breakfast from "le tablier de vol"

That's really poorly translated French for "The Flying Apron". How'd I do?

The Flying Apron Bakery is a buzzing bakery, known specifically for it's allergy-friendly (gluten-free, vegan) pastries, as well as soups, breads, and wholesale baked goods. Located in the lower part of Fremont near the Fremont bridge, Flying Apron is close to competing bakeries, vintage record shops, Peet's Coffee and Tea, PCC Natural Markets, and is in a prime bicycling-friendly neighborhood. Fremont is truly a small taste of Portland, so if you've never been to either, you really HAVE to at least visit Fremont if you're a native to the Northwest. According to this website, Fremont's well known motto is "Free to be peculiar." So really, anyone can fit in.

Beside how awesome Fremont is, though, Flying Apron was an interesting experience. The bakery itself was busy, even on a Monday afternoon around 3:00. The people who were visiting were of a variety of ages and classes - I mean that in the most literal way possible. You'd think most vegan or gluten-free bakeries would attract a type of customer, but not this one. All types of customers flock to this bakery. Hipsters and hippies, 30-something Moms and their children, older guys reading newspapers. Seemed almost like a "normal" cafe to me.

Matthew ordered coffee and a peanut butter morning bar, and I took my time to decide. I ended up ordering the potato chowder and a slice of some type of bread. The chowder was pretty good, but I added a heaping pile of s&p to it. And the bread was NOT to my liking. I am a bread FREAK and I could eat bread for weeks... for me to not like bread is unthinkable. But this bread? No. I couldn't finish it. Couldn't stomach it! I even tried rubbing salt into the bread. No go.

So it only makes sense that I would go back and order more, right? Actually, I went back and ordered their Rosemary Potato Bread from the day old rack. It was 50% off, so naturally I agreed with that. I think the discount made it taste better, too. The potato bread was golden. Literally. It was delicious, and had flaxseeds popping out throughout my tearing through the loaf. The rosemary, at times, felt as though I was picking bones out of a salmon steak, but I grinned and beared it. Beggars can't be choosers, and this was pretty damn good other than the minor complaints. This morning, I cut a few slices of the bread, warmed it up, and slathered it with Earth Balance spread.

Quite a story for just a few slices of bread, huh? Well, that breakfast probably just helped save this little guy:

For more cute animals being saved, check out this website.