Now, All I Need Is a Bottle of Wine....

Easy to find in Steveston. Or, just follow your nose.

Nikolai's hand-built bread oven. It took him about a year to complete it.

You can try a sample of bread. But remember to say, "please."

Polished wood floors; appropriately-flour-dusted workspaces.

Take a look at the finished product. It's still warm after being out of the oven for an hour.

Pride in workmanship.

It was the warm aroma of freshly-baked bread that drew us into the door of the Romanian Country Bread Bakery in Steveston, BC, Canada. Inside, Nikolai Constantin seemed to be waiting for us as we walked inside his shop. We needed something to accompany our smoked tuna, and here it was. Although we were a bit shocked at the price -- $10C per loaf -- we paid it and were glad we did. The crust was the perfect combination of crusty and chewy, and the bread inside was just soft enough, yet it had just the right texture to stand on its own. Nikolai might be the world's most perfectionist baker, and he takes immense pride in putting out a superior loaf. It took him nearly a year to complete the brick oven in the shop, and he did it himself. His loaves take around 24 hours from start to finish, and the proof is in the finished product. We are quite certain this loaf of bread could truly sustain someone as a perfect food.

All Nikolai needs now is some jars of jam and a coffee pot to make his shop complete!

P.S. He's got a sign that says "No Photography", but he waives this rule if you buy a loaf from him.