down day

After yesterday a 'down' day was needed.
I got housework....he got the short straw...drying, cleaning and sorting damp bike bits.

At least the day was partly constructive!

We're not having as severe weather as many, but I find this time of year hard to get through, hard to lift any enthusiasm...

When you just want to get out on the bike for a potter around the lanes for an hour or so....incentive goes when it is wet, cold and the roads are filthy!

It is also the time of year when we realize how little room we have here...and so much stuff!...Let alone the stuff that is in other places and needs to be sorted and used.   Frustrating.

busy day

I had a baking morning today, getting bread and bean and vegetable pies ready for when Mountain Man delivered this weeks eggs.

The Wizzard visited, which was nice, and we had lunch together before he took another of his bikes away and went in search of a Nice Surprise Present!

Then to the allotments where it is still too wet to dig and the buds on the Cat's Tail (Equisetum) are beginning to swell just beneath the surface.
I cleared one Strawberry bed and transplanted the best dozen plants to the shade of a fence as it is a woodland plant originally. They should do better there.
Then I decided which four beds will have potatoes this year! The plans are shaping up, the greenhouse is "ready for the off" and potting compost should arrive at the Allotments' Shed any day now.

Winter is still hanging on. Another two inches of snow fell early this morning on the mountain, making over six inches lying in some places, more in the drifts.
Down here it was just cold and wet, but dried up and the sun came out by lunchtime.
It was beautiful in the afternoon and the weather brought quite a few allotmenteers out to tidy, move greenhouse and compare notes.
Ar four o'clock the sun dipped down behind the mountain and the chill descended upon us.
Home Time!!

baking day

Yesterday was grey damp and misty
One way to be cosily dry and warm is to bake...
I have started using a method using a "poolish" or batter or sponge method, it is called many things!
As ever I don't follow any recipe exactly but adapt it to suit my kitchen. I am inspired by Richard Bertinet and his books "Dough" and "Crust"
I put all the flour in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and add the tepid water and dried yeast. Mix the water, yeast and enough of the flour to make a batter. Flick flour over the batter surface from the edges then place it in a warm place until you and it are ready-between two and five hours!!
Then mix- this might need more flour but how much depends on the flour, the weather and how sticky you work with the dough! Then you work it, pulling stretching and folding for about five minutes. Add the salt, then knead for another five minutes.
Put the dough back in the bowl for 15 minutes or so, knead, repeat.
Divide and shape the dough and place it in oiled and floured tins. Sit them in a warm place and in a couple of hours they will be ready to bake at between gas 8 and 9 for 35 minutes.
Take the loaves from the tins
and wrap in cotton or linen cloths
then you wont have jaw breaking crusts! Also They keep well like this in my wooden bread bin for several days , if given a chance!!
Then enjoy....Home-made bread, mug and marmalade!!
The Idle Duck's Carrot Cake,http://theidleduck.blogspot.com/2009/04/idle-ducks-carrot-cake.html
Dan Lepard's Marmalade Flapjacks- I tried a silicone liner, loathe as I am to use plastic.....it works.
Chestnut Mushroom and Red Onion Quiche
Nectarine and Cranberry Crumble-it is surprising what you can find at the back of a freezer drawer, and the fruit needed no added sugar.
A satisfying if tiring day!