Of Mice And Bread

“What are we doing today?” I anxiously asked my farm host Iris over breakfast tea.




“Making bread."

My romantic visions of Italian pane were temporarily halted when she added, “Only we have to clean the lab first and it’s not nice work.”

The “lab”, as Casa Lanzarotti affectionately calls it, is an industrial kitchen built in the wing of the farm house. Outside are century old stone walls; inside are stainless steel counters and enormous mixers.

On walking in, it became clear to me why cleaning the lab wouldn’t be nice work. It may be a high-end kitchen, but it still sits on a farm and farms have mice. Apparently, so did our lab!

During the next three plus hours, I kept thinking of what I would be entering in the Facebook status line which asks: “What are you doing right now?”

I’d answer, “I’m picking up mouse poop.”

An hour or so later, “What are you doing right now?”

I’d answer, “I’m picking up mouse poop.”

And in the final entry, “What are you doing right now?”

Just to snaz it up a bit, I’d answer, “I’m picking up mouse poop!” (notice the author inserted a punctuation of emphasis)

After all the poop was picked, the contaminated flour discarded, the tubs, dishes, and utensils sanitized, the counters wiped, the appliances washed, and the floor mopped , then – and only then - did we begin the bread making process.