Bakery Tour

 December 14, 2018

Today's event was a Hop on Hop Off tour of Christmas bakeries.  I got to Holey Moley Donuts in plenty of time, but finding a parking with sufficient time was another story.  I parked in a lot, but once I started walking I was totally disoriented.  The absence of street signs didn't help.  I turned on my GPS and it told me to go west, which I didn't think was right.  I stopped a young man and he pointed me in the right direction.  It was quite cold with a biting wind.  I was on Milwaukee Street all the while and very close to Holey Moley.  As I got to the bakery I noticed that my Humane Society bag was missing.  I must have dropped it when I was fiddling with my GPS.  We were supposed to bring a bag to carry any bakery we might purchase.  The store clerk graciously gave me a small paper bag.  We had a chocolate doughnut and coffee; I emptied the carafe.  I think there were about 23 of us on the trip.  We boarded a refashioned school bus painted green with various logos; the interior was in holiday decor.  Our first stop was La Flor De Trigo Bakery, where the owner passed around a tray of their homemade potato chips.  We also took with us a colorful bread and a chocolate pig cookie.

Our next stop was National Bakery where we stood in line for a Badger ham on a roll and some cookies.  The ham is further cured by National to bring out more cloves flavor. 

En route the leader gave us various ethnic Christmas traditions, some background on the bakery we would be visiting and the changing neighborhoods.  On our way back, each of us told of our Christmas traditions, mine was making pierogi.

Our next stop was Aggie's Bakery on Greenfield Avenue, where the Austrian American Society gets there pastries for Austrian American Day.  We each got a small bag of cookies.

Our final stop was on 68th and Wells where we could walk to the neighborhood shops: Simma's for a chocolate covered cheese cake, a candy store across the street for a chocolate covered pretzel where I bought some fairy food, a confetti carnation from Rose's Flower Shop and a small tart from La Tarte.  We also browsed other stores in the area: a plumbing store with a lovely window display and a toy store with games mostly for kids.  At each store some people bought something; maybe not at the first, since they didn't make tamales during the week, which many were interested in.  We were finished at about 11:30 am.  The event cost  $65, which I think was overpriced.  Each bakery gave just a small sample, except the Mexican bakery which I thought was the mostly generous.  The bakeries didn't make out too badly with many people making purchases.  I had no trouble getting back to my car where I found my bag in front of it.  The weather got a lot milder.

I headed out to Walter's on North for their Christmas party.  I arrived at about 4:15; Peter was there at 3:45.  He seemed to have some altercation with the owner's brother who said the Peter was hogging the table.  He also insulted a woman whom he called "Everywhere Bonnie"; just because everyone calls her that behind her back was not reason to say it to her face.  I held back on food with just a piece of chicken, some beans and raw beef on rye.  Peter spotted Ross Klish whom we visited with for a while.  We left at about 5:15 to get to dominoes.  I made a mistake an turned done Hwy 100 instead of keeping on North Ave.  There was an accident close to Burleigh which really slowed traffic.  I managed to make a U-turn and get back on North Ave. where I made better time.  Eunice, Nancy Janice, Peter and I played until Joy joined us.  Everyone won at least one game.