Life is short, eat dessert first

I would like to take a moment to urge everyone to visit their local bakery.  My favorite is Jerabek's of St. Paul.  I've made their success a personal mission. 

True to the American way of excess many food establishments feel one good flavor is inferior to 37 mediocre ones and a single serving size means you're not trying hard enough. Please don't attempt to deny the lack of satisfaction felt when one would love a simple cupcake but the only thing to be found is a cream filled, cinnamon caramel, carrot cake pumpkin spice latte cupcake that weighs 2 pounds and costs eight dollars. 

Jerabek's doesn't have this problem. Their display cases are filled with the results of perfect recipes fully mastering one concept in reasonably sized portions.  The stacks of chocolate chip cookies, rows of petit fours and buttery croissants are almost too wonderfully old fashioned to be true, were not made for Paul Bunyan and cost less than three dollars. Seriously.  They have cookies for 33 cents.

Presentation alludes to county fair, chocolate brownies and rhubarb bars are cut and left in the pans, everything is can't-be-faked homemade.  If your practical and talented grandparents opened a bakery it would be Jerabek's. It is a cute place, but they don't waste time dressing up something like a rhubarb bar because 1. that's a waste of time and 2. their rhubarb bar doesn't need any dressing up.

Yes, Caribou and Starbucks are fine, but why settle for fine when you have local bakeries.