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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Save the Bakeries!

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By on · 65 Comments

fruit-tart

5 years ago I walked into a Whole Foods Market {a rare thing for me} and there in the bakery section was the most beautiful lemon tart. It reminded me of all the glorious pastry shops The Girl and I had visited in London the previous spring. Back then {in the good old days} most grocery store bakeries only sold the standard cakes, cookies and bread. It was a BIG DEAL to come across such a beautiful treat at the time because normally you’d only find those fanciful desserts at a scratch bakery or an out-of-the-way cafe or something.

So when I walked by the bakery section in Albertsons the other day my heart just sank a little. Who knew a fruit tart could do that? Because now, every grocery store in town has upped their bakery game and is now offering fruit tarts, chocolate dipped strawberries, flan {seriously, FLAN!} beautiful petite cakes and artisan breads. It’s so unbelievably commonplace now that the “special” factor has totally worn off.

Granted, most of the grocery store bakeries are scooping their fillings from giant 5 gallon buckets of preservative filled goo, but still. It’s convenient. It makes popping by your local bake shop that much more of a hassle. Convenience. It isn’t always a good thing.

So one of my goals for 2017 is to visit 52 REAL bakeries. It’s kind of a peculiar goal to have but I think it’s just what I need. Something fun, something DELICIOUS, something totally stress free to look forward to in 2017.

So when you are making your goals for 2017… remember, write down something FUN. Something that will bring you joy in the new year.

2017. Let’s make it a good one.

~Mavis

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Comments

  1. I absolutely LOVE this idea. I think I might try to join in, visiting bakeries in the Portland metropolitan area. Do you think bakery tents at farmers markets might count too? We have some lovely ones that set up at markets.

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  2. About a year ago my husband & I stopped into one of the local “higher end, better part of town” grocery store. Their bakery was FILLED with beautiful pastries i had on seen in pictures! We were so excited & purchased more than 2 people could possibly eat *blush* but they were so beautiful they MUST taste magnificent right? BLECH NO! Most of it tasted like cardboard with boxed instant pudding. I was very disappointed. Since then I have made it a point to drive to all the corners of my city (and a few far away towns) to try their “specialty “. And you know I havent been disappointed one single time. Convenience is great if you run out of eggs or flour, but for tasty baked goods its best to go the extra mile.

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  6. Ok if you happen to visit Niagara falls NY you have to go to DiCamillo bakery, go to the one downtown. Best Italian bread and baked goods ever. Check out their website

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  7. One of my FAVORITE things about you is your consistency. You consistently come up with new and fun ideas that I just can’t wait to follow along with you throughout the year and you FOLLOW through with your ideas! This is a great one! I may just do it too, I’ll have to give it some thought because I don’t think I would choose bakeries but I have some other ideas.

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  8. That is a fun goal! I’m partial to our local stand-alone bakeries and coffee shops. What’s better than having your local coffee roaster and/or cookie/cake maker right down the street? Of COURSE I want it to stay in business. Plus, the line is so much shorter than Starbucks (which makes me a little sad, but hopefully others will come around and support local businesses more).

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  11. What a fun goal!
    There’s nothing better than a great bakery filled with goodies made by passionate bakers! I’m over here on the other side of the state, but if you ever venture this direction, I have a couple of bakery suggestions:
    Sage Baking Company in Uniontown, WA
    Sisters Cookie Company in Moscow, ID
    The Pie Safe in Deary, ID (Right next to an artisan cheese place. Is this heaven? Nope, it’s Idaho!)
    I’d be happy to be your bakery “tour guide!”
    Will this 2017 goal extend to your visits to the East Coast as well? It would be fun to see what bakery treats are popular on the other side of the country.

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  12. I’m going to highly recommend Bakery Nouveau with locations in West Seattle or Capital Hill (Seattle). The must try item is their twice baked almond croissant. Just typing this is making me crave one!

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  13. I nominate Sweet Life Cakery in Kingston, WA. They make a knockoff of hostess ding-dongs that they call Sweet Blisses. They also make wonderful cakes, cupcakes and treats that are not too sweet, just right. They are walking distance from the Kingston ferry. http://www.sweetlifecakery.net/

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  14. Opening soon in Auburn, Wa is a gluten-free bakery called Main Street Baking Co at 1903 E. Main Street. Their facebook posts look amazing!

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  15. Two places I suggest which are not terribly far from you: Georgia’s Bakery in North Bend (on the same street as Twede’s Cafe which was featured in “Twin Peaks”) with a stunning view of Mt. Si—I would love to be your Snoqualmie Valley bakery buddy if you need one!; and Wagner’s European Bakery in Olympia. Their cinnamon swirl bread is so wonderful, we always buy an extra one for the freezer! I gained 15 pounds in three months once while living in Austria and eating my way through their bakeries, so I applaud this goal!

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  16. I recommend Delite Bakery on Beacon Hill (south of Seattle), it’s a Phillipino bakery so you’ll find lots of interesting treats (and last time i was there, their cinnamon rolls were made with croissant dough, SOOOO good). Also there is Borrachino’s Bakery down at the base of Beacon Hill, an authentic Italian bakery, very well known locally. I have been known to make a special trip for their Tiramiso sheet cakes and also their hot food/prepared foods are sublime.

    Love this idea! Support your local small businesses.

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  18. There is nothing like a fresh fruit tart!!! We have very few real bakeries around too which is sad as the store bakeries just don’t taste the same. We do have a Carlos’s bakery local unfortunately they don’t live up to the hype either.

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  19. If you are on the East coast try The Artist Baker in Morristown, NJ.
    A hidden gem with a gorgeous outdoor courtyard to enjoy your goodies, in season.

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  20. I recommend The Dutch Bakery in beautiful downtown Lynden, WA. We went there often when we lived there. When we first started going, they still wore their Dutch outfits. Now they wear regular attire, but the pastries and such are amazing.

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  21. I totally get it! It’s full circle again. Everything old is new again. I laughed out loud when I saw the 5 gallon bucket comment!
    I recently retired from a retail management position. And found myself applying g at a bakery. For enjoyment! I love it! Can’t wait to read your posts in 2017! You go girl

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  22. Well-come on down to Orange County CA and visit Blackmarket Bakery. All made from scratch, finest pure real ingredients, sugar, butter (lots and lots of butter) eggs, cream, and good chocolate.
    Stop in for a class, bake with us.
    Check us out -google ‘Blackmarket Bakery”
    Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, and San Diego.
    Best bakery!!

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  24. Brings back memories of the Bakery on Cook Street in Victoria BC , the boxes tied with string, the glass cases with all the yummy delectable treats, oh how I loved going there. All of our fancies came from there.

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  25. Collins Street Bakery is awesome! If you like fruit cake or Apricot Pecan cake, this is the place to go. There is one in Corsicana, Texas and one outside of Lindale, Texas off of Interstate 20. I love their cakes. All of them!

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  27. I highly recommend ” Sluy’s Bakery” in Poulsbo, WA. It is Norwegian/ Scandinavian and worth the drive! If you go, Mavis, you’ll want to at least buy one of their Danish Donuts!
    Heather in Idaho

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    • I saw a great PBS show on bakeries across America. One of them was this Norwegian bakery in Poulsbo. So that probably is it. Would love to hit all the bakeries featured on that PBS special.

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      • Sluy’s is great! I was going to say it’s worth the ferry ride (which we need to get there from the east) but you don’t even need the ferry from your town. Plus Poulsbo is so cute.

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  30. If you want to come over to the east side, you can visit two wunderbar bakeries in Spokane… Petit Chat (nom, nom….) on the north end, near where I live and another fav, just south of town, Chaps , a very cool shabby-chic place (which, incidentally, is owned and operated by a former fellow North-central Montanan ) Both are extremely popular and have great pastries, baked goods and other menu items for breakfast and lunch.

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  31. BEST GOAL EVER!!!!! The thing I love the most at my hometown bakery is the homemade English muffins. I always try to get some when I visit my parents. So if you ever go to upstate New York (like, way, way upstate) Pearls Bake Shoppe in Adams has some awesome English muffins. I’m sure the pastries are great too but I’m a bread girl.

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  33. If you’re ever in Salt Lake City next year, you should stop by Les Madeleines. The Kouing Aman lives up to the hype, worth every penny and calorie!

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    • Also in SLC, you have to visit Adelberto at Fillings & Emulsions! They have amazing French macarons, and their coffee cake is from heaven. Plus we have made so many great friends there. We love it. 🙂

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  34. When I was a kid many eons ago I loved to go to bakeries with my mom to get bread, rolls and a great Sunday dessert. I still get excited to find a “real” bakery. In fact my BF and I will go on a road trip just to go to a bakery! If tbey have coffee too makes it even more special.

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  35. Two recommendations if you are traveling: Albemarle Baking Company in Charlottesville, Va. and City Bakery in Asheville, NC

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  36. Mavis so many of your readers want to follow along with this one that I’d LOVE it if you’d let them send in information and maybe pics from their visit to local bakeries and share them too. After all, you are only one person and can’t possibly find all the great bakeries in all the towns in all the world (as much as you may want to!).

    I just may visit a few local to me that I’ve seen raves about to follow along. I agree that the grocery store stuff is just blah. I’ve been disappointed too many times by the pretty looking treats only to find them too sweet and lacking any flavor other than sugar! Though I do tend to like Fred Meyer bakery treats and Albertsons cakes with fruit filling and whipped cream frosting, we even had them make our wedding cake and it was delish and many of our family members commented on how good it was (and it saved us a pretty penny over more expensive options). So maybe grocery store bakeries aren’t all bad, but I can get behind shopping the local stores.

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  39. I was on the prowl for a butter horn a few years ago. Then I stumbled on the bakery downtown Monroe, Washington. Wonderful, homemade, butter horns. You have to get there in the morning though, because if you don’t they just might be sold out!

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  40. This is a wonderful goal, but I’ll be cheering you on from the sidelines. I think I gained three pounds just reading all the suggestions!

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  41. Not bakery related, but rather goal related. I’m reading this book “The One Good Thing” by Kevin MIlne. One of the characters, Nathan, carries 6 tiny stones in his pocket each day, and tries to do 6 good deeds. As he does each, he transfers a stone to his other pocket, with the goal of having all the stones transferred by the end of the day. Some of the deeds are small (holding open a door for someone) while others are bigger (picking up Chinese food for a friend’s family when his wife is ill.)
    I’m thinking how much more beautiful the world would be if we all did even one good deed each day, and am planning on having 6 stones in my pocket as a 2017 goal.
    I’m hoping your 2017 will be wonderful, Mavis!

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  42. Too late my favorite bakeries. They’ve all closed! Alesci’s, an Italian grocery store that made the best loaves of bread. When my parents had visitors from Europe, Mom always went there for their bread…a taste of home. Their deli department was also incredible with all their made sausages and meats. Located on east side of Cleveland, Oh.

    Wagner’s Bakery. A German bakery whose rye and marble rye were fabulous. Used to walk in with large box and filled with sliced bread to send to my MIL. She was German War Bride and their bread took her home. When shipment arrived, she’d put the call out to her other adult kids and they’d all share. Located in Binghamton, NY.

    Lox and Mandel. A Jewish bakery that we’d have to make sure our visits were when they were open. Their chocolate tea bread was to die for and so was their poppy seed kuchen. Also located on East side Cleveland.

    Just writing about them makes my mouth water. Still haven’t found a decent loaf of rye bread.

    Elizabeth in Upstate NY

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  43. So I’m not the only one! Over winter break, the kids and I went to two independent bakeries we’d never gone to before. A few weeks before, we tried a new indie donut shop. It’s fun for the kids and it’s good for the talented bakers in our community!

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  44. I forgot about Hoffman’s Fine Pastries in my hometown, Redmond, WA. We had their Princess Torte with marzipan over a sponge cake with cream filling a few years ago for a birthday—wow. Also, if donuts count, you’ve got to try Top Pot, they’ve got many locations in the Seattle area.

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  47. If my place (7 Sisters Café and Bakery) is up and running by the end of the year *crossing fingers* then I’m going to need you to make special trip it here to Georgia 😉 (near Atl). I don’t know if it will be as spiffy as others you visit but it will be genuine.

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  48. This is a great idea, Mavis! There’s a great family-owned bakery (attached to a gas station/convenience store) in Clearwater, Minnesota, called Nelson’s. Everything they make is big – their apple fritters and cinnamon rolls are as big as a newborn, for gosh sakes! This place is a must-try in your bakery search.

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  49. You should check out Alvaro Bread and Pastry Shoppe in Harrisburg, Pa. A small family run business, this Italian bakery has the best traditional Italian cookies, crossiants and cannoli around. Made daily at the shop, all their food is to die for, including breads and pasta dishes with Lena’s homemade sauce. Yum, OK now I’m hungry. The other cool thing is that we live on the same block as the bakery so you could stop by for a cup of tea after! If you happen to roll through Harrisburg in warm weather, Alvaro’s also serves home made gelato and sorbet. Happy eating!!

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