brave new world

greetings, from the land of falling leaves, open fields and free-range cows. as usual, this is a post long overdue, but this is a rare evening when i find myself home before bedtime, so i'll take my best stab at it.

before we moved up here, when i told people we'd bought a bakery and were leaving the city, a flattering number of people asked me if i'd keep up blogging. my answer was some variation of, "absolutely! probably more often!"

oh, young audrey. you were so innocent. so naive. that was when i thought working eleven hours and coming home to cook dinner was a long day. these days it's pretty much all i can do to get 8 hours of sleep between getting to work at 6 am and leaving at 8 or 9.

there's lots of good news. i'm so proud of the pastry case - when we came in, most everything was at least partially, if not entirely, pre-made. i've been able to switch over to not only making 'most everything entirely from scratch, but i've added a laundry list of things to the menu - jars of cookies line the top of the case, new flavors of french macarons sit beneath a glass cloche every day, and despite the ridiculous headache it's been, i make sourdough from scratch just about daily. we've even been able to start to make some changes to the café side of things - between sam and i, we've got two housemade soups on the menu every day, and have started testing out specials that we'll hopefully add to a new menu before long. somehow in there, we've started some little design changes - ball jars for glasses, taking down the awful curtains, hanging my collection of bundt pans. our plan is to give the place a final re-vamping in january or february - change the name, change the menu and do a few big face-lifty things like painting the walls and changing the display case.

there are hard days, too, of course. working 15+ hours a day can make anyone snippy, and i think sam and i have each said things to each other that we wish we hadn't; and as much as selling out of things is exhilarating, there is a moment some saturday afternoons when i take a look in the quickly-emptying pastry case and my heart sinks because i know i won't be going home for a loooong time. these are good problems. sam is a man of endless patience and quick apologies, and i truly think any squabbles we've had have only left us stronger; and of course, selling out of pastries is a very good problem for a bakery owner to have. we are so fortunate to have our place to come home to - the coziest of cottages, right on one of the most beautiful lakes in the northeast, warmed by a pellet stove and furnished with little but a giant bed and extremely comfy couch. even stepping outside every morning before light breaks, i'm treated to the most amazing view of the stars - i feel incredibly blessed to be here.

so - here we are. the tired cliché says that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this tired lady is hoping that's true - here are more than you could ask for, of the bakery, the food, and our little house. this is the view standing at our driveway and looking across the street.
  and the backyard. . . . . . which has a bunny infestation.

 the bakery. trusty sign-maker. and of course, the food. all right - ttfn, and more from me as for as i can manage it. thanks so much to all of you for your kind words, here and elsewhere, and for sticking with me through all this! xo audrey

black forest

so. . .

my apologies for being off the grid for awhile. i know i drop off the earth periodically, but this time i have a pretty good excuse: sam and i bought a bakery in the berkshires, and for the last month i've been working 16 hours a day or more, seven days a week. now that summer is coming to an end, and lots of the second-homers are heading out of our part of the beautiful country and back to the real world, business has calmed down a bit and today i was able to sleep in for the first time in weeks, and i'm currently sitting on a couch in a small cottage on a lake, eating homemade blueberry pie for breakfast and taking in a sex and the city marathon.

i honestly don't even know where to begin. sam and i have been talking about opening our own place forever, but everything happened so quickly once we actually got to looking that i really didn't even have time to stop and think about it. we stumbled upon the place on our way home from quebec city in june - a cute little cafe & bakery in northwest connecticut, owned by a husband and wife who wanted to retire - and by the time we got back from our trip to champaign and chicago, we had two weeks to quit my job, pack our apartment, find a place up here and file more paperwork than you can believe. and once we arrived, we really hit the ground running - the place has a full staff, and was running the day we took over, so we didn't have the luxury of a few days to get set up, find our sea legs and make even minor changes. we've been working 100+ hour weeks, making changes as we're able, and basically making it up as we go along. it's more work than i ever could have imagined.

and you know what? it's an absolute dream come true.

first of all, i can't believe how lucky i am to have a guy who will put everything he's dreamed of for himself aside to give me everything i've ever wanted. of course, there's plenty in it for him too - we're staying in a cottage right on the lake, with a dock leading out the back and mountains and trees filling the windows of our glassed-in porch. it's funny - when we first met, sam had a travel job and i worked much of the weekend, so we barely got any time together; now we spend every moment of the day with each other, and it's honestly one of the best parts of my new life. we've always gotten along so well, and effortlessly, and now we get to share everything with each other - it's pretty amazing. then there's the fact that i get to do what i love all day, every day - and make every decision about what to make, how it should look, what the special should be and what should go up on the walls. the people up here are friendly, and it is such an insanely beautiful place.

we have a long way to go to get the place where we want it - the pastries i've changed over for the most part, but the breakfast and lunch menu, the decor, and even the name will all probably change bit by bit. we've accomplished so much in the first 40 days, and people have been so encouraging and kind about the changes we're making - i think it's going to be a pretty awesome little spot.

so - forgive my lengthened silence, and the probably-abstruse nature of this post - i'm hoping things are cooling down a bit, business-wise, as the fall rolls in, and i'll have more time to update this blog and get something up and going for the bakery, too. in the meantime, i'll throw up a few photos i took a couple weeks in - entirely gratuitous food porn and nothing of the bakery, or the town, but i'll do my best to carry my camera around more frequently and throw some more substantial photos up soon.

thanks for hanging in there with me!

xo audrey