Throw Down with Jason Seymour

He says:
   There was (and maybe still is) a Food Network show starring Bobby Flay where he would go around and challenge people who made awesome dishes, usually family recipes, to a throw down. He would make some new-fangled food to compete with the time honored, defending dish. In a maddening turn of events Bobby Flay usually wins. This happened to me. Except it wasn't a T.V. show, and Bobby Flay wasn't there to stomp on my Mom's bread recipe.

   A while ago, it was made aware to my co-workers that I make our bread at home. Some of them were confused as to why a person would go to the trouble of making bread when it's so easy to get at the store. I try to tell them that for most recipes it's extremely easy to produce an edible loaf and that the savings can really be tremendous("and it's delicious" says Abby), but despite my recommendation no one has even tried to make their own.

   Anyway, my supervisor had been teasing me that I should bring in some bread for everyone, and I guess she got fed up with my, “…maybe sometime” response. So she challenged me to a bread throw down. She said she'd bring in her delicious cheese bread to square off against my French bread baguettes. I accepted. I was worried because while French bread is delicious, it is somewhat boring--there's no flash to it. I was certain that she'd dazzle my coworkers with her flavored bread.

   Bread is at its best as soon as it comes out of the oven, but since I was doing this at work I had to bake it the night before. In order to overcome this handicap I brought our little toaster oven in to work so I could warm the bread for a few minutes to snap the crust back to life. Everything went great and my bread was gobbled up rather quickly. The next day the cheese bread made its appearance. Like I expected it was heavy on the wow factor, and people seemed to enjoy it a lot.

   The voting happens this week to see whose bread reigns supreme. I'm not confident that my baguettes will take the prize, but they won't go down without a fight. Although the competition was inherently flawed (different flavors, tasted on different days, etc.), it was a lot of fun to share my bread with people. So regardless of the outcome, I'm happy with it.