Back in the Day

Honestly, have you ever seen three prettier faces in a bakery, anywhere???

Leave it to me to decide that one of my fondest memories of our first visit to Savannah will be associated with cupcakes.  Oh, happy day, and please pardon my pun. (you'll soon see what I mean)  Ahem. Now, where do I begin?

It all started when we announced our travel plans.  Suddenly, two copies of the same article, one taken from a recent "Southern Living" magazine, came to us via friends who cared.  On the front page of the "how to spend the day" article was a large photo of the lovely young lady wearing green in my photo, same beautiful smile on her face. It was our first introduction to "Back in the Day", and we had to hunt it down shortly after our arrival. And we did. Finding the bakery wasn't hard because this little emporium sits only blocks away from our vacation rental, in a neighborhood that we just know is going to be very desirable very soon.  Funky. Hints of vintage-life and sidewalks.  For some reason, we can't seem to stop thinking about this stuff.

"Back in the Day", founded and operated by once only home-bakers, Cheryl and Griff Day,  is celebrating its tenth year of business.  Their motto? "Slow down and taste the sweet life".  It's an award winner, voted THE best bakery (and beyond) in Savannah.  Breakfast, great cappuccino and selections of pastries, not a vast selection, just a handful of perfect, perfect bites of savories and sweets.  Lunch, sandwiches with names like "Pimento and the Pig", "Jambon Royal" and "Farmwich", all filled with imaginative and hand-selected ingredients, home made of course, all from a collection of heirloom family recipes.  Sweets....."Pie Bars" and pies, cakes and cookies, all gone by early afternoon.

But you have to wait until eleven o'clock for the birth of the famous cupcakes, so we were told after we polished off the biggest cups of coffee we've ever had the pleasure of drinking.  Naturally, we made friends during our first visit.  Farm tables foster community-style seating and I'm no slacker in the making friends department. Community is one of those things emphasized by the owners.  Laptops allow the hard-core to work from "home"or wile away the hours in the company of the beautiful people who obviously love their jobs and think their employers fell from Heaven.  So, we waited the extra fifteen minutes that day and at precisely eleven the trays of "Old Fashioneds"  were carried from the kitchen and placed in the case. Delivery room nurses.  Infants in the nursery.  Viewing time. Fresh, young tender babies of white cake, topped with fluffy white frosting that bore the palest shade of pink, just a hint of color.  Below the racks was another, a smaller version. Miniature Old Fashioneds, called "Babies" or were they called "Newborns?" for smaller appetites perhaps. Or for real babies. We approached the showcase as if we were first-time grandparents.  Joined by other first-timers, we stared at the rows of babies and decided to adopt a half dozen.  We almost gave them names as the adorable "nurse" placed them in a special insert and then into a box.  Can't take home a baby without the proper car seat these days.

The next day, we drove our babies to their new home, a two hour trip to Amelia Island, Florida, and we placed them into the hands of the two people who we had selected for joint-custody, our friends Peter and Julie. Then, at the end of a lovely day, we did the right thing.....we christened our babies with a bottle of wine and validated their existence as good parents do.

For numerous reasons, we plan to return to Savannah as soon as we can but I have to be honest when I say that places like this one are influencing our thoughts and we plan to take home some more babies when we do get there.  If only to see the beautiful faces on the nurses again.

Apparently, I'm not alone:  http://forkthissavannah.blogspot.com/2014/05/restaurant-love-ive-got-crush-on-back.html