Discover the Bliss of Asheville's Bakeries

City Bakery
"....is a family-owned and operated bakery... specializing in European-Style breads and pastries. Since we started, it has been our goal to provide Asheville and its surrounding communities with quality, fresh breads and pastries. We are committed to using only the highest quality all-natural ingredients.  We currently bake over twenty varieties of artisan breads and rolls using centuries-old hand-shaping and baking techniques. Also, our master baker is constantly conjuring up new ideas for breads that stand out in flavor, texture and overall quality...."

Bakeries within an Hour or Two's Drive of Asheville and Worth the Trip

Annie's Natural Bakery
"... small-town, family-owned wholesale and retail bakery located in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.[Sylva] My wife Annie and I started our business with four generations of recipes and experience, lovingly handed down by my Italian family, adding our own special touch by using only organic and all natural ingredients. Your health matters to us! We are committed to bringing wholesome, organic, and all natural products to our customers, and we strive to make a positive change in our community. We believe organic products just taste better! There are no preservatives or chemical additives in our products, and we always choose high quality ingredients with minimal processing. And, you can be sure the bread, cookies, and pastries you purchase at Annie’s Bakery have all been made the old-world way with a longer fermentation process and lots of love! ..."

Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!

From Rolf Potts' Vagabonding blog:

I've never been one of those uptight literary types who thinks that you have to have actually read a book in order to recommend it to others. So I feel no trepidation in suggesting Eric Weiner's new travelogue-slash-memoir The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World The premise of the book is simple but intriguing-- here is Amazon's description:

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Singapore benefit psychologically by having their options limited by the government? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

In the imaginary Netflix queue of books-that-I'm-planning-to-read, this one has just jumped to the top. By the way, why has no one started a Netflix for books? This question, and many more, I'll leave for another day.

Bakeries Which Provide Blissful Wedding Cakes

Annie's Natural Bakeries Wedding Cakes
".... Our custom designed wedding cakes are crafted by hand to your exacting specifications, using only the finest organic ingredients. Baked with care and attention to detail, a wedding cake from Annie's is sure to be a delicious crowd pleaser and a memorable touch to your special event...."

City Bakery
"... We bake everything from scratch, and use only the finest ingredients to create a cake that tastes just as good as it looks! Whether you’re wedding is small or large, traditional or modern, elegant or whimsical, we can help make exactly the right cake for the occasion.  We also offer groom’s cakes as well as a full line of decadent desserts, if you are looking for a wedding cake alternative...."

Icing on the Cake
"... Handcrafted Cakes for All Occasions.... delicious and dazzling cakes and desserts for weddings, birthdays and every event in between...."

Short Street Cakes
"... is a local, family-owned cakery specializing in naturally handcrafted down-home southern desserts. We look forward to creating a beautiful and delicious centerpiece for your celebration! Specialty gluten-free, sugar-free, and vegan options available. Please call to set up a tasting and consultation for your wedding celebration...." See their MySpace page for photos of some really yummy cakes in 'real life' situations ... and a list of their signature cakes. They say they would like to meet "... Foodies, Epicures, Caterers, Wedding Planners, Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Coffeeshops, party people everywhere, and people who make things and want to trade...."