SAVANNAH COMES TO EAST COBB

Yesterday evening, the Missus and I, along with our two daughters, attended a cooking demonstration and book signing over at the local Cook’s Warehouse. What had attracted my interest was that the book in question was The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day... and that both Cheryl and Griff would be demonstrating a few choice recipes.

Those of my Esteemed Readers with good memories may recall that, several years ago, the Mistress of Sarcasm lived in the Starlight district of Savannah just a short walk away from the Back in the Day Bakery. It was where we celebrated the Mistress’s twenty-fifth birthday with all manner of tasty baked goods, including the legendary Baby Cake... and we have made it a point to stop by whenever we are in Savannah.

As a thoroughgoing amateur when it comes to Matters Bakey, I can appreciate a couple of professionals when I see them... and it has been a real pleasure watching the Days’ little business grow from a beloved local operation (which it still is) to something with a bit more national prominence, owing largely to the ministrations of people like Paula Deen and Oprah Winfrey.

Now, Paula Deen can be a bit... ahhh, scary when it comes to some of her Southern fried cooking, and when you put her in the same room with Cheryl, the results can sometimes be downright horrifying. (The infamous Cottage Cheese Lasagna and Whole Loaf of Garlic Bread Sandwich comes to mind.) But, to her credit, Ms. Deen knows real quality when she sees it - and the Days of Back in the Day have created a little piece of heaven right there in Savannah.


Griff and Cheryl sign a few cookbooks while taking a short break from Pie-Making.

We had a delightful time visiting with Cheryl and Griff, who were seeing us for the first time in our neighborhood. It would have been enough just to simply watch them at work, cranking out Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler (chicken pot pie topped with biscones, a biscuit-scone amalgam), Coconut Cream Pie, and S’Mores Pie (which, in tribute to the eponymous campfire confection, combined a chocolate pastry cream filling with a graham cracker crust and a marshmallowy meringue topping). But no, we actually got respectable portions of each dish to enjoy. I dearly wish I had not tasted of that cobbler, for now I have a Biscone Jones to beat the band. Agggghhh.