Oysters are back.
This time of year, my father in law calls his oysterman on the coast and drives up two bushel boxes. We steam them out back in an old burlap coffee bean bag and shuck them by hand. Some hot sauce, a Zesta saltine and a pint of beer…. it’s one of the many great traditions I’m glad I married into.
Suddenly I have the urge to bake something. Let’s be honest: mostly it’s for the batter. But it’s also to heat up the house. When I was little, my mom used to sit on a kitchen stool by a cracked oven door (oven on!) and read the newspaper. This was her space heater. Environmentally friendly? I don’t think so.
But when the house cools off in the fall, I do seem to find any excuse to turn the oven on…and stand right by it. An excess of bananas (my grocery store sells big bags of bruised and detached bananas for $1.49) is reason enough.
Here’s one for super moist banana bread made with yogurt. (It’s so moist, it’s sort of like eating the batter without the guilt.)
1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 3 medium)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 cup chopped nuts, preferably toasted
2 tablespoons wheat germ (optional)
Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.Cream margarine and sugar.
3.Add eggs, beating well.
4.Beat in bananas and vanilla until well blended.
5.Stir dry ingredients together; combine with first mixture.
6.Stir in yogurt and nuts.
7.Pour into 2 small (7 x 3″) greased loaf pans or 1 large (9 x 5″) greased loaf pan.
8.If desired, sprinkle wheat germ over top.
9.Bake 350 for 1 hour for small loaves and 80 minutes for large loaf.
10.Do NOT underbake as the yogurt makes this very moist.
How cool is it to meet someone who loves what they do? You can feel it. You can see their art in it. And it makes it seem possible to find your own “right” thing. That is who we want to capture. People whose work comes out of that special place inside them and who will share their stories…pass them on, so that each of their own little spark of inspiration will light another.
Meet Laura Bogard. She is the head pastry chef at Well Bred Bakery, the thriving (and great smelling!) hub in downtown Weaverville. We found her in the busy little kitchen behind the swinging doors in the back. It is a place you want to sneak around by yourself after all the chefs go on a lunch break!
Here, Laura loads a pastry piping bag with the trademark batter for the bakery’s giant American eclairs. Emphasis on giant. She wields this thing like most people hold a pen.
Here, she is layering the eclair batter. Action shot: flour, butter, sugar.
Death by creme brulee? I would not mind!
The bakery is so busy, here is their traffic control method. Get in line!
A brainchild of Laura’s is the Well Bred Supper Club, a monthly sit down dining extravaganza at the bakery. Rumor has it, the meal is a work of art on the plate. This month’s will be Thursday, Oct. 18. Laura’s menu reads like a poem. 
