whole grain bread baking – Wed, 10/29 7:30-9:30pm @ The Mill

howdy folks

if’n ya wanna learn how to bake some bread, you can go ahead and sign up here for my next class – Wednesday, October 29 from 7:30-9:30pm. it’ll be at The Mill.

the last one filled up quick, so don’t ya go dilly-dallying.

❤ j

bake w me (again), my first halfsy, + The Return of The Chocolate Chip Cookie

yo buuuuuuddies

i got an overwhelming response to my last post about baking classes, and it ended up selling out in a couple of hours, and so now hear this – more are on the way!! how to sign up? enter your e-mail here and i will keep you up to speed –

*please note – signing up above does NOT sign you up for a class, it just adds you to the class e-mail list, and you can sign up once i send you an e-mail with details, links to ticket site, etc.

next class is planned for Wednesday, Oct. 29 7:30-9:30, and there’s a few more on the calendar as well, so please gimme your e-mail and you can sign up if ya like.

enough about that – man oh man, i just did something that i’ve never done before!! it wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as i’d thought it was gonna be. i sweat nearly the whole time, but luckily i was practically naked. and it probably would have been a lot worse if i didn’t have this guy with me the whole time –

that’s Ira Glass, host of This American Life, and man oh man, he is just so good at what he does, and i have taken to listening to his show religiously when i go on longer runs. (and how about that new podcast, Serial?? so good right?!!? i mean, what the heck, Adnan does not sound like he could have done that… and how about that streaker!!)

but anyway – i ran an unofficial half-marathon! or, as i’ve taken to calling it in the last few hours to nobody but my proud self, “a halfsy.” so i ran my first halfsy. feels so good to have done it, and it’s got me pumped on doing more. i started running a couple of months before my wedding because, let’s face it, running a bakery had turned me into a fat kid. or, as i liked to say to all the bakers, “the fattest kid in the bakery.” the real turning point was when, during my bachelor party, while wearing body paint and a headdress and chasing after a bear, i realized that i was not going to catch the bear, because i had, as stated earlier, turned into the fattest kid in the bakery. and i said to myself, “if i was not at my bachelor party, but rather just out in the woods, and it was time to chase after a bear, i should be able to catch it.” so i stopped eating so many chocolate chip cookies and started running a few times a week. last time i checked i’d lost a whopping 25 frikkin pounds since that pathetic bear-chasing performance. (for the record, i did catch the bear, though he definitely slowed down for me, and after that i ate his heart. but that’s another story altogether, now isn’t it?)

but speaking of chocolate chip cookies – tonight marks The Return of The Chocolate Chip Cookie at The Mill. yup, we’ve been hearing consistently from you that you’re mighty pissed that we don’t have that special little treat anymore, so we decided to bring it back, on Monday nights only, as a nice little after-pizza snack. so if you’re angry with us about the cookies, then please come by tonight, or any other Monday night for that matter, and stuff your face with warm chocolate chip cookies and a cold glass of milk.

this past weekend was as glorious as can be – i spent Saturday evening baking pizza in a wood fired oven –

it was part of a wonderful evening at a farm in west Marin aptly titled, “Nature Babes,” in which some talented ladies showed off their art + music gifts to an attentive and appreciative little gathering of folks. after the fun was had on the farm me and some good buddies engaged in something i hadn’t done since i was a child. i also had no idea how intense things would get –

good god!!! playing a good game of JENGA is one of the most exhilarating and anxiety-provoking experiences i’ve had in a long time. and that photo doesn’t even capture where we went – soon after this two brave women pulled BOTH the left and right block out of the BOTTOM LEVEL. i was completely awed by their finesse. we had a dedicated group of about 7, and man oh man, we really gave it our all. it was a fitting end to the drama when another party-goer who wasn’t engaged in the insanity accidentally whacked her booty into my buddy Rye Guy while he was delicately nudging a block out, thereby making the teetering tower topple to the ground.

ok, i need to go eat some pizza and cookies, maybe i’ll see ya there?

❤ j