As a little girl, growing up near Avenue U in Brooklyn, I winced every time my mother ran out of an ingredient and would announce we would “improvise!”

The ultimate was when we had no chicken eggs for a classroom baking contribution of Spritz cookies and was forced to use a Duck egg, because that’s what we had on hand. I can still hear her mantra “Improvise, Regina!, Improvise!”

Scarred for life, I swore that I would never do this when I grew up, so I would spend hours scouring the earth (o.k. the local grocery stores) to find that weird ingredient so that I could put the required “1/2 teaspoon” into the mix.

Older, and sort of wiser, I now realize that sometimes this angst is not only unnecessary, but often less exciting.

So here, on my debut loaves of Izzy’s New York Rye ala Nancy Silverton, now dubbed Avenue U Rye, I have followed in the not-so-small footsteps of my Mom, by commencing with a cornmeal/semolina dusting instead of straight up cornmeal...because? I ran out of cornmeal. No, cornmeal is not a rare and precious item, and no it was not only a 1/2 tsp, but there’s a Blizzard going on! Oh, and I couldn’t find Chernuska seeds (Forgive me, Nancy!)

Avenue U Rye is a homage to my Mom, the eternal improviser, inspiration, and guiding force in this experiment of life!

Viva la vida!