Welcome to my blog and first posting.  Please visit me often.  I hope you enjoy complaining, as this may be a huge part of my blog.  Fortunately for me, I love to complain.   I beg of you to bear with me, as I have no idea what I‘m doing.  So here goes.

Tell me, is baking a dying art?  I’m not talking cupcakes here.  I’m asking about the mom and pop type bakeries that sold BREAD!  Are you old enough to remember when you didn’t have to walk more than a few blocks to find a bakery that sold bread and rolls?  Okay, so they sold cupcakes too, as well as many other cakes, cookies and various other yummy pastries.  Do you remember the smells emanating from these bakeries? 

Well, now that I have your ear (or do I?), let’s talk about those breads of old.  I’m talking Jewish rye, Russian black bread, Sisal, Kimmel, or pumpernickel (NO RAISINS PLEASE!)

This is another pet peeve of mine:  raisins in anything other than raisin bread.  Take them out of Challah bread also; cinnamon raisin bagels should never have been allowed to exist as they are an affront to bagel tradition.  Raisins are fine to eat alone as a snack, okay in oatmeal raisin cookies if you must, and great in carrot salad, but keep them out of aforementioned items.

Rolling along here (yes, poor pun intended) to bread and rolls, where is the bread with the delicious hard crust?  Do you remember Kaiser, Bulkie, Vienna, or egg rolls (and not “with 6 you get egg rolls” or “2 from Column B”)?  A roll by any other name would be a pletzel (you may know this as a Miami roll). To freshen your memory the Kaiser, Vienna or hard roll had a hard crust and was plain, no seeds; the bulkie roll was softer and could have been seeded with poppy or sesame seeds.   I ask you where are they now?  I can’t find these in any super market bakery.  I can’t find any Jewish bakeries within 10 miles of my home, which is in a Metro West Jewish community.  Okay I live in Framingham and other then a plethora of Brazilian bakeries and one lone hidden Italian Bread Bakery there’s no bakery to buy bread, rolls and pastries under one roof.  All these rolls have morphed into soft bready tasteless calories, egg rolls included.  Oh, how I long for those good old crusty days.  And while I’m on the subject, few establishments today can make a good bagel.  Again, these bagels are all dough and no hard crust. 

Also, while I’m on a roll (there I go again) my final complaint of the day is corned beef. You can’t get a decent corned beef sandwich in Massachusetts or perhaps anywhere today. Block your arteries and your ears because I’m about to come out and say it.  Corned beef without extra fat has no taste.  Yes, it’s true all you lean Cusinee’s,  FAT  = TASTE in corned beef and if you don’t, and again I repeat,  you CANNOT get it in any deli because today’s delis do not know the meaning of NOT LEAN when it comes to corned beef.

 If the following names mean anything to you, you will understand my beef (oops):

G&G, Eagermans, Max Andrews, Green & Freedman, Jack & Marions, Ledermans, Freedman’s, Putterham Deli, Blackies, or Raines Bakery of Dorchester.  I know I left out many but, there are just a few.  If you want to add to my list please do.