Langston on assignment

Triple treat this morning: I walked up to my current favorite West Seattle hang, Bakery Nouveau, to meet P-I reporter Jennifer Langston for an almond croissant and cappuccino.

These dudes know how to make a croissant. In fact everything I've had from this bakery is excellent; Michelle and I are baguette regulars. Even the coffee's good.

It was really nice to catch up with Langston, who gets my vote for best all-around reporter and writer in the P-I newsroom. I had some hits and misses in my time as metro editor there, but the one thing I know I got right was spotting Jennifer's talent (going ... well, not wasted exactly, but underutilized) in the paper's north-suburban bureau and moving her into a vital beat that we created together: Seattle-area growth and development.

She totally rocked in the gig until ducking out on a one-year leave with her husband, Seattle Times reporter Craig Welch, who won a Harvard Nieman Fellowship for the 2006-07 academic year. Jen had a dream opportunity as Craig's tag-along: She was able to audit any class at Harvard, as he was, but without the fellows' thesis requirements. Craig's now on leave writing a book, and Jennifer's back at the P-I working as a general assignment reporter.

Anyway, she was going to be in West Seattle this morning for a story, so we agreed to meet over coffee. She talked about what she's been up to lately, I talked about our upcoming road trip -- she was encouraging about the book idea I've kicked around -- and we chatted about the news biz and how much we enjoyed working together (true, I think, for both of us).

When I start my 5 Guys and a Mac newspaper, you can bet Jen will be in the crew.