the bees knees

 

 

 

The bread module in my pastry schooling was my most dreaded. I could care less about making pretzels, couldn't endure the seemingly endless trail of baguettes we seemed to have to make, kept braiding my challah wrong, almost split my finger in two with a lame, and so on.  When we started learning about "laminated dough" all I could think about were those little laminated miniature croissants and danish refrigerator magnets that everyone seemed to have in the 80's. I hated it and I knew Nancy Silverton would not be calling any time soon.

The highlight of my short lived and tumultuous bread career came in the form of breads involving honey. They were fatty and sweet and I loved making them. Amazing tasting brioche actually turned into a joy to make (throw in some chocolate chips and Valhallah was reached!)  and I finally figured out how to intricately braid that damn challah.

So when we had to write an essay about something called the "Colony Collapse Disorder" I instantly thought (while a colony collapsing didn't sound like any dumb elaborate artisan bread I was going to have to suffer through) this is more bread making Tom Foolery and someone is out to get me (I'm looking at you, Chef Reyes).

  

 Turns out that Colony Collapse Disorder is pretty much the scariest thing ever and our little bee friends are in serious danger. Bees are dying at quite alarming rates all over the world and for the most part, scientists can't figure out why this is happening. Some experts believe the bees are dying because of cell phone waves interrupting their pollination patterns. I had remembered hearing Bill Maher talk about saving the bees a while back. Maher had mentioned a quote from Einstein that went something like "Once the bees go, man only had seven years left (!!!)" and then I didn't ever hear anything else about the plight of the bumblebee after. Um, total buzzkill to say the least!

If you haven't heard about this disorder, please read more about it here.  Wonderful company, Burt's Bee's, is pioneering research, education,  and funding to help the bees keep buzzing. You can read about all the good Burt is doing here.

I still pretty much hate baking bread but am very thankful that I found out about CCD. You can hit me up for a honey laden brioche anytime though.

For fun, you can find out the origin of the saying "the bees knees"  here.

 

Comments

[BakersRoyale]

As usual another fab post. I love this one, well, much like I love your other ones.

I have been reading about the demise of bees colonies for the last few years and find it as alarming as you do. No longer do I swat those summer bees away. Now I just guide them away from me and hope I don't get stung.

Anyhow, lovely post.

Naomi

[a secret forest]

Thank you so much for your sweet words! I do the same thing when I see a bee and hope I don't get stung either! It's so sad what's going on with the bees :(