Friday, May 16, 2014

Blessed are the Bakers

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Honoré, the patron saint of bakers. Aujourd'hui c'est la Saint Honoré, le saint patron des boulangers.


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Is that a baguette in your basket or are you just happy to see me?


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As it says here, "If anyone needed a patron saint in the Middle Ages, it was the bakers. As Phyllis Magida points out in Eating, Drinking, and Thinking, bakers suffered "bakers' asthma" from inhaling flour dust, "bakers' knee" from nearly eighteen hours-a-day bending and lifting, and "bakers' eczema" - an infectious skin disease caused by the clogging of their skin pores by the flour. Bakers who were convicted of short-changing customers or using bad grain were subject to the "bakers' gallows, a terrible contraption by which the baker was hoisted in a basket and dropped 40 feet into a pool of mud usually resulting in multiple fractures."

And you Bitches thought the Oubliette was torture.

In France, St. Honoré's feast day is celebrated with a week-long festival of bread, "la Fête du Pain."

We here at Infomaniac wish to honor this occasion with... wait for it...



Do NOT click here.

31 comments:

  1. I wish I would have known, I did all my baking yesterday.

    Rhubarb Pudding anyone???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The bread festival lasts all week, Wallingford, so spoon us up some rhubarb pudding!

      Delete
    2. And how about that Peanut Butter Pie?

      You are, after all, one of the reigning Kitchen Queens.

      Delete
  2. uh-oh....someone has a yeast infection....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NORMA: We recall when YOUR dusty muffin was dismissed for being too yeasty.

      Delete
    2. the original san francisco sourdough
      starter is alive & well and pungent.

      Delete
    3. Does it have a name? Mine is called Hippolyte, and he is 5 years old now! Together, we make the best bread ever.

      Delete
    4. HUGGY JON: Hippolyte was an Amazonian queen who possessed a magic girdle...sounds like Norma.

      Delete
  3. Don't forget the butter when engaging in freaky bread sex.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HAYWARD: Eeeek! There was a freaky photo of Gail from Coronation Street in the middle of that clip.

      I won't sleep tonight.

      Delete
  4. Even though I make some damn good cupcakes, I still fancy myself more of a Butcher or Candlestick Maker...

    ReplyDelete
  5. After your lipo and Botox treatments you shouldn't eat bread. Bread is evil.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'll take a bakers dozen of whatever your selling, like those long ding dongs

    ReplyDelete
  7. kabuki was told there would be cake

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kabuki: Mistress MJ was told that kabuki would be covered in cake frosting.

      Delete
  8. MAGO: *consults Kriminalmuseum gift shop catalogue*

    *orders two Schandkäfige and a Schupfstuhl for the Oubliette*

    Thank you for the information about the medieval measurement of bread. Caveat emptor! Just as we have crooked salesmen today, some dishonest medieval bakers sold bread mixed with dirt or chalk or bread that had an iron-bar inserted into it to make it weigh more.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I never thought that being a televangelist could be such a dangerous job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HUGGY JON: Another danger is having the glue on your false eyelashes clump together so you can’t see.

      Delete
  10. Time, methinks for an appropriate song for today!

    [And yes, that is Paul Young.]

    Jx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JON: One thing I’ve learned about Brits from watching British telly (and now Paul Young!) is that you lot enjoy your toast. And tea. And maybe even toast for tea.

      Delete
    2. That was not an invitation for anyone to come along and link to Toast and Marmelade for Tea.

      I’m looking at YOU, LX, if you ever stop by today.

      Delete
  11. Is that a baguette in your basket or are you just happy to see me? Oh, my!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MR. DeVICE: Mistress MJ has not decided whether to ban you or not for this.

      Delete