A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

A good year

By Jimmy Johnson

1986-12-18-peggy-sue.gif

I’ve been on a bread-baking kick lately. There are those of us who fervently believe (know, really) that a true French baguette can be had only in France. You can have “a” baguette elsewhere. You can buy “French bread” at the Piggly Wiggly. Even cookbooks and flour companies promise results “as close to the true French baguette as you can get.” However, there’s only one genuine article.

We all know the French baguette looks something like a Louisville Slugger and, given 24 hours, is almost as hard. Even fresh, it will get you a Texas League single. It has a delightful brown crust that shatters when bitten, rewarding the lips and gums with razor-like shards than can draw blood. It can be purchased everywhere in France, alongside loaves of country breads that actually taste much better and aren’t painful to eat, their only drawback being, they’re not French baguettes. Obviously, the French baguette has a mystique.

I don’t think it’s all that mysterious. When I think of experiencing le McCoy réel, I think of sitting under an umbrella on an improbably beautiful medieval square, far from my own problems, eating a lunch of perfectly prepared something, with an aproned waiter dropping by every 10 minutes to ask, “Voulez-vous quelque plus de vin, le touriste de cochon ?” No wonder everybody remembers French baguettes so fondly!

Well, I’ve got my baguette recipe down pretty good, I think. I dare say, if I could magically transport my bread, fresh, to that medieval square, Frenchmen and tourists alike would throw local baguettes at their baker. Next week, I’ll share it with you.

Recent Posts

Ghost of Christmas Past

This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...

Spearhead

I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...

Dark Passage

Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...

What’s old is old, again

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...

Back to the ol’ drawing board

I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...

Thursday’s Child

On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...

36 responses to “A good year”