how it all comes around

About a year ago, I posted about returning my keys and my thanks to New York City. I'm back on the blog now, with a year of stories from the marketing trenches of a small, burgeoning restaurant group. I will share some of those moments in time. For now, I want to offer a bit of ridiculousness about how things come around.

I have a baker friend. A brilliant and profoundly dedicated baker. The first time I tasted his pain au lait, the world seemed to shift ever so slightly. The light, slightly elastic white bread melted in my mouth and I understood that I had not eaten the right bread for most of my life. What does right mean? I wish I had the words to explain it. It was as if clarity burst into my brain through the roof of my mouth. The pain au lait was ever so sweet with a moisture-leaving quality that most breads don't have. What do you give to someone who has changed your understanding of a food? Who has created loaf after loaf, croissant after croissant of wonderful, well groomed yeast and flour?

He likes Rice Krispy Squares.

Making him Rice Krispy Squares leaves me feeling like the Little Dummer Boy haphazardly whacking a tom-tom for the baby Jesus. But I took to the task with the precision of a professional. I read and re-read the 5 lines in the recipe (3 of the lines are occupied by the ingredient list) and prepared my mise en place. I measured the marshmallows with my digital food scale. I microwaved the butter in 15 second increments so that I would not overheat it. I stirred in the marshmallows until consistently melted; whatever evil they are made of adequately softened and wrangled. I added the Rice Krispies slowly so that I would not have too thin a coat of this sweet, gooey white gold. I shaped the squares by hand on a Silpat.

They're sitting on the counter now. A far cry from frankincense and myrrh but we do what we can and we give what we are able to make without fucking it up.

Let the food blogging begin.