I couldn’t love this more! Thanks for this pitch-perfect description of “That Bakery Life”...also, the Title of this piece! 👏👏👏
And I completely agree about insight arriving on its own schedule, mostly when you are not beckoning it. ✨ Love seeing Kate in your post, she’s popping up in many newsletters this week as the always and forever “Queen of Pie” 👑 🥧 🧡 🍁
Your recent newsletter (and your beautiful description of "letting the world in" when the bakery doors open) inspired me to write this piece! For anyone who hasn't read it yet, Jolene's mentions her own bakery years here: https://timetravelkitchen.substack.com/p/soul-cakes
This week is (deservedly) Kate's Super Bowl, for sure. She's the Queen of Pie, both on Substack and well beyond! 🤩
Loving this line: “I craved warmth and messiness in my work.” I took a hard left after college for a stint at a flower shop, also craving something tangible, alive, creative, messy. I went back to my “safe” path pursuing medicine for almost a decade until I finally abandoned ship and fell head first into colorful and messy. Never looked back.:)
I think everyone should wait tables and rock-climb at least once. You learn so much about yourself (how you use your arms and fingers to deliver more than you thought possible) and people. Now that I'm grain-free, I will make the drive over to Sweet Laurel and my go-to is, "One of vegan everything!" LOL. I'm so pastry starved. I love this, Maddie. My favorite job was in film school, waiting tables at a family owned/run Italian restaurant, where everything was made in-house. We had regular customers who would only sit in certain servers' stations but, once I got them, they requested mine. LOL. The wife of the couple who owned the placed hated me because I wasn't strong enough to lift a HUGE tray of heavy pastas out, while carrying the tray stand, and she hated me more when customers complimented me to her. LOL. Hey, they were fine with me taking out plates two at a time. It was so much fun working with everyone, seeing your regulars and making sure everyone had a good night. Ah, when life was simple. xo
Oh my gosh, I love your heavy-pasta story! (Not surprised that the regulars wanted to sit in your section.) Reminds me of the job scooping ice cream I had to quit because I didn’t have enough forearm strength. 😂
While I was never particularly *good* at waiting tables or rock-climbing, I agree wholeheartedly that they both have lots of life lessons to impart!
Oh, I totally SUCK at rock-climbing. I did it once at Joshua Tree and I didn't have fingerprints for weeks! But I learned what we can do, what's possible. And I don't think I could've survived scooping ice cream, either. That's hard work! LOL. And, according to the wife owner, I wasn't good at waiting tables. When one of the popular servers returned after recovery from surgery, she made me hostess. (Some of the regulars were not happy.) 🤷🏻♀️ xo
I can relate to the baked goods scarcity mindset! I was in Portugal for a couple of weeks and ate their Pastel de Nata's daily--sometimes several times a day. I brought them home with me to share. Thank goodness they were all eaten as of yesterday. In my case though, that particular sweetness wasn't going to be around every day once I got back, so I filled up while the filling was good!
And, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I love that your clarity came for you at the bakery. (P.S. You can bake and take pictures like that?! And do financial planning. And write?? You are amazing Maddie.)
Ooh, Kim, such an important point—the best pastries are the ones consumed on vacation! (I have *also* told myself “If I just eat the rest of these, then they’ll be gone and I can’t eat more.” 😂)
You’re so kind—thank you for the incredibly sweet compliment! For what it’s worth, my “what I want to be” clarity only lasted eight years. But the older I get, the more it seems that the question only gets answered for a stretch at a time...and then it’s back to the drawing board.
I love this post Maddie and thank you so much for including me in it! I was quite content in my previous career in music and thought that is where I would always be, but apparently pie had other plans for me. My path to pie was one I never expected or could have imagined. Do we ever really know where we will end up? Would we want to know in advance? I love being on the "pieway" and am grateful for the many lessons I continue to learn.
The question "would we want to know in advance?" sent chills down my spine. So many of us (myself included!) crave knowledge of what the future has in store...but if we actually *had* that certainty, we'd lose the joy of discovery.
I'm so appreciative that you shared this beautiful snippet of your story here...and so glad that you found the pieway, or the pieway found you! 🤗
Love this Kate! I don't know where I heard it, but a question was posed on if you could go back and re-do something in life, would you do it?
Most of us would say of course!!! But, the author pointed out two things:
1) We obviously know now what we could have (or should have done), but definitely is not clear in the moment...so basically saying to give yourself some grace.
2) If we did go back and change something, we ine Italy would change a whole other set of happenings that very likely would change the course / direction of other things in our life that were great!!
My takeaway was that we should stop looking at what we could have done and wishing we could change it, because we would be erasing other parts of our life if we did indeed change it 👍
I'm new to your newsletter and just loved this read; I approached choosing this one to read first as I sometimes do my options in an awesome bakery....go with an intriguing title! :)
While I've made some small pivots over the years, I'm contemplating a bigger move this time and I'm sure I'll gain wisdom and insight as I read about your experiences. Thank you for sharing!
With all that butter in the title, how could it go wrong? 😂 Wonderful bakery order choice, Chris.
I'm so glad you stumbled upon this space! And please know that I'm rooting for you as you consider the upcoming transition. Jury's out on whether I can provide any wisdom—but solidarity, definitely!
I love hearing career pivot stories - the wigglier the better!
I worked a decade in speech and language therapy/pathology, now freelance illustrator and copywriter. They seemed like different parts of me (healthcare science versus creative arts) but there is a common thread in retrospect. I’m always working to facilitate communication - could it be clearer, simpler, deeper? There’s something magical when it all just connects.
Cheers to wiggly career pivot stories! 🥂 Yours is absolutely wonderful. My favorite part is that you looked back and found the thread that tied two otherwise dissimilar-seeming paths to each other.
Your reflection inspired me to think about the thread that’s tied my own professional interests together. I think writing, photography, and even financial planning are ultimately about thoughtful editing. That applies pretty obviously to the first two, but financial planning is also about making something beautiful with limited resources: what do we prioritize? What do we ruthlessly cut to make room for those priorities?
Oh, this is so lovely.👏 In the last two weeks, I've written about 'Breakup Pie' on gothamgirl.me… where you laugh all the vile things your ex did quite literally INTO the dough as you laminate it…and then Jezebel 'Rage Pie' where you imbue the fruit with all the song-screaming fury you can muster as you assemble it to thicken and bubble over as it bakes amid the lost women's jobs. But this is such a sweet antidote--just hearing about flour, milled right next door with such care, like a living temperamental being. Thanks for the clarity pie. It's so what the doctor ordered :)
The idea of breakup pie got a cackle out of me! While I tend to treat my pie crusts with tenderness, I make my own bread pretty regularly, and could *totally* see punching down bread dough as an outlet for ragey feelings. Thanks for the inspiration (and the laugh), Alisa!
Oh, I treat my crusts with the utmost tenderness--that's why you laugh into the dough as you gently fold and rotate... but it can be a big crazy cackle or a simple HA! as you do it :)
Maddie! I lived in Chicago for a year in my 20’s and I also worked in a bakery for a time there. It was a cozy little bakery in Oak Park & we were able to take fresh bread home every day. It was wonderful. I do not miss anything about Chicago but that challah bread was heavenly.
We have the most incredible bakery here in Rockaway where I live in NYC—a little slice of heaven on our peninsula. My current favorite order (it changes with the seasonal pastries) is golden milk with an apple crumb bun, the raspberry financier, or the guava danish. I usually drink matcha in the mornings with pistachio syrup at home but I change it up if I’m going to the bakery.
What is your go to bakery order?! And do your morning drinks differ if you’re at home or on the go?
Oh my gosh, I loved learning this about you! Daily fresh bread = an unbeatable employee benefit. While it sounds like you weren't a big fan of the city 😂 your comment does make me nostalgic for Oak Park and all its Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. (And challah!! There's an extreme lack of good challah here in Washington.)
I just ate breakfast, but your delectable pastry descriptions have me hungry all over again! 🤤🥐 Let's see: my favorite bakery is making an amazing apple crisp muffin I can't get enough of...though ever since I discovered kouign-amann, it's hard to go for anything else. And my boyfriend always teases me about ordering the same, boring black coffee that I make at home, so I've been trying to do a better job of treating myself to a shot of espresso or an oat milk latte when I'm out.
I was a teacher (health & physical education), so not entirely a desk job, and now am a small business owner (cleaning contractor).
The differences mostly being that, as a teacher, your emotions were in display at all times for all of your students to see. Whereas, as a cleaning contractor out in the field (at businesses/houses), you can let your emotions be a little more free without a classroom of 40+ eyeballs seeing it all 😉
What I have found to be similar in both is that there is always opportunity to "coast" through if you choose. As a teacher, you don't have someone checking in on what you're doing every minute of the day....same as a cleaning contractor in the field. There is opportunity to take shortcuts if you choose in both jobs (it's up to me to decide what / how I want to proceed when nobody is watching).
Jordan, I love hearing your nuanced and thoughtful takes on the different spokes of your career wheel! There's so much here to relate to.
Speaking as an introvert, having a job where you're required to be "on" all the time can be *exceedingly* draining (I learned this the hard way). And I especially appreciate the reminder that it's up to each of us to decide how to do our jobs, because even in the most public-facing ones—like teaching—we're not always being supervised, and so it's on us to do work we can be proud of.
Let’s dish! 🥧 I’m curious to hear from you:
✳️ Have you made career pivots that made more sense in retrospect?
✳️ If you’ve worked service-industry and desk jobs, what lessons did you take from each?
✳️ What’s your go-to order at your favorite local bakery? Inquiring minds must know!
I couldn’t love this more! Thanks for this pitch-perfect description of “That Bakery Life”...also, the Title of this piece! 👏👏👏
And I completely agree about insight arriving on its own schedule, mostly when you are not beckoning it. ✨ Love seeing Kate in your post, she’s popping up in many newsletters this week as the always and forever “Queen of Pie” 👑 🥧 🧡 🍁
Your recent newsletter (and your beautiful description of "letting the world in" when the bakery doors open) inspired me to write this piece! For anyone who hasn't read it yet, Jolene's mentions her own bakery years here: https://timetravelkitchen.substack.com/p/soul-cakes
This week is (deservedly) Kate's Super Bowl, for sure. She's the Queen of Pie, both on Substack and well beyond! 🤩
🤗
Loving this line: “I craved warmth and messiness in my work.” I took a hard left after college for a stint at a flower shop, also craving something tangible, alive, creative, messy. I went back to my “safe” path pursuing medicine for almost a decade until I finally abandoned ship and fell head first into colorful and messy. Never looked back.:)
Pretty sure this is exactly why I’ve been loving your memoir so much. Cheers to warmth and messiness, Kim! 🥂
Three cheers for Midwesterner messes!
I think everyone should wait tables and rock-climb at least once. You learn so much about yourself (how you use your arms and fingers to deliver more than you thought possible) and people. Now that I'm grain-free, I will make the drive over to Sweet Laurel and my go-to is, "One of vegan everything!" LOL. I'm so pastry starved. I love this, Maddie. My favorite job was in film school, waiting tables at a family owned/run Italian restaurant, where everything was made in-house. We had regular customers who would only sit in certain servers' stations but, once I got them, they requested mine. LOL. The wife of the couple who owned the placed hated me because I wasn't strong enough to lift a HUGE tray of heavy pastas out, while carrying the tray stand, and she hated me more when customers complimented me to her. LOL. Hey, they were fine with me taking out plates two at a time. It was so much fun working with everyone, seeing your regulars and making sure everyone had a good night. Ah, when life was simple. xo
Oh my gosh, I love your heavy-pasta story! (Not surprised that the regulars wanted to sit in your section.) Reminds me of the job scooping ice cream I had to quit because I didn’t have enough forearm strength. 😂
While I was never particularly *good* at waiting tables or rock-climbing, I agree wholeheartedly that they both have lots of life lessons to impart!
Oh, I totally SUCK at rock-climbing. I did it once at Joshua Tree and I didn't have fingerprints for weeks! But I learned what we can do, what's possible. And I don't think I could've survived scooping ice cream, either. That's hard work! LOL. And, according to the wife owner, I wasn't good at waiting tables. When one of the popular servers returned after recovery from surgery, she made me hostess. (Some of the regulars were not happy.) 🤷🏻♀️ xo
I can relate to the baked goods scarcity mindset! I was in Portugal for a couple of weeks and ate their Pastel de Nata's daily--sometimes several times a day. I brought them home with me to share. Thank goodness they were all eaten as of yesterday. In my case though, that particular sweetness wasn't going to be around every day once I got back, so I filled up while the filling was good!
And, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I love that your clarity came for you at the bakery. (P.S. You can bake and take pictures like that?! And do financial planning. And write?? You are amazing Maddie.)
Ooh, Kim, such an important point—the best pastries are the ones consumed on vacation! (I have *also* told myself “If I just eat the rest of these, then they’ll be gone and I can’t eat more.” 😂)
You’re so kind—thank you for the incredibly sweet compliment! For what it’s worth, my “what I want to be” clarity only lasted eight years. But the older I get, the more it seems that the question only gets answered for a stretch at a time...and then it’s back to the drawing board.
Keeps life interesting! 😎
I love this post Maddie and thank you so much for including me in it! I was quite content in my previous career in music and thought that is where I would always be, but apparently pie had other plans for me. My path to pie was one I never expected or could have imagined. Do we ever really know where we will end up? Would we want to know in advance? I love being on the "pieway" and am grateful for the many lessons I continue to learn.
The question "would we want to know in advance?" sent chills down my spine. So many of us (myself included!) crave knowledge of what the future has in store...but if we actually *had* that certainty, we'd lose the joy of discovery.
I'm so appreciative that you shared this beautiful snippet of your story here...and so glad that you found the pieway, or the pieway found you! 🤗
Love this Kate! I don't know where I heard it, but a question was posed on if you could go back and re-do something in life, would you do it?
Most of us would say of course!!! But, the author pointed out two things:
1) We obviously know now what we could have (or should have done), but definitely is not clear in the moment...so basically saying to give yourself some grace.
2) If we did go back and change something, we ine Italy would change a whole other set of happenings that very likely would change the course / direction of other things in our life that were great!!
My takeaway was that we should stop looking at what we could have done and wishing we could change it, because we would be erasing other parts of our life if we did indeed change it 👍
Hi Maddie,
I'm new to your newsletter and just loved this read; I approached choosing this one to read first as I sometimes do my options in an awesome bakery....go with an intriguing title! :)
While I've made some small pivots over the years, I'm contemplating a bigger move this time and I'm sure I'll gain wisdom and insight as I read about your experiences. Thank you for sharing!
Go to order has to be a cinnamon roll. :).
With all that butter in the title, how could it go wrong? 😂 Wonderful bakery order choice, Chris.
I'm so glad you stumbled upon this space! And please know that I'm rooting for you as you consider the upcoming transition. Jury's out on whether I can provide any wisdom—but solidarity, definitely!
I love hearing career pivot stories - the wigglier the better!
I worked a decade in speech and language therapy/pathology, now freelance illustrator and copywriter. They seemed like different parts of me (healthcare science versus creative arts) but there is a common thread in retrospect. I’m always working to facilitate communication - could it be clearer, simpler, deeper? There’s something magical when it all just connects.
Cheers to wiggly career pivot stories! 🥂 Yours is absolutely wonderful. My favorite part is that you looked back and found the thread that tied two otherwise dissimilar-seeming paths to each other.
Your reflection inspired me to think about the thread that’s tied my own professional interests together. I think writing, photography, and even financial planning are ultimately about thoughtful editing. That applies pretty obviously to the first two, but financial planning is also about making something beautiful with limited resources: what do we prioritize? What do we ruthlessly cut to make room for those priorities?
Thanks for this wonderful prompt, Amy!
Mmm thoughtful editing, that's a great thread!
Oh, this is so lovely.👏 In the last two weeks, I've written about 'Breakup Pie' on gothamgirl.me… where you laugh all the vile things your ex did quite literally INTO the dough as you laminate it…and then Jezebel 'Rage Pie' where you imbue the fruit with all the song-screaming fury you can muster as you assemble it to thicken and bubble over as it bakes amid the lost women's jobs. But this is such a sweet antidote--just hearing about flour, milled right next door with such care, like a living temperamental being. Thanks for the clarity pie. It's so what the doctor ordered :)
The idea of breakup pie got a cackle out of me! While I tend to treat my pie crusts with tenderness, I make my own bread pretty regularly, and could *totally* see punching down bread dough as an outlet for ragey feelings. Thanks for the inspiration (and the laugh), Alisa!
Oh, I treat my crusts with the utmost tenderness--that's why you laugh into the dough as you gently fold and rotate... but it can be a big crazy cackle or a simple HA! as you do it :)
Duly noted! You'd be a great cooking show host. 😜
I have never had a blood orange tart but those look AMAZING
(You're amazing too)
No YOU are! But yes, 10/10 would definitely recommend the tart. The best part is that they’re in season during the darkest winter months! 🍊
Maddie! I lived in Chicago for a year in my 20’s and I also worked in a bakery for a time there. It was a cozy little bakery in Oak Park & we were able to take fresh bread home every day. It was wonderful. I do not miss anything about Chicago but that challah bread was heavenly.
We have the most incredible bakery here in Rockaway where I live in NYC—a little slice of heaven on our peninsula. My current favorite order (it changes with the seasonal pastries) is golden milk with an apple crumb bun, the raspberry financier, or the guava danish. I usually drink matcha in the mornings with pistachio syrup at home but I change it up if I’m going to the bakery.
What is your go to bakery order?! And do your morning drinks differ if you’re at home or on the go?
Oh my gosh, I loved learning this about you! Daily fresh bread = an unbeatable employee benefit. While it sounds like you weren't a big fan of the city 😂 your comment does make me nostalgic for Oak Park and all its Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. (And challah!! There's an extreme lack of good challah here in Washington.)
I just ate breakfast, but your delectable pastry descriptions have me hungry all over again! 🤤🥐 Let's see: my favorite bakery is making an amazing apple crisp muffin I can't get enough of...though ever since I discovered kouign-amann, it's hard to go for anything else. And my boyfriend always teases me about ordering the same, boring black coffee that I make at home, so I've been trying to do a better job of treating myself to a shot of espresso or an oat milk latte when I'm out.
Timely with Thanksgiving on its way! 🥧
I was a teacher (health & physical education), so not entirely a desk job, and now am a small business owner (cleaning contractor).
The differences mostly being that, as a teacher, your emotions were in display at all times for all of your students to see. Whereas, as a cleaning contractor out in the field (at businesses/houses), you can let your emotions be a little more free without a classroom of 40+ eyeballs seeing it all 😉
What I have found to be similar in both is that there is always opportunity to "coast" through if you choose. As a teacher, you don't have someone checking in on what you're doing every minute of the day....same as a cleaning contractor in the field. There is opportunity to take shortcuts if you choose in both jobs (it's up to me to decide what / how I want to proceed when nobody is watching).
Jordan, I love hearing your nuanced and thoughtful takes on the different spokes of your career wheel! There's so much here to relate to.
Speaking as an introvert, having a job where you're required to be "on" all the time can be *exceedingly* draining (I learned this the hard way). And I especially appreciate the reminder that it's up to each of us to decide how to do our jobs, because even in the most public-facing ones—like teaching—we're not always being supervised, and so it's on us to do work we can be proud of.