Economizing

I like toast. For five years in my trailer, I have made toast by melting butter in my frying pan and frying bread. And it was good. I even had a perfectly good smoke alarm to tell me when the toast was ready.

Then, last fall I decided I really wanted a toaster. At Walgreen’s in Blythe, CA, I found a cheap little off-brand (Proctor Silex) toaster for $8. Heaven. I could have toast and usually the smoke alarm didn’t go off. Except the toaster slots are just a little narrower than most loaves of bread. And the racks only drop about half an inch. So, I had to put the bread in sideways and when it popped up, I’d turn it over and toast the other end of the bread. This often resulted in bread that was raw on the edges and burned in the middle.

But it was toast. I like toast. I might have mentioned that.

My solution has been to keep an eye out for bread that is of smaller dimensions than standard loaves. The big round loaves are out. I saw great looking homemade bread at the farmers’ market in Las Vegas but they were huge and I don’t even have room in the trailer to put them on the shelf.

But last week, I discovered Dave’s Organic Good Seed bread. It’s a square loaf of dimensions moderate enough it can be toasted in one pass in my little toaster. Tasty. Toast every morning. I like toast.

I proudly told my card-playing buddies about my new discovery and received their congratulations on my find. Except from Mike. He looked at me with the “You’re a special kind of stupid” look you see in pirated Facebook memes.

“So, you’re telling me that in order to keep using your $8-toaster, you are now paying $10 a loaf for bread instead of $3 a loaf for bread that would fit fine in a $20-toaster?”

Um… Yeah. I think I’ll shop for a new toaster this week.

I like toast.

Just a reminder that the Wild Woods and Municipal Blondes book release party and wine tasting at Chandler Reach Tasting Room in Woodinville is on next Sunday, June 23, from 2-5 p.m. Stop in and say hi. Look at my beautiful new covers. Taste some wine. Talk literary. Buy a book. I’m looking forward to seeing you.