What I did on my spring vacation
Last week my wife and I took a short vacation to a small farm on the outskirts of Victoria, BC. We stayed with Diane (aka intern#2 last year) and her husband Ed - both gracious hosts, tour guides, and entertainers for our (almost) week long stay. On one of the days I taught a couple of classes at The French Mint, a culinary school in Victoria run by chef Denise Marchessault. In the morning I taught a class on croissants, in the evening a class about sourdoughs. Both went great.
Other than that, I mostly sat around or marginally earned my keep by taking their Yugoslav Shepherd for a walk. Sharon (my wife) was happily busy cleaning fresh eggs, milking the goats, feeding the newborn goats, and pulling weeds in the greenhouse. Diane force-fed us fresh bread, brioche, eggs, and everything else under the rainbow, which of course led to more of me sitting around.
Zeva taking me for a walk
Butchart Gardens
Diane baked this much bread everyday
Sharon and an 8 hour old nubian
Ed and some calves
We had a great stay, and to top it off I got to try some Roger's flour (from BC) and came home with some Alberta flour also. I used the Roger's flour for both of my cooking classes and was very pleased with their unbleached white and rye flour. Nice texture, flavor, and color.
Thanks a lot Diane and Ed.
-Mark
PS If you'd like to see more pix of the trip I'll be posting them on my Facebook page
Comments
I'm glad you (and Sharon) were able to take a bread from the bakery for some vacation time, Mark. Even if the vacation involved baking courses. How did you get set up with teaching at The French Mint? Your name must really be making its way through the baking community.
I think Victoria is now my next vacation destination. I can't believe how beautiful those gardens are in Canada this time of year. And the picture of the bakery in BC on your Facebook page pretty much sold me as well.
Thanks for sharing your adventure!
Callie
Hey Callie,
Diane (who was interning two weeks before you) lives about 10 minutes from The French Mint and is friends with Denise. They set up the whole thing and I just showed up and did my thing. It was a little challenging figuring out the timing (croissants in 3 hours?), but it ended up working really well. People enjoyed the courses and I don't think it's because of my magnetic personality.
It was a good time of the year to head out there since we're still dealing with snow flurries everyday and nothing's starting to grow yet.
See ya.
-Mark
Once a teacher...
Anyway, I was hoping to see all the great live dough and "dead dough" decorative pieces you did during the slow season.
Joking...
Sort of.
Glad to see you could take a break!
Take Care!
Pat
...the decorative pieces are still on the 'to do' list. However, it seems 'home improvement' somehow leapfrogged over them to gain the top position. I've still got time for The Coupe-at least a few more years of practice.
-Mark
Wow! Obviously she wasn't on vacation. That's a lot of home baking on a daily basis. You, on the other hand, sound like you got a much needed rest from a 24x7 lifestyle which as much as it must be rewarding I suspect can be wearying too! I'm aware that my 5-day work week as a baker is a 'charmed life' in the trade.
Larry
SOME people bake on their vacations. Diane was very busy keeping everyone fed-to-the-hilt, but judging by the speed she moves around I think it's her modus operandi.
Five days a week as a baker is plenty hard work too, it's just a little easier to turn it off when it's sleeping time. I don't recall reading where you work as a baker, Larry?
-Mark
A restaurant in Washington DC. It's interesting in that there are only 2 of us baking, and for the most part the full lifecycle of bread occurs from 4:45 am when I open till 1:30 - 2 pm in the afternoon when our baking is finished. (We do a same day brioche that actually produces nice hamburger and hot dog rolls).
For me the best part is that I get to see the doughs I've mixed early morning come to full fruition as finished loaves. For a lot of bakers, this never occurs as I'm sure you know. They either do the mixing and shaping, or the actual baking.
Of course, you do it all - plus the distribution! My hat is off to you!
Larry
Larry,
It's great you get to work with the dough from start to finish. Although some dough was mixed on my shift at the place I used to work at, most of the dough was ready to be scaled and shaped when I arrived. Lots and lots of bins of it. Getting to do the full process is less repetitious and better for understanding all of the parts.
-Mark