That’s A Lotta Dough!

Back in the day when I was still working, my boss gave me a bread maker for a Christmas present. Not exactly something you’d expect from your boss, but apparently one of his partners found a ‘great deal’ thus a lot of their wives and I received one. At least my boss knew that I loved to bake and he remembered that I baked bread by hand at times. Thinking this would be a time-saver for me and kind of running out of ideas after 12 years of Christmas presents, he thought it was a great gift. It turned out he was right. Even though ‘back in the day’ the bread maker machines seemed to be a fad, that fad has remained with me.

The original machine was great but only made loaves that looked like giant mushrooms and if you were careful you could prevent that “cap” from forming. Despite that, Nat and I enjoyed the bread produced, but with experience and the onset of newly styled machines, I replaced the original with one that made regular-shaped loaves. Even more doodads than the first machine, but with outstanding loaves that looked like they came from an actual bakery.

With time I began to experiment by making an Italian or French loaf, where you made your bread to the ‘dough’ stage and after the first short rise, you’d roll and shape your loaf into the desired Italian or French baquette style. With even more experience, I began to divide the dough into thirds and get even smaller, more manageable loaves for Nat and I. Freezing the loaves made it easier and more convenient to us to use as and when we wanted. We’ve enjoyed a lot of nice light meals on a hot summer’s day with just a ‘kitchen-sink’ salad and a slice of homemade French loaf all toasted and garlicky.

Getting to know these machines pretty good I’ve now come full circle and now just go to the ‘dough’ stage and get creative on my own. Of late the easiest way is to still divide the dough into thirds, but leave each third in it’s original round state, thus making for a nice loaf of round bread just large enough for one good meal, along with a couple of sandwiches the next day.

I’ve experimented with making dinner rolls but can’t quite get them to that really light and airy interior some rolls have. So I’ll keep on trying, ’cause testing the results is half the fun!

This past week my second machine has given up the ghost and as we’ve become accustom to having homemade bread when we want, a new machine was a necessity. Sadly, this second machine was going to be irreplaceable. For love nor money, the West Bend model couldn’t be found anymore and we had to compromise and get another brand. No bother, I suppose, as this newer machine is a bit smaller and more easily stored in our space-less kitchen.

Aside from one day when I forgot to add the water, as called for in my recipe, ending up with a rock solid brick that Nat had to literally chisel out of the basket, I’m still very gratified with my results. Besides what other therapy gives you something to eat afterwards??

My God, I’ve Become “One of Them”

In my youth – of which my mind still thinks I’m there – I’d walk into a store or business and there was always some older woman and even the odd older man behind the counter asking that age old question, “Is that all, dear?”. Or, “How are you making out, Sweetie?” I’ve even ran into ‘one of those’ people at a fast food restaurant of late that persists on calling me ‘Sweetie”. Please!!! I’ve got at least 30 years on ‘ya lady so skip the ‘Sweetie’ bit. As I said, even the odd man has called me ‘dearie’ or ‘love’, and for some reason I can shake it off, only because the men are more times than not older than I and I get a kick out of older men – always have. It seems a bit more condescending when it comes from a woman – especially a younger one!

Having said all of the above, I had my first volunteer visit with an elderly lady in Fort Erie. Wheelchair bound and living in a small one bedroom apartment it was obvious she was struggling and surviving as best she could. We had our first visit and it seemed a bit one-sided. She’s not a great conversationalist but then it takes time to get to know one another. Somehow, we managed to struggle through the half hour and it was time to go. So as I was heading for the door I blurted out, “Well, we’ll see about next week, Sweetie”. Egad, egad, egad!!!!! As it was coming out of my mouth I knew right then and there that I had become ‘one of them’. I couldn’t believe I had said it. I shook my head walking down the hallway, thinking where in hell did that come from. I was now one of those condescending people that use those words. Hopefully this nice lady didn’t hear me complete the end of that remark, as I was opening the door and making my way out. Now that I’ve done it once, let’s pray that this old brain will put a stop to any one of those words coming out of my mouth again!! Unless, of course, it’s to ‘My Sweetie’ at home!!

Everyone Was Busy But Us

Having good intentions of going to watch Zach play baseball on Thursday night, we were derailed by a phone call. Someone was finally interested in the sump pump battery back-up system we had purchased when first moving into this house. With the gas generator more than paying for itself already, we knew we had no further use for the battery back-up and listed it on Kijiji along with a few other items that we knew we couldn’t just ‘give away’. Only a year later someone was finally interested and in dire need of one. The buyers were new to the Welland area and to sump pumps, so after three power outages they’d had enough. We were glad to oblige, trust me. We’ve been there, done that and never want to go there again. They were pleased that our system was still under partial warranty and with a quick lesson on hook-up from Nat, they headed for home all gungho to get the thing hooked up.

With Thursday’s baseball game being missed, we decided to head into Virgil Saturday afternoon and watch Zach play in one of his tournaments. So we did our usual grocery thing and after lunch packed our goody bag, drinks and chairs and off we went. We enjoyed the game but had no idea that there were so many tournaments being played that day. The baseball fields were awash with little tykes, little guys, mid-size guys, parents, grandparents, coaches and siblings. Everyone heading every which way but loose. We caught up with Zach and his parents, his grandparents and his sibling, settled in and cheered his team onto victory. This being his first year playing ball he was looking pretty good and really seemed to enjoy himself.

With all the fresh air on Saturday, Nat and I stuck close to home today. Both of us got a couple of chores down around the house – he the lawn, me the laundry – and for the rest of the day we decided to just lay back. It was nice!! About mid-afternoon, and after remembering that television is getting a little boring of late, we hopped on our bikes and headed down to the little video store in town for a couple of movies. We signed up as new members and found a couple of good ones we’ve been wanting to watch for some time. “Milk” and “Quantum of Solace” – a thought-provoking weeper and an action-packed, stunt-laden thriller. A little laugh, a little cry, a little ooh, a little aah – makes for a good evening. Our kind of day.