Today is March 31st, Jordan’s birthday!
We ordered a cake at Noe Valley Bakery online over the weekend, and made an appointment this morning to go pick it up!
Today also officially marks the first time we have gone outside our house in 2.5 weeks! (Seems like a lot longer when you are staying in, haha)
Up to this point, we have been getting by with plenty of delivered groceries from Whole Foods and Farm Fresh to You, and lots of home cooking. Looking back at our calendar it looks like the last time we went out to shop was on March 15. Wow!
The drive to Noe Valley bakery is about 5 mins from our house just down the hill. Everything along the drive this morning seemed pretty normal as usual. The Safeway parking lot was crowed and full of shoppers as I drove by, and there were a few people out and about either going for walks or jogs.
As I got to Noe Valley, the first thing I noticed was a lot of empty street parking. There were a few people walking by on the street wearing masks but not too many. For this outing, I was prepared and had my neck warmer ready to double as a mask if needed.
As I walked down the street, you could easily see that most of the people made a conscious effort to give each other enough space to walk by. For the most part, everyone still seemed in good spirits and most either smiled or said hello as they walked by.
It was close to 9:00 am as I got to the bakery and saw there was already a line of people standing outside evenly spaced back from each other. I got in line as well and stood a good distance (~6 ft) behind the person in front of me.
As I got to the front of the store, a sign at the front window read: “Please allow 2 guests in the shop at a time. Thanks!” The line went pretty fast. I probably waited outside for 3-4 mins before it was my turn to go in.
Inside the bakery, everything seemed normal; the shelves were well stocked with bread and various pastries, and the workers were not wearing any protective gear like masks or gloves. Everything smelled so good inside it was hard not to buy everything in sight!
Along with the birthday cake, I decided to pick up a few more items to go: 2 fresh baked croissants, a tub of oatmeal raisin cookie dough (kids request), and some bake at home scones.