Bittersweet

Yesterday was our last day. Gesine Confectionary on Elm Street in Montpelier, Vermont closed its doors. That’s why you’re here if you’d intended to go to www.gesine.com. Maybe you were looking for store hours or directions. Maybe you wanted to check out the cake menu. Or you wanted to order macaroons online. But you’re here instead because we’re on a sabbatical of sorts. Wherein I’ll recharge my batteries. I’m heading to Austin for the winter to create a pastry menu for a little shop called Waltons that will open February 2009. And I’ll be sharing the new and exciting sugar inventions here. I'm relaunching the online business come spring (maybe earlier?) and hoping to include a bevy of treats that we've never offered online before.  And then there’s my book Confections of a Closet Master Baker coming out in the fall. That will be terribly exciting and strange. And there’s sleep. I’m planning on getting reacquainted with my beloved pillow.

But with all this new and exciting change coming my way, yesterday was bittersweet. I’ll just share a note, one of many, that we received from a customer (she also gave us a killer pair of owl salt and pepper shakers). This is what I’ll miss most. Not baking as a business but baking as a way to touch people.

“Gesine + Ray or Ray + Gesine

Good luck in your next incarnation.

Without realizing it you’ve helped me through a major illness (I was losing too much weight, couldn’t eat, but could eat what you made), helped me meet my husband and have just been a pleasure to have around.

Take care, seasons greetings, Happy Kwanza, etc.

Anne W”