Canoe Island’s French Pastries

I just had the funnest experience. Granted, I get pretty excited about anything new in these pandemic times. (Gosh, I get excited when I even see another human being!)

Several days ago, a friend of mine sent me a link to Canoe Island French Camp’s bread and pastry order form (thank you Molly!). I had no idea this was going on, and it turns out the baker on Canoe Island – Alena Harris – is making croissants, boules (sourdough and multigrain rounds of bread), baguettes, quiches, pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants), and galettes (flat, round pastries with cheese, onions, and tomatoes on top) for anyone on Orcas or Shaw who’s interested.

If you’ve never heard of Canoe Island, here’s a post I did on it a few years ago when we stayed there overnight for a weekend family camp. It’s basically a small, beautiful island devoted to French Camp, with counselors from France and kids who come from all over the world.

Back to the bread… So you go to this site, click on the blue order button, and pick which items you’d like. They send you an invoice a day or two later and you pay online for your order. This is what I got, to give you an idea of pricing.

One Boule – $7
One Multigrain Boule – $8
Two Baguettes – $6.00
Two ham & cheese croissants – $6.50
One spinach & feta croissant – $3.25
One vegetable galette – $18

Friday is pick-up day. You drive down a little past the ferry landing where the Canoe Island dock and camp house are. They have boated your bread from Canoe Island to Orcas Island and await your arrival.

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It’s very well organized, and the breads and pastries are beautiful. I couldn’t help but turn them into a photoshoot on the dock. Keep in mind, your pastries are not spread all over the dock when you come to pick them up. 🙂

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Back at home, we feasted. My husband’s birthday is tomorrow, so the boules and galette I ordered provided the best, unique, unexpected gifts for him, a day early. It’s so nice to do something new in these quiet times!

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Canoe Island French Camp bakers and chefs do their best to partner with people raising sustainable sources of food – local farms, local fishermen, etc. They also donate dozens of homemade bread loaves at a time to the Orcas Island Food Bank.

Thank you, Alena, for these beautiful works of food art, and Margaret and Ben (the camp’s Director and Executive Director), for bringing them across the sea!

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