ooh, virtual shopping spree

Yeah, what with me turning 31 (31, oh man, this aint good) sooner than I'd like I thought a mini wishlist round up would not be innapropriate, it's like fantasy football!

Books, of course! This one looks hilarious, I need it! shame this isn't out till September... it's the end of the world (quick, buy this and bake a cake)  This is plain disturbing, but yet I find myself sort of wanting a copy.  And finally, how cute is this? seriously.

 Other assorted kitchen tat... ooh, I love this! not to mention this less flimsy version, I actually tore a page out of a waiting room magazine for this (no pen), love it very much! (eh, ok, getting less butch by the second!)

 T shirts, since I'm now not actually the size of a small country I want people to know what I'm thinking! through every teenaged boys friend, the t shirt (what were you thinking?)

 oh no!! I have THE GAY!!  This could be very handy... *snorts* always liked this one. Rofl!
  ooh.. this I really like, am also amused and delighted by this one.  These two here and here are also pretty nifty.  On a related note, Teresa needs this one! roflmao.  Not at all gay, but loving this, this, this and this!

 Then the randoms... so damn cool, really, I'd like this framed on my wall. This is rather nice too... but I already have a lot of shiny stuff I dont wear. More lovely shinies. Oh yeah, love this one, would wear that! (I think, it's hard to know what makes me look girlier than I'd like without trying it on) same disclaimer applies here.  Nice, but I'm not sure about the little crystals (it's a minefield, I'm telling you!)

 I also want my tattoo, but that's a gift to myself that I'll do after my surgeries are finished.  I want a large, black phoenix across my shoulders, coming down over the tops of my arms.  Nothing if not ambitious I guess, hope I like pain.  Couple more piercings too and a nice watch, I have no watch right now and rely on my ultra accurate body clock (and ultra aged mobile phone) to get me by.
 mmm, virtual spree, I love it.

Teff the wonder grain

Mmm... teff, it's my new bestest kitchen buddy.  Sadly I might as well admit that I have no pictures from today's baking efforts, only a pile of crumbs and a half empty (or half full maybe?) butter dish.

 I've been busy with the B2/M2 project, adding the grand central baking company book to the list of keepers (made chocolate and cocoa nib tea shortbreads, chocolate chip & oatmeal cookies as well as peanut butter cookies, all very good, especially the cocoa nib shortbread) and made one item from good to the grain, brown butter and teff scones.

 So crumbly, so delicious.  I also chucked some teff into my standard bread recipe, very nice! adds a sort of country'ish sour tang to the bread and the crust was fab.

 I have plans to expand this teff experimentation, I'm thinking it's make a really good addition to banana loaf cakes or digestive biscuits (the scones had that kind of nutty/sweet thing going on, could totally be exploited and served with cheese) maybe, I've seen a recipe for a teff chocolate cake too.

 Aside from the fun in the kitchen? you might well ask.  I practised putting up my tent for the festival and was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to put up and how big it is inside! I was planning to sleep out in it last night but it came on pouring rain and I took the (not very butch I'll admit) soft option and crawled off to my cosy bed instead.

 I'm now sitting here trying to think of things to add to my 101 list, I am assured it'll cure the huge, stinking cloud of black depression slight gloom that has descended on me the last couple of days.  However, beyond a new lame for slashing my loaves I'm struggling, lol.

A geek and her list....

Not the 101 list, no, 'fraid not.  But another list, nothing makes a geeky boy/girl happier than cataloguing or alphabetising some random collection.

 Today it was books, I went all crazy and paid the princely sum of 64p for a years unlimited membership at librarything and have been merrily uploading books ever since. For those interested enough my catalogue is here.  Still not finished, but getting better!

 No photos, but much baking... I get so demotivated when it comes to pictures, bit of grey sky and a chill in the air and I get put off! however I did bake a gorgeous lemon and polenta cake from the river cafe a few days ago.  Very nice in a homey kind of way, but it could be dressed up with some raspberries.  It's winter here so we had it with vanilla bean mascarpone.  Next time I think I'll make a lemon syrup to drizzle on top, it was moist and lovely but not quite lemony enough.

phew...
 bread thing went off ok, was scared witless  of course, but they were a friendly crowd and nobody pelted me with eggs, tomatoes or bread samples.  Next time I think I'd try and work out what I was going to say before I get there, winging it was ok, but I think it could be improved on. 
 It's always amazing to me the variety of people you meet at that kind of thing, I guess this is what people with real lives and jobs call networking! I call it meeting people, but that's 'cause I'm too shy to network, I mean, who knows where that kind of thing could lead?  There was nice jewellery, bread, coffee and interesting people, what more could I ask from my morning? well, I guess I could think of a few things, but not much! 

 I was so tired this morning that I slept in, missed bodypump (aww man, I hate missing the gym) and nearly lost my space in the class, I got a nice girl on the phone though who fixed it, nice girl, will take her cookies next week, a permanent space in class is like hens teeth.

 Then, after crawling out of bed feeling fat and lazy, what then? we went to the playpark, came home, I made granola and the supper and that was pretty much it, way to live it up eh?

 Tomorrow, well, it's another day.  I think I'm going to skip Lighterlife this week, I feel really fat, really, just icky.  Going to stick in at the gym, take my happy pills and pray for a miracle for next week instead.  Oh, and stop beating myself up so much too! after all, 11.13 stone is an awfull lot less that I used to weigh, even if it's a little more than I want to weigh now.  I found this post on saying enough!  through an email list, I love it, I mean, ok, it's a wee bit corny I guess, but the message is good.

 Enough beating up on myself
 Enough of feeling bad 'cause I'm different, we all are!
 Enough of punishing myself for mistakes made in the past
 Enough of looking at my body and feeling disgusted
 Enough of fearing my future
 Enough being lonely
 Enough with secrets
 Enough of not celebrating my freakishness! lol

 I'm nearly 31, I'm going to start celebrating! eh, not sure yet exactly what I'm going to do for my birthday, but I want to not let it just slip past.  Actually, on thinking about it perhaps I will let it slip past, save whatever I might have spent for my trip to the GoGo festival! eep, I'm stewarding and am stupid excited.  I have my tent (need to practise putting it up, do not want to make an idiot of myself) and am slowly figuring out what else I need to take.  I need to sort out a liftshare as the price of petrol is seriously worrying me right now, and it might be sort of fun to pick up some total strangers and share car time with them? maybe? 'cause of me being such a social butterfly and all.

mmm... bread

Yeah, just say it (inside your head please) in a homer'esque tone, y'know, mmmm.... doughnuts.

 I do respect and cherish fried dough, but bread is the start of all that is good.  I bake for fun, when I'm sad, when I'm celebrating and on other days that end in a y.  Today I'm busy baking for a talk (meeting, discussion, hmm, not sure, but I'm nervous! lol) I'm helping do (co-doing, hosting? uh, never mind) as samples speak louder than words where food is concerned, I mean, ever been to costco on a Sunday? if so you know what I mean, lol, I'm taking bread.

So, first up, sour cherry and rosemary focaccia...

This is so delicious! It makes a nifty breakfast on the run and if there are leftovers then it’s gorgeous in bread and butter pudding.

500g flour, 00 if you have it, but otherwise 400g bread flour and 100g plain flour mixed will be just fine
20g fresh yeast
5g (1tsp) salt
300ml body temperature water
Big pinch of sugar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
One jar of sour cherries, drained (the ones from lidl are great) or fresh cherries stoned if they’re in season
A little chopped rosemary and flaky salt

In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast, salt, , water, sugar and olive oil. It’ll come together into a rough dough. If you have a stand mixer leave it to knead until soft, smooth and silky. Otherwise roll up your sleeves and dig in! just keep pushing, squashing, folding and turning until it feels springy and sort of alive under your hands.

Pop it in a bowl that you’ve lightly oiled and leave it to rise for a hour or so, until about doubled in size.
Turn it out onto a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal (yellow cornmeal or polenta is available in real foods or most supermarkets) and just gently push it out like a pizza base. With your fingertips gently push small dimples into the dough. Then scatter the cherries on top, pushing them in slightly. Drizzle with olive oil then scatter with rosemary, flaky salt and a little sugar.

 Leave it to rise for 40 minutes, meanwhile heat the oven to 200.  Bake the bread for 30 ~ 35 minutes, until golden and crisp looking on top.

You can vary the toppings any way you like, grapes work with the salty/sweet topping here. But ditch the sugar, add feta and sliced, fried onions for a savoury bread, or nothing at all but oil and salt. I really like it with some ricotta cheese on top (just little lumps of it) and a drizzle of honey…

Then the country loaf I already posted a recipe for and, A Lovely White Loaf ('cause sometimes soft, pillowy sandwich bread, floury crusted and perfect for strawberry jam is a nice change)

25g fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar
About 600ml warm water
1kg bread flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl, pour in the water and olive oil. Use a spoon to make a rough dough that sticks together, then once it does drop it out on the table.
Flour only very lightly if you have to… knead for 10 minutes, a radio helps! Three/four songs on a cd is long enough usually (plus it gives you some rhythm! Lol) it should feel tight, springy and lively at the end, the surface should be smooth.
Oil a bowl lightly and place the dough in it, turning to oil the whole ball. Leave covered to rise for around an hour.
Knead the dough gently for a few minutes and shape into loaves that fit your tins, mine is giant and takes all the dough, but two or four smaller ones will work fine. Flour the top lightly. You could also make some of this bread dough into rolls, just divide into smaller pieces, roll into balls and bake on cookie sheets.
Leave to rise for 15~30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 220.
Place the bread in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 and bake for another 20~25 minutes.
Carefully tip the bread out onto a rack, then put it back in the oven without its tin for 5 minutes to crisp the crust up. Cool completely before slicing (or rip apart and eat hot with butter and jam, up to you really).

Making Bubber!

Or, for the rest of the people out there who aren't two and can pronounce hard consonants, butter.  Squiddy miss says bubber (and biber which is, spider, of course) and says it loud, she loves butter on bread, butter on crackers, butter on her paws if she's unsupervised near the butter dish long enough.  Anyhow, enough with that.  I bought some nearly out of date cream and decided that a rainy day mummy/daughter kitchen moment might be fun, of course my kid mostly likes pounding (or throwing, but that ain't so useful in the kitchen) things, so we decided on butter.



 It is so easy and fun and a great way to make use of short dated cream, or even out of date if it passes the sniff/lick test.  We made the butter and with the resulting buttermilk a batch of pancakes to eat it with, waste nothing! lol.

 Only the sketchiest attempt at a recipe, it's nursery school stuff.  Pour your double cream into a mixer or food processor, whip like crazy! It will overwhip, turn grainy then go splat.  Once it's splatted you will see golden chunks of butter floating in the buttermilk.  Drain off the buttermilk and wash your butter in iced water, to remove the rest of the buttermilk, this really helps to keep it a little longer, just kind of knead it gently in a bowl of really chilled water.  Once you're happy, knead in a little flaky sea salt for salted butter, wrap and store in the fridge.  It's really sweetly creamy and fresh tasting, goes great on toast, with apricot jam *sigh* a dieter can dream right?

If you have enough minions darling children you can give them each a jar full of cream and a clean marble, secure the tops and have them labour away for hours shake the jars and gain a sense of wonder as the butter forms.  Like I say, you need a lot of kids to get your butter that way.

Day 16, See, roadside trash also a recurring theme