Category: Uncategorized

Making Art and Bread With A Message

Eighty-nine-year-old Peter Schumann (centre) oversees the Bread and Puppet Theatre … and the making of bread to feed his audiences. (New York Times)

I often think I came to the baking profession too late in life. It’s been more a retirement project than a life-long calling. I have a thirst for baking knowledge and never satisfied with making just good loaves.… Continue reading

Cheese Karma

An artful cheese board: Beautiful to some, but not this writer!

Confession time: I can’t eat cheese.

It’s true! While the world turns to cheese in everything gastronomic, I look the other way. When I order a burger or a salad, I remind the waiter, “No cheese, please,” to ensure no surprises. Scanning a menu, I look for two things: One, for something delicious and enticing, and two, for anything that contains cheese.… Continue reading

Say a Prayer For The Perfect Loaf

The next time you’re baking bread, say a prayer for The Perfect Loaf in the sky. As you slide your pillowy loaves into the oven, ask The Perfect Loaf for:

  • A burnished, chestnut-coloured crust;
  • An open and airy crumb;
  • A lofty loaf with generous oven spring:
  • Score lines that are charred gently along the edges;
  • Whole grain flavour with a hint of sourdough tang;
  • A heady, bready aroma that transports you to a warm kitchen where you are loved unconditionally
  • Where angelic choruses can be heard when your loaves emerge from the oven into the world

Seal the prayer in a golden thought bubble and watch it float into the sky.… Continue reading

The Great Laugh

Laugh until the rock thoughts crack and snap off ...
Wave after wave of laughter!

Have you ever had one of those fits of uncontrollable laughter, so contagious and overpowering that you have no idea what started it in the first place? Once it gets going, everything someone says, every look, every facial tick sets off a new round of hilarity, shrieking, sore stomach muscles, shaken bladders.… Continue reading

Swimming the Neighbourhood

One of the neighbourhood pools we kids frequented, circa 1961. That’s me in the water at the corner of the pool. My brother Ian far right.

Growing up in 1960s West Vancouver, backyard swimming pools were plentiful. My own family had a lush garden instead of a pool. Still, I remember at least six pools in our immediate vicinity.… Continue reading