1. The afternoon seems to stretch on forever. I combine chores, pottering and play.
2. Her ginger coat reminds me not of a tiger but of tiger bread. She’s a friendly one, that’s for sure. She invites herself into the garden, sniffs around then meows at me because I’ve stopped stroking her.
3. The mustard seeds swirl in the mortar at the pestle’s command. Eventually, they give in and fall apart under the pressure.
1. Every night I go to sleep with my fingers entangled in John’s hair. (When he shaves his head, I just rest my fingers on his head instead. It’s more tactile when he has hair.)
2. The horses are back again in the field around the corner. On our way back from walking to the shops the long way around, we stop to feed them small chunks of carrot and stroke their noses. Later, John, who doesn’t really like horses, says it’s one of his favourite moments of the day.
3. The lasagne is perfect.
1. John returns from the across-the-road neighbours with a bright flowering plant in a lovely white pot – they were going to throw it away because it’s flowering season is coming to the end for the year. We’ll let it flourish again.
2. The inclusion of pinenuts was inspired, even if I do say so myself.
3. Despite some incredibly late nights and intermittent work, I feel very rested and at peace instead of stressed and overwhelmed. I hope this year will continue as it has started.
I wanted to make some flatbreads to go with our lamb tagine this evening but all the recipes called for plain flour & yeast and I couldn’t find any of the latter in our over-stuffed cupboard. I kept the yeast-activating honey from the recipes I found though and aside from that just improvised.
They turned out ace – sweet and tasty in their own right but the taste didn’t overpower or clash with the flavour of the tagine.
(I don’t really measure/weigh stuff so quantities are estimates)
Preheat the oven to about gas mark 5.
Put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the honey & the oils. Mix together (but it won’t mix that well because it’s pretty dry).
Gradually add water, mixing all the time until you get a well mixed stiff (ie, not sloppy) dough. Knead it a bit.
Divide dough into pieces – four for (my) hand-size breads, six for smaller ones. Roll them in your hands to make a ball then squish them out flat on a dusted board/counter. Squish them out further with your palm until they’re, I don’t know, just under 1cm? in height. Throw some toasted sesame seeds on the top if you want to use them.
Lightly grease up a baking tray with olive oil, or if you’re an excitable sort, a little sesame oil. Plop the breads on the tray and put the trays in the oven, top shelf, for about, I don’t know, I’m really not good at this numbers business, 15 minutes? – until they’re cooked but no more lightly brown on the bottom and slightly browning on the top. Leave to stand for a minute then serve immediately or as immediately as you can manage if you’re anything like us.
I’ve been in a bit of a biscuit making phase recently – something I’ve not really done before because the effort has seemed like it was out of proportion with the end product. Then I found a really simple and quick recipe for cinnamon biscuits and made a batch for John in November, and after that a (probably short-lived) obsession was born.
I kinda use recipes and knitting/crochet/sewing patterns as a vague guide – something to give me a rough idea to riff off rather than something follow slavish. I also don’t usually measure stuff out when I’m cooking so the recipe details are estimates based on the original recipe I used for the cinnamon ones.
I made this set of biscuits to take around to enjoy during a night of gaming with Dathan and Gianni. The dough was perhaps the best yet and they stayed in nice cute rounds. They’re crunchy not soft but YUM.
John and I have just returned from another fabulous holiday at Northside Cottage in Staithes.
We first went in January 2006 and loved it to bits but what with starting our own companies and everything, we’ve not really had time to go again. We finally decided a break was in order last month and though we both had to work a little bit every day, it was just as wonderful and relaxing. Except the bit where we nearly drowned, that wasn’t particularly relaxing.
Things we made in Staithes:
© 2024 Louisa Parry
