Lovely weekend
We had one of those wonderful weekends that we love to create - a day in the city with a fabulous lunch in one of our favorite seafood restaurants (long walk included) coupled with a day at home reading, doing a little project (that turned out so well!) and cooking/baking. Very satisfying. We even had some sunshine.
The Northwest Flower and Garden Show was this weekend - rumored to be the last one, although a charming couple in the restaurant told us that they had heard that the franchise had been sold and would probably continue anyway. It was full of 'demonstration' gardens and vendor/organization booths and we had a marvelous time. We bought a new garden sculpture...
... to go with our new plantings that we put in last week - having found, at the nursery, the plants that were blooming so beautifully (and fragrantly) at the locks last weekend.
The 'reading' was to finish a book by Mark Helprin - 'A Soldier of the Great War' - which was, once again, a marvel of thoughts and prose and story telling. I loved it. (His 'Memoir from Antproof Case' is also one of my all time favorite books.)
The 'project' was to paint a wide 'stripe' of slightly darker color on the breakfast nook wall to create some depth and definition behind the shelves that are on that wall. We are quite pleased with the results - even if we do say so ourselves (and we do!) It wasn't a BIG project, but we could do it in a few hours and it made for a very satisfying result. Always nice to have an idea and make it happen and then be happy with it.
Finally, I roasted a chicken today - yes, I am very successful at that now, after years of not being. And proud of it, after all this time. And the 'baking' project was bread. I'm trying to develop a recipe/technique for really good 'artisan' bread, the likes of which we find once in a while in our wanderings when we stop into a really good little cafe. I've always assumed that you just follow the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and whatever you get is what you are supposed to get - but I am not getting something as good as I've had elsewhere so... well, it makes me wonder. So I'm learning about bread. What goes into it, what could go into it instead, what yeast wants to do and feed on, how flavor develops... And my bread is getting better.
Anyway, an altogether lovely weekend resulted from all that. A reminder to me, when I sometimes get discouraged, that it is the everyday pleasures, the opportunity for a little creativity, the enjoyment of beauty, the quest for perfection, and the time set aside for relaxation, that really brings meaning to life.
posted by Cathy @ 6:02 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Laurie Colwin's book Home Cooking has a great chapter on artisan bread with a recipe that I've found really good for a crusty hearty bread...though probably one best eaten in the middle of a dark, dreary winter (which I'm still immersed in, though most of the rest of you who read this blog aren't). Anyway, if you can find the book (which is a fun read in itself), you might see what you think of her technique.
Sounds like you and Mark had a great weekend! So did we (a GMC Motorhome rally in Gila Bend). See; http://www.danandteri.blogspot.com/A GMC friend's blog
...and hang in there Lauren! Spring is coming...eventually.
I didn't mean to be Anonymous!
According to Fox News, I now need to ba afraid of my own dad! Good thing I already own a dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY
So, Carl, I see that you made the pictures in the blog about the motorhome rally! Very cool.
The Anonymous 'information' was actually quite scary, Ryan - but is your dog tough enough for THESE guys?
And thank you, Lauren, for the book suggestion - I will order it! Do you have any suggestions yourself?
My suggestions would all be shamelessly lifted from Colwin's book. The gist of it is using very small amounts of yeast and very long rising times in cool areas, instead of shorter rising times in a warm draft-free place (convenient, since my house doesn't seem to contain very many draft-free places...or warm ones, for that matter). I've had some success adding a pinch of powdered ginger, too, which seems to help the bread rise a little better.
Yep, that's what I got from the internet too - and from 'Good Eats' on the Food Network. I also have substituted melted butter for shortening and milk for water with good result. (And have a suggestion to use 'potato' water instead of tap water which I haven't yet tried.) And then there is the 'preferment' business which I can't quite get the timing right to try... Very interesting. Baking on the pizza stone instead of a baking sheet has helped but I keep forgetting to spritz the oven to create steam which is supposed to improve the crust. It's all so complicated.
I wonder if molases instead of the little bit of sugar would have an impact?
The bottom line is I still can't match the flavor of the bread we had in a little restaurant on Whidbey Island! And somehow I doubt that they'll share their secret.
Thanks for the help!
Post a Comment
<< Home