Not by bread alone
We went to the bakery today, to see the results of our bread experiment. Thad didn't come with us this morning--whether he was asked or not, I do not know. So it was just Joan, Michael and the four of us, strolling over to our favorite bakery. The same woman who was running the shop yesterday was in charge today and with a smile she brought us two plastic bags full of bread. Each bag held about six or seven small loaves. It looked like they made half into oblong loaves, topped with sesame seeds, and the other half into round, poppy-seed topped loaves. One bag of each. It seemed like a rather small amount, given the amount of flour we had brought in, but they looked and smelled good.Now yesterday, Joan had tried to ask that 3/4 of the flour be made into whole wheat bread and the other quarter be cut with white flour before baking. Basically she was out for the whole grain stuff, while I had recalled that Yau Neih made her bread back home with the half and half mix. So the split was supposed to be 75-25. Joan tried to ask which kind of bread was which recipe, but had little success. Both Michael and I had forgotten our phrase books, so we were limited to Michael's command of Mandarin. While he puts us all to shame with his skill, his vocabulary didn't include too much bakery jargon. We did get the impression that all of the flour had been mixed with white, much to Joan's disappointment. However we chalked it up to experience and made a note that next time we'd only order one recipe. Anyway, we were about to settle accounts when the bakery woman gestured behind her. Through the window to the back room we could see the rest of the bread.
I had been correct in thinking that the two bags were a small amount. We had eleven bags--over sixty small loaves--to share amongst the six of us. Brains started whirling, trying to recall how much freezer space we had available. The bakery lady started bringing out our bounty as we started divvying out the bags of bread for transport home. Michael and Joan had wisely brought an empty backpack and shopping bag. All we had brought were our kids. (well, I have to admit that they do have some uses when it comes to schlepping stuff) The bakery woman offered a cardboard box, which allowed me to carry five of the bags at once. So after paying her for the bread--70 yuan--and an impulse buy of marmalade jam--5 yuan--we trooped back to the campus.
Finding space for our horde was a bit more challenging. We managed to secure five bags in our fridge, they managed only two or three. (For once being the new kids on the block paid off--we haven't found too many groceries worth freezing.) We then tried to brainstorm over how to dispose of the rest. Pawning it off on the students wouldn't work. Being offered a loaf of "pig bread" might be seen as an insult rather than a gift. "The Americans"--a group of at least three families involved primarily agricultural work--all reportedly have their own ovens and homemade bread. The idea was floated that we might offer it to some of the folks who dig through the local trash heaps. But that was never acted on. In the end we managed to give one bag to Flora, the lady who works at the orphanage, and Matthew, our fellow hiker, seemed quite interested in taking some more of the bread off our hands.
By this point, it was time for lunch, so we took leave of Michael and Joan, fetched some food from the cafeteria and headed back to our own flat. We sampled our first loaf of the bread and found it quite tasty--certainly an improvement over the one brand of bread on which we had been subsisting.
How I'll feel after we've been eating this stuff for a couple months, I don't know. I suppose it depends on how soon I can find some butter. Anyway, now we have to see if the baker can make us up some waffles....
posted by John @ 5:45 PM
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