Bread in 5 Minutes a Day?

Could it be possible to make bread every day with little work?  After reading Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day  I decided to give it a try. The first day takes about 15 minutes of 'work' and then 2 hours of waiting. I mixed the ingredients and put them in this container.



Two hours later the dough had risen and was then put in the refrigerator to be used later.


The next day I pulled off a hunk of dough, shaped it, let it rest and then baked it.

Not sure that a whole 5 minutes was spent actively involved with bread making on baking day.
Am very sure that the bread was yummy.

The lessons learned were:
dust with less flour
use hot water for steam
close the oven faster
and
given the opportunity CJ would eat bread for every meal.

Homework Buddies

 

IELA homework is much more fun with a buddy, and pizza!

Witchcraft and Wizardry

This is my wizarding bag.

I believe it has an 'extension charm' on it as it holds much more than one would expect.

First I read the spell book,

Then use a magic wand,

To turn this ball of yarn,

Into a beautiful scarf.

Magic!

Winter Orchestra Concert

Another fabulous concert from the 8th grade orchestra.

Cat Toy

 This toy is made from the edges left over from making a fleece blanket.
It was intended to be a toy for Tucker.

 

This is not Tucker.
This is no longer Tucker's toy!

Fresh Bread

If only you had a scratch and sniff computer!!!
Fresh baked bread smells so good.
Don't tell the boys that this is 100% whole grain bread,
 they might decide they don't like it!

Fresh bread has once again become a weekly thing. The bread machine used to get a lot of use, but then I got tired of the strangely shaped loaves and the hard crust. To fix that I now I let the bread machine do most of the work, then the dough goes into a loaf pan and soon enough we have a 'normal' looking loaf of bread.

Solo & Ensemble Contest

CJ and two friends performed as a woodwind trio this past Saturday .
This is them waiting to find out what there score was.
Their teacher was impressed, saying that they played the piece better for the judge than they had during practice. The judge had 2 comments, the first I didn't understand and the second was a complement.
The boys eventually gave up on waiting for the score and opted to go home and do non-school things.
Turns out they got a 1 which is awesome!
Congrats!

Finally Did It

This is the chair that we thought about buying for more than a year.
Now that it is ours, I think I want another one!
The cat really likes it when I sit in it. He jumps up and makes himself comfortable on my lap.
The dog does not like it when Steve sits in it, as there is not enough room for the both of them.
Hmmm...I wonder if they make one big enough for Tucker.

(In case you are wondering, that is Pia looking in the window.)

Winter?

This picture was taken last week. In winters past I would only see my toes when it was time to bathe.
I have seen my toes frequently this winter. On this day it was warm enough that I wore flip flops to an evening appointment. While the calendar may say February it felt like spring.
Then it got cold, really cold. Strong winds made it even colder. I didn't post this picture because it seemed silly when it was so cold out. As of yesterday it is back to being very warm for February and my toes are again visible.
Some people (in this house & elsewhere) are really missing winter. Not me, the warmish days, the beautiful blue skies and the toes that are only cold when I walk outside in my bare feet make me smile.

Weekend Fun

What do you do for fun on a winter weekend when there is no snow to speak of and the 'slopes' are covered in an icy granular mixture the reminds us of the Pocono's in the late 80's, been there/done that - yuck.

Bowling works for us.

 

Winter Arrives...maybe

Yep, the outside temperature says 9.

That was back in January when the temperature was either 50 or 10.

Sometimes it's snowing, sometimes it's raining.

 Now that February is half over it seems that we might actually be experiencing winter.

Happy Valentine's Day

Wishing a wonderful Valentine's Day to my boys!

Happy Birthday Steve

Birthday month continues...


Happy Birthday Steve!!!

There was some debate over whether this shirt better suited CJ,
 at times they really are' two peas in a pod'.

Peanut butter ice cream cake was the cake of choice for Steve.
The family trend is for a birthday treat that is not a traditional cake.
Seems appropriate for us.

We ALL enjoyed the cake!!!

CJ Turns 14

On the morning of CJ's birthday he found presents and 'cake' awaiting him.
He was very curious about the silver one, wondering why his parents would be giving him some kind of spirits. He turned to me and said 'I don't think I can concentrate through the exam today unless I know what is in that bottle holder'.

So, not wanting to be the cause of 'concentration issues' he opened the mysterious container to find no adult beverages...really CJ?! Instead he found a gift card that would help him in his quest to build the spaceship of his dreams.

After a yummy dinner, Bourbon Chicken as per the birthday boy's request, it was time for cake and presents.

He was very pleased with every aspect of  his birthday (minus the Algebra exam) and even managed to have cake for breakfast the next day.

Rock House & Old Man's Cave

 Since the weather was warm, for December, and sunny we decided to take a trip to Hocking Hills.
It was interesting seeing the caves in a different season.

Steve and CJ

A family portrait.

Hey, that kid looks like ours.

The Sphynx Rock