Saturday, May 21, 2011

Meet Gladys the Oven

The hardest worker at the Todd Mahal Bakery is Gladys.  Gladys is our Blodgett oven.  She warms up early each morning and, during the season, stays on most of the day.  Nestled in the back of the oven room behind the reclaimed pocket doors found in the weeds up behind the Old Elkland School Gym, she quietly does her good works and pops out baked goodie after baked goodie.  People marvel at the good smells that vent out on the street and up the stairs.  Cinnamon buns, biscuits, scones, croissants and muffins in the morning; cookies, brownies, biscotti and magic cookie bars in the afternoon.  Every  Saturdays, she heats up high and bakes crusty on the outside, soft on the inside, sour dough bread—the bread specialty of the house. 

I bought Gladys from a baker acquaintance of mine, Joe who owns Annie’s Bakery in Sylva, NC.  She was in his garage bakery and when his business grew and he bought fancy new steaming hot ovens that baked many, many loaves of bread at a time and moved his bakery to downtown Sylva, Gladys and her fellow Blodgett ovens in the garage moved on to other micro bakeries like the Todd Mahal. Joe told me he saved Galdys just for me. 

I fell in love with Gladys the first time I saw her.  Distinguished from the start.  My brother-in-law and Joe loaded her up in the truck-no small feat as she weighs 2,000 pounds-and a whole group of people off loaded her up the steps—again, no small task—and into the planned oven room space some 10 years ago now.  Once she was stable and level sitting on the specially built garage-strength floor, the oven room walls went up around her.  The walls are double-sided sheet rock all around as well as the ceiling and provide a fire safe, heat absorbing quiet place for Gladys to do her work. 

She doesn’t like to be disturbed and rarely peaks out.  The first words out of my now good friend, Beth Ann Jones, mouth when she saw Gladys were “wow, look at that stove!”  Gladys was affronted and I quickly corrected Beth Ann, saying “Gladys is not a stove, she is an oven!”  Beth Ann laughed and quickly apologized and I knew then—even before I knew Beth Ann was from Fort Pierce—that we would be friends for life. 

I am reminded each day when I start Gladys up of the wonderful line of bakers and cooks that came before me in my family and who I hope someday to emulate.  Among them, was my Great Aunt Gladys who would come to the family reunions loaded down with mouth watering food (the food adventures of the family reunion are best left for a future blog post).  Baked beans, fried chicken, potato salad and blueberry, apple or plum küchen. (Nobody could compete with Gladys’ küchen. Gosh, my mouth waters just thinking about it.)  Great Aunt Gladys was a no nonsense kind of woman, not much warm and fuzzy, but kind, in that Northern Minnesota pioneer spirit way. Hard working. She retired to Fort Pierce, FL and years later, when my parents first vacationed there, Gladys, took them in and showed them around.  Gladys made my folks fall in love with Fort Pierce, the beach, and the climate, the warmth of old time Florida.  Of which I am so thankful, as I too fell in love with Fort Pierce and moved there myself from the frigid climes of the growing-up years in Northern Minnesota for the middle years of life.  Now at the Todd Mahal Bakery in beautiful downtown Todd, NC, Great Aunt Gladys is still a part of memories—both of Northern Minnesota family reunions and Florida sunshine—in the form of a Blodgett oven.  She would be proud.

-Emilie 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!

Today the UPS man came to visit us. I love it when the UPS man comes to visit. He's never once brought me a bill or junk mail. He's brought  me lots of good books, clothes, shoes, Christmas and birthday presents and today, he brought me one of my all time very favorite things on the face of the planet. Today the UPS man brought me coffee.

I cannot remember a time when my house did not smell like coffee. It is always brewing, just brewed or about to be brewed in my parents' home, my grandparents' home and now in my home. All throughout high school and my undergraduate college career, I worked in coffee shops. I am addicted. I never had a fighting chance. I have grappled with the ethics of my coffee addiction for years. Coffee is a ecologically taxing crop to grow. It leaves a huge carbon footprint.  It needs a lot of water and is often harvested by people who are not adequately compensated for their labor. It is also delicious, so I have tried to buy ethically grown and harvested coffee for myself whenever possible. 

Because we are a bakery that tries to use local ingredients as often as we can, Emmy and I have been taste testing coffee  North Carolina roasters, looking for a new coffee to sell at the bakery. (Not that Folgers isn't tre luxurious). Last week we made the decision to go with Larry's Beans. They're friendly people and their coffee is fair trade, sustainably grown and organic and most importantly of all, tastes great.

Come on by and let us know what you think of our new coffee. Starting tomorrow we'll have Frankie's Blend and a House Decaf for our regular coffee service. This weekend we'll have cold pressed Mocha Java coffee. In case you didn't already know, we got an espresso machine for Christmas and are also serving espresso drinks, now with Larry's Espresso roast. We're excited and we hope you are too!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

What we've been up to!

We've been spending the spring cleaning and rearranging the Mercantile, making space in the cafe space for customers to sit and relax. We've brought in old books and magazines that we're willing to share with y'all. We've got free wireless internet for anyone who wants a comfortable and quiet place to catch up on e-mail or work. 

This week we have begun to keep summer hours. Our bakery case is stocked. Our espresso machine is up and running and we're here Tuesday-Thursday 9 am-5pm, Friday and Saturday 9am-6pm and Sunday 10am-5pm. 

We've also got yoga! Kirsten leads a gentle flow yoga class on Thursday mornings at 9:30 am in the Mercantile gallery space. She charges $10 a session but if you're strapped for cash, she understands and says you can come anyways, just help clean up after. 

On May 6th we'll have our last country dance of the season in our gallery space. Come on and enjoy the music!