Baker's Dozen and The "Schmear"

 There are a few theories as to why a baker’s dozen became 13, but the most widely accepted one has to do with avoiding a beating. In medieval England there were laws that related the price of bread to the price of the wheat used to make it. Bakers who were found to be “cheating” their customers by overpricing undersized loaves were subject to strict punishment, including fines or flogging.  - Brittanica.com

Schmear (n.) - also schmeer, 1961, "bribery," from Yiddish shmir "spread," from shmirn "to grease, smear," from Middle High German smiren, from Old High German smirwen "to smear" (see smear (v.); compare slang grease (someone's) palm "to bribe"). - Etymologyonline.com

In Brooklynese, the "schmear" is both cream cheese and a bribe. As you place the money in the hand, the two hands slide schmearing as on a bagel.

Walkable Durham

With Beyu and Copa closing recently, the wake-up call that remote work has hit the businesses serving non-residential city centers has become more real. Jack Tar closed last year. Pompieri closed as well. While new businesses will likely grow into these spaces, one has to wonder whether we will see more closings in 2024.

Meanwhile, the Novus rises 27 stories above, casting an ominous shadow over the bakery. While I'm not a fan of much of the new construction architecturally, I have been supporting population-dense building ever since I was a member of Carrboro's Peak Oil Meetup in the aughts. Ultimately, we need cities that are more population-dense, walkable, and bikeable. We need cities that preserve green space and can control congestion and reduce or eliminate cars. The building needs to be affordable to middle class folks and we need new and better public housing for low-income folks. Will cities like Durham begin to look more like New York, and less like Raleigh?

New Breweries in Durham

With four new breweries either opening or recently opened (I count DSSOLVR, Flying Bull, Atomic Clock, and Proximity, am I missing one?), one might think that the booze market here in Durham is getting oversaturated.

I distinctly remember Fullsteam opening in 2010 and its packed taproom was the default event venue for baby showers and birthdays, complete with links from the Farmhand Foods (now Firsthand Foods) truck. 

Soon thereafter (2015), Ponysaurus took the reins as the go-to brewery location for local hangs. With  the crowds now in abeyance from both those locations (are we just going out less?), I ask have we passed Peak Beer, or is this just a build-out for a more populous future in the Downtown district? Or are these breweries the pet projects of well-funded amateurs investing in a declining business model?

The Future of Restaurant Wages

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/dining/restaurant-minimum-wage-tipped-workers-dc.html