Jimmy the baker
It was a bleak and dreary winter in Victoria - persistent rain and grey skies day in and day out - when Jimmy decided to open a bakery. Jimmy had often dreamed of pursuing such an undertaking but had always been discouraged from following through - the economy was bad, baking wasn't manly, and so on - until now. Now, he had found the perfect building (low rent, excellent location, and it came complete with a frilly mauve awning that seemed very bakery-like to Jimmy), he had saved up enough money, and he was completely and utterly sick of working as an outdoor security guard in all the rain and gloom. Besides, Victorians deserved to be delighted by his scrumptious pumpkin pies, delectable apple strudels, and - best of all, and winner of numerous culinary prizes - his shortbread-stuffed cinnamon buns. So Jimmy installed some baking equipment and a quaint but eye-catching sign ("The Baker Next Door"), and opened his bakery.
Jimmy's triple chocolate cakes and fruit tarts (made to order!) were immediately a huge hit. They positively flew off the shelves (though not as gracefully as the angel cakes!). The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and ladyfingers were very popular with children, and the intricately decorated gingerbread people sold very well, even though Christmas was still weeks away. Very soon, Jimmy realized that he would need some help in the bakery - he simply could not bake fast enough, and man the till. So he put up a "Help Wanted" sign in the window, and wondered who might apply to Victoria's newest bakery.
Very soon, applications came flooding in: students needing a part-time job (mostly girls who were too made-up for Jimmy's liking), middle-aged ladies on their second or third career, single mothers, hippies, punks, goths, and one man who wouldn't have looked out of place in a Colgate commercial. Jimmy interviewed them all.
Most of them would probably have been perfectly adequate employees, but Jimmy knew that he would be spending a lot of time with them and besides, he didn't want his bakery to be just adequate. The made-up girls made Jimmy feel uncomfortable, the middle-aged ladies reminded him of his mother (who was no good at baking, and who was also very strict and terrible at maths), the hippies smelled funny and Jimmy feared that their long locks would find their way into the cake batter, the punks were too angry, the goths too depressed, and the man who wouldn't have looked out of place in a Colgate commercial would, Jimmy felt, look out of place in a bakery.
But in amongst all of these less-than-perfect bakery applicants was Marie. Marie was perhaps in her early thirties, and handed in her application wearing cat's eye glasses and a sweater out of the 80s. At her interview, she wore not a dress shirt and pants, but a long skirt emblazoned with bold and bright begonias, and a modest white tee. She smiled at Jimmy honestly during the whole conversation, keeping her hands folded in her lap in a motherly fashion (she did in fact have a child, who at that particular moment was pouring sand from one container into another, or some similar activity that toddlers undertake in preschool), but also keeping a twinkle in her eye that suggested that she was not always this passive and calm. Jimmy liked her. He wasn't quite sure why, but he liked her very much. She was a touch bohemian, but also modern. She was raising a young child by herself and was out of work, but did not feel sorry for herself. She seemed not to take baking too seriously like some of the middle-aged ladies, but she did not look at the job as temporary and only a means to make money, as many of the students seemed to do. Out of courtesy to the other applicants, Jimmy completed all of the interviews, and then he hired Marie.
Marie was not a particularly accomplished baker, but this was not because she had no skill at baking and instead had more to do with the fact that she had never really tried before. Jimmy did not let this fact deter him, and began her baking education immediately. As he had suspected, she was a natural. They both took great joy in turning out her first perfectly formed pie crust or crême brulée.
With a second person to aid in baking and at the till, sales at The Baker Next Door continued to increase. Jimmy was delighted, and Marie was as well. They soon had many regular customers, even some who had applied for Marie's job - Jimmy was glad they bore her no grudge; but how could they, when he made the best scones, croissants, and birthday cakes in the entire city?
Of course, reviews began to appear. First a quick mention on a Victorian's blog, linked to on Twitter, then a feature in Monday Magazine, and a blurb in the TC. Victoria's culinary magazines began to take notice, and customers started claiming that Jimmy made the best peanut butter cups or the best nougat in town. Jimmy smiled humbly whenever one of his loyal customers brought the latest praise to his attention; Jimmy had not in fact tasted the peanut butter cups at every bakery in the city, and could therefore not say that his were the best, but he was still tickled pink that people thought that he was the best at anything.
One day, Jimmy was busy pouring batter into a muffin tray when Colleen, one of his loyal customers, pushed open the door with its customary jingle, and announced to him, sliding a newspaper clipping across the counter towards him, "There is to be a cookie-baking competition. You must enter, and you shall win!" (Colleen was very definitive like this.)
"Ah, is there?" said Jimmy (he knew that Colleen would elaborate whether he said anything or not, but thought it more courteous to acknowledge her statement verbally before she continued).
"The prize is $10,000, plus your cookies will be added to the menu at Vista 18, you'll have a full-page spread in the Times colonist; and, of course, you get bragging rights to having the best cookies in all of Victoria! (Though those of us in the know have been conscious of this little bit of information for some time now.)" Colleen pulled a small mirror from her atrociously large purse and dabbed at her face without actually accomplishing anything, replaced the mirror in her purse, and continued, as Jimmy knew she would. "The submission deadline is in three weeks, then the baking competition actual is going to be a week before Christmas, at Camosun College. I suggest you enter your ladyfingers - your gingerbread is, of course, superb, but you don't want to make it look like you're following a Christmas theme, particularly if everyone else does; and your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are an absolute delight, but they've been done a million and one ways already and besides, what about people with allergies? So I think the ladyfingers would be the way to go - sweet and deceptively simple; they literally melt in your mouth. And, in complete and utter honesty, they are indeed the best cookies I have ever had. And you know I've tried more than my fair share of cookies!" (Colleen was more than a tad overweight.) Colleen continued on in this manner for some time, while Jimmy continued to nod and pour batter.
Jimmy's triple chocolate cakes and fruit tarts (made to order!) were immediately a huge hit. They positively flew off the shelves (though not as gracefully as the angel cakes!). The peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and ladyfingers were very popular with children, and the intricately decorated gingerbread people sold very well, even though Christmas was still weeks away. Very soon, Jimmy realized that he would need some help in the bakery - he simply could not bake fast enough, and man the till. So he put up a "Help Wanted" sign in the window, and wondered who might apply to Victoria's newest bakery.
Very soon, applications came flooding in: students needing a part-time job (mostly girls who were too made-up for Jimmy's liking), middle-aged ladies on their second or third career, single mothers, hippies, punks, goths, and one man who wouldn't have looked out of place in a Colgate commercial. Jimmy interviewed them all.
Most of them would probably have been perfectly adequate employees, but Jimmy knew that he would be spending a lot of time with them and besides, he didn't want his bakery to be just adequate. The made-up girls made Jimmy feel uncomfortable, the middle-aged ladies reminded him of his mother (who was no good at baking, and who was also very strict and terrible at maths), the hippies smelled funny and Jimmy feared that their long locks would find their way into the cake batter, the punks were too angry, the goths too depressed, and the man who wouldn't have looked out of place in a Colgate commercial would, Jimmy felt, look out of place in a bakery.
But in amongst all of these less-than-perfect bakery applicants was Marie. Marie was perhaps in her early thirties, and handed in her application wearing cat's eye glasses and a sweater out of the 80s. At her interview, she wore not a dress shirt and pants, but a long skirt emblazoned with bold and bright begonias, and a modest white tee. She smiled at Jimmy honestly during the whole conversation, keeping her hands folded in her lap in a motherly fashion (she did in fact have a child, who at that particular moment was pouring sand from one container into another, or some similar activity that toddlers undertake in preschool), but also keeping a twinkle in her eye that suggested that she was not always this passive and calm. Jimmy liked her. He wasn't quite sure why, but he liked her very much. She was a touch bohemian, but also modern. She was raising a young child by herself and was out of work, but did not feel sorry for herself. She seemed not to take baking too seriously like some of the middle-aged ladies, but she did not look at the job as temporary and only a means to make money, as many of the students seemed to do. Out of courtesy to the other applicants, Jimmy completed all of the interviews, and then he hired Marie.
Marie was not a particularly accomplished baker, but this was not because she had no skill at baking and instead had more to do with the fact that she had never really tried before. Jimmy did not let this fact deter him, and began her baking education immediately. As he had suspected, she was a natural. They both took great joy in turning out her first perfectly formed pie crust or crême brulée.
With a second person to aid in baking and at the till, sales at The Baker Next Door continued to increase. Jimmy was delighted, and Marie was as well. They soon had many regular customers, even some who had applied for Marie's job - Jimmy was glad they bore her no grudge; but how could they, when he made the best scones, croissants, and birthday cakes in the entire city?
Of course, reviews began to appear. First a quick mention on a Victorian's blog, linked to on Twitter, then a feature in Monday Magazine, and a blurb in the TC. Victoria's culinary magazines began to take notice, and customers started claiming that Jimmy made the best peanut butter cups or the best nougat in town. Jimmy smiled humbly whenever one of his loyal customers brought the latest praise to his attention; Jimmy had not in fact tasted the peanut butter cups at every bakery in the city, and could therefore not say that his were the best, but he was still tickled pink that people thought that he was the best at anything.
One day, Jimmy was busy pouring batter into a muffin tray when Colleen, one of his loyal customers, pushed open the door with its customary jingle, and announced to him, sliding a newspaper clipping across the counter towards him, "There is to be a cookie-baking competition. You must enter, and you shall win!" (Colleen was very definitive like this.)
"Ah, is there?" said Jimmy (he knew that Colleen would elaborate whether he said anything or not, but thought it more courteous to acknowledge her statement verbally before she continued).
"The prize is $10,000, plus your cookies will be added to the menu at Vista 18, you'll have a full-page spread in the Times colonist; and, of course, you get bragging rights to having the best cookies in all of Victoria! (Though those of us in the know have been conscious of this little bit of information for some time now.)" Colleen pulled a small mirror from her atrociously large purse and dabbed at her face without actually accomplishing anything, replaced the mirror in her purse, and continued, as Jimmy knew she would. "The submission deadline is in three weeks, then the baking competition actual is going to be a week before Christmas, at Camosun College. I suggest you enter your ladyfingers - your gingerbread is, of course, superb, but you don't want to make it look like you're following a Christmas theme, particularly if everyone else does; and your peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are an absolute delight, but they've been done a million and one ways already and besides, what about people with allergies? So I think the ladyfingers would be the way to go - sweet and deceptively simple; they literally melt in your mouth. And, in complete and utter honesty, they are indeed the best cookies I have ever had. And you know I've tried more than my fair share of cookies!" (Colleen was more than a tad overweight.) Colleen continued on in this manner for some time, while Jimmy continued to nod and pour batter.
posted by Rosie Cotton | 9:10 PM
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