There was a minor car crash in the neighborhood the other day, which caused us to veer from our normal street route. Only two blocks from our home my husband and I gasped as we passed a house flying a Basque flag.
Basques aren’t too plentiful in Santa Barbara. It’s an odd and statistically slim heritage... I’ve only met two others here in all our eleven years. So, the flag was amazing–they live two blocks away? I just had to bring them bread!
So I did. I baked some rosemary rolls (in-the-round), walked the short jaunt, and introduced myself to Angela and her family. New friends. New Basque friends.
Another sweet sip of joy–by way of a round loaf of bread!
The Woman and the Wheat 
What does “zazpiak bat” mean?
zazpiak bat–in the Basque language means seven–as one. Something like that. It speaks to the seven provinces in the Basque country, four on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees Mountains, and three on the French side. My relatives were all raised in Basse Navarre–two miles over the border on the French side. There are only a few phrases in Basque that I know. “Bai” is yes, and “ttuku ttuku” is little by little… and though I know so few Basque words, you can’t get away from zazpiak bat. It’s printed all over that region if you travel there–and with all those z’s, it’s pretty cool…