Saturday, November 30, 2013

Standard Baking Company




All five senses came alive the moment I entered the tiny, warm bakery on a rainy day-before-Thanksgiving. I was truly like a kid in a candy store. For me, fresh rustic bread is more alluring than candy any day!

I come to Standard bakery at least once a week.  Loving all things French, I bought into the bread is the stuff of life mantra and began buying bakery bread many years ago.  When first married, I actually told Frank I thought I’d bake all our bread….he was laughing at me before I even finished the sentence!  I’ve been on many diets, but will never buy into the no-carb one.  Have you not read French Women Don’t Get Fat?

Standard Baking Company makes divine bread.  Both of my sons have become bread connoisseurs and would no more eat Wonder Bread than tripe.  From when Ben was 8 or 9, if I asked if he wanted toast with his breakfast, he would say, “Is it good toast?” meaning the real thing baked yesterday or this morning, not months ago with preservatives, packaged in plastic, and cut in sickly thin slices. 

Baguettes, large and small, Pain au Levain, croissants, brioche, focaccia, rustica – Standard has so much to choose from, their wooden shelves and thick brown baskets chock full.  The bread is not packaged, it stands free in the open air so purveyors can see so clearly what they’ll buy. 

The atmosphere inside the bakery is as enticing as the bread.  It’s the tiniest store in the cellar of Fore Street restaurant, its door off Commercial Street at the back of a busy parking lot.  The door opens onto their patio with tiny tables, a trellis overhead, and pots of flowers in summer.  The wooden floors inside are ancient and creak; the ceiling is low and beamed.  You can watch the bakers in the back rolling out dough.  It’s cozy and quaint. 

I’m all about aesthetics and my surroundings have the ability to transport me to my happy place.  I go to Standard bakery for the bread, but also for the pleasure of being in their space. 

On the day before Thanksgiving, their stock was twice as much as usual and wet customers wormed their way in a line around the tiny space, laughing with each other as they prepared for family and the next day’s feast.  The atmosphere was as warm as their pastry -- jovial, communal.  The lighting was dim.  I felt transported to another time….maybe to the French countryside. 

We came for soft yeast and anadama dinner rolls, but left with a pear frangipane tart and six croissants as well.  When turkey becomes unappealing, I’ll melt black forest ham and swiss with a maple champagne mustard on them for our lunches.

“You know,” I said to Frank as we exited, hoods on in the pouring rain, “even if we don’t need bread, we should always come here the day before Thanksgiving just for the pleasure that just was!!!”  Big smiles on both of us…


Top photo taken from Facebook page of Standard Baking Company

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!


October 20.  9:22 a.m.  52 degrees in Maine….and I have already brought out the cushions for the deck set from their storage spot in the garage and am sipping coffee overlooking our glorious back yard, so grateful I’ve come outside.

The morning sun forces me to squeeze my eyes shut when the sun umbrella floats upward in the wind and the morning sun hits my face – it is so bright.  

Blinding. 

It must have rained earlier this morning; everything is wet and glistening in the sun.  The breeze rustles the colored leaves that remain on trees, hanging on for maybe only a matter of a few days more….but I’ve captured right here, right now.  I didn’t let this fantastic scene slip away unnoticed. 

Leaves don’t drop, they just let go….”  the line from Carrie Newcomber’s song plays in my mind….no forcing, no pushing, no doing anything.  Just letting go. 

Maine in fall is breath taking.  Yesterday, we walked Evergreen Cemetery on Stevens Avenue, one of my favorite places…in the world.  Truly.  The ancient, giant trees in there are awe-inspiring.  The dirt roads curve and meander through the quiet; the chapel is locked tightly; the colors and smell of fall inspiring.
 
My backyard this morning smells fresh.  The early morning light sparkles.  I feel the heat of the sun’s rays on my bare legs and cheeks.  The autumn colors are vivid green grass, deep earthy brown in the garden where my husband pulls weeds for season’s end, leaves of gold, auburn, geranium red, yellow.  Birds flit and chase one another to and from my husband’s feeders.

Art, Julia Cameron says, is born out of paying attention.  Being present and a part of nature causes me to sigh, feel genuinely grateful, and calm.

A million things to do – iron, begin making my sauce for dinner, run, make the bed… blah blah is all I hear.  

Nothing to do is ok….and oftentimes, even better.  


Photo:  a home en route to Fort Williams Park, Cape Elizabeth