January 20, 2008 - 5:52pm
Jealousy spurs attempt at another get-together
Well, I'm jealous. Of the people in San Diego and other places that have enough people to have a get-together.
I live in a relatively rural (so far) part of California, but I wonder if there are others not far. I'm on the Central Coast. Is there anyone else in this vicinity so that we could plan something? Santa Barbara? Monterey? Fresno? Bakersfield?
Rosalie
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Kareninya,
I grew up in CA and graduated from high school with 35 in my class. Our nearest neighbors were about a mile away and I knew people even more rural than that. It happens, just in the north part of the state (the half that people forget exists, between SF and Oregon).
Rosalie,
I'm in Monterey. Where are you?
From up in the State of Jefferson, eh? Extremely rural up there.
Just south of there. So not quite that rural. Let's just say it was 60 miles to the nearest fast food.
I'm in Morro Bay, TRK. A lot of Central Valley people come out her for the day or the weekend. Monterey, too, I imagine. I hope we can drum up a few more people.
Rosalie
I can see where this is going. Pretty soon, there will be groups on the West Coast, then us East Coast folks will band together, than you'll have groups from other countries. And before you know it our East Coast gangs will be fighting for the flour rights from the West Coast gangs. And there will be the Flour King Pins, and people busted for selling little baggies of flour from one group to the other. It will spiral all out of control. Well maybe not, maybe I just watch to much crime t.v.
Anyways, Great Idea Rosalie. I think it is great when folks can get together to share their passions for something. I wish you the best in your get together.
Now what could we call our East Coast Gang I wonder? Hummm.
TT
Funny, TT. And floury fingerprints all over the crime scenes.
The Glutenous Maximas?
My other hobby is origami, another pretty solitary activity, and that's where I learnt how much one can gain from meeting other people with the same passion as you.
After all, "breadie"s have a different outlook on bread than non-bakers (muggles?). Most people won't understand our fascination with keeping a piece of rotting dough on the counter, refreshing it daily. They won't understand the way we look at the flour section in the supermarket, or how happy we can be when we find a good looking wicker basket at a thrift shop.
I find that you can learn a great deal from meeting people who share your hobby. This is why I am so happy that we have a little group here in San Diego (hopefully it will grow), and I encourage bakers everywhere to start groups as well.
In the world of origami there are local groups all over the country, and people can contact OrigamiUSA, the origami organization here, for listings of these local groups. We have various origami groups, and once a year there is an origami convention. That said, a bread convention should be great fun!
LOL! You should have seen the look on my cousin's face when she found several pictures of bread on my camera! Or the expression on a friend's face when I told him I needed a pic of a loaf for my bread blog. "B r e a d B l o g?" But that same friend gave me a bread book for Christmas. He may think I'm batty, but he's still a good friend. :)
I don't know about you, but I love bread p0rn... Seeing pictures of others' bread is really interesting to me.
I admit of being somewhat snobbish sometimes and saying to myself "oh, that is not baked well. S/he should have done this and that". (All the time knowing that I make all these mistakes myself as well)
On the other hand, when I see beautiful photos like those by Zolablue (who, apart from being a phenomenal baker, is also an amazing photographer), I am filled with envy and admiration.
Seeing others' successes and failures both builds some confidence, sets expectations (especially for a recipe I want to try for which there are no pictures), and gives me something to strive for. I want to be as good a baker as some of you.
Practice, practice, practice, right?
My bread blog: http://foldingpain.blogspot.com