is slowly being obscurred with what looks like a super dark rain cloud, and already little dark specs are appearing on the snow!
We are snuggling in and watching the ash fall!

Thar' She Blows!

Photo courtesy of AVO/USGS
Whew! We finally get to let off at little steam! I have to say, this, so far, has been a little anti-climactic. However, for me, the drama is still there in the code red status and the fact that, truly, anything can happen at any time! The Bakery's proximity to the water has me looking out at the tsunami warning towers from my baking table and hoping that, in the event of the unthinkable, time will be on our side...It didn't help that, this, my first morning back after my spring break vacation, I walked into work to find the electricity was out (at first i thought they were having a suprise party for me, cause they missed me so much...i was so wrong!) and all these customers sitting quietly in the morning darkness...we lit ALOT of candles and heated water on the stove to make coffee 'the old fashioned way' and kept the baking schedule on course because we are mostly baking in the Brick Oven! People came down as their houses got cold and finally after about 3 hours the lights came on and things were humming away like normal...would you like room for cream in your coffee?
Don't you just love a mellow day at the Bakery while mother nature to has her way with us?!

Just Plain Beautiful!

Organically Speaking...

One question we often get is: "is this bread organic?" Without apology, we answer: "No, it isn't!" Why do we not use only organic ingredients in our products? As committed as we are to quality, you would think that getting organic cerification would be high on our list of accomplishments...you would think. However, we are pragmatic and realists (well, sometimes) and doing the business of baking bread thousands of miles away from the nearest organic millers and wanting to produce a quality product for the masses makes for an expensive and volitile loaf. Organics are a hot-button topic right now and Kim Severson, formerly of our own Anchorage Daily News, co-wrote a great article in the NY Times addressing the very fact that 'organic' doesn't necessarily mean better...or safer!