Back to the Bakery

I returned to Kramer's Bakery today and the line was nearly to the door, but I waited -- wanted to get some white lace cookies, and as I waited, these gingerbread muffins caught my eye, so I bought one.

That's not a bite out of it, just the normal weird shape that non-factory baked pastries take on. I'm sure it would be rejected in the factory.

Anyway, this had a sugary crust on top that was crunchy and the interior was velvety soft. Gingery but not overly so. Made a cup of coffee to go with it -- delicious!

Speaking of the lines, my typical strategy when I arrive in a store, as long as I'm there, is to wait in the line. I noticed a few people turning away because it was too crowded. Think it will be less crowded on Christmas Eve? No way.

The bakery had three people working and the line moved quickly. However "urban rules" were in effect. To me, that means you are alert as to when it is your turn, you have your order organized in your head and ready to speak. No niceties, just tell the woman what you want clearly and succinctly.

The other "urban rule" is that you are cognizant of asking for special favors. For example, the man in front of me wanted one pound of cookies, and he asked rather sheepishly if she would be willing to divide them between two boxes. Yes, she was -- I figured she would do that, unlike the place where I buy bagels where they won't toast them.

I'm not sure if that's a culinary decision or a too-much-work decision. I have heard people countless times asking for their bagels to be toasted and I cringe -- it's like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld... no soup for you, no toasted bagel either. They actually get angry and act as if you've asked for something totally unreasonable.

What's odd, and I've never asked for this, but you can ask for a bagel "scooped" which means they take a spoon and scoop out the bready interior... so you'd ask, for example, for a "scooped sesame with white fish salad." It seems strange my buddies at Tal Bagels would be willing to scoop, but not toast.

As long as I'm rambling, there's another New York thing which is "regular coffee" which means coffee with milk and sugar in it. I've always drunk coffee black, and I remember when I first moved here, I'd ask for coffee and the deli guy would say "regular?" and I'd say "yes," thinking I want normal, plain coffee and then I'd be surprised when it had milk and sugar in it. Took me a while to figure that one out.