The sage appreciates the fact that with anything – anything – there’s a lesson.

Take his mother’s whole-wheat bread for instance. Unfortunately, the sage never learnt how to bake her bread, yet he could slice it. It’s hard to imagine a better combination of sight, smell, touch, and taste. Just thinking about that warm bread fresh out of the oven, covered with home-churned butter and his mother’s apricot jam, still makes his head spin. Add a tall, glass of fresh milk and there was no need to call the sage to dinner.

But as mentioned, slicing the bread became the sage’s specialty. Some people may look askance at such a skill but the sage is still amazed at just how unfortunate some loaves of bread appear once the mauling, uh rather, cutting is done.

Very well. If you must know, it simply takes a gentle grip on the loaf, a light cutting hand, with more sawing action than pressing down. If the loaf is lounging on its side rather than sitting on its bottom, the cutter has a much better perspective to accomplish the kind of straight slice even your Jr. High shop teacher would envy.

Most readers of this blog likely already possess the skills of finer bread slicing. But another set of skills the sage gleaned from the art of cutting bread is what he calls his Breadboard Communication Rules. He has shared these with a few newlywed couples, but they are applicable to the rest of us as well. They are:

1.            No cutting remarks.

2.            There are always two sides–neither is better and both should be given equal use.

3.            The only place for blame is on the board–there to be chopped up and tossed away.

4.            You only have to talk together on the days you eat.

A high-resolution copy of this image is available for the asking, that you may download and share as a reminder of these simple but effective rules. Just contact the sage at his blog: The Tacit Sage of Alkali Flats.

And since you may still be wondering: no, breadboard communication is nothing like rolling pin communication. See you on the baking aisle.

ã 2011 Alkali Communication. All rights reserved.

It won’t be on the test but you’ll get extra credit if you attend.

Human Family Reunion