Tintinnabulation of bells in the perfumed halo of the fir trees; ’tis the season...

Odd, the little trade-offs that go with professional baking. There’s a clear standard of professionalism that, the truth be known, all bakers subscribe to whether they admit it or not. The individual features of the code aren’t really important; however, in scheduling a manicure today… today being two days into a two-week winter break at OCI… I humored myself at the thought that a specter of my past was once again a possibility, if only for the duration of the vaca: a French manicure with polish.

IMG_6331I guess there’s other humor in baking. Naively assuming one has the physical stamina to haul 50-pound bags of flour. Acknowledging that the product the baker is producing has virtually no shelf life. And, oh, yes, remembering that offering fresh bread at retail each morning requires getting up in the middle of the night. Only bakers can see humor in these things. Devotion to the craft is a great companion to humor.

I’m unsure if there’s a baking mantra, but there certainly is a logo, nail polish or not.