Baking My Way Through Back In the Day

I love Savannah, Georgia. Last time we were there, we stayed in an adorable little AirBnB, which was just around the corner from the famous "Back In the Day" bakery, which we in turn became loyal customers of. I miss their food, but most of all I miss that feeling, of going somewhere and finding a place you like, and becoming "regulars" for just a short time. We seem to do that in every city we stay in.

So when a copy of the Back In the Day cookbook came up on the neighborhood free board, I jumped at the chance, and have been baking my way through it (which first required restocking our kind of pathetic baking supplies). It took visits to a couple of extra places to grab things like cake flour and cardamom (how does any self-respecting Scandinavian run out of cardamom?), but we're restocked!

So I've been upping my pandemic baking skills by working through the book. Last night was a brown sugar bundt cake, which stuck to the pan but was otherwise good:

Last week, after a particularly fraught work day I made "drunken blondies" (oops, no picture). And for a bonfire last week I made brownies; usually I rely on boxed mix, but these were really good.

I haven't had the same kind of boredom that others have mentioned during the pandemic so far — no sourdough, no basement cleaning, no "out of Netflix." I've stayed busier than ever. So it's nice to have something to build and focus on, that I can squeeze into small parts of the day.