MOLD AHOY, IN PALO ALTO ...?

Do you know the way to San Jose? If not, just follow the mold spores. You see, I'm here in San Jose for a quick business trip and since I lived around here for several years, I thought I'd pay a visit to one of my old haunts, the Mollie Stones grocery store in Palo Alto. Mollie Stones is a high-end store featuring great, gourmet foods with one exception: Their baked goods. During the years I lived here, they'd frequently leave the same pastries on the shelf until they got moldy. Every Tuesday, I'd make it my business to gather up all the expired baked goods, put them in a shopping cart, and wheel them over to the manager. "Howdy," I'd say in a loud voice so all the other customers could hear, "I found lots of additional expired goods in your bakery today but not to worry ... only a few are actually moldy!" Every week, he'd cringe and remind me that he wasn't responsible for the bakery. Today -- seven years later -- I decided to stop in, just to see how things were going. Have they changed the pastry since I moved away? Fortunately, everything looked fresh and there was no mold in sight. As for the Manager, I didn't recognize him anymore. I guess over the years my memory has gotten a bit fuzzy ... just like a Mollie Stone's crumb cake!