Every now and then I surprise myself.

I like to think of myself as a seasonal, regional cook who chooses local ingredients and prepares them in their proper season. But this morning, I ate homemade cinnamon swirl bread, toasted and buttered. It’s August and there is nothing local or seasonal about buttered cinnamon swirl bread. And yet, that breakfast really hit the spot.

When I thought about it, I realized that the Ultragrain® flour in the bread, plus the eggs, milk and canola oil all came from Costco. So did the organic sugar and the Saigon cinnamon. For that matter, so did the organic butter I spread on the finished toast.

What’s up with that?

The whole situation compelled me to re-read an essay I wrote about the mega food warehouse a couple of years ago for an article in Pacific Northwest Magazine. Read it here: On Shopping at Costco. Recently I read that the company aims to collect twenty percent of its members’ food dollars and I guess that’s just about the right figure for my household. Another twenty percent goes to local farmers where I buy all our meat – a quarter of a steer and half a hog plus some random fruits and vegetables. The rest goes to the local groceries and stores like Trader Joe’s, where I occasionally shop.

I guess I am a seasonal, regional cook but I’m also a regular person with the freedom to shop wherever I want to gather the ingredients I need to make the things I like to make.

Enjoy the recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Bread. Bake it today, toast it tomorrow.