KNEADING FRIENDS

I'm sure that it is impossible to count, or even estimate, how many loaves of bread I have made in my life. I've been baking bread most of my adult life, perhaps weekly, or surely averaged out to that. One might think that this could reach near-state of boredom, but each time I begin the process, I do it with a genuine enthusiasm and excitement. So when two friends asked to have a bread baking 'lesson', I eagerly agreed. In advance I prepared a container of my sour dough starter for them to use, replenish and take home. I believe both of these ladies are already bread bakers, but I guess they were intrigued with my sour dough bread. Anyway, it sure was a fun morning. I had a baguette rising, ready to bake when they arrived, so they could see the end process, as they were going to take home their kneaded and rising bread to complete for their evening meals.

I have never, not ever, gotten tired of the smell of bread baking in the oven. And as we began and proceeded through the mixing and kneading, we were surrounded with the warm, wafting aroma of crusty bread baking.


Bowls and baking ingredients at the ready!

Sour dough starter (which is nothing more then flour and water that has fermented), water, a scant bit of yeast for a burst, organic flours, both 7 grain and unbleached bread flours, and salt. Simple and ancient are these ingredients, nothing fancy goes in to making these crusty, earthy breads.

One must enjoy kneading for this bread, because it is best kneaded for 8-12 minutes.
Kneading friends....a great way to have the minutes fly by if you happen to get tired of it.

...a fleck of flour on the chin enhances the morning...

...ready for the bowl and hours of rising...
This bread can rise at room temperature all day, then can be divided into 3 sections. One can form all three sections into loaves....

and let rise for a couple of hours. Or, form only one or two, and refrigerate the rest of the dough for another time. I've refrigerated for several days, taking some out when needed.

Crusty, crunchy, aromatic, delicious sporting plenty of (gas) holes on the inside.

It was truly a wonderful way to spend a snowy Monday morning. When the bowls were covered and waiting to get to their own homes, we ended the morning eating the freshly baked baguette, cheese, olives and pepperoni (darn, too early for wine).

REPURPOSING (Have I gone too far???)

I don't consider myself a pack rat, but perhaps I come close in some ways. I happen to make a lot of cheesecakes, and about two years ago, it occurred to me that the foil that wrapped the Organic Valley cream cheese should be good for something. So, hoping it would come to me, I began thoroughly washing and drying, then storing these wrappers. Every once in a while they would cross my mind, or I would come upon a huge quantity of them in my craft closet, and I would wonder what they might become.

As I was making another cheesecake for the Kickapoo Reserve Winter Festival auction a few weeks ago, I wanted it to be displayed nicely. To that end, I fashioned and decorated a box for the cheesecake and then lined it with cream cheese foil sheets. As I was doing that I thought, I bet they would make nice flowers to place on top. And so the cream cheese foil flowers were born:

...a vase on my table...

another view

...and a close up...

So now I need to start saving papers again, as I have made many a bunch of flowers, and as each one takes multi-layers of foil, I have run out. I doubt it will take me two years again, but I will continue my collection.

Another aspect of my reluctance to throw anything remotely usable out is a rag rug that I purchased at auction perhaps 35 years ago. It was 34" by 26 ft., believe it or not. Now as a rug weaver, I know the work that went into such a long, long rug. It wasn't always easy for me to find a spot that would accommodate it, but I have used it in one place or another for all these years. As it was beginning to wear, and we needed a long rug in the basement, I released it for use there, with some trepidation. It has been used there for perhaps 5 years, until we recently had a stainless steel liner put into our chimney in order to stoke up our old wood stove. The stove has been sitting unused in the basement since the turn of the centuryY2K scare. When we had the liner installed, we were told the rug had to be moved as it was too close to the stove.

A few days later I saw Freddie dragging and trailing this rug to the pile destined for the dump. I yelled out the door, NO! I will use that for something. He just shrugged and looked a bit unbelieving.

After a week or so, I dragged it back inside, and loaded it up into the washing machine. It did not weather the cleaning very well, and pretty much fell apart.

I did not let that deter me, however, and I went over it very lovingly and slowly, cutting it into pieces I thought I could do something with.

These are the first two rugs that came out of the large rug, and they are about 3" x4", and 3' x3", and they will take up floor space in Iris' new doll house.

Now these remnants are enough to make hundreds of doll house rugs, and I wasn't about to do that, so I needed another idea.

Pot holders, one dyed and some not dyed. I have not yet decided if I am going to dye anymore, but it is a possibility, although I do like the more natural ones a lot.

These pot holders were relatively easy to make. However I did break about 4-5 needles on my sewing machine while putting the binding on. After much scrutiny and thought, I realized that the weft was packed so tightly in some spots, the needle just would not penetrate. Whether this is from the original weaver's work, or years of wear, or both, I'm not sure. I will have to find a way around this problem if I hope to sew up any more items from the rest of this rug.

Now to find a use for the black Cafe Altura 4# coffee bags which are collecting on my fabric shelf!

KIDS DAYS

Awaken on a lovely day and the thermometer reads 30 degrees below zero...seems arctic-like to me. Went to the basement and stoked up our old Kickapoo Boxer Wood stove to help heat the house. The jury is out on whether it is helping, though we've only had it stoking for 5 days. We hope it helps, after dragging all that wood to the basement, and of course, after Freddie cuts it all.

The grandkids here this weekend. Grandpa bought a new game, and these two have proved to be intense and good engineers, building any number of 'bridges' that allowed a marble to travel to the end. They sure enjoyed this.

Grandpa 'supervises' though they are way ahead of him.

They spent lots and lots of thought and time on this. Their dad would be proud.

And the other day, before this densely cold spell, these two little ones had their own 'snow ball' fight right in the living room. They loved it.

Hopefully the temperature will rise enough for some major sledding down the hills surrounding the farm.


AND SO IT HAPPENED:

Grandpa had plowed a long swathe for the kids to sled down, and despite my fears about the slickness and outlandish speed, they all seemed to have a great time and emerged unscathed.




It was a long way down, twists and turns and catching air, but it was then a long way up and Grandpa did not mind the job of hauling the kids and their snow discs back up the hill on the toboggan.



Andy and Iris came and slid down the tractor path.


...a pile of grandpa and kids...

yes, it was cold, a mere 7 degrees, but it sure was fun...


And to end the day, cousins sipping hot cocoa in fancy cups and eating crumpets, too.

THE LAST STAGE (HOPEFULLY) OF THE SAGA

I am quite sure that none of you out there who just might be following this blog are 'chomping at the bit' to hear about my cabin basement project, which I have seemingly abandoned. (Well, only at the times I've been heartsick about it all.) Anyway, chomping or not, here is an update:

Here she stands!

As you enter the upstairs...my Herald Loom on which I have woven rugs and some long-ago place mats.

I had removed this chair to the house when I purchased another floor loom, and it is now reinstated in the cabin proper. It is a welcome sitting space on busy days.

My old stand-by, first loom...Union #36. It has served me well, having woven countless rugs, and perhaps is still my favorite loom.

This is my sewing 'station' and craft cupboard.

My computer corner...

...just leaving the upstairs...

...last glance, a lovely handwoven vest I found at Goodwill, and bought thinking I'd re-purpose it as a bag. It is just too beautiful to cut up, so I just look at it.

And on to the BASEMENT....

...just upon entering the door...

a look to the left into the display area

this is the old Union Costume Loom I was given, and which I have yet to 'mess' around with because...

...this is my latest 'problem'...a lovely little blue enamel LP stove, that seems to be malfunctioning. Old Wisconsin Heart, from which I bought it, has ordered a new regulator conversion kit, and a new thermostat, so hopefully I can heat the basement over 60 degrees without spending many $$ per week. Anyway, it has been too cold to spend much time in the basement as of yet.

this is just another of the looms patiently (I think) waiting for me to get to it!

A lovely old kitchen cupboard base that had been in our basement ever since we bought the place. A coat of paint in and out, and it is wonderful here.

...towards the display area...

This rug rack used to sit in the barn waiting for shows. It is so nice to be able to have the space to keep it up and useful.

...looking towards the door from the display area...


There are still days when it seems too painful to think about this basement project, but I am hoping that within the next week or so, the heating problem will be solved, and finally after all these months, I can step into it and stay for the day, and be grateful.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD

This has been a week of cooking and baking for me. Not that I mind, it is a deep love of mine. Despite that, I have had time to put new warp on one of my looms, and to actually start a rug. It seems way too long since I've been at the loom.

Still, this post will be devoted, however briefly, to the cooking/baking creations of the past week. Below is the Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake I made for auction (among other things) for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve's annual Winter Festival. It is sometimes difficult to 'give' up this cheesecake, it is one of those sinfully decadent chocolate experiences. It did bring in good money, though.

On another note, I received for Christmas a cookbook, that my daughter had requested for her birthday. It looked like one that I truly wanted in my collection.

After sitting and reading it night after night, I selected Butternut Squash Gratin with Sage and Onions as the first recipe I'd cook. I still have a tub full of butternut squash along with a small basket of onions from the garden in my basement, so this was a fitting choice.

Butternut squash dusted in flour sauteing in olive oil.
They get spread out over a deep layer of caramelized onions, to be topped with cheese, sage and thyme and milk, then with fresh breadcrumbs.

It was a dish with a deep and complex flavor, and despite the addition of no sweetener, the sweetness of the squash and the onions were piqued to their utmost. It's sweetness was never over the top cloying but rather a burst of wonder in the mouth.


I have also been experimenting with making a cranberry, wild rice bread. I made three batches, the first simply OK, the second really good, and by the third, I think I nailed it.

...cranberry, wild rice bread...

...sliced...

the old stand-by...Naan...

and an Italian Peasant loaf.

We ate well this week. I must say I stopped a couple of times during the cooking/baking, looked down at my simple white apron, and thought, how does it get better then this, standing here in my sunny kitchen, stirring and sauteing, kneading and baking. Sometimes I am filled with the wonder of it all.

'OWED' TO VINCE

Two 'found' long-ago friends, now living in Texas, read this blog, know about my love for cooking (and eating good food), themselves, I imagine good cooks, Nora and Vince. We have, over the last year or so, been in touch by email, and they often comment on one dish or another, one particular dish being the Butternut Squash lasagna.

Vince mentioned that Nora is herself a great Italian cook, her specialty being Lasagna. He further said he, himself, did not cook, but his contribution was making homemade ricotta. He graciously sent me the recipe.

WOW!

Jonel and Andy recently went to the Twin Cities and left with me a 1/2 gallon of organic whole milk. As I was trying to decide whether to freeze it or not, I thought of Vince's recipe and quickly decided to make Spinach Lasagna with homemade ricotta.

(I recall Vince's folks had a little Italian store directly across from the church we attended as kids. One of the things I most recall purchasing was in a glass cooler in a large stainless pan...fresh RICOTTA. We often bought it, and even eaten straight up, it was delicious.)

Well, Vince's recipe brings back that taste and aroma, and is just as delicious, if not more so.

Just out of the oven.

On the plate with a salad of fresh greens...and honestly, it was the best spinach lasagna we'd ever eaten.

THANKS, VINCE!!