Baked Good: One Man's 24-Hour
In November 1941, Samuel Miller, my grandfather, took over control of a small bakery on chocolate production machinerySouth Washington Street in the Flats section of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The price was $500, which he did not have at the time and which he had to borrow from an in-law. Until that point, he and his wife,
Evelyn, my grandmother,chocolate equipment had endured the Depression in Passaic, New Jersey. There, each working day, Sam, a bakery worker, would haul 100-pound bags of flour up a flight of stairs from a storeroom to a huge mixer. When the Millers finally got their own store, they called it the New Modern Bakery, although no one still alive 70 years later remembers anything new or modern about it.
The deal was this: Willing friends and family members pledged to make a donation to the charity of their choice and in turn I pledged to send them each a fresh batch of cookies.
The deal was this: Willing friends and family members pledged to make a donation to the charity of their choice and in turn I pledged to send them each a fresh batch of cookies. I suggested a modest donation but I encouraged folks to give as much as they felt comfortable giving for a box of cookies. I know that more than a few of my friends donated much more to wonderful charities,chocolate making equipment including many, like Cradles to Crayons, that I had never heard of before. Lots of folks gave to the American Red Cross and other charities that are helping the victims, like those in Joplin, Missouri, impacted by terrible weather.
The event was by any measure a success. No one was harmed during the marathon baking session. There was no evident damage to my kitchen or my home. I responsibly disposed of all of the garbage I generated—the egg crates were repurposed,chocolate making machinery the flour bags recycled. Neither my son (one cookie) nor my dog Trot (no cookies) got sick. And with all that extra time on my hands while the cookies were in the oven I kept good records, too. Below is my story. But first here are the results:
