#7: Bread Moment

Bread Moment

My name is John, I have MS, I’m 38 years old and I started this podcast to share what I’m going through.

Recap Episode 6

Episode 6: “Overwhelmed” was short but impactful the way short things can often be. Like Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan, until they get hit in the mouth.”
Last episode was basically nothing but a long recap, and then I got distracted telling how I made tomato sauce. I gave up and I just stopped the whole thing after like two and a half minutes.

It’s very hot right now

It’s hot outside. I fell down yesterday in my garden. My thoughts bubble up through my mind like my mind is full of mud, like a primordial ooze and my thoughts bubble up through it. They come very slow, I’m like, “me hungry.” It’s like that.

Uhthoff’s effect

I feel some fatigue from Uhthoff’s effect, which was discovered in the 19th century by a German neurologist who discovered that people with MS feel bad when they’re in the sun. I totally agree with this.

Too much argument

I’ve been having a lot of arguments with my wife. I’m super short-tempered. I argued with my wife on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and today, Wednesday, even though I saw her for only 5 minutes this morning I managed to get upset with her.

Being a salamander

It’s so hot I just don’t move. We call it being a salamander.I try and sit there and do as little as possible.

Josh is baking

My friend Josh is talking to me about baking bread and reallystimulating. I used to make a lot of bread. I’m in the hot sauce business, but I thought about making bread and coffee and I still think about it. I love making bread and growing plants. I’m a gardener, you know it’s all like making bread, growing your family it’s all the same having a garden, pruning a plant. So it is stimulating to hear that Josh has been baking bread.

Dinner with Margarita

One time I went to dinner with my friend Margarita. She was the bartender at Casanova in the Mission on Valencia Street and across the street is this Mexican spot Puerto Alegre. They really had kinda Tex-Mex, it wasn’t high on the list for Mexican places but they served a blended margarita in pitchers and when I was in my twenties, I would just wonder, how many pitchers did I drink?
So I went over there with Margarita, I was in town from New York where I was living in Brooklyn at the time, I was visiting town. I looked up Margarita and we headed over to Puerto Allegre, and Margarita is a Mission bartender, she’s been a bartender at many bars in the mission for a long time, like 20-something years, and she knew everybody. When we went to Puerto Allegre, she knew the waiter, and he said, “Oh hey Chad Robertson is over there you know those Tartine bread guys?” Actually he said, “You know those Tartine Bakery guys? But I knew them as Tartine Bread guys because they had a book about how to make bread that I would obsessively follow in my Brooklyn apartment.

Chicken

It was an amazing moment, Chad Robertson sitting across and Margarita there, and I had one of those moments in my life, where I totally chickened out. I didn’t get up and say, “Oh my goodness Chad Robertson I have been baking your bread every day but I am quite an amateur and I bet you have so much to say, so interesting, I’m so glad to meet you,” – no, I did none of those things, none of that. I stayed in the corner and I was like, “oh cool.”

Tell your hero

It haunts me to this day. So it’s good to say in this podcast. One of the things that’s what’s the matter with me is I regret not meeting Chad Robertson and the other Bakers from Tartine Bakery. It was 2008 at the time and this was very interesting stuff. Nothing happened, because I chickened out.
Don’t do that, is my advice. If your hero is sitting across from you, and somebody asks if you want to meet them, you should say, “Yes, I want to meet them right now.” Tell them how much they mean to you and tell them they’re your hero. I wish I had told Chad Robertson that.

begin transcript

What’s The Matter With Me? episode seven. What’s The Matter With Me? episode seven. My name is John. I have MS. I’m 38 years old. I started this podcast to just share what I’m going through.

Let’s recap episode six. Episode six was a short one, but impactful. The way short things can often be, like Mike Tyson said about impact, he said, “Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.” last episode was basically nothing but a recap, a long recap, and then I got distracted while I was explaining how I made tomato sauce and I gave up and I just stopped the whole thing after it like two and a half minutes.

It’s very hot right now. It’s hot outside. I fell down yesterday in my garden and my thoughts bubble up through my mind like my mind is full of mud and like a primordial ooze and my thoughts bubble up through that. So they come very slow. I’m like, “Me hungry.” It’s like that and it’s a fatigue and they call it Uhthoff’s effect. It was discovered in the 19th century by a German neurologist and I don’t really want to talk further about that, but you figure it out, and people with MS feel bad when they’re in the sun and I totally agree with that.

I’ve been having a lot of arguments with my wife. I’m super short tempered. I’m a jerk, I think, and argued with my wife on Friday, Saturday. Okay, first of all, today is Wednesday. I argued with my wife on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and today, even though I already saw her for only five minutes this morning, I managed to get upset with her. It’s so hot. I just don’t move. We call it being a salamander, like I just sit there and do as little as possible.

My friend Josh has been talking to me a lot about bread and really stimulating me. I used to make a lot of bread. I’m in the hot sauce business, but I thought about making bread and coffee. I still think about it. I really love making bread and growing things. I’m a gardener, you know. So making bread and having a family, it’s all the same, having a garden, pruning up plants. So it’s stimulating to hear that Josh is making bread. So that one time at Puerto Alegre, I was at dinner with my friend Margarita. She was the bartender at Casanova over in the Mission on 16th street and right across the street is this Mexican spot, Puerto Alegre. They really had kind of Mexican as the neighborhood goes. It’s not like a high on the list for Mexican food, but they serve a blended margarita in pitchers.

When I was in my twenties, I would just… How many pitchers did I drink? So I went over there with Margarita. I was in town from New York actually. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, but I was visiting town. I saw Margarita. We headed over there Puerto Alegre and Margarita is like a Mission bartender. She’s been a bartender in many bars in the Mission for a long time, like 20 something years and so she knows everybody. So we went over to Puerto Alegre, she knew the waiter and the waiter goes, “Oh, hey. Chad Robertson’s over there. You know those Tartine bread guys?” Actually he said, “You know those Tartine Bakery guys?” But I knew them as Tartine bread guys because they had a book about how to bake bread that I would obsessively follow in my Brooklyn apartment.

So it was like this amazing moment, Chad Robertson sitting across and Margarita there. This is one of those moments in my life where I totally chickened out. I didn’t get up and go, “Oh my goodness, Chad Robertson. I’ve been baking your bread every day. I think I am quite an amateur and I bet you have so much to say and so interesting. I’m so glad to meet.” No, I said none of that. I stayed in the corner and I was like, “Oh, cool.” It haunts me to this day so it’s good to say in this podcast. One of the things that’s What’s The Matter With Me?, I regret not meeting Chad Robertson and the other bakers form Tartine Bakery, probably the most… I mean, this was 2008 at the time. So this is interesting stuff, nothing happened because I chickened out.

So don’t do that. If your hero is sitting across and somehow they’re like, “Hey, do you want to this guy?” You should be like, “Yes, I want to meet that guy right now,” and tell them how much they mean to you and tell them that they’re your hero. I wish I had told Chad Robertson that. The bread, I go to Tartine Bakery, every time I’m in the city, I have a Hoppin Hot Sauce account, shout outs Hawker Fare Holy Mountain, the bar upstairs, they got fried chicken. You can get Hoppin Hot Sauce to put on your fried chicken. I bet it’s good. Shout outs to Holy mountain on Valencia and 18th, between 17th and 18th, I think it is. Anyway, when I’m in town dropping off hot sauce orders over there, I always go to Tartine bread, pick something up.

So proud to be able to bring back our croissant or whatever for my family, like I’m a traveling salesman, have this wonderful merchant pleasure of San Francisco. I’m happy about it. I didn’t get up and say how much I appreciate Tartine Bread. But anyway, I still go there and stand in line and pay good green bucks for some that good quiches and pastries and gougère and all kinds of good stuff they make there. Anyways, it’s making me want it right now, like this is become an ad. Anyway, that’s what happens when you regret things. All of a sudden you’re making an ad you didn’t mean to make. What’s The Matter With Me? episode seven.

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