August 3, 2007...11:58 am
A baguette a day . . .
. . . is not a bad thing. I dig out the soft meat of the bread, dip it into olive oil (extra-virgin, of course), and leave the skin for dessert, if there’s room. Is this overindulgent? It is. But it’s so uncomplicated. There are times when I’m hungry for nothing but a good chunk of soft bread, perhaps a layer of goat cheese, and sometimes craving, from many moons ago, thin slices of salmon. And if the sun is setting before me, even better. I am easily pleased. A friend had introduced me to the local farmer’s market in Baltimore those many moons ago, and when we had sat in my kitchen enjoying our spread with the sun sparkling through my large windows, school having finally ended and our futures finally ahead of us, I realized I had fallen a little in love.
“What will she think of me, if I gave her this?” he asked.
I turned to see my girlfriend watching us. She looked at the baguette and smiled with raised eyebrows.
—from Daniel Alarcón’s “The Vibrator” (failbetter.com, issue #24)
3 Comments
August 5, 2007 at 4:45 am
There is definitely nothing wrong with devouring a fresh baguette–whether it be slathered with butter (plugra, unsalted) or dripping with cheese (epoisses) or liver pate or plain. Mrmmmm.
August 9, 2007 at 5:25 pm
When I was growing up, we had a good bakery nearby and whenever I’d read a novel where a prisoner had to survive on bread and water, I thought of the bread from that bakery and decided that wouldn’t be so bad…as long as the water was good.
August 10, 2007 at 3:06 am
Bread. Is. Heaven.
And this entry made me want some so much.
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