Baking Bread...

There's something satisfying about it...

My cousin called me the other day from Ireland.

She mentioned that she'd just finished baking bread.

I (stupidly) asked... "with a bread machine?"

"Bread machine?? No Man!" was the very Jamaican accented reply.

I couldn't understand how she did it, she's got 3 very active boys and a full time job as 'something in architecture'... dunno exactly, but buildings become very interesting and artistic when she speaks about them.

Anyway,

turns out she bakes 6 loaves of bread every Sunday, for her family.

No buying bread, no bread machine, just good old fashion kneading by hand, every week...

Respect....

So I asked her to give me the recipe...

"Recipe?? was the very Jamaican accented reply...

"There's no recipe, love, you just bake it as is family tradition...."

Now I must say, my dad and my sisters used to bake bread...

But I hadn't.

The whole kneading thing put me off.

I'd tried it an odd time after I'd left home, but it didn't 'double in size' no matter how long I left it to rise, was rock hard and, well, not worth repeating.

So I asked her to pass on this tradition verbally so I could give it a try.

Off by heart she passed on the ingredients, amounts and how to do it...

Ok...

So I looked at the piece of paper with the notes I jotted down, for a few days,

then brought myself to buy the ingredients so I could bake it with Easter...

Didn't....

And so, tonight, after putting D to bed, and kissing my hubby goodnight (he needs to wake at 3 am, poor thing) I went into the kitchen, and started to bake...

Kneading the flour into dough is a very intense process!

The amount of flour in my bowl was daunting.. (my bowl was way too small and I'd used my biggest) so I split the dry ingredients, then added the 'luke warm' water and just pushed my hands in the gooey sticky stuff, trusting that at some point it would stop sticking to my hands and actually start looking like something I could knead.

Thank God the structure changed, and I was able to knead it on the table.

It was a great feeling! Really working the dough, and letting your mind drift while your busy.

It was fun! and not half as difficult as I remembered.

So now I'm gonna let it rise over night (I vaguely remember someone saying that leaving it that long is no problem).

Tomorrow I hope it has risen and then I'll knead it again and bake it.

I really hope it tastes ok... but even if it doesn't,

I'll soon try again, till I get it right.... the experience was too fun to leave as a one timer.

Iron Man...

Oeh yeah baby :D!

This film was a win,win,win compilation all round!
For one, it was a great film! The story works, it was entertaining and not too serious.
Secondly, it was Marvel! that alone would make me want to see it.
Thirdly.... Helloooooo Terrence!!!
And last but not least.... My reason for watching Ally McBeal (After Ling, naturally), Robert Downey Jr..... Hubba...
The great thing is, he doesn't over do it.
He doesn't do a Hugh Jackman, (who kinda overworks the I-didn't-put-much-effort-into-looking-this-hot- look), but still you watch the film and you melt!
I don't go for big muscles, but in the odd scene, here and there.... Check Out The Arms!!!! Hubba...

I'm not a Gweneth fan (at all!!!) but even she was cool in the film.
And a tiny fun suprise, Leslie Bibb from Popular was in it!
(Popular= weird Ally McBeal-like series that I used to watch when it was on tv)

I'd seen the film in the cinema in England last year, but I had a terrible stomach-ache and was unable to really enjoy it. As my hubby hadn't seen it yet and wanted to, he bought it, and we watched it together.... Yep... a keeper...

I'm reading again!

Lots & lots....

I've started this vampire series (Marked, Chosen, Untamed... ) by mother and daughter Cast.

And it's soooo much fun!

I tried the whole Twilight craze, but after browsing a few pages, I decided that it was as terrible as Outlander (who wrote that again SophieB?)...

Not my style. I'm thinking of checking the film, but only cause my sweet SophieB saw the film, then desperately ripped up a brand new GQ magazine to swoon over actor's face every time she opens her locker. And even though our taste in books is as close as black and white, our taste in men is more or less the same.

However the book 'Marked' caught my eye, so I started reading.

It's young.... the main character is about 17, but I won't let my kid read that book at 17 lest she gets any crazy ideas about love, lust, men and such....

It's a fun read. And even though the vocab is a 2008/2009 version of clueless (not a problem) and just about, not as bad as Gossip Girl (a problem), I want to know how it all ends.

So, while I'm waiting for 'Hunted' (part 5 already!) I'm reading a biography of Ella Fitzgerald.

Superb! The person who wrote it is really interested in who she was, recognizes her brilliance, but doesn't turn her in to a goddess (like they turned Louis Armstrong in to a god in a biography I was (therefore) unable to finish, and like Gandhi turned himself into a Saint-from-birth-tainted-by-this-wicked-world-and-it's-sins in his autobiography, which I was therefore also unable to take seriously or read for more than a few chapters.)

But that's not all!

I also read a thriller!!!! Haahahah Finally!

It's a chick-lit murder, with no real investigation, or gory blood scenes, just 2 nosy lady-friends trying to solve a murder case. (Kinda like Rita Mae Brown, but without the cats).

It's called Death By a Dryer (as I said, far from serious, but much fun to read!) By Simon Brett.

Oeh, and I almost forgot..... (here it comes)

I read a fiction book..... in fact, turns out it came from SophieB's section, so that makes it a romance book (but not half as terrible as Outlander hahahaha)

So I actually enjoyed a romance! Who would have thought.

It's 31 Dream Street... can't remember who wrote it... it was a reject without a back, so after I read it, I threw it away... but it was entertaining!

As soon as Hunted comes in, I'll drop Ella and continue my vampire story, but after I've finished that, I'll try another thriller/chick-lit, or who knows... another fiction/romance book...