One More Time

I am so impressed with the simplicity of this recipe and the quality of the bread that I had to post the second loaf. Indulge me.

I made this loaf yesterday morning. It got a longer rise time as my son called and I forgot about it. This time it's 50/50 whole wheat and all purpose flour. As would be expected, it's more dense than the white loaf but still has plenty of air in the crumb. Next will be a try with rye and then spelt.

We had a quiet day yesterday, like most days. I made bread, tidied up and listened to a book. There was a pleasant chat with my son before he went to brunch with a lifetime friend. He has kept his friends from the neighborhood all these years. On the seventeenth of this month my only child turns forty-nine. It's a bit daunting. I still see those boys on their Big Wheels furiously peddling down the street after one-another. I'm thinking of getting an adult trike for some exercise and I'm surprised at how costly they are.

We are in for a warm-up this week, one day could reach 80 F. Nothing I can do about that but I still enjoy the complaint. Otherwise, life carries on one step at a time.

Special Delivery

No Returns

 

Hmm, Hmm Good

I was going through bread recipes I'd saved and came upon this. I had not made it and thought, hmmm, that fast? If bread making is daunting to you, give this a try. It's simple and the bread is good. I made it per recipe, next time I'll mix white whole wheat and all purpose flour. I didn't have honey so I used sugar. I did not put the salt in with the sugar and yeast, instead mixed it into the flour. This is a recipe I found on Pinterest. Try it, you'll like it!

 

We are heading into a too fast warm-up. We will actually have an 80 F day next week, yikes! We still have heavy snow cover. I don't think there is a normal anymore. Mark has unplugged all the water tank heaters but left them in the tanks, just incase. 80 degrees one day, 20 the next. Who knows?

I started listening to Women Talking, by Miriam Toews yesterday afternoon. I think it's been made into a movie. Patriarchy supported by religion. 

Try this bread, really. It is going to be a success. 

Food. Cat. K'vetch

We have bright sunshine and a high of 45 F in our future today. Next week it's supposed to be in the 70s, which is too warm too fast, but who asked me.

I made a large pot of chicken and wild rice soup yesterday. It was excellent, even if I do say so myself. I haven't used the pretty cookware yet, I just have been looking at it admiringly. I was forced into some kitchen cleanup/reorganizing to find a place to put it. I'm feeling pretty good this morning so hopefully it will carry through for the day. 

This fine fellow (ha ha) is never still. You can see, I think, his intensity in this photo. He doesn't know when enough is enough. Thank the builder, Dick, for our screened in porch, where Gatto spends much time. I have a cat who needs a time out.

 

Yesterday afternoon I decided I would make pizza for dinner. My pizza always looks messy. This one had a thin crust and a base of ricotta mixed with pesto rosso, fennel, spinach, prosciutto and kalamatas. It looks messy but was good! I plan, which means I hope, to make Eggplant Involtini tonight. Roasted eggplant rolled around ricotta then baked in tomato sauce. Eggplant rolls. I have a lonesome eggplant waiting to become something.

Soon it will be spring in Minnesota. Mud season, then a few nice days before we become the tropics. I don't complain about winter. Much. I thoroughly dislike what our summer has become. I'd like to get the neglect cleaned up around the yard before the sauna hits us. Grump Grump. Mark sometimes calls me Debbie Downer. I wear it proudly. 

The Green-Eyed Monster

New cookware arrived yesterday. It's too pretty to use.

Does this look like the face of a demon?

 

He has developed into a constant terror. He spends a lot of time-out in the screened porch. He has also influenced the other two, making triple trouble. No good deed goes unpunished? He is cute, I can give him that.

It's a nice day, sunshine and 20 F. I made vegetable stock yesterday and plan to make chicken & wild rice soup today. Mark is busy with taxes and my horses. I'm busy with a crazed cat. You don't know what you are missing!

No Title Today

We had a wet, dreary day yesterday. The rain was light, which is a good thing. Today is cloudy and chilly but no rain.

A dry goods Costco order came  this morning. I needed baking powder and that was the only thing I thought about when I added this to the cart. Never gave a thought to, you know, this is Costco. 4 LB of baking powder. Oh. my.

I'm going to need to up my biscuit game. 

I buy these pappardelle noodles through an online company, Thrive Market. They are about as close to homemade as it can get. They made a really good and quick meal last evening. As long as I have pasta, olive oil, butter and cheese we will not go hungry! This has a little sausage. I asked Mark if he'd like sausage. I got a look. Dumb question.

Otherwise, just another day on the homestead. Mark is busy, I am not. I'm going to do a few organizing things later in the day. It's a place to start. This is the third week on thyroid medication. My mind is clearer, my mood is elevated but my pain and fatigue are still with me. I know, it takes awhile. BTW, arrested and charged! That can lift an American's spirits, an American who believes all are equal under the law. The trial isn't until February, how much you wanna bet he'll claim exemption due to being a candidate? I'll leave it there. Bastard.

Well, my small rant, I guess it needed to come out. Let us all have the best day we can muster.

Home Sweet Home

This house was a disaster when we bought it. This, the kitchen, (photo taken a few years ago) did have the island, a former altar, and a slide-in stove on a pallet where the range is. That was it. I'll go through old photos sometime to show the before.

This is the other side of the pantry/laundry room. The cabinets from yesterday's post are to the left.

 

This is the pass-through pantry from the kitchen to the laundry before the broom closet was made.

I kept brooms, etc. here. Vacuums were in my office closet, along with coats.

This is across from the washer/dryer. I don't know what this room had been once-upon-a-time. This is part of the original house, as is the kitchen. There are three eras that make up the house.

The 1984 addition didn't need much work, but the rest of the place, inside and out, were a disaster. I have always liked flaws! Boy, did I get them here. 2018 was when it finally got brought to a finish, as far as updating the rest of it. We had two bathrooms gutted and redone. Of course everything else is 20-30 years on now!  Our bedroom needs new windows, ah, well.

After my confusing post yesterday I thought I'd give a little tour of the casa. I sure had a lot of energy back then. It was me and two different handymen who did most of this work. Mark was gone earning the money to pay for it. I think if I had been born in a different time I may actually have been a contractor. I have always liked to tear things apart and put them back together.

Out With the Old. Not Me.

Some blog pals have been winnowing and organizing.

My last big clean-up/clear-out was 2018.

We took space from another room to put in a broom/coat closet, something that was lacking in this hodgepodge house. It's a small space but large enough and made a big difference in organizing those useful but cumbersome items. It also got the coats out of my office closet.

The finished project.

This was a purge of the cabinets in the laundry room. I don't know what happened but they are still packed full of things I don't use.

After cleanup.

Frieda adding artistic interest.

I have let things go for a couple of years. That others are working on eliminating and organizing is putting a little interest back into me to clean up, clear out and get out of this period of stasis.

Melting. Melting

Mid-forties and melting. It is amazing how fast it can melt, sunshine in the equation helps a lot.

The mystery I'm reading tells you at the start who the bad guy is. I like that, it's interesting knowing the manipulations and knowing the guy's bad to his bones. It's The Wife Upstairs, by Rachel Hawkins. I picked it because it was available and in the genre I was looking for. I will probably finish it this afternoon. All the books I have on hold seem to be popular as they are weeks-to-months out. I love the digital library.

I watched an interview by Jane Pauly of Senator John Fetterman this morning. The interview took place two days after he left the hospital. I felt so deeply for him. He is where I was after the brain injury I had in 2011. Everything about his continence spoke to me. I moved away from blogging after that. I still did some, but it just didn't work anymore. I had to type everything in advance because when I would come back to it is was a bunch of gibberish. My mind, which had always been quick, was like slogging through tapioca. All creativity and interest had left me at the gate. I saw the look, I understood his feelings. My depression put me into the pit of hell and I saw this on his face. I hope he knows it will likely get better, but probably not overnight. I am not totally me, the me I was, but I have finally accepted the me I am now. He is, in my opinion, a good man. I sure wish him well. And hope he doesn't give up the Senate.

So....moving to another topic. I had a bunch of broccoli that was looking a bit down and out. I decided it would be best served as soup. Cream of broccoli soup is perhaps one of the easiest there is. I used the rest of the veg broth I made last week. Even Mark really liked it, wow! I have four large containers of vegetable broth for my son the next time I see him. His wife is a vegan so I'm sure he will appreciate it. I have so many vegetable scraps frozen. Sometimes I just have to use them solo for stock. 

When life gives you faded broccoli, make soup.

**Mark said the interview of Fetterman was two days before he went into the hospital

April Fools

Yesterday was rain and sleet.

Overnight we had about 8" of snow.

It's not cold. A melt will start today, but we have about two feet of snow to melt and piles up to about eight feet. So, it will take some time. It's really pretty out there. Says me who doesn't have to work in it!

This was yesterday's lunch. Today will be an exact repeat. Snow, soup, biscuits. Perfect.