Hi friends!

Hi friends! One of these days I will write a whole blog entry about what it was like to do Beauty and the Beast, but for now, I have decided just to return to writing about the everyday things that happen, thoughts and impressions I have, and, of course, the ridiculous things my kids say.

Today, I am writing about bread. I LOVE bread! Lately, I have found excuses to pop into Great Harvest to buy a loaf of indulgence, but also, in confession, for the immediate gratification of receiving a thick slice of free bread. I love to enter the store and pretend like I have no idea they are about to offer it to me, then feign delight at the gesture. "Who, me? Why, yes, thank you! What an unexpected surprise! I WOULD love a hearty slice of bread. How kind of you!" (I also quite deliberately push the thought that they must inflate the prices of the loaves to accommodate such an offer very deeply to the back of my brain).

I have been introduced to several new kinds of bread thanks to this little place. Today, I bought a loaf of tomato herb...scrumptious! It is like sitting down to a fine italian restaurant where they serve thick, crusty pieces of herb-y bread which you dip in oil and balsamic vinegar, except it is not at all so crusty and there is no dipping involved.

My free "bread" today was, in fact, not a bread at all. It was a pumpkin cream cake roll, which they, I think, are required to call a bread to fit the theme of the store. It was the yummy, flavorful pumpkin cake rolled together with that splendid cream cheese filling. Ahhhh! It was a beautiful escape. I closed my eyes and pretended I was snowed in at a luxurious ski resort. "No, Miss, the roads are impassible, I am afraid, but I can offer you this pumpkin cream cheese cake roll while you wait by our over-sized fireplace. Would you like hot cocoa with that?"

I especially love baking my own bread, but on days that I visit Great Harvest, I am often sent spinning into a bread coma and no longer have the drive to bake my own that day. Why? Bread begs you to slow down. It says to your soul, "You are going too fast, soul. Enjoy the peace while you can." So, I suppose maybe I should not go Great Harvest too often, lest I deny my own family that beautiful escape.