Sober Gregg

I received a surprising message the other day, on Google groups.  I had blocked Gregg's email from my inbox but apparently he was still within my Google groups, which I don't interact with.

This very brief message informed me that he had suffered cardiac arrest, and was now cold sober in Louisville, Kentucky.

I have thought of him often over this past year and a half.  Deep feelings are there, which I combat by forcefully recalling his ill treatment of me.  This note from a sober Gregg in the States stirred up deep, deep feelings of attachment.  Steady, girl, I had to admonish myself.

I replied with a sympathetic note.  I even went so far as to offer him a room in my Florida house, bunking with Charley.  A token gesture, as I was sure he would not want that.

It has put me back on the roller coaster, although much muted emotions.  I can't help but wonder if life with a sober Gregg would have been possible.

The reality is, he always treated me with utter disregard.  He was unfaithful to me when we were in a relationship, when we tried to be just friends he was clearly a taker and not a giver.

It felt good to be with him when he was nice to me.  We liked the same music, had great intelligent discussions about music and literature.  I loved loving him, but I saw no sign that it was mutual.

That having been said, there is something at the gut level that links us.  And maybe I have just described the core of co-dependence.

And then there were brownies

Shoehorning a moment in here, when I should be searching the internet for special boxes for the holiday.

Peter is proving his worth.  He is conscientious to speak out when we are out of something.  At first it was me texting him to please pick something up on the way to work.  Now I am the recipient of such texts!  This is a relief.

We reviewed our scones.  Tina had been making them.  I was not pleased with how they looked, and I noticed it took her a long time to do them, including putting them in the fridge for long periods.  All the crew joined together at the work bench when I took out the recipe book, and step by step went through the techniques.  'Tina didn't spend that much time on that step' was one murmur.  Another was 'directly in the oven with refrigeration?  So fast!'

I demonstrated how to develop flakiness.  We fold, turn, and gently roll it out.  We do it again and again.  Peter had been making thin scones.  I showed him how to build up the dough until it was almost an inch, and then cut them.  We used a ruler to get even cuts.  We had quit offering scones last December.  We re-introduced them about a week ago, and they are more popular than ever.  Some long-time customers will buy 12 at a pop, for fear he won't find them here next time he comes.

Chinese wives come in and buy them with the comment, my husband loves these for breakfast; he asked me to pick some up.

Cinnamon bun is another treat that has gone on holiday.  They were beginning to sit on the shelf too long, so I stopped putting them on the bake schedule.  This weekend I decided it was time to try again.  Peter was inspired by all the brownie-making, and the new cocoa we found from our Changzhou distributor.  He passed it by me first, and I said, 'Why not?'  He substituted cocoa and sugar for the filling, instead of cinnamon and sugar!  Hm.  I worked the night shift that day, so after he left I graced the buns with icing.  I left out the lemon, and instead added walnuts.  That day I had roasted some quality walnuts, and when I went to grind them they released an unusual amount of oil.  The batch came out more like a paste than loose chopped walnuts.  They worked well on top with the chocolate filling inside.

Innovation!  We English teachers, and engineers working with the Chinese, mutually agree that the Chinese are singularly lacking in the ability to think out side the box and come up with something totally new.  I see that my work with Peter is not going to waste.  Although this is a small step, I anticipate some interesting developments from him, as he gains skill and confidence in the kitchen.

I've been wanting to make brownies for a long time, but there has been too much else going on.  Now with Linda here, I decided to go for it.  I tried a couple recipes before settling on the one I found on the Hershey's chocolate chip bag.  I tried it out a couple of times, and then today I turned it over to Linda.  She'll be making them now daily.

Wesley, an old friend from the Web days, a former student, invited me out to tea with him the other evening. It had been a long time, he had changed jobs which now has him traveling within China.  I could see the changes for the better.  First of all,  I could finally understand his English!  His accent had been so bad, it took a lot of concentration to converse with him.  Not any more.  He works for a German company and must speak English every day.  He also looks much more relaxed, self-satisfied and at peace with himself.

While we were at this lovely tea house, Tian Fu's House of Teas, I noticed all the holiday gift packages.  This shop is in the same shopping mall as mine, a block away.  However, it is not of the same architecture.  It is a round building with a lot of glass, two stories.  It is a cultural experience for all the fine art enhancing the walls and packaging, the traditional furniture in comfortable semi-private sitting rooms, and lovely flower arrangements.

The seed was planted.  Next day I called the staff together and presented a challenge.  What would we offer our customers as New Year's Gifts?  Given the time sensitive nature of our product, we couldn't very well make up packages of muffins and breads and sell them over the next two weeks.  We had a good and lively discussion.  They reviewed the gift exchange traditions for the Spring Festival.  What they finally came up with was cookies.  We would develop a few packages offering cookies.  Not just the three types we offer now.  We'll have to do some research and come up with more variety of color, shape and texture.

And that leads me to what I should actually be doing during this stolen moment.  I should be searching the internet for the appropriate packaging materials for our gift boxes.

The winter lull

Sandwich production has started up again, at least with one customer.  We provide sandwiches six days a week.  That puts an end to my two-week mini-vacation, when I could come into the bakery at 8 or 9 in the morning.  The sandwiches are picked up at 7 a.m., requiring me or Peter to start at 6 a.m.  Our second customer, who orders twice a week, hasn't started up yet after the holiday break.  I hope we haven't displeased them.  I am assuming the workers haven't come back from their holiday break.  I should call, though, and find out.

The latter customer special ordered from us one day, on very short notice...less than 24 hours.  I produced what I could with what I had on hand, and charged accordingly.  They were not pleased with the price tag.  That was perhaps a month ago, and they still have not paid me.

I must distinguish, though, between the two.  That is, the special order came from the company.  The weekly sandwiches are ordered by the individual workers, who themselves pay for the sandwiches.  I bill them monthly.  They haven't paid yet for December.

Rather than writing the same thing twice, I'm copying here this week's entry to my 'grandmasnook' blog.

The new year came in with a bang.  Will it go out with a whimper?

The cold weather is keeping people off the streets.  This means fewer customers for us.  I suppose it will remain that way through the Spring Festival holiday.  We need to tighten our belts, to cut costs.  We had to let go one of our favorite workers.  Tina was the first one hired, back in July.  We all miss her.  

Linda is a part time worker.  She was at the bakery in the afternoons, which wasn't very helpful.  By then most of the baking was done, and I was too tired to be a good trainer.  But now she comes in three mornings a week.  Peter is training her, under my supervision.

Peter gave me a scare.  He sat me down for a serious discussion after a three-day visit to his home town.  His family is putting pressure on him to produce a grandson.  He's only 24!!!  But he is in love, so why wait.  At least in the States, that's what we'd say.  But here in China he has obstacles he must overcome before he can be permitted by families to marry.

Buy a house.  Which means get more money.  I could see where this conversation was heading, and it gave me quite a fright.  He is becoming a good bread baker.  He is able to work independently, with little supervision.  He takes a great burden off my shoulders.  Without him, I wouldn't have the heart to carry on.  So I did what I had to do.  I offered him a raise, not knowing where the money would come from.

One day soon I'm just going to have to raise prices.  I like keeping my prices affordable 'to the masses', but it's not very practical if I want to have enough money to stay in business.

What's New?  We've bought a new workstation so that we could add services.  We'll buy a microwave this week, so that we can offer hot sandwiches.

Customers come in the evening looking for something for breakfast.  I was alone in the shop one evening, doing the counter person job.  So when this lady asked me to suggest something for breakfast, I put some BBQ pork in a plastic container, and suggested the lady microwave it in the morning and serve it hot on bread.  Our BBQ pork is very popular, but the Chinese don't like to eat meat cold.  This solves the problem!  I need to encourage Xiao Lan to make this suggestion to more customers.  She does the night shift four nights a week.  I do two, Peter does one.

We keep the bakery warm to encourage people to come in and stay for a while.  We make coffee one or two cups at a time, so it is fresh.  We can make fresh milk tea, and have a variety of other teas.  Maybe once a week someone will sit and enjoy a cuppa.  This service has not yet taken off.

We are keeping the freezer full with all our fresh-baked breads.  I wish there were another way to offer you whatever kind of bread you want, fresh out of the oven.  That's only possible when you can tell us a day or two in advance that you're coming!  Not very spontaneous.  Other artisan bakers in the States tell me that freezing fresh-baked bread is common practice. It changes the texture slightly, but it is better than stale bread.  A good compromise all the way around.

I am a big fan of sourdough.  Breads made with natural yeast keep much longer.  Experts say the taste just keeps getting better with time.  The taste changes, that is true.  In olden days, people would buy bread once a month, made with sourdough.  The last crumb was as edible as the first. I'm experimenting with different methods, different cultures, and different recipes.  Come try it out and tell us about your experience.

Well, that's it for now.  Here's a shot of our cozy corner at Christmas time.  It has become my office.  When I need to work on the computer, I camp out here.