Sunday, January 31, 2010

Home-baked goodness

Paul shot these from our living room window:
Such a wonder, even after you've seen it a hundred times:

So, yesterday was a pretty lazy Saturday. At least for me. Paul and I had sort of a mini date Friday night after the kids went to bed (i.e., we ordered Thai takeout and ate in front of the TV and took as long as we wanted to enjoy our food and had as much of it as we wanted without stopping every 30 seconds to hand a sippy cup to someone or cut food for someone else, etc.). The food was great, but about 10 minutes after dinner, I started to feel what would eventually knock me out for a full Saturday. Not sure if our takeout was solely to blame, since Paul didn't get sick, but the timing seems a bit uncanny. I was sad about this mostly because we had our season's third snow, and it was just the perfect amount (about 6 inches) and a great temperature to be out playing with the kids.
Paul, who really needed to spend some time this weekend diving into work for his latest class (he's working on a master's in theology), spent half of his weekend fully responsible for the kids (which entails the regular feeding and naptimes, plus extra weekend things like Charlie's ballet class) and also for his very ill wife, who could do little other than lie in bed and call for a glass of water or a dry piece of toast. He did a really great job, and fussed only a little. :) I just wanted to acknowledge here what a blessing he is to me. Thanks, Paul.
Sunday morning I woke up feeling so much better, that I decided to bake bread for the family to enjoy on a snowy January day. My friend Joy (who is apparently my only friend who has a Blogger ID, on account that she is the only reader who ever leaves a comment--thanks, Joy) tried this recipe from Catherine Newman when we visited just after New Year's, and I've been wanting to try it. It turned out sooo tasty, and I really can't believe what little effort went into it. I tried it with just regular old organic unbleached all-purpose flour, but next time I'd like to try some different flours, as Catherine suggests.
If you already enjoy baking bread and would like to try a simple recipe with incredible results or have never tried and would like to get started somehow, this recipe is a keeper. Please go check it out. You'll also LOVE Catherine Newman. She's hilarious and so talented.

2 comments:

  1. That's so funny. We made that bread last night (Tinamarie & Jason put chains on their tires and came over even with the treacherous roads) with 4 c spelt, 2 c unbleached org white, and 1/2 c flaxmeal. The kids ate an entire loaf. Delicious! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it too. :)

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  2. i follow you too, i just never know how to sign in to comment.

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