Not your ordinary white bread May 15, 2009
One of Claire’s favorite finger foods now is bread. I usually toast it, add a little – but not too much – butter, and give her little pieces. It’s so easy to pick up and she loves to ‘chew’ and say “nom, nom, nom, nom…” with each bite. I try not to give her too much bread but when I do I try to keep it brown. That’s not always the case, though, and I’m quite happy to do it. The bread pictured, though, is not your ordinary white bread.
About three blocks from our house is a French-Vietnamese bakery, Artisan Boulanger Patissier (the website doesn’t do it justice), that is run by a husband and wife. It’s a quiet, unassuming place. It’s not a cafe (although they do attempt a little atmosphere, but not much); but when you go in, the smell is so comforting and usually there’s a slight fog of flour floating in the air. It’s not quite Paris in the Springtime, but when I eat their croissants, I’m taken back to my Spring holiday there. Plus, the people are friendly. I always get into a conversation with Andre, the baker, and he’s always willing to share a madeleine with Claire (on the house – though I do go in there almost every other day).
I usually get a multigrain loaf, a beautiful brown poof of goodness, that is a little expensive ($5) but worth it. It doesn’t last very long because Aaron and I are always looking for meals around it. And Claire loves it. They didn’t have them today; I went a little later in the morning. I highly advise going as early as you possibly can because they sell out of things quickly and, while they post hours, they close when they run out of goods. So today I bought a country loaf. This gorgeous thing (ok, I’ll try to limit my use of gorgeous and beautiful in describing food – in this post – to once; but, you’ve just got to see this bread) only cost me $2!! That’s at least half of what I would spend on the grocery store, high-fructose corn syrup, lumps – I mean – loaves.
It is food like this that makes me not too concerned about nutrition and what is ‘best’ to eat. Good, real, just out of the oven white bread is better than any over-processed brown thing at the grocery store.