Here I show off some images from my first baking day. Merry convinced me not to buy bread from the store anymore and so I acquiesced. And then we figured out that bread done completely by hand tastes so much better than bread from the bread maker. And besides, did not my own mama bake (and mostly burn) buttery rolls for dinner? I remember her famous dough dance, when, in order to knead, she would haul off the dough to us across the room, jumping up and down on the furniture and whipping the dog into a frenzy. I remember one time in particular when she jumped onto the rocking chair and threw--was it dough or a head of cauliflower? Indeed I think it was cauliflower.
And am I not prepared to replicate the happy ethos of my own blissful childhood?
Merry at least is aiming to replicate Laura Ingall Wilder's childhood, but I may just be falling a little short.
Baking day was not the sort of day I imagine uber-organized Ma Ingalls spending, with everything organized, the bread happily and calmly rising under a checked cloth. No, with my three children, my broody baking day was far from calm, though it was fun. Skating in flour is always a good time! I decided to double the whole wheat recipe so I could get a lot done at once to freeze and the pile of dough was absolutely massive. I mixed with one hand (Beatrix on my hip) for a while as Merry sprinkled in flour, and then Merry did the lion's share of kneading. We had Sally and her boys for dinner and basically we all ate bread. . .and more bread. . .and more bread. IMMMM.
LOST (We finally ducked under some caution tape).
Well, the garden has frozen three times now; the lovely, tall pink and white cosmos and the marigolds and what was left of the tomato plants are black and dry.
Good luck to them. It is a little sad to see the garden dead, but mostly I am glad not to feel guilty anymore about not keeping up with the raspberries and cherry tomatoes.
In the meanwhile, Martin has completed the fence (!!)--pictures later. And we have been doing apple days things: the girls and I and friends found ourselves hopelessly lost in a corn maze; we and friends stuck our jaws tightly shut with caramel apples; I have stashed away loads of applesauce, and we have had to turn on our heat three times already. Baby's got a cold and Merry has healed well after her face was stepped on by a soccer cleat.
CHARMING WITCH
I chopped loads and loads and LOADS of celery from market and I can't for the life of me get motivated to take care of our endless hot peppers (thinking of drying but dread sewing them up).
BEATRIX ON THE HAY RIDE, AND MY HAIR
HARVEST IS IN!
So I've started my Christmas shopping and begun planning for company. I do so want my dining room wall to go away! I received an estimate and gasped, but I am conniving how to trim costs. . .and no, you worriers, this does not entail me with a sledgehammer, though in my parallel life I am a sledgehammer wielding menace.
