I never thought I would be so excited about a sandwich. It’s been a really tough year, for a lot of reasons, and I know that many of you are unemployed, and struggling, and feeling the pinch of the economy. We’ve been struggling, like everyone else, and there have been some scary and stressful months around here. It’s pretty difficult to ask for help when there are so many other causes that are so worthy, and we ask you to donate to them pretty often, and don’t want you to stop doing that. So we’ve done our best to stay ahead of the curve and try to figure out what it is that you’d like to buy with your precious “eating out” money that you keep stashed in a mason jar in your closet. And that’s why I’m excited about a sandwich.
Our lovely new sandwich menu, designed as usual by The Guy Upstairs (also known as Jared Souney). Portland is awash with vegan baked goods lately, and not as crowded with vegan sandwiches, so we’re taking a step in that direction. All of our bread will be house made, as well as our seitan, our jam, and lots of other stuff! I sincerely hope that after 5 years of serving baked goods to this community, we will be able to stick it out through this economic storm, and still be here for another 5, or 10, or 15 years. I’ve named the sandwiches after those near and dear to me here at the vegan mini-mall, all of whom have given me lots of friendship and support and advice, and their hard work, over the years. Come out on Tuesday (2/9) and help us celebrate our 5 year anniversary (which was in January, I know, I know) and try out a sandwich! We also have a limited run of t-shirts for sale, printed by my friends at Ink Brigade, and the money from the sale of the shirts helps us pay off the equipment we had to buy for sandwich making. They’re $20 and they come with a coupon for a free sandwich. If it makes you more willing to buy a shirt, we’ll also let you come into the kitchen and try to lift our new panini press, which is small, but weighs 50 lbs!
A quick word to our gluten free friends, who really wanted GF options for sandwiches… we really considered this, and I even baked some pretty great GF bread, but we are having issues with customers complaining of cross-contamination with wheat. Serving GF sandwiches and avoiding cross-contamination was going to be really expensive (separate panini grill, separate knives, scoops and containers of sauces and spreads, separate cutting surfaces, etc.) so we decided that it isn’t something that we can do right now. We added a version of our Unsalads that are served on a bed of greens instead of bread (The Ruby Bird’s Nest), and most of our soups will remain gluten free.
Not to eclipse the fun of valentine’s day, but seriously, is this gross or totally delicious? This is a regular sight here in the bakery, so sometimes I forget how weird it actually is. Once someone paid Jesse $5 to eat an entire stick of Earth Balance. I don’t think I’d do it for less than $20.
art is all around us
Oh Valentine’s Day, you’re so enticing with your reds and pinks and hearts and love and stuff. Besides flowers and truffles, we’re putting together all of our regular suspects for the day.
Personalized Heart Shaped Cookies $1.50 each or $15/dozen.
You can call in advance and we’ll write whatever you’d like on your cookies. And we really mean ANYTHING, as long as it fits on the cookie.
how very tame
This year we are also adding Heart Sandwich Cookies ($1.50 ea, $15/dozen) to our list, reminiscent of that Pepperidge Farms cookie with the two butter cookies and the chocolate in the middle that I can’t remember the name of. Very subtle, so you can eat the entire bag in one sitting.
Choclate Brownie Mini Bundts ($4.50) are making an appearance, perfect for two…
a veritable volcano of love
Other exciting options are Heart Shaped Cheesecakes for Two ($10), or a larger Chocolate Raspberry Heart Shaped Cake (serves 8-10 $30) if you love a lot of people.
Call ahead to order – we will have extras on hand, but when they run out, they’re gone! When you’re here that morning for our Buy one get one half off brunch you can pick up your Valentine’s Day order. Easy!
With Valentine’s Day only a mere 3 weeks away… you’d better get on it people! We’re going to make it really really easy for you this year, and you’re going to not only look completely organized for getting it done so early, but you’re going to do it with style! And I know this because my friends Leela and Alissa, of bright designlab, have an impeccable sense of style. We have teamed up with them to offer some classy gifts for the people you love. And we’re keeping it cheap. But we’re also giving you some not as cheap options, in case you are feeling like buying someone’s love, and we will not look down on you for that.
doesn't look like you went cheap
This stunning single rose in european wrap, with greenery, is only $6. Add a box of our own truffles (hazelnut, and raspberry) for $7 more, and you have covered both the flowers and chocolate bases for well under $20 (that’s $13, if you can’t find a calculator).
there were 4 truffles, but i ate one during the photo shoot
We will be doing free in-town bike delivery again this year, and you can add on our custom decorated sugar cookies as well. We will only have a limited number of extras on hand, so pre-ordering is highly encouraged. Call or drop by for more info, or see below for more options.
Our hours are going to be kind of weird the last week of December, because we will be doing a small remodel in the bakery so we can start serving sandwiches and stuff, and we are going to try to add a little more seating. Here’s the tentative plan:
December 24th open 7am-6pm
December 25th CLOSED
December 26th open 9am-2pm
December 27th open 9am-2pm BRUNCH!
Decmber 28th 9am-2pm
December 29th 9am-2pm
December 30th CLOSED
December 31st CLOSED
December 1st CLOSED
There’s a good chance these hours will change if we get stuff done early, so check back. Have a great Holiday, and be careful!
Lisa
In a few weeks it will be 2010, how weird is that? I thought things would be all futuristic and flying cars by now, but technology just hasn’t kept up with my imagination. Except for the part where I can flip a coin on my phone (without an actual coin), and use satellites to give me directions when I am lost (which is constantly). Oh, and that OHSU tram is pretty futuristic too. Aside from all of their archaic and useless animal testing at least OHSU is moving us into the future.
get outta my dreams, get into my pod
(I stole this photo from portlandground.com.)
Anyway, the point is, I feel like it’s time for us to get with it, embrace the fact that the future has arrived, and start serving you fresh, made-to-order sandwiches at the bakery. Usually I would just make it happen, and hope you like it, but this time I’m asking for your suggestions. Remember all of those times you have walked in the bakery and said “You know what you should make? You should make [insert your favorite item here] and I will come in every day and buy it.” Well now, here’s your chance to get what you want. Tell me this: what kind of sandwich would you want? What kind of bread, hot or cold, what veggie fixings, condiments, and sides to go with it. My choice would be this, which will most likely make it onto the menu:
fake meat, i love you so much
This is a vegan Italian Sub that my friend Ed made for me once, I think about it several times a week, with great longing and joy. Please leave you feedback in the comments section and I will start working on our new sandwich menu!
It’s time again, a little more than a week until Christmas, and we have pies and things available for pre-order. You can pick up your items Monday the 21st through Thursday the 24th; we will be open 7am to 8pm each of those days. We will be closed on Christmas, and most likely have limited hours the week after.
We still take special orders for cakes and cupcakes, Here is what you can pre-order!
Pumpkin Pie (serves 8 ) $10
Shoofly Pie (serves 8 ) $10
Dinner Rolls (1 dozen) $5 (I ate 2 dozen by myself at thanksgiving, no joke)
Pumpkin Cheesecake (serves 10-12) $35
Join the Apron Activists for a holiday bake sale at The Bye & Bye, Saturday December 12th from 2pm until only crumbs are left!
There will be tempting treats as far as they eye can see. You can pick up boxes of cookies to send as gifts or just pop in for a cupcake! This bakesale is not to be missed. Biscotti! Donuts! Muffins! Cinnamon rolls! Pumpkin Pie! Gingerbread! We’ll have it all.
We’ll be raising money for the Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, a scenic haven south of Portland OR that provides safe harbor to farm animals, each with a story to tell. We’re very excited to lend them our support!
To participate: Tie on your favorite apron and bake up some vegan goodness. Bring your treats to the Bye-N-Bye between 2 and 4pm (we’ll be selling until we’re sold out!) It would be really cool if you could provide a printed out ingredients list, too, that way if people have allergies or preferences they can size up their options.
(We are donating tea cakes and petit fours! I will be there, eating baked goods other people have baked which is pretty much one of my favorite things ever. You know how it’s always better when someone else makes you a sandwich? Its like that.)
The PCC catalog just came out, and my face is on the cover! I can’t tell you how weird it was to pull my mail out of my mailbox yesterday and find a giant picture of myself in there. Here it is:
i love you cupcakes
There is also a little article in the back of the catalog about how I started the bakery, and a great photo of my recently finished sleeve, by Jerry Ware of Atlas Tattoo. But the best thing about this picture is that John is in the background again. Last time I was in a magazine he was in the background, and now I’m starting to think he is sneaking into all my photos on purpose. The PCC classes were a lot of fun, and they are listed again in this Winter catalog for February. More info is here – PCC CLASSES
We made it through Thanksgiving week, and we’re really excited about all the great feedback we got about our pies this year. Thanks so much to everyone who bought one! We made well over 200 pies – I need to ask Katie what the exact number ended up at. Our oven got a real workout. Katie forgot her camera that day, so I had to take photos with my phone. Not as good.
can you tell which one is yours?
We’re getting ready for all of December’s holidays now, we’ll have rugelach and Star of David and dreidel sugar cookies for Hanukkah, and then Christmas themed stuff too. Leela, of Bright Designlab hung fresh wreaths and garlands in the bakery a couple of days ago, and it feels so cozy and wintery now! We are going to have a lot more packaged “to go” items for the holidays, so you can take stuff home to share with your families, and items to give as gifts. Drop by when you can, and see what’s new!
Tags: 200 pies, bright designlab, Christmas, classes, gifts, hanukkah, holiday, pcc, pies, vegan
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December 4, 2009 11:02 am | 
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This took me awhile to figure out, so it’s a little short notice, but I’ve finally figured out a time to have a class for all of you who missed the PCC one and need holiday help.
The class will be Tuesday Nov 24th at 7:30pm, and will be 2 hours long. The fee for the class will be $20, and you will go home with a whole bunch of recipes and some cookies and seitan. You can sign up by calling or coming by the bakery to reserve a spot, and you can pay in advance or on the day of.
This class will be great for anyone trying to make a totally vegan holiday meal, or if you need some options to share with your non-vegan family members. We will cover seitan basics, desserts, side dishes, and I will do my best to talk about allergen options as well.
Space is obviously kind of limited, so reserve your spot. If it fills up really fast I’ll try to squeeze in a second class time.
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