A few months back, a Vancouver Island baker reached out after reading my blog post about Cranberry Pecan Bread (June 5, 2025), which featured a purple-tinged crumb, dried cranberries and toasted, chopped pecans.
“Now, try CAP Bread!” he said. “Cranberry, apple, pecan! It was my best seller!”
The baker was Kees Docter, the former head baker and owner of the Utopia Bakery Cafe in Chemainus, B.C.,… Continue reading
The Greenangel Woodchoppers delivered a pile of firewood last week. After returning from a long day in Vancouver, Jennifer and I discovered the happy pile of chopped wood tumbled on the grass beside the woodshed. It was a great surprise and a relief.
We’d been running low on firewood.… Continue reading
Hello again, and Happy New Year!
It’s 2023! I feel like a different person. Since the last Happy Monk bake day, seven weeks ago, I’ve been around the block a few times. Seen some things. Do you feel different, too? It’s an arbitrary mark, the passage of a year. But time has shifted yet again.
I’m sure it’s the same for all of us!… Continue reading
Early mornings in front of Mildrith, as I sweep out the ashes and load the hearth with bread, I feel the presence of St. Francis, the saint statue resting on the wall of the oven shelter.
It’s little more than a block of concrete cast into the likeness of St.… Continue reading
Just over 10 years ago, Jennifer and I moved to Pender Island from Vancouver.
It was a cold, windy November day. The power went off for a few hours. A neighbour came down the driveway while we waited for the moving truck to arrive. “Welcome to Pender Island,” he said. “You better get used to this weather!”… Continue reading