I attended Gather At The Gallery the other night, hosted by the Pam And Herb Eaton of Eaton Gallery and Martha Burke and Joanne Goetzinger of Main Gallery 404.

Speaking were the Katic’s, an absolutely lovely young newly married couple and owners of a new old world artisan bakery.

There presentation included the sweet story of how they met and their love and passion for teaching others to get back to local corner bakeries.

I first tasted Katic’s croissants at our Farmers Market.  It was the kindof experience that found my mouth in an open “o” with flakes of perfect croissant all down the front of my shirt.  One didn’t care about the crumbs and went back for more “o”.  I thought to myself…THIS, is the real thing. With the flurry around their booth, I am certainly not alone in thinking their breads are remarkable.

Serbian owner and head baker, Dusan, speaks enthusiastically of bread as if it were a song. Bread – good bread, being just one note or part of a melody.  To me he was speaking to the ceremony of a meal, all the parts – including really good bread and creating hearth and home around the table.

This man was whistling my tune!!

When my first marriage fell apart I left my husband and rented a tiny brick townhouse in a community I very much wanted to be a part of. The community was beyond my means and so I lived on the edge. Things were tough back then and along with that came some decisions and changes for me and my two kids.

I completely let go of TV, ALL after school and weekend activities,  and shifted to organics, cooking from scratch in a way that that included them and lots of lots of reading. We walked to and from school together.  I was living on a dime, if that, and completely starting over. In that transition time we got to know each other, and we created each day around learning and nourishment. Our evenings together were ceremony.

I am clear I built something around the dinner table that was “home”.  I also feel we treasured dinner together. Perhaps like me, you’ve observed that the evening meal is almost completely lost, similar to the vanishing art of writing a letter.

The Katic’s shared with us their astonishing croissants topped with french butter and homemade jam, a hearty brown sourdough with hand-crafted local goat blue cheese, topped with pears and toasted walnuts and an incredible airy batard topped with brie and honey crisp apples from nearby and/or tomato, basil and olive oil from their own garden!! YUM!!

In european cultures much of the foods they eat are of quality, when they dine they are surrounded with family and friends, the taste sensations of the foods they are ingesting are amazing.  Dining is passionate and experiential. These cultures do not have obesity issues. Here I believe our fast american industrialized food culture had created an entire population that is ill and horribly disconnected.

Getting back to the old ways, or european ways not only slows things down. I feel it’s a healthier way of life. Bread in itself isn’t evil as campaigns against carbs might suggest, low quality bread though, is a completely different story.

Katic Bakery is coming to our community!!  We will all be part of the baking with an oven to sit around central to the experience! They envision admirably, teaching others to bake bread the old world way – sharing the artistry and singing a beautiful song with bread as one of the magical musical notes!

We all left the event by the way with loaves of bread. One to eat and one to share. What a concept!!

Thank you for your sharing, your love and your bread Katic Bakery!