10.2.22
As much as I am getting to experience a Totoro-esque Ghibli life, I am also having a taste of the Kiki’s Delivery-esque Ghibli life. Like Kiki, I moved to a completely new place, and through new friendships, challenges, discoveries and responsibilities, I am learning more about hat I am made of, what I want to be, who I am, all that good 20-some year old self-discovery stuffs.
But more importantly, I have also found my very own part-time bakery job here in my rural Japanese home–a magical corner of the world known as Bear’s Oven.
Kiki at her bakery...you can just say that's me with a red bow. Lol jk I'm not as cute as Kiki. But yes, this be the general idea!
front of the bakery!
shoko at work!
the display case full of goooooods
Bear’s Oven is my friend Shoko’s bakery, nestled in the woods and overlooking the rice fields from a mountain top. It takes a few breaths to get up the windy inclined road, however, it is so worth it after being greeted by the aroma of fresh bread baking, embodying all the hoka-hoka-ness of a mother’s hug. And the small house-turned bakery looks as picturesque as it smells delicious; there are cherry blossom trees that deliver the softest floral snow in the spring, a lonely shinto grave below the mountain’s ancient pine trees ringing with summer’s cicada calls, organic flat stones that make adults want to hop towards the bakery window, and forests of bamboo that whisper like mischievous children in the wind.
But beyond the ambiance is the GOLD the bakery is made up of…the breads. And they’re not just any breads, they’re unique breads full of flavor, character, and thought that one could only get at Bear’s Oven. This is because Shoko really treats her bakery as a studio and sees baking as a craft. There are new combinations and seasonal fillings/toppings every week based on what she’s feeling and what she has in the kitchen. For instance, this past weekend she combined leftover sausage bits with olives to make this AMAZING savory whole wheat bun, a banana/almond butter panini with raisin sourdough bread, and a last-minute blueberry banana cheese tart. Need I say more?
Shoko is already at the bakery for 3+ hours before I get there at around 9; she’s the mastermind behind the kneading, rising, baking, and making while I just help around with the cleaning, displaying, and selling. BUT I LOVE GETTING TO DO THESE TASKS. Why?! Because I get to be a part of sharing joy through bread that is SO good that customers travel over 1 hour for a weekend bread haul. Getting to carefully place her still-warm breads behind the display case, seeing little customer heads pull their parents’ hands when asking for a melon bread, hearing the customers’ excitement when choosing which breads to buy…these moments bring me so much happiness. So much so that I often daydream about leaving behind my whole “become a research librarian” plan to become Shoko’s apprentice and learn how to have my own bakery one day.
Maybe, just maybe…
Above is a video that tries to capture a typical morning at the bakery…there’s quite a lot of prep behind readying a full display for our 10:30AM open. And prep work isn’t only for that day’s set of breads–Shoko usually starts making the dough for Wednesday’s hard breads on Saturdays, so four days ahead of the actual baking day.
