On our run today...

'Member this?

Sfogliatella from Wegmans. Italian pastry that seems nearly impossible to replicate at home.

I really, really liked the sfogliatella I had from Wegmans. (I triple-checked just to be sure.) But I told Roy that I wished I could try one fresh from the oven. The ricotta filling is dense and, dare I say, a little clammy by the time it got in my mouth. Undeniably delicious, but I could imagine a fresh one transporting me to new levels of incredulity.

So a couple of weeks ago, almost absentmindedly, I googled "bakeries near me." I think I've shared before on my blog that we used to live near Mt. Wegmans, sacred home of ALL groceries (you can buy truffles there...the mushroom kind), and now all that's in walking distance is a pizza place, donut shop, and ice cream parlor.

<I just looked for some kind of funny meme to insert here and was so horrified by most of them that had anything to do with being overweight that I shall now seamlessly continue my narrative without one.> #peoplearereallymean

So. I saw a couple of bakeries listed, and Roy, almost absentmindedly, peeked over my shoulder at the results. "Hey, we live kind of near Clifford Ave. Hey...that number is on our end of Rochester. Wait. WAIT. Julie...that bakery is less than a mile away."

Get your running shoes on boys. It's time to boogity boogity BOOGITY!

So we ran to the bakery that morning. And you know what? It's a REAL bakery. And I didn't even have to run as far to get there as I do to drop off a bank deposit (which I'll need to do if I want to buy things at the bakery).

The staff were wonderfully friendly and gave James a free Italian cookie and we chose samples of tiramisu and biscotti to taste-test. Roy asked about the sfogliatella and they said they only baked them on Wednesdays and Thursdays (it was a Monday).

PERFECT reason to return.

I'm actually pretty proud of the fact that we didn't go back 48 hours later, but waited a couple of weeks. But today was the day. We almost missed ;em due to their top shelf billing on the display case, but also really because they were ENORMOUS.

SFOGLIATELLA. <insert NICE fat meme>

We ate them for lunch. Genuine Italian bakery sfogliatella taste is...pretty much the same as Wegmans, if I'm being brutally honest. I think the filling might have been slightly less citron-ey, which is a plus in my book, but the texture and taste was almost identical. I didn't ask Roy, but I suspect it would be more cost effective to buy the big-as-my-face ones and eat a third of it than the equivalent amount from Weggies.

But the grander lesson we can take away from this is that there is a BAKERY near me. For better or for worse, I can sample other things and ask questions about how they make all their deliciousness. It's a very exciting prospect.

Today's 1%: Our upstairs bathroom has been semi-out of commission for three months due to the Plumbing Fiasco of 2015. That was only recently resolved (see previous entry) but I dragged my feet about getting the bathroom cleaned because, quite honestly, didn't believe that it would stick. It's stuck so far, and my feet are also sticking to the bathroom floor because it's so gross in there. So I CLEANED it today. I scrubbed all of the residual toilet ring wax and built-up nastiness that was everywhere. It took two hours, but it is CLEAN. Clean enough that I can actually entertain the idea of taking a leisurely bath for the first time since mid-summer. Yay!