Once Upon a Bakery.

Because The Story has been simmering long enough.

Twenty-four years ago, on a dark January afternoon, as I walked out of the old door of La Vie en Rose Bakery for the last time, I knew I would write its story.

The story. Our story.

Months passed, then years. I would write a chapter now and then. I would renew my vow to tell The Story. I would put it on the back burner again.

I once spent a month in a tiny hilltop Italian village where I knew no one, thinking that “now was the time.” No distractions, no one to cook for. Just me, the keyboard, and the Mediterranean Sea below. Surely I would write. The Med won and The Story waited.

There is so much to The Story, you see. So much more than crusty bread and soft buttercream. So much more than beauty and youthful naivete, too.

I am going to tell you The Story. I mean, really tell you. With my voice. One chapter at a time, one bite at a time, the way I would tell it to you if we were sitting together in a warm comfy place drinking thick hot chocolate. Unabridged, with only a vague road map. With its detours, its funny parts, its exhaustion, and of course, its people. Because it’s always about the people, isn’t it? In fact, I think will ask some of them to join me once in a while and tell their part of The Story!

I may even share a few recipes since they too, are big characters.

I am going to tell you The Story as I remember it. A story of good ideas, and less good ideas. A story of reckless lack of boundaries and a story of optimism, resilience, creativity, entrepreneurship, and well… love. And Loss. You may laugh, you may cry a little, and you may shake your head a lot.

It will be good.

It’s time.

If you are already a supporter of my work, do nothing. The first chapter of Once Upon a Bakery, a Spoken Memoir will pop up in your inbox in the next few days.

If you are not and would like to join me on this sweet adventure - which may be my biggest work yet - simply subscribe.

Till very soon 🧡

PS: And of course, like all good stories, it starts at the beginning. Which is about twenty years before La Vie en Rose opened its old door for the first time.