Ever Wonder?

This little bird flew to Seattle for the Thanksgiving holiday.  This city by the Sound fills my senses during every visit.  Planes over the Central District give a roaring background to the click and spark of cables on the busses.  Red neon is a blink of constructed sunset when my eyes aren't turned toward the Olympics or Cascades.  Buttery almonds, liquored apricot, and sweet cream tempt my tongue during walks by bakeries, and there are so many bakeries in this town.

Seattle is generous, giving me a bounty of both the expected and unexpected every day.  The image of the expected comes in the neon Public Market sign that hangs static above the winter agitation of the water.  Tourists, shoppers, and workers are welcomed to Pike Place Market by the slow glow of red gas - and the Holidays finds the sign competing with brightly colored trees and holiday lights.  (Photo taken by Elisabeth Percival during our walk to the Market to visit her beau).

The unexpected comes in a similar red neon sign that hovers heavy over an apartment building a few blocks away from the room where I wake up on my visits.  The Wonder Bread sign, recently reconstructed, sat atop the bread factory in Seattle's Central District neighborhood for 55 years.  This bakery beacon is a navigational tool when my sense of direction is lost in the distraction of my wandering. 

But what's unexpected about white bread, especially that of the Wonder variety, these days?  We know it's white and enriched.  We know it was the first bread to be commercially sliced.  Some of us may not be aware that slicing was ceased during the 1940's because slicing blades weren't available due to the limited metals.  But the unexpected of Wonder Bread came with their advertising campaign of the 1960's.  In an attempt to draw in a crowd of younger folks, Wonder Bread did away with their wholesome persona and started to tempt young men with the visages of young ladies offering up towering sandwiches of meat and cheese, all slipped between the pillowy softness of chewy white bread.   Wonder wasn't sexist though, as they offered up a blonde and willing boy for the likes of the hungry girls too.

I'm in the center of my Seattle trip, and I'm hoping for more days full of the unexpected.  These two birds  want to bring you the unexpected in all our breads and cookies.  We want you to unbundle our muffins and find inside the secrets revealed only in cheeks.  Our baked goods may not catch you a mate, but if you share, they may just snag you a new friend.

What do you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread?

- Trilety