Live Blogging Sunday morning...

I'm not a big fan of working Sundays. Lucky for me I had them off all summer. But now that fall is here and we have experienced 'the great leaving' We are faced with having to all give a little where we hadn't before and my contribution is Sunday...(oh, all right!) Here we are only open from 9 am to 2pm, but can pull in as much as we do on a full 11 hour day. (hopefully this answers the obvious question of "why in the hell are we even doing this!)
It's 4:54 am- first things first...Coffee americano. short. with a little steamed 1/2 and 1/2...ok, and a splash of Carolans if we have some (it is...may I remind you, Sunday!)
Time to mix the white Trash for sticky buns and chocolate bread...back in a minute!
on the radio- (quietly, cause we have B&B guests upstairs!)...BBC on NPR is always a whole different view on the world!
5:10 am-Sourdough mixed for bagels and a few baguettes, sipping my coffee and making my list for the day...room 1 needs turning over, the planter boxes pullled, mats washed and kitchen floor scrubbed, suddenly the ice falling in the ice machine startles me. Last week at this time I had a banged up, very drunk dude knocking on my door desperately seeking his girlfriend...I called the poor guy a cab and made him a strong cup of coffee...hoping today the only drunk here is me! (just kidding, we are totally out of Carolans!)
5:42 am- Dry mix for Scones and Biscuits done, sticky goo made and poured into prepped pans...still waiting on rising dough so I check notes from yesterday. Oh Yeah, Sharon and crew had a crazy day. Wind storm blew down our Farmers Market Booth, so Sharon had to run out and take it down in the middle of the busy retail day...boy, it's always something! There was also a big gathering at the beach next door...something about a bunch of people lying on the sand at low tide to form the shape of a salmon in order to bring attention to climate change...(really, you gotta love this town!) All the cars and people walking around just added to the frantic atmosphere. No big functions in the area this morning, so hopefully they will all sleep in a little!
Time for one more cup of coffee...found some brandy...maybe just a little...and a little music, enough about the G20 summit and flooding in the phillipines, How about some Wild Colonials?
6:10- uncover the oven door...the coals, once they are spread out, shimmer with orange and red...I could stare into it all morning! The temp is just right at about 500 degrees. Time to mix muffins and quiche filling.
7:25 am- Bagels are boiling, sticky's rolled and proofing, 7 dozen white trash rolls rolled (16 minutes, in case you were wondering!) Ready for new music...Vampire Weekend anyone?
8:05 am-Scones, Biscuits, muffins all mixed and in the oven, Chocolate bread and bagels just came out...starting to smell really good in here! Danishes are all proofing, waiting their turn in the oven. Quiche is in, as are the sticky buns! (better have those ready by opening time or there will be hell to pay!) Put the IPod on Shuffle...
8:29 am - Barista's are here - Rachel and Natalia...yay! Big oven is cleaned out and all those white trash rolls are safely inside. We are ready to get the day started, doors open in 30...so I should probably go! Thanks for spending the morning with me! Next week I'm off to Clevelandia (as my friend Dan calls it) with daughter Jane to visit the family Coyle (I promised Jenny I would come have a drink with her at the Velvet Tango Room...rumor has it the Ruhlmans are joining us!) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, here we come!

Linda Smogor, the photographer of our lives...

She's been here for almost everything, capturing images of bakery life for the past 17 years with beautiful and thoughtful photos of:
Lucious Bread...

The 'Sisters'!

































Her own daughter on the cover of the Sun Magazine

This photo below was part of a series Linda shot on my last day of work before giving birth to my daughter Jane (who just gracefully turned 13!!!). When she asked if she could submit the image to a magazine, I said yes and completely forgot all about it. Two years later I recieved a large envelope in the mail from her. In it was the current issue of a new publication called Hope. I opened the cover and there it was.

Another year or so went by and Linda called again asking permission to use the photo. I said yes, and again, forgot all about it. Then one day I get a call from a good friend in Portland who says she just got an ad in the mail to subscribe to this magazine and it had my picture on it...my mind swirled at the thought of my naked pregnant belly landing in all those random people's mailboxes. My sister Tarri put it all into appropriate perspective, she says to me; "Hey, big deal, you're on junk mail, it's flying around on the street and people are walking all over you!" I laughed and realized that maybe some of those people would love the photo and be inspired.. over the years we have watched Linda's work crop up in Mothering Magazine and even LIFE...
These images, from her Mars Cove collection, are some of my favorites:


I found this image os Spalding Gray that Linda took in 1988 at the McDowell retreat:

We have a whole new show of Linda's current work up in the Bakery throughout the fall.

Ahhhh...Fall

my sweet peas are basking in the long slow sunsets:

You can tell it's fall when...
-you start to recognize the faces in the line...the locals are back because they know they can get a seat!
-the food delivery shows up before 6pm...fewer places in town to deliver to!
-you can find a parking place on the spit
-the flowers on my porch are finally in full bloom:

-and you start to see other people 'in the biz' out and about...and they are smiling!
...on that last note: we had a lovely visit from the new owners of the Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop...Janis Fleishman and Jerry Lewanski opened their bakery earlier this year and are a rousing success. They are a hardworking couple enlisting the help of their whole family to make wholesome organic baked goods out of a cute little house near downtown Anchorage. It's always so inspiring to talk to people with such passion for what they do..and truly an honor for me that they love our place so much! We wish them a successful winter, and I can't wait to get up the road to check them out.
One more such source of constant inspration is the duo of Michael and Donna Ruhlman. Donna has gotten such great feedback from her classic and elegant photos on her husbands site, that she has started a blog of her own where she answers questions and talks technique about how she approaches a certain photograph. It is full of valuable information for beginners (like me) and pros alike and a visual treat to boot.

She has also launched a lovely website at ruhlmanphotography.com where you can view her gallery of work, purchase high res images and even get medium res photos to use for free.



Parting shot:

These strawberry plants refuse to give up...I like that.

Guilty Pleasure blog of the week:
Adrian Moore...he's the concierge at the Four Seasons George V in Paris and according to Women's Wear Daily, the hottest food blogger in the city of light. Don't you wish he were your best friend?

Raspberries are in!

It's a little like waiting for a lover to return from a long trip out to sea, (a feeling us fishwives find all too familiar!) It's a time filled with breathless excitement and more than a little aniexty. This year, my perfect day to pick raspberries was Saturday. What I assumed would be the busiest picking day of the week. Now I know that every year I feel this way and every year there is always plenty for everyone...it still doesn't help. I don't know what i would do without our annual stash of summer in a jar. It is also the wonderful by-product of living in a small town for so long that my family has had access to the most amazing and awesome patch of raspberries for a dozen years or more. That patch has given us many a small but bright spot in the middle of those cold dark winter mornings...after all who can be crabby after being presented with toasted bakery bread with that brilliant red smeared all over and glistening like a jewel! Lucky for me, on this day, there was not a soul around. The morning had rained some, but as we pulled down the driveway to my friend Jane's (the funny and generous keeper of the patch) the sun came out and blessed us with perfect picking weather!

When my kids were small, we had picking parties... the little ones would play for hours on the tire and buoy swing while I and the other moms chatted and picked. Now that the kids are older they can pick faster than me! This year, it was my friend Celeste and I. I was picking for jam and her berries provided for our evening refreshment...raspberry marguaritas!

...So, with 4 quarts of raspberries picked (with one left behind for our wonderful hostess) and a case of jam done and cooling...you can bet we were ready for a little refreshment.
And just in time for sunset!

A little local inside tip: people here guard their favorite picking locations very closely, if you don't have one (or haven't befriended someone who does) there is always Mossy Kilcher's Seaside Farms. Mossy has herself a little slice of heaven there on the bench above Kachemak Bay. She also rents cabins and runs a hostel along with a great pick your own raspberry patch...it is a lovely spot!