Sick day date

I have had a bad cold for more than three weeks now. At the beginning of last week, I was feeling MUCH better... until Jeff got sick. We're not sure if I was the culprit, or if he picked up a nasty virus making the rounds in his office.  Whatever hit him dealt a backwards blow to me, and life for us this weekend was a yucky cacophony of honking, sneezing, coughing and croaking. Today, we are both home on sick days and I have to say- between our bedraggled bedheads and droopy sweatshirts, we're quite the pair.  When we went to bed last night (after our ritual lineup for the final dose of Buckleys before bed), we thought of family members braving -40 temperatures in Ottawa and were thankful that despite being sick, things could be much worse.

A soup fairy left us a container of soup on our front porch on Friday.... and it saved our weekend.  To this guardian angel we pass on our thanks and hope that someone did something as nice for you as you did for us.

More goat goodness

Another new favourite recipe- one that goes really well with the bread from my last post is this Goat Cheese spread. I am always looking for new things to make with goat cheese and this one is deee-lish. 

Adapted from All Recipes

yield: ~1 cup of spread

4 ounces fresh goat cheese
scant 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted in a little sugar and finely chopped (I use a mortar and pestle to crush them up!)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, minced

Crumble the goat cheese into a small mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients, saving a little rosemary and almonds for garnish. Mix well and transfer into a small serving bowl. Drizzle with an additional squirt of honey and sprinkle with reserved rosemary and almonds. Serve immediately with fresh bread or crackers.

Breakthrough Bread

For the most part, I consider myself a fairly confident cook. While the desire to feed others is part of my Mennonite DNA, cooking is actually something I enjoy. Yes- I am one of those people who LOVES reading cookbooks and experiments with new recipes all the time. I love making something from scratch and I really love having a spouse who eagerly dives into my culinary experiments.

Like everyone, there are a few things I simply cannot make. Boiled rice, for example. I gave up on it years ago (opting to bake it because it was the only way I could make it edible) and now leave the boiled rice to Jeff, who makes it effortlessly and perfectly every time. I also gave up on yeast dough until we got married. Kneading is not something I do right, for some reason, and I was NEVER able to create smooth and elastic dough until I met the "dough" cycle on Jeff's bread machine and the dough hook on my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer. Finally, I am able to make acceptable pizza crust and cinnamon buns (featured in coming posts)... but still struggled with making really good bread.

UNTIL NOW!! Passed on by two culinary genius friends (kudos to P & B!!) is a 4-ingredient recipe that will knock your socks off. I think it is based on a recipe from the legendary Sullivan Bakery in New York and is one that I can't wait to share.


 
Yield: 1 loaf

3 cups of white flour (plus a tablespoon or two for dusting)
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 1/3 cups water

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.

2. Add water; stir until blended and the dough forms a rough, shaggy and sticky ball. It will not look like a smooth dough but don't worry!

3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rest at least 12 hours (preferably about 18 hours) at room temperature. Simply leave it alone! And- do not put it in the oven with light on (like I did a few times and ended up with a much flatter and dense bread). Just leave it alone on the counter.

4. After its slow rise, the dough surface will dotted with bubbles. Rub a little flour around the inside of the bowl to release the dough (it is still sticky) and place it on a lightly floured work surface.

5. If the dough surface is still sticky (quite likely), sprinkle it with a little more flour. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently fold the dough over itself four times (from both sides, top and bottom), tucking the final fold in to create a smooth rounded ball. Let rise for 15 minutes to 1 hour; 15 minutes will yield a dense, velvety bread while an hour will yield a lighter, more bubbly bread.

6. Ten minutes before the dough is ready, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put a heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. I find that a small round casserole dish works great.

When the dough is ready, remove the hot pot from oven and drop the dough into it, seam side down. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

7. Cover with lid and bake 20 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 25 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.

8. Cool on a rack for about an hour. Because the bread is fairly dense, it will still be warm and steamy inside after a hour of rest. Slice and enjoy with your favourite bread topping! Jeff recommends Nutella while I prefer raspberry jam topped with paper-thin slices of cheddar cheese.

Snow day

We woke up to another dump of fresh snowfall this morning. By the time I got my camera out, sunny skies were quickly turning things into a big slushy mess.

No matter. The hundreds of birds in our yard (maybe waiting for the bird bath to thaw?) seemed happy to bask in the sunshine.

Westward migration

The deep-freeze that has settled here unusually in our part of the world continues. While it feels like the depth of winter to us, we only have to watch reports of recent storms in Southern Alberta and Ontario to be reminded that we continue to live in the Canadian tropics.

My brother and sister-in-law are packing up their life (and 47 boxes of books) and moving to Vancouver this weekend. It's a huge move for them as my brother takes on pastoring the Cornerstone Community Church and they finally have the chance to set roots and begin the next step of life after seminary. We're pretty excited to have them just across the water and are looking forward to visits and adventures together.

Here's  a view of yesterday's sunrise to welcome this new beginning for them.

Cold snap

For all out there who don't believe it can be cold here on the We(s)t Coast, here is Jeff standing in the middle of our birdbath this afternoon.  

A few days of unusually sub-zero temperatures have brought blue skies, clear views and a break from rain. It's still warm enough in the sunny spots that we haven't had to break out our winter coats. Bliss!

New name. New look. New year.

Jeff and I thought that ringing in 2011 was cause for celebration and a little updating around here. We hope you like the new look and thank you for tuning in to make the conversations and sharing here much bigger than we ever imagined this little blog to be. We sincerely wish that the new year will bring:

The warmth of home and hearth to you.
The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you.
The joy of a thousand angels to you,
The love of the Son and God's peace to you.