The Good, the Bad and the Somewhat Sad

So the good news is We Won!  We Won!  No, not the lotto, you silly donkey.  If I'd won the lotto would I still be writing this blog?  Well, yes, probably.  But okay, no, we didn't win the lotto.  Sorry about the donkey crack.  I'm a little testy these days. 

We did, however, win a FastPass to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party.  I say "we" sort of loosely.  Technically it's G that entered and won.  In actuality, the winning entry was a limerick that we co-wrote.  Of course he came up with the imagery noted by the judges for its "priceless" quality.  But the limerick rhythm and rhyme scheme, well, folks, that was yours truly.  What a team we are.  Good thing, too, since I must needs have my share of that BBQ.

In other, not-so-good news, I had a run-in at a bakery today. God, I hope I don't make a habit of this, since I really don't have a lot of time to do my own baking these days.  Anyway, here's what happened. 

My colleague Paul showed up outside the Silver Moon Bakery, where we'd planned to sit and have beverages and start planning the summer technology institute we're co-teaching next month.  I was waiting for him.  "We can't stay here," I said.  "I've been burning and pillaging, and we need to go find a Starbucks."  

It was just such a fate I'd been hoping to avoid, since I'd rather patronize a homey little  neighborhood bakery than a StarBorg.   It was I who'd suggested Silver Moon as a meeting place.  It's a place that I've always liked, and so I probably shouldn't be outing them on my blog, since I'll never again be permitted to purchase another of their yummy (and pricey) chocolate brioche sprinkled with crystal sugar, a treat that definitely aided in my recuperation from surgery when I was staying at my cousin's home on the West side some eight years ago.  Said cousin (and I won't tell her name, for fear that she'll get cut off from her baguette supply) introduced me to her local bakery, and once I had tasted the wonder of their chocolate brioche,  a luscious envelope of brioche dough folded over a treasure of dark chocolate chips and then sprinkled with crystal sugar -- well, I was hooked. 

Not so hooked that I would make a special trip or anything.  But certainly hooked enough that if I had time to kill in that neighborhood, there would be a bag of brioche coming home with me from my West side travels.  You can imagine my joy when I got there early for my meeting with Paul, quite early, and found that there were still plenty of chocolate brioche.  You know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow, yes you do.  And not only that, they had apple raisin brioche.  And I live with a lover of apple pastries, so a few of those had to go in the bag too.  And they had one more apricot brioche that looked lonely all by itself, so I figured I'd let that one come home with me as well.  A cup of iced tea and $25 later, I took everything outside to a cafe table.  I wasn't going to eat any of the brioche, but I felt nice and cozy knowing that after my planning meeting was over, I would take them home and save them for tomorrow's breakfast, and surprise G with apple raisin brioche, and put some in the freezer since who knows when I'll be on the West side again.

I sighed with contentment as I waited for Paul.  Whereupon I was told by a server that I couldn't sit at the table, since it was waitservice only and I had purchased my goods inside.  I looked around at the people sitting happily at tables and eating their $3 muffins, drinking their $4 worth of coffee, and I explained to her that I had just spent $25 dollars inside. 

She didn't care.  Rules, you see, is rules.  And they did have signs up that said tables were for table service only.  Considering the sort of temper I've been in for, oh, the past several months, I behaved very well.  I picked up my bag o' brioche and my books, and went and sat on one of those overly sunny benches in the middle of the traffic island that separates the uptown stream from the downtown stream, and I courted skin cancer and wrote a nice diatribe in my notebook about the perfidy of human beings.  It's all material, you see, and will undoubtedly find its way into my roman á clef, never fear.

Then Paul showed up, and I explained to him that we were persona non grata at the Silver Moon.  He told me the story of the Pie Lady in the Berkshires, whence he and his wife could never return because once, whilst in the domain of the Pie Lady, their small sons had behaved like, you know, children.  They probably mind more than I do, because maybe they don't bake their own pies.  Although you never know.  But bakeries, well, if bakeries snub me, I just say "The hell with you, I'll bake my own frikkin' chocolate brioche."  Which, if I'm truthful,  is pretty unlikely as well, since I don't fool much with rich yeasted pastry and laminated doughs and whatnot.  But it sounds like a good retort, doesn't it, 'specially when you're wandering around, searching for a Starbucks, since somehow or other you've hit the only two-block radius in Manhattan that doesn't seem to have one. 

There'll be brioche for breakfast tomorrow, and for some other times to come.  But once this stash is gone, will I ever want to go back to the Silver Moon?  Would you? 

Comments

[Vicki]

My first impulse is hell no I wouldn't go back. But then I thought, if the tables are for "table service", that means somebody is making their living by the tips they make off those tables. So if the place was crowded, and the server lost a potential tip, then they're justified. But if there were other available tables, or if you left a dollar or 2 tip for the "privilege" of using that table, then the server was out of line.

[evil chef mom]

If I was in a bad mood and being stubborn, no, I wouldn't go back. They obviously do not want me as a customer...but then if I'm craving a brioche and that certain waitstaff person wasn't there and I was in the neighborhood...well, I might just stop in, but I'm sure it would never taste as good again.

[Julie]

Vicki, your point is well taken. They were not crowded -- in fact, about two-thirds of their tables were empty. And I most certainly would have left a tip for the waitperson, and was actually on the verge of telling her that, but she was so insistent on booting me from the table. She was sort of acting like I was some neighborhood freeloading vagrant, which just seemed rather inappropriate, given the circumstances.

Evilchefmom, I know. I might have to go back incognito, in Groucho glasses or something, just to get my brioche, which I had for breakfast and which contained so much chocolate that they made me happy despite the unpleasant memory of their purchase.

[Vicki]

Well, then, in that case, I wouldn't go back. :-)

[Jessica]

I might give it another try. There are different ways of enforcing a rule, and you may have been booted by a new server absolutely intent on making Every! Rule! Count! - or she just may have been a real asshat.

Either way, I'd hope any seasoned owner / manager / server, or one in his right mind, would bend this rule for someone who had just bought that many pastries. At the very least, I'd imagine they would let you explain yourself, offer to tip, etc., instead of just shooing you away.

I can be very forgiving when chocolate pastries hang in the balance. Don't let one wanker spoil your brioche party.

[aimai]

Can't say whether you should ever give them a tumble again but congratulations on the winning limerick and on the barbeque, too. Post pictures when you get some. As for brioche--its not the greatest I've ever had but its pretty damn great for something so easy. Try the "Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day" chocolate brioche recipe. It takes about five minutes to make, you stick the whole mass of dough in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks, and you break off what you want as needed and bake it. Its pretty great. When I find the book I'll post a link to the recipe.

aimai

[clb]

See, this is where you say "let me speak to the manager" who would have recognized the value of your business and let you sit there while you waited for you friend, who i'm sure could have ordered something nominal just to make the waitress feel better. people seriously need to understand the bigger picture.

[Joe Bellacero]

Next time, ask for a menu and take a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time reading it.
Enjoy the barbecue and the tech institute.
(P.S. I find the font of your entry kinda spiky.)
Joe

[Julie]

Jessica -- it's true, I too will do a lot for chocolate pastries. But I'm not in that neighborhood too often, and I won't travel just for these brioche. I figure that with the turnover in NYC food service, by the next time I'm there, they'll have new servers, and I'll use all of the commenters' good suggestions to finesse the situation.

aimai, bless you. I absolutely need to get that book. One of my unfulfilled aims for sabbatical year was to bake more bread -- but then my world sort of exploded, and much went undone. I've already found someone who posted the Hertzberg chocolate brioche recipe online and will definitely give it a spin.

clb -- my experience has been that the manager usually backs up the employee, strangely enough. Still, it's worth a try.

Joe -- I'll definitely take your wise counsel. Like I said, I've been in a bit of a temper for the past several months now, and it doesn't always enable me to think of the good smile-and-act-slowly-and-deliberately course of action. Your suggestion has something Gandhi-esque about it. It's definitely a nice form of passive resistance.

[Sherrie]

FABULOUS pot holders for baking with high resistance to heat! Use them in your home, restaurant, bakery, as trivets!! Very versatile and undeniably durable. Check it out!

www.panhandlerinc.com

[alicia]

I think you should write a letter to the owner (including a copy of your very entertaining post).

Hopefully, the owner will realize the value of sending you a gift certificate to win back your good will.

That way everyone wins. He/she gets back a very nice person who also happens to be a good customer and you get to resupply with chocolate brioches!

[orlando-bankruptcy]

I like the article, it's took me 15 minute to read

[tampa-bankruptcy-attorneys]

I like the good one

[Chloe]

Your food photos are amazing! I’ve been lurking on your blog for awhile and finally thought I’d say something…. your photography is excellent.

[Monster Beats]

My first impulse is hell no I wouldn't go back. But then I thought, if the tables are for "table service", that means somebody is making their living by the tips they make off those tables. So if the place was crowded, and the server lost a potential tip, then they're justified. But if there were other available tables, or if you left a dollar or 2 tip for the "privilege" of using that table, then the server was out of line.

[Pandora Beads]

I think you should write a letter to the owner (including a copy of your very entertaining post).

Hopefully, the owner will realize the value of sending you a gift certificate to win back your good will.

That way everyone wins. He/she gets back a very nice person who also happens to be a good customer and you get to resupply with chocolate brioches!

[Pandora Bracelets]

Next time, ask for a menu and take a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time reading it.
Enjoy the barbecue and the tech institute.
(P.S. I find the font of your entry kinda spiky.)
Joe

[louboutin]

I like the article, it took me 15 minute to read

[Pandora Charms]

See, this is where you say "let me speak to the manager" who would have recognized the value of your business and let you sit there while you waited for you friend, who i'm sure could have ordered something nominal just to make the waitress feel better. people seriously need to understand the bigger picture.

[louboutin shoes]

I had a run-in at a bakery today. God, I hope I don't make a habit of this, since I really don't have a lot of time to do my own baking these days

[tory burch sale]

I courted skin cancer and wrote a nice diatribe in my notebook about the perfidy of human beings. It's all material, you see, and will undoubtedly find its way into my roman á clef, never fear.

[Burberry Outlet Online]

Next up for the winner: a spot on the stage at November’s Live in the Vineyard concert.

[Belstaff]

I said to G, "Something's different. Something's changed, and I can't quite put my finger on it. He's less responsive." He seemed to me to be going inside himself, retreating from all of us. http://www.nikesoccercleatsshoes.com By Thanksgiving day, he had stopped responding, although he was not unconscious. He simply would not open his eyes, and batted away any form of help or inquiry, refusing even to take water. During the phone call I made to ask for counsel, one of my wise and beloved cousins (who is also a gerontologist) said, upon hearing my description of his behavior, "He's trying to leave, sweetie," confirming what I had both suspected and feared.

[Nike Soccer Cleats]

"Something's different. Something's changed, and I can't quite put my finger on it. He's less responsive." He seemed to me to be going inside himself, retreating from all of us. http://www.nikesoccercleatsshoes.com By Thanksgiving day, he had stopped responding, although he was not unconscious. He simply would not open his eyes, and batted away any form of help or inquiry, refusing even to take water. During the phone call I made to ask for counsel, one of my wise and beloved cousins (who is also a gerontologist) said, upon hearing my description of his behavior, "He's trying to leave, sweetie," confirming what I had both suspected and feared.

[Moncler Doudoune]

So we're off to the barbecue, my sweet ever-patient G and I. And all this will pass, and it will be better, I know. And I'll cook more things just for the joy of cooking them and enjoying real food and spring produce. I've actually taken some ramps and asparagus and spring greens and rhubarb out for a few turns. This has made a very welcome respite from the endless bags and containers and cartons of less-than-stellar take-out, which are the hallmark of weary evenings after extreme days. More about all of that, later.