Dealing With Cravings

March 4, 2018January 1, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good evening, friends and neighbors.

The bike ride to the cafe is only about 10 minutes on the way there, and 15 or so on the way back because of hills. There’s a certain part of it that I really enjoy- it’s when I

“BAGEL.”

pass by Laurelhurst park. Sometimes I cut through and then I can ride a long-bomb hill right down to the

“BAGEL WITH CREAM CHEESE AND LOX. AND CAPERS.”

cafe. It’s an exhilarating part of the morning. On Thursdays and Fridays, Chris the bread guy is on and usually leaves a freshly-made plain bagel on my work bench

“YOU ARE MY GOD.

WHERE’S THE GODDAMN LOX. AND CAPERS.

F*&*ING TEASE.”

… It’s a good way to get the day started.

Sesame bagel with lox, cream cheese, capers, red onion, and dill

Pic from MyJewishLearning.com

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What I Get Out Of Baking

February 25, 2018January 1, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good evening, friends and neighbors.

I’ve been looking back over my last few entries here and, frankly, it seems like I’ve been a bit down recently. Especially after that last one. One of my old poetry teachers, Peter Murphy, would often tell us that if what we were writing wasn’t surprising or scaring us about ourselves, we weren’t doing it right. If that’s the case, after this past week I suppose my Pulitzer is lost in the mail.

In general the past few weeks have been a bit of a bumpy road emotionally, and while I stand by everything I’ve written, it can’t rain all the time. Yes, I am WELL aware of the usual winter weather in Portland by now.

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Break Time

February 5, 2018January 4, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good evening, friends and neighbors.

It never feels like there’s enough hours in the day.

The days when I could feel content crashing out on my bed till late afternoon, gaming or watching cartoons are long over. Since getting my body into a shape that, to be blunt, I WANT to do things with, I’ve had way more energy and interest in life than I ever had before.
That can sometimes be a curse, though. When my interests are pulled between homebrewing, writing, playing guitar, gaming (still kept that up a bit), reading, and exercise, I find myself unable to be satisfied with a day where I feel I didn’t accomplish something. Simply put, I’ve lost the ability to enjoy a lazy day- much to the frustration of my wife.

Well, it beats just spending all day in the kitchen, right?

A cook rubbing his eyes in a kitchen stressed

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Masculinity: Handle With Care

January 27, 2018January 4, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good evening, friends and neighbors!

In the process of… “researching” for the top 10 cocktails list, one of my friends from back home asked a very serious and pointed question:
“What, no Cosmos?”

If I’m honest, I’ve never had a Cosmopolitan. Besides the fact I’m not a huge vodka or cranberry fan (outside of martinis and/or scones), I rarely like my drinks too sweet. Those are all good reasons not to get a cocktail. There was also one bad reason- that it’s a “chick drink.”

“Dude, go get one. Get good vodka in there, and report back”
“Alright, but I bet I’ll get a funny look from the bartender.”
“If you do, take a picture. Just get the drink- it’s like cranberry candy.”

So I did. I walked into a new bar that I had just found, bellied-up to the bar, loosened my tie a bit, and asked the bartender for a Cosmopolitan.
The bartender- a woman- didn’t make a face, but she DID pause for a moment before saying “Okay, you want that in a stem or a bucket?”

“Um.. a stem? That’s how it’s supposed to be served, right?”
“Oh yeah- but some guys find stemware girly.”

I’d already been conditioned to think of certain cocktails as “chick drinks.” That was bad enough- but STEMWARE? Using the proper drinking vessel for a certain drink is “unmanly?”

Guys- if this is for real, we have some SERIOUS fragility problems.

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Finding Your “Why” Where You Are

January 5, 2018January 4, 2019 / The Black Hat Baker / Leave a comment

Good evening, friends and neighbors! Happy New Year! I hope everyone is starting 2018 off well. I’ve been starting mine off with getting a bit more reading in- and now I’m starting to look up more regarding Kabbalah.

No, not that fashionable, Madonna, celebrity bullshit. The real deal- and I started off learning about it with a book about a group of rabbis sitting down with the Dalai Lama.

No, that’s not a joke.