When we
get pizza, we go to an unlikely place. It is a gourmet grocer just down
the street. They have the old-type brick oven like the Arma Bakery had.
As a kid, I rode my bicycle about 3 blocks to the old bakery to get
Italian bread, cookies and doughnuts. I can still smell the place -- it
was a very, very slight burnt smell from the bread crust on the brick
oven. I remember the wood pile on the side of the old building. When
you went in, they asked if you wanted a round loaf or a long loaf.
Then, they made a cookie that was a sort of biscotti, but not quite as
dry. I believe they had citron or candied fruit and almonds in them.
Those were soooooooooo good. I have tried to duplicate them, but never
could. And, their doughnuts! Not everybody liked them, but I loved
them. They aren't like the purely sugar creations that you get today
and pay 75 cents each for. These were made with a dough that had some
bite to it. I am not sure if they used the bread dough or if it was
different, but they shook the finished doughnuts in granulated sugar
while they were still warm. Looking back at it, as opposed to the way
things are now, you didn't have all the choices for the items. There
was no choice as to white, whole-wheat, rye, honey-dipped, glazed,
frosted, sprinkles, low-fat, low-salt, 6 types of artificial sweetener,
healthy choice, all-natural, all-artificial, organic, etc., etc. -- you
got bread, round or long -- you got cookies, as is -- you got
doughnuts, sugar sprinkled. But, you didn't need 50 choices. The
limited products that they had were so good, they couldn't be improved
upon. If I remember right, there were two brothers running the place.
Italian was definitely their first language, so they seemed to have an
employee at the front counter to help out. As a kid, I remember the two
guys being about my height. Boy, what great stuff! Kids today think
that our generation grew up deprived, but I think it is the exact
opposite.
Memory of Audrey Andrews Weber |