my week in pictures

:: family bbq in the park :: heaps of fresh fruit and veges from the markets (juice. lots of juice) :: Clementine and Gracie :: making a present (dollar store mugs and a porcelain pen) :: train trips :: wearing lots of temp tattoos for new pack releases this week (wishing I could keep the camera):: Six

hope you had a lovely week too!

x

baking

(teeny bit crustier than necessary. I forgot it was in the oven)

I made some bread with Rolley a few weeks ago and loved it so much I bought a paper sack of bakers flour, borrowed a recipe book from the library and haven't stopped. I love the mixing, the kneading, the anticipation as you wait for the dough to rise, the yeasty smell, the baking, the warm smell of fresh bread all through the house, and Oh! right out of the oven with butter and perhaps a little honey. I even like finding bits of flour and dried dough in unexpected places (elbow, anyone?)

Ok, honestly sometimes kneading can get a bit tedious, then I try to get all zen and meditative, or just channel any frustrations. Also I have a slight wheat intolerance. But with lots of friends around a loaf rarely lasts overnight, and it's just not enough to stop me.

 

So far I have made Indian naan bread (little bit too thick), banana loaf (teeny bit burnt), pizza bases (accidentally made enough dough for 8 bases), tuscan bread (wee bit sunk), baguettes (boomerang shaped to fit on the oven tray), cob loaves (hollowed out and filled with cheese and spinach dip for family bbq) and apricot walnut loaf (slightly crustier than anticipated. I forgot it was in the oven.) And they were all delicious!

I'd also like to try ciabatta, bagels, pretzels, cinnamon scrolls, gingerbread, apple bread, rye bread, sourdough bread, bread pudding, focaccia and mixed grain spelt bread. 

Let's see how I feel about it then.

Have you baked bread? What's your favourite?

cosy

apple tart, originally uploaded by C.Mariani ( vacation ).

Pip has started a words and pictures blog-along, and this week (or was it last?) the theme is 'cosy'. Anything it means to you.
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At first I was like, yep, cups of tea, rain on the windows, sleeping cats, ugg boots, quilts, lamplight, snuggles. (All the great winter stuff that's coming around again! yay!)
.
But then my mind snagged on pie. Pie is very cosy. And for dinner tonight I had tortellini. I love food wrapped in other food. It's comforting and cosy indeed!
cheese and spinach triangles
spring rolls
pasties and sausage rolls
ravioli
tortellini
dumplings
apple pie and cherry pie and all the other kinds of pie
strudel (that one's fun to say too)

can you think of any others?
When the weather is cold I foresee friends and flour in a cosy kitchen for a bakeoff or two.. or three. yum.

p.s. I found a recipe for peanut butter pie last week. Oh yeah.