Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Pecan Bread

     Okay, so I'm behind.  I made this bread the week before Christmas before going to visit Ms. Carol and Harry so I could bring them a loaf.  The aroma of this bread wafted through the house making the house smell like Christmas.  The recipe came from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.   The side notes said making it as a swirled bread would add the the look and taste of the bread; the notes were right.  I prefer the look of golden raisins.  To me, they just look more appetizing.  The cinnamon sugar on the crust also added a great flavor.
     Raisin bread always takes me back to my childhood.  I remember my mother buying raisin bread with a white icing on top.  I remember peeling the icing off of the top of the bread and eating it first. This is a memory shared by Wayne.  We talked about our childhood raisin bread memories while eating a warm slice with butter.   I loved raisin bread toasted for breakfast or just for a snack when I was a child.  It was comfort food.  I recall my mother buying it as Schwegmann's, but I loved it when she would bring a loaf home from "Woolsworth" on Canal Street.  (Yes, as any good southerner will tell you it was Woolsworth not Woolworth.  Just watch Oh, Brother Where Art Thou if you don't believe me.)   It was a larger, fresher, more-raisin filled loaf. 
     I remember going to Woolsworth on Canal Street as a child.  You would wear your Sunday best because going to town was something special. I can still see my brother with his little bow tie and my patent leather shoes.  My mother was never much of a driver, and she would not drive downtown.  The bus on Hayne Blvd. ran once an hour, on the hour.  My mother came up with her own compromise; she would drive to Franklin Ave., and take the bus into town from there.  I can still see the Public Service bus.  They were a light yellow and red.  On the bus there were brochure holders containing "The Rider's Digest"  which always included a recipe.  (Eventually these recipes made there way into a cookbook titled From Woodstoves to Microwaves Cooking with Entergy.  You may still be able to buy it, but this is a link to a pdf version of it entergycookbook.pdf)  If my brother and I were lucky, the bus driver would have a book of stubs from transfers that he would give us so we could play bus later.  When we would arrive on Canal Street, and we would go to wonderful places like Maison Blanche, D. H. Homes, Krauss, Woolsworth, and other wonderful places that "ain't dere no more."
      The things that stick in my mind about Woolsworth were the wonderful bakery items, the never-ending 10 mile long candy counter that sold any type of candy you desired by the pound, and the lunch counter with stools that spun. There was something extra wonderful about a BLT, chips, and a Coke at the lunch counter that just made it the best to be found.  I can still see the balloons that contained a small piece of paper with a price for an ice cream sundae.  You would choose a balloon, pop it, and the cost would be anywhere from free to 25 cents.
     It's funny how something as simple as a slice of raisin bread can spill forth a lifetime of memories.