what a lovely gingerbread house! {elle}

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Melissa had never been one for going to bakeries. If she could make a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie herself, why would she need to buy them anywhere else? That wouldn’t only be silly; it’d be a complete waste of money. Why, for the amount of money she could spend on a few cookies at a bakery, she could buy the ingredients to make a dozen at home. There had been a nagging curiosity about it all for awhile, though. It wouldn’t kill her to visit a few bakeries. Maybe she could even swap recipes with the owner?

Having done a bit of research online, Melissa decided House of Bread was her best bet. She didn’t want to go anywhere that was a nationwide sort of deal. For all she knew, those sorts of places manufactured their pastries. Upon arriving at the House of Bread, Melissa was delighted to find that the front was decorated like a gingerbread house. It was just too darling! Kanga seemed just as pleased with the bakery though she had a feeling of uneasiness. The marsupial seemed quite sure that they’d find a fairytale character in here.

Melissa entered with complete open-mindedness, not wanting her biased attitude on the matter between homemade cookies and bakery cookies clouding her thoughts. She wanted to give this place a chance – as did she with any other local bakeries. It was very warm in the House of Bread; it was cozy and smelled of baked goods (to be expected, of course). Approaching the employee at the counter, Melissa decided she’d talk to the owner first and then see about buying any pastries. “Hello,” she said kindly, “I was wondering if the owner was available? I’d love to speak with them.”

Melissa hoped that didn’t seem suspicious at all. That would just make things awkward. Kanga still seemed nervous but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. And if Kanga couldn’t, then Melissa certainly wouldn’t understand what the problem was.

[ellenwilliams]

Elle had just put a batch of gingerbread men and madeleines into the oven as she heard a lovely, female voice ask one of her more distasteful employees, "I was wondering if the owner was available? I'd love to speak to them." Well, this was unusual, it wasn't a first, but it was still unusual. Most people didn't find time in their schedule to thank the owner or ask questions.

Elle wiped off her hands onto her apron and fixed a smile on her face as she walked out of the kitchens and into the store. "Hello!" she said sweetly as she came up to the counter, "I'm the owner of this bakery. My name's Elle Williams. How may I help you today?" The woman looked nice enough. It wasn't a fake smile she showed Elle now, and anyone who had questions about the pastries only the owner could answer, knew at least a little bit about baking. She wasn't the usual customer.

Even if a line did form behind this customer, Elle would ignore the impatient glances of the other customers because these kinds of customers were rare. But a line wouldn't form behind her it was the slow period of the day. Too late for breakfast, but too early for anything really sweet. No, Elle was prepared to give her her full attention. "So were you looking for anything specific or did you just want to ask about how these delicious things were made?" Elle was as cheerful as she always was to customers, but intelligence floated off this one so the smile plastered to her face came a bit easier now.

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Melissa didn’t wait long before the owner made an appearance. She looked friendly. There was a baker sort of feel to her, without a doubt, but Melissa wasn’t even sure if that made sense. “Good afternoon,” Melissa said, still glad to have decided to go a bit later in the day. If she’d come too early, she would’ve hit the breakfast rush and that was the last thing she wanted. “I’m Melissa Hewitt. It’s nice to meet you, Elle.” Perhaps she didn’t have to worry so much about going the traditional route when meeting somebody this time around.

Melissa glanced behind her for just a moment before returning her attention to Elle. She wanted to make sure there wasn’t a line or any waiting customers. She certainly didn’t want to hold anybody up. That probably wouldn’t put her in a good place with the owner. Still, she stepped off to the side a bit to make it clear to customers that she was here to talk (first). “Well, I’m a baker myself and I normally don’t go to bakeries.” Melissa smiled and shrugged, “but yours is absolutely lovely.”

Melissa shook her head, telling herself to get to the point. “Basically, I thought I’d visit some local bakeries and see about swapping recipes or sharing kitchen secrets.” She looked to the display cases, picking out pastries that looked especially delicious. As she didn’t have all the time in the world, there were quite a few recipes she hadn’t been able to try out yet. Melissa tended to stick with cookies because they were easy and quick – not to mention anything could be done with them. “If you don’t mind, that is.”