Again with the Bread!

Back in our Dublin days, we were car-less, and except for Will who rode a bike, pretty much completely wheel-less. Well, unless you count the stroller, and the bus, and the train. OK, so we weren't wheel-less. But we didn't have our own personal form of transportation. Which led to a lot of walking. Fortunately we lived in a little village in the middle of Dublin that had just about everything we could want within a few blocks of our flat.Actually, we lived smack in the middle of three little villages. Every day Briton and I would walk down to the center of Rathmines to the grocery store and then up the road to Rathgar to the butcher and the bakery and then home again with out haul. But there were times when walking even a few blocks with a tired toddler and the pouring rain was just too much, which meant we often shot across our square to the little convenience store.

Now when I say convenience store, I'm not really talking about the grungy 7-11's we're used to here in America. These were actually closer to very very small grocery stores. You could, and we often did, buy everything we needed for dinner at the local SPAR. They had sandwich bread (including half loafs of sliced bread which I never got over laughing about, who buys half a loaf? OK, we had no storage so we did but still?) and french bread and pasta and sauces and pizza and milk and a pretty decent selection of cheese and even some meat. It was a little more expensive sure, but if you needed to, you could live pretty well off of just food from SPAR.

My favorite thing to get at SPAR however, was the brioche loaves. It looked like sandwich bread, it cost about the same as sandwich bread, but oh, it did not taste like sandwich bread. I'm not sure at that point I'd ever had brioche before and later when we went to Paris I had REAL brioche which was, of course, a different beast altogether, but this SPAR brioche was pretty darn fantastic. They also sold little packs of brioche buns, with and without chocolate chips, which were one of Briton's all time favorite snacks.

Now you know me, I get all nostalgic for things as time. And when it's gray and rainy and cold out, well, I get a little homesick for Ireland. And since I'd made a batch of Brioche dough for our supper clubs camping trip over the weekend (yum) and still had a little left, I decided to make a batch of chocolate chip buns for the kids for an after school snack. Well OK, I ate one too. Just right with a big steaming cup of tea.

Brioche Buns - Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

(this makes a LOT of dough. Two large loaves and two batches of buns. You can cut the recipe in half or freeze the dough after the first rise, defrosting and baking later)

1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 T yeast
1 1/2 T salt
8 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
3 sticks melted butter(reserve wrappers for greasing pans)
7 cups unbleached flour (the original recipe called for 7 1/2 but it has been so moist here I've been reducing the amount of flour in the bread to get a good wet dough)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix yeast, salt, eggs, honey and butter with the water in a large (5 quart or bigger) bowl. Add the four and mix without kneading, using a spoon and/or wet hands until you have a nice wet dough. Cover and allow to rise at least 2 hours then refrigerate until ready to use. (You need to refrigerate it even if you are using it that day so that the dough is workable)

Using about 1/4 of the dough, mix in the chocolate chips and divide into 1/2 cup sized balls, shaping them into flattened ovals. Allow the buns to rise for about 30-45 minutes then bake for 20 min at 350. I brushed them with a well beaten egg so the top would be glossy but you wouldn't have to do this for it to turn out great.

For a larger loaf, put 1/4 of the dough into a loaf pan and allow to rise for 1 1/2 hours, baking 35 minutes at 350. I added chips to one of the loaves as well. Both were delicious.

Is it that time of year already?

I'm going to cheat today. Instead of writing something, I'm going to send you off to read something I've already written somewhere else. Sneaky aren't I?

A month or so ago I wrote an article about homemade holiday gifts which was really fun because I got to play around with all sorts of ideas before deciding on the best ones for the article. So if your starting to feel that holiday panic rising in your throat, hop on over here for some inspiration. And hey, while your there, give the article a rating too, just for me?

Remote Control

Raise your hand if you spend more time looking for the remote every time you want to watch TV than you would just getting up and turning on the TV. Yeah I thought so. I mean, I cant be the only moron who does that. The problem in our house is that there isn’t a good place for the remotes. I had been keeping them in a basket in the coffee table but I also keep magazine clippings and things I want to read but haven’t yet in the basket so they often get buried. And more often than not they just get left on the couch cushions where they slip down between the cracks during the jump fests Evelyn is prone to in the late morning.

Lately I’ve been on a “a place for everything and everything in its place” kind of kick. My basement, while NOT clean, is cleaner than it has ever been. I actually found the thing I needed down there in less than ten seconds last week. A miracle if ever there was one. Part of this organization thing is that I’ve become addicted to this blog. The woman is a whirlwind of organization. I actually tried to convince Will to let me buy all new bins for our basement storage so it would look pretty. Like this. Ahhh. SO pretty…..

Anyway. During my obsessive read through of her old entries I came across the idea of a remote tray. Ahhh! I thought. Now THAT is what I need. After all, I have this brand spanking new (but supposed to look like it’s been there forever) bookshelf. Why not make and official spot for those darn remotes.

Actually I’d already read that article and though “if only I had a cool little box like she had” and was cleaning out the playroom when I came across one of those wooden trays that Melissa and Doug toys come in and are too nice to throw away so you stack them in a closet. And that’s when I had the “Aha!” moment.

The box got a few coats of trim paint and while it dried I considered options for the bottom. While I like her brightly colored paper the truth is that it wouldn’t hold up in our house. In fact, it would have been colored on and spilled on and probably ripped up by the end of the week. So instead I decided on fabric, something thick and absorbent (just in case) and a little sound dampening (humm, can you tell I have young children, must be crayon proof and sound dampening to qualify). A leftover scrap of wool from Nigella’s bed seemed like the perfect fit and so after the paint had dried (three days! I love oil paint for it’s washability- ack, again with the kid proof thing!- but man does it take a long time to dry!) I cut a square to fit the bottom and glued it in with that indispensable craft item, Eileen’s Tacky Glue. Love that stuff.
*Oops, I jsut realized she uses fabric too, where did I see a paper covered one, all well. I still needed the all important absorbent wool....)

The amazing this is, it’s working. The kids get the whole, remotes go in the box, at least for the most part. And now I can spend less time looking and more time lazing. Or, if I’m being honest, less time frantically scrabbling around for the remote while my children melt down in exhaustion when all they want is a few minutes of veg time PLEASE MOMMY! Ahh, peace…

Between Halloween and Christmas

November always seems to fly by. Halloween is over, Christmas is around the corner. Too late to keep up the Halloween decorations, too soon to put up the tree, too short to do "November Decorating". So usually it whizzes right by with no wreath on the door, no "things" around the house to make it seem like fall. Which is really OK. Because there is enough going on outside to make up for it.

And then I saw the ginkgo leaves. I'm fascinated with ginkgo leaves. I love how leathery they are, how long they've been around. I love their shape and size and I love the bright, butter yellow they turn in the fall. The kids and I were out walking the other day and passed a row of ginkgo trees on the way to downtown. The sidewalk was covered with bright yellow leaves and the kids scooped up hand fulls to toss in the air, rub between their fingers and slide into their pockets and I couldn't help but think what a pretty wreath they would make. So yesterday Evie and I took a big plastic bag with us and went on a leaf expedition.

I'm pretty sure the people passing in their cars thought I was crazy, scooping up leaves and stuffing them into bags while Evelyn looked stonily on, angry with me because I would not let her wear her yellow Salt Water Sandals on our walk. But when I got home I had plenty of leaves for my wreath. What I didn't have was my hot glue gun.

You see, I had a "uh-oh, the children have the hot glue gun" moment a few weeks ago and decided to hide it from them. But I did such a great job of hiding it that I couldn't find it myself. After practically tossing the playroom shelves I finally found it (behind the paper rack, under the modem) and got to work.

Overall I'm pleased with the result. I could have added a few more leaves but ran out of glue sticks just as I got around to the top again so I just went with it. I love the bright yellow against our (newly painted and will need to be RE-painted because I used the wrong paint and it's already peeling ) front door. Hard to believe though that it only has about three weeks of life in it before the jingle bell wreath comes out to replace it. Now, if if my head would stop spinning I could go hunt down the bag-o-pine cones I kept from last year to add to a bowl on the counter for a nice, insidey, fall-winter look. Humm, Need to get back to organizing the basement I guess!

Jam! Well, Butter really, but kinda close....

Having totally missed the chance to make strawberry AND grape jam this year (what was I doing in July, August and September?? Oh yeah, that HOUSE thing) I realized that the whole growing season was about to pass me by without one single jar of jam in my cupboard which, if I'm honest, is really what propelled us up Mount Fuji on Tuesday for our apple picking adventure.

Apple Butter is the easiest jam you can make. It's also the one I've been making the longest. Before I was married or had real dishes, my dad and I used to make apple butter and blackberry jam every fall while we were both living in Eugene (we were also both in the same department in college,except he was a doctoral student who taught some of my friends and I, well, I was "oh your Clyde's Daughter. But since I got to store my junk in his office it all turned out OK) SO even though we aren't really big Apple Butter eaters, it has a special place in my heart. Plus Will's 98 year old grandpa eats the stuff by the spoonful. And he'd be pretty disappointed if I didn't have a jar or two I could send him every winter. So into the pot went the apples.

If you've never made jam, this is a great place to start. And if you REALLY want to make it easy on yourself, get a food mill. I hear what your thinking, what on earth would I do with a food mill when I was done? But it's a really useful little tool, great for things like mashed potatoes (so much better than mashed mashed potatoes!) and lasts forever. Mine was my grandmothers in fact, and it's still cranking along. If you don't have or want to get a fool mill though, start with quartered apples that have been peeled and cored and follow the steps as normal, mashing with a potato masher instead of running it through the mill.


So first, you want to wash and quarter your apples. If you have a food mill, you don't need to bother with coring or peeling and personally, I think cooking the apples with the peel on makes the whole thing taste much better. Fill up your biggest pot and add about a cup of apple cider, apple juice or in a pinch, water. I have a ginormous preserving pot (also inherited form my grandmother) that I cook all my jams in.


Put the lid on and cook away until the apples are falling apart to the touch. If you want, you can pop this in the fridge till the next day at this point. I like to at least let it cool down a bit so it's easier to handle.

Once it's cool enough, run the apples through the food mill. Here I've switched to a smaller pot because the apples have cooked way down. If I wanted to make a larger amount of butter I'd make a second pot of cooked apples at this point, but for us, this is a good amount. Plus, I like to use the big pot in a later step for something else. (which means that it's nice to have two big pots, but if you don't, don't worry, you'll just have to wash up between steps, you'll see what I mean later on)

Once you've run all the apples through the mill you can either a) press the skins through come cheese cloth to get all goop out, b) toss the skins or c) feed the skins to your greedy chickens who will practically knock you over to get to the apple goodness.


Now, put the pot of what is basically applesauce back on the stove and cook it on low until it has reduced down to a REALLY thick consistency. Once it's almost as thick as you want it, it's time to add sweeteners and spices. It doesn't really help for me to give you measurements since it totally depends on the sweetness of the apples, the sweetness you want the finished butter to be and the flavor you are going for. The reason apple butter is so easy is that you don't need pectin since apples are naturally full of pectin (pectin is what makes jelly gel) and since you don't need pectin, you also don't need a specific amount of sugar to get your jelly to set. I like a combination of honey and sugar (for this batch I used 1/4 cup honey and 1 cup of sugar, the apples were pretty tart!) and a mix of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spices (about 1 1/2 tsp of each for me, but as I said, you'll have to taste it to judge for yourself) Stir the sweeteners and spices in and let it cook for another half an hour or so.

On to the jars. The key to making safe jam is to have everything clean and hot. There are several methods for sterilizing jars. You can pop them into boiling water, you can run them through your dishwasher (don't use soap though!) or you can put them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. I've done all three and usually end up with the boiling method because I need a big pot of boiling water anyway. Sterilize the jars and rings and pour some hot but not boiling water into a bowl with the lids (to soften the seal)

While the jars are hot fill them almost to the top with jam, wipe down the rims and add the lids and rings, tightening firmly but not crazy tight. Put the jars into that pot of boiling water, making sure the lids are covered, and let it boil away for about 10 minutes.

Carefully take the jars out (see that tool, that is a useful thing to have!) and set them on a towel to cool off. You will know that the jars are sealed when they "pop" and the lids no longer depress. If they don't you can either put them back in the boiling water for a few more minutes or just plan on using those jars first and keep them in the fridge.

Now, a few hints about jam making that I've learned over the years. If you are going to make jam even once, it's worth it to get a wide mouthed funnel and jar tongs, it just makes things so much easier. If, at the end of filling your jars you don't have enough to fill the last one, just screw the lid on and keep that one in the fridge for immediate eating. When you go buy jars, think about what you are making the jam for. If it's for your family, get larger jars so you have less to store. If you are giving gifts, get smaller jars so you have more to give. You can always mix and match, other than the wide mouth variety, all jars have the same lids and rings. And don't forget to label the jars before you forget what's in them and open up one thinking it's going to be apple only to find out it's sauerkraut!

Finally, it sounds like a lot of steps but it really is easy. Don't be intimidated by the idea of jam making, get out there and try it!

Falling into Fall, at last

I really, truly love fall. I love to wear wool skirts and tights and vests and scarfs. I love to spend the day either wearing Wellingtons or slippers depending if I'm outside or in. I love to cook things like stew and mashed potato and pumpkin pie. Especially pumpkin pie because it means that I have the leftover evaporated milk to use in my tea for the rest of the week.

A good chunk of my childhood was spent in a small town in Northern Idaho that had a truely amazing variety of maple trees all of which seemed to turn a different color, washing the town in every hue of red, orange and yellow for a few weeks each fall before winter took over with a vengence. Even as a little girl I appriciated the bold beauty of the leaves. My favorite tree was a small maple down the street that turned so dark a crimson that it didn't seem possible, as if someone had gone out and painted each leaf in the night.

This year I dont feel like I've really ahd a chance to enjoy fall. I've had an ENJOYABLE fall, but I havent really been ENJOYING fall. Which is different. Between working on the house, writing craft articles, editing, playing, party planning, gardening, parenting and all the other things that have kept me busy the past few months, I feel like I almost missed my favorite time of year.

Today was a rare day. Briton was home from school because of conferences (he is smart, sweet and inquisitive they say. But I knew that!) The sun was shining. The leaves were heaped on the sidewalks, everyone was well and I had NOTHING that needed doing. I mean, I always have things that I need to do. The house could be cleaned, cupboards could be organized, projects could be started or finished. But there were no deadlines today. There was no party jsut aroudn the corner, no article that had to be turned in today, no ANYTHING that I had to get done by the end of the day. And it was glorious.

The kids and the dog and I went up to the apple orchard and spent almost three hours picking the last of the apples, eating hot dogs on the deck,w alking up and down the hills. When we got home it was time for Evelyn's nap (which she is sometimes taking again, thank goodness) and Briton and I lounged on the couch reading and snoozing on and off for an hour or so. We made a pumpkin pie for dessert and bread for dinner and started apples cooking down for apple butter. We walked downtown, stomped in the leaves, marveled at the bright yellow of the ginko leaves which are Briton's favorites because they were around in the time of the dinosaurs. And that was really it. No big projects finished.No great thing acomplished. Not a word written other than this blog entry. My house smells of beef stew and baked bread and pumpkins and apples and muddy boots and old leaves and FALL. I couldn't be happier.

Halloween

Well, all I can say is it's a good thing that I have great friends in the neighborhood who will photograph my children for me wen they are running around like banshees with their friends, because I hardly even saw the Bat all night and the Mouse didn't hold still much either. Ahhhh the sugar, ahhh the fun.





At least Evie didn't barge into someone elses house and try to go to bed like last year.....