The next season of Breakfast Club

What to expect this winter and spring (including a bonus for paid subscribers!), and scenes from my farewell tour

Come on in, the water’s fine!

I’m three days into baking school, and it’s been an absolute whirlwind. I can’t wait to tell you everything next Friday!

This season promises to be a flurry of activity in my own life—and, consequently, in my writing here. Since it seems natural to set the table before pouring the tea, here’s what you can expect from Breakfast Club over the next three months.

If you’ve been around here awhile, you might have noticed that I post weekly(ish) on Fridays. When it comes to baking school updates, that trend will continue in a weekly series I’m calling the Baking School Diaries.

It’s important to me that dispatches from my pastry-making exploits remain accessible to all readers, so this series will be free to read.

Each week’s recap will include a rundown of everything I baked that week, plus a behind-the-scenes report on my own highs, lows, and takeaways. (If the stars align, I hope to include video updates, too. Stay tuned!)

I experimented with ditching paywalls last year, which was equal parts successful and enjoyable.

But so much of my life in Paris will be happening outside the classroom, and I wanted a way to say “thank you” to the patrons who’ve supported this newsletter despite the absence of paywalled writing.

That’s why I’ve decided to write a bonus Sunday series for paid subscribers for the next three months. It’ll be called Weekend in Paris, and will feature breezy updates on my off-duty adventures abroad—plus everything I’m learning about life in France.

This Sunday marks the first edition, where you can expect to read about:

• 🏠 My new Parisian flat,

• 🍇 The French grocery store finds that made do a double-take, and

• 😬 All my hard-won tips and tricks for quelling new-expat anxiety!

An annual paid subscription is $30, the same price as a hardcover book or magazine subscription. But I’m feeling extra-generous today. Maybe it’s a side effect of all the warm buttered baguettes I’ve eaten this week?

So if you’d like to follow along with my weekend adventures, please enjoy a 33% discount on annual subscriptions. If you upgrade while I’m attending baking school—that is, within the next three months—you’ll get $10 off your first year of support.

Speaking of peeks behind the scenes, let me fill you in on the farewell tour I took before leaving the States. (Because the last month hasn’t been all paperwork!)

I hadn’t been to my hometown of Chicago in nearly two years, so I needed to see my friends, family, and former colleagues before heading abroad. I also needed to meet one of my favorite writers!

You might remember this magical collaboration I did with

Jolene Handy

—and her fabulous companion piece—which led to our delightful virtual writer’s group with

Amelia Wilson

. It was high time to bring this friendship offline!

I brought Jolene a box of goodies from Bad Butter for breakfast, after enjoying another haul from Loba Pastry + Coffee the previous day. (Side note: don’t sleep on

Amy Cavanaugh

and

Kenney Marlatt

’s food recs in

American Weekender

. They’re the best in the Midwest…and far beyond.)

Five and a half hours later, Jolene and I hadn’t stopped eating or talking…and no, it wasn’t because I was avoiding the twelve-degree January chill. When I finally left, it was with Jolene’s copy of A Moveable Feast in hand, an A+ beauty rec—adding Jones Road Miracle Balm in Flushed to cart!—and a promise to see each other again soon.

The epitome of glamour

Jolene wrote a wonderful recap of our morning, just before revealing to the world that she’s writing a book proposal (!). Check it out here:

Pastry Afternoon

I returned to the Pacific Northwest long enough to enjoy my last bake day at Midsommar Bakery, where I’ve made a slew of friends and solidified my professional interest in baking over the last few months.

On my final day, they surprised me with a bouquet and a champagne toast! What more could a girl ask for?

I love these people 🥹

I’m wildly grateful for everything I learned from owners Noah, Thea, and everyone else who makes the magic happen at Midsommar. That means skills and techniques aplenty (of course), but even more importantly, the joy of making delicious things in the company of—and for—really great people.

Whatever comes next, the camaraderie and uproarious laughter of this kitchen will always be my baking touchstone.

As you read last week, I took a road trip with three feline passengers to their new home in the Southwest. As the snowcapped mountains of Utah gave way to the piñons and adobe houses of the high desert, I played Harvest by Neil Young—the ideal soundtrack for my first Santa Fe sunset.

There wasn’t nearly enough time to enjoy everything New Mexico has to offer, from hikes to the food and art scene to the soaking tubs at Japanese-inspired Ten Thousand Waves.

But I was in Santa Fe just long enough to have top-notch pastries at Mille, where the French owners import cultured Isigny butter for their croissant dough.

With that, my appetite was whetted for Paris (by way of the Albuquerque airport). Paid subscribers, I’ll see you on Sunday for my first dispatch from the City of Light!

Warmly,
Maddie

Breakfast Club is a newsletter about pastries with a side of personal growth, from an ex-financial planner turned baker. If you savored this edition, click the ❤️ (or share with a friend!) to help new readers discover it—and subscribe to get each letter fresh from the oven.