When I was a little girl and we lived in New York (Brooklyn, then Queens, then Staten Island), when you went to someone's house, you never showed up empty-handed. More often than not, you showed up with a cake or a nice box of cookies. From the bakery, not the grocery store. A beautiful box of cookies from the bakery a few blocks away. There was always a bakery a few blocks away.
My Auntie Betty, the most wonderful and kind-hearted human being that ever existed on this planet, who lived in the same apartment in Woodside, Queens, for the entire 26 years I knew her before she died at age 84, bought cookies from such a bakery whenever she knew my sister and I were coming to visit. Bowtie cookies sprinked with sugar in a white box tied with string. At Auntie Betty's, we had tea with milk and bowtie cookies. That's just how it was.
Of course, in those days, bakeries were plentiful. People did not get their birthday cakes from Sam's Club or Costco. They were not mass produced in some warehouse-y type environment. They were made by a baker at the back of a store on a street just a few blocks from where you lived. You took a number when you went inside, and you picked the cake or cookies or muffins or cupcakes you wanted. You got them in a white box lined with wax paper and tied with string.
There are not many of those bakeries around today. Today people think Entenmann's is a quality baked good. Today you go to the bakery counter in Super Fresh at the last minute and grab a nice-enough cake from the counter and have them write, "Happy Birthday, Aunt Sylvia" on the cake in pink icing.
There are still a few old-fashioned bakeries around, though. When I first moved to New Jersey with the kids, I was living at my parents' house for a year, and when I mentioned to a friend what route I took for my somewhat lengthy commute from Monmouth to Mercer County, she said, "Oh, you pass by Mendokers'. You have to go there." So, one day, while driving through Jamesburg, that is just what I did. I stopped in at this amazing place, totally unassuming from the outside, and got an eyeful: glass cases of fruit tarts with kiwis, black-and-white cookies, strawberry shortcakes, chocolate mousse cakes about a foot high, cupcakes with Cookie Monster and Elmo and The Little Mermaid, huge cranberry muffins, every kind of cookie you'd ever want, and so much more.
That morning, I got myself a coffee (79 cents no matter what size, and they put the milk in for you; take THAT, Starbucks) and a box of "nice" cookies to put out for my department. You know the kind of cookies I mean: the green and pink ones shaped like leaves with the chocolate centers, the chocolate lace cookies, the ones shaped like pretzels with sprinkles on them (particularly loved by Bill in the Web group). Everyone wanted to know where I got the great cookies. Since I passed the place every day, I made a point of stopping every now and again to get a nice box of cookies for my co-workers, and they never lasted long.
I have since moved closer to my job and no longer pass Mendokers' on a regular basis, but stop by with my kids now and again, and when I am going to see people with little kids who might like a cupcake decorated with a character from the movie Cars. Today, however, is Mother's Day and yesterday was my son's birthday (he is at his dad's this weekend), and on my way back from having breakfast with my mom in Monmouth County, I decided to stop off at Mendokers' and get my son a birthday cake. The place was filled with people getting beautiful items for Mother's Day, and while I was there a delivery man came with flowers for one of the women who worked behind the counter. A very nice scene, all in all.
So I got my son a nice chocolate-and-vanilla-checkerboard cake, and because of the design on the top, they put a nice large chocolate slab in it with his Happy Birthday message. And a coffee, and a beautiful twist with strawberry preserves on it for me, and a box of candles. I was expecting to pay about $40.00 for all this, and the total came to $22.06. All that for $22.06, and I got to see the lady in the red apron behind the counter joyfully receive her Mother's Day bouquet. A bargain.
So if you are in or around central Jersey and want a treat, please stop at Mendokers' Quality Bakery. It's on the block by the railroad tracks right in downtown Jamesburg (all quarter-mile of it!). Make sure there is lots of room in the trunk; you will want to stock up on lots of wonderful treats.
Mendokers' Quality Bakery
34 West Railroad Avenue
Jamesburg, NJ 08831
(732) 521-0056
Love to all, and Happy Mother's Day!
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