That oven is there for many reasons.
Baking is one of them.
Here’s the thing.
It has been a long time since I had baked. At Christmas time, we made cookies with the oldest grandkids. But that was the first time in many moons.
So.
I had not mixed a batch of cookies.
Or worked the dough for a pie crust.
There’s not even been the putting of the icing glaze from a can onto the top of a boxed cake.
It seems that plenty of people are baking without any help from me.
The number of bakeries in the United States varies depending on the source and the definitions used. Here are some estimates:
– BoldData reports approximately 210,376 bakeries in the U.S., with Los Angeles having the highest concentration at 6,392 establishments.
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– Rentech Digital lists 107,298 bakeries as of October 8, 2024, noting a 5.23% increase from 2023.
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– Ciro tracks 31,558 bakeries across the U.S., with California, New York, and Texas having the highest numbers.
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– Statista indicates there were 8,995 bakery café businesses in 2023, up from 8,896 in 2022.
These discrepancies arise from differing methodologies and definitions of what constitutes a bakery.
I don’t really have any reason to bake. I suppose I could give it away, but if I am giving out food, I’d rather hand someone a pound of bologna. Or some good old American cheese in a block.
While we are on the subject. I raise a question. I wonder how much Martha Stewart actually bakes or does crafts? I bet it has been decades. Her staff prepares everything and performs all those tasks now. For all her shows and broadcasts.
But I’m diverting the topic away from me. The true non-baker.
I’d like to say that I won some baking competition and decided to go out in a blaze of glory. But that is not the case.
I’ve never even entered a baking competition. I probably never will.
I’m simply not a baker, a butcher, or a candlestick maker.
But. I love that Pillsbury Dough Boy. Cutest little dude on the Kitchen Planet. I love cheeseburgers too. And good-smelling candles.
I just don’t want to make them.
I’m not sure what my calling is.
But I know some things that calling is not.
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“Vocation is the place where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.” – Parker J. Palmer
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“Follow your passion, it will lead you to your purpose.” – William Conner
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“Each person comes into this world with a specific destiny – he has something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed.” – Osho
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“We are not here merely to make a living. We are here to enrich the world.” – Woodrow Wilson
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