How the Bread-baking is Going So Far (An Update from the Farm Wife)

First of all, if you can cook or bake without wearing an apron, and you have clothes that aren't stained beyond recognition, my hat's off to you.  It's hard to even tell in this picture (which I made my patient husband take before he headed off to the gym) just how covered with flour I am.  Flour, and who knows what else.

Anyhoo, I thought you might like a little update, after this breathtakingly interesting recent post (wherein I compared myself to a farm wife.  LOL!  I mean, really--LOL!).

I am now on my fourth round of bread-making (two loaves at a time), and I'm getting a bit more confident with each try.  We're just about to finish up the last of my third round of loaves, so I had to get baking today or we would find ourselves in the sad position of having no bread at all in the house!

The flour mill we purchased is a breeze to use.  You put in these wheat seeds (or wheat "berries," is what they're actually called), they get ground up in a matter of seconds, and you end up with a pile of nice, fluffy flour.  (Not as fluffy as your typical store-bought white all-purpose flour; but still, very fluffy.)  It's like magic!

Now that I'm a bread baker, I decided it was reasonable to treat myself to some new bread pans yesterday. I was at TJ Maxx and saw some speckled pastel-colored, non-stick beauties for $5.99 apiece, and I just had to get two of them.  I've been using glass pans, but I think I'm going to like these better.

Bread-baking is so satisfying.  I love seeing the dough rise.  You let it double in size a first time.  (To aid with the rising, I put the oven on warm and set the bowl of bread dough on top of it, and then I cover the bowl with a damp dish towel.)

After the first rise, you "punch it down," split it into two lumps and put those in the bread pans to rise again.  When the dough has doubled in size once more, the loaves are ready to bake.  I brush the tops with an egg wash before I put them in the oven.

I'm sorry if this is sort of boring for many of you (if you're even still here...).  I just find this whole process so amazing, and so incredibly fulfilling.  It feels like such a huge accomplishment to me, to be a able to take those hard little "berries" and then a few hours later see that they've morphed into two loaves of  soft, warm, delicious bread!  To use one of my daughters-in-law's favorite terms, baking bread is “life-giving" to me!

The new pans worked great--the loaves popped right out of them.  My husband and I both sampled a slice when they were still warm, right out of the oven (smothered in butter, of course).  Heaven!

Actually...I think man could technically live on this bread alone.  If he had to.

I Feel Like a Farm Wife (LOL!)

That up there is definitely an LOL kind of statement. 

Because the truth is that we live in a cookie cutter neighborhood (with an HOA) in a small town, on plot of land approximately the size of a postage stamp, and the only garden item we have (other than the glorious perennials that blossom every spring along the side of the house--inherited from the former green-thumbed owners, God bless ‘em!) is a small potted basil plant in the kitchen, which was gifted to me recently by my daughter-in -law Ginger.  We don’t have chickens or goats, or even a dog or a cat or a goldfish. The only “critter” we have on our property is the Bigfoot statue in our perennial garden, a nod to my late dad (because that’s what his grandkids called him, per his request!).

So it’s safe to say that a farmer’s wife I am NOT!

You can definitely see Bigfoot better in the winter!

But my husband and I have recently decided to mill our own flour and bake homemade bread (and other yummy pastry items, too) with it.  So far, I’ve made four loaves of bread and one pan of brownies with our freshly milled flour.  As my two loaves were rising today, I told my husband that this homemaking task makes me feel like a farm wife.  :)  It’s so satisfying!  It means that even if I accomplish nothing else all day, I've made bread!  All by myself!

(BTW, I mentioned our plan to start milling our own flour from wheat berries, at the end of a post here not too long ago, if you missed it and are interested.)

In other news--we also joined a co-op, and yesterday we picked up our first two gallons of raw milk.

What?!

At 65, my hubby and I have decided to eat healthier.  (Or crunchier...potato, po-tah-to.)  Our goal is to try to maintain our health without going on any daily prescription meds.  So far, so good; but at our age, we figured it might be a good idea to really ramp up our efforts so that it can hopefully stay that way.

I mean, I'm not gonna lie: my husband and I both love store-bought white breads and rolls. I sheepishly admit that we both enjoy so many fun, overly processed snack items that can be found at the grocery store. (I know you’re supposed to only shop the outer perimeter of the store and avoid the middle aisles…but the middle ones sure have a lot of hard-to-resist offerings!)  And I definitely like the look of store-bought milk better  than the raw stuff straight from Bessie, which is a little yellower in color.  (I can be squeamish about food that has a different appearance than what I'm used to.) 

HOWEVER, we’re determined to make a change in our diet!  So flour-milling and bread-baking and raw milk-drinking it is! 

Hard white wheat berries, before milling.

And the flour that is produced from those berries in no time flat, 
using this electric mill.

Bread-baking ingredients.  And Mary looking on.  (I just love my
Kitchen Madonna!)

Last Friday, I made my first two loaves, using hot water, oil, honey, lecithin, flour, yeast, and salt.  It was pretty good…maybe a tad dry and crumbly.  But okay.

I baked my favorite brownies as a Sunday treat, using soft white wheat berries to make the flour.  They were dee-licious.

Today, I baked two more loaves of bread, but this time I used butter instead of oil and I added the optional egg to the dough.  Then before I baked the loaves, I brushed the tops of them with an egg wash, which gave them a nice shiny brown crust.

And oh my, these loaves were so much better than my first ones!  I don't know if it had to do with the added egg, or with substituting butter for oil, or if possibly the hot water I used on my first batch wasn't quite hot enough.  But I think we have a winner here!  I like knowing that I can bake an eggless bread, because I have a few grandchildren who are allergic to eggs (and I'm going to experiment more with the eggless recipe to see if I can get it to turn out a little moister and fluffier).  But the loaves I made today--YUM!

To give you an idea of the difference between the first loaves I baked and the ones I made today, in the picture below that's the first try on the right and today's bread on the left.  Quite a difference in appearance, am I right?  I'm almost wondering now if the problem was that I didn't let my first batch rise long enough.  (Hopefully after a bit of experience at this, practice will make perfect and I'll feel confident that I can tell when my rising dough has doubled in size!)  

Did you want to hear about homemade bread today?  Was this post absolutely riveting?  LOL!

I'm just so tickled about all of this, and it makes me kinda wish that we did have enough land to have a chicken coop out back, so we'd have fresh eggs as well, and room to plant a vegetable garden. I think if we had gotten this bee in our bonnet many years ago, my husband and I would have jumped on the homesteading train that seems to be popular with lots of younger folks these days. I'm afraid that ship has sailed, though (or that train has left the station!).  But I do think we're going to enjoy making breads and baked goods with our vitamin- and nutrient-rich home-milled flour.  

I'll try not to write too many bread-themed posts.  But I can't promise that this is the last you'll hear about it!

One last note before I sign off: lest you think I regret that we chose our pleasant little house with no land to speak of, located in a sweet but crowded small town neighborhood, instead of a farmhouse on a couple of acres, where we could grow our own food (and maybe even milk our own cow!), nothing could be further from the truth.  We have already created so many wonderful family memories in this VA house, which is located close to so many of those whom we hold dear to our hearts and is a perfect central meeting place for our VA boys and their families.  When I look out my door, I don't see rows of vegetables reaching toward the sun, or chickens wandering about pecking in the dirt...but I often see sights like this. Grandchildren running up our front walk, excited to come to Papa and Grammy's house.

I might not be a farm wife.  But I'm a very happy Grammy.

Happy Birthday, Princesa!

One of our granddaughters--son #3's bright-eyed cutie pie, whom I call "Princesa" here at the blog--turned 5 yesterday. It's kind of hard to believe, because this whole past year that she's been 4, I've had to remind myself that she wasn't 6 or 7 yet, because in so many ways she seems way ahead of her years. She's the second oldest in her family, with a 6-year-old brother and two younger sisters.  But if she wasn't so petite in stature next to her big brother, you might guess that she was the firstborn.

Our Princesa is a sassy little firecracker who is über-girly: she is constantly stashing away her precious "girl stuff" (that is, anything pink or purple or sparkly, anything princess-related) in secret little nooks and crannies for safekeeping.  She says that she wants to be a mommy when she grows up, and she's learning the ropes by tending to her baby sister and carrying her all around the house.

Princesa has a bit of tomboy in her too, however; she's fast-running, high-jumping, and athletic, a whiz on a bike or a scooter. She is no shrinking violet and seems tough as nails at times, as if nothing could faze her...but then she has this soft, very sensitive side that comes out, just when you least expect it.  It has been infinitely interesting watching her develop into the little lady she has become thus far, and I can hardly wait to see what this next year brings.

My blog handle for this granddaughter (the Spanish word for "princess") was on point, because she is about as Disney princess-crazy as you can get, with her favorites currently being sisters Anna and Elsa from Frozen and Frozen II. 

So obviously, that was the theme for the birthday party her parents planned for her special day.  And obviously, that was the theme for the birthday cake I baked and decorated for her to celebrate this milestone birthday.

Happy Birthday to our darling princess-loving Princesa, who is now 5-going-on-12.  We love her to Arendelle--actually to the moon--and back!

Blogging is Writing...Right?

My last post  here at String of Pearls bemoaned the fact that my writing career has been somewhat less than stellar, in terms of worldly success.  I have had two Catholic novels published, one in 2012 and the other in 2014, and if I measured their value by the number of book sales they've generated, I would feel like a bit of a failure as a writer.

But never fear, it was not a sad or negative post!   Because I do believe that the path my life took is exactly the one God had mapped out for me.  I know that writing success is not measured in dollars, at least not in God's eyes.

And what a bonus blogging is--because even if I don't have another novel in me, I have this marvelous writing outlet.  If nothing else, dear readers, I can still come here any day I want, write up a post, and push the "publish" button.  I am so grateful for this blog--which has brought so many blessings into my life over the years.  I have "met" people here whom I would otherwise never have known, and these connections have enriched my life in countless ways.  (One of these people is Kari Burke, author of a lovely pro-life novel called The Life I Dreamed.   If you can get your hands on a copy of it, do!)

So today, I am doing a very writerly sort of thing--the sort of thing I used to do when I was writing my second novel, Erin's Ring: I am sitting at a table at Panera, with my laptop plugged in and my stomach way too full after a pretty awesome lunch (comprised of half of a Bacon Turkey Bravo sandwich and a cup of tomato soup--is that TMI?).  And I am blogging--which is writing...right?

I've been meaning to reply to some lovely messages that were left in the comboxes of my last few posts, but I've been so busy that past few days with family events and activities that I haven't had the opportunity.  So that was the first order of business today.  And hopefully, while I'm sitting here without all the usual distractions of home (my favorite place to putter mindlessly), I'll also be able to type up a second installment of the "Refections on Theology of Home" series I started here.

If I was at home, I might put blogging on the back burner and instead find a piece of furniture to paint--like a sweet little antique table that my mother-in-law gave me decades ago.  This humble pine beauty started its life with us as a side table in our NH family room, with a honey-colored stain and a country-style stencil treatment.  Then it was painted black and used as a bedside table in the guest room.  It's been languishing in the basement storage area of our new house for the past few years, still black but nicked-up and looking a bit worse for wear, until just the other day--when I decided it should have a new home in our VA family room and gave it a chalk paint makeover.

My favorite hue for giving a room a "pop of color" is red!

I love that when I look at this little red table, I am reminded of Mom.  Because of that, I could never part with it.

I am an incurable homebody, and I can always find a thousand little projects like that one to work on in my endless quest to make my home as cozy and comfortable as it can be.  And don't even get me started on baking.  (Does anyone else out there find baking to be a deeply therapeutic activity?)

Luckily, with a family as big as ours is now, there is always a birthday cake that needs baking--so Grammy's Bakery is always open for business.

Well, that's it for this post, which is seems to be about nothing (like Seinfeld--remember that hilarious episode?).  It's kind of all over the place.

But hopefully I'll be back next time with more cohesive thoughts inspired by Theology of Home--a book that is beautifully written and filled with gorgeous photographs, a book that I highly recommend.

What We All Wore Sunday (Princesa's Get-up Takes the Cake!)

I'm blogging for the second day in a row, which hasn't happened since...since I can't remember when.  This is cause for a celebration, I think--so OPEN THE CABINETS!   (Sorry, if you are not a Pearl you will not get that reference; but here's a very old post, written back when I was a newbie blogger, that explains why we use that phrase in place of, "Woo hoo, time to party!"  It's a short and kind of humorous post, if you're interested in clicking on over to read it.)

Anyway, today I'm joining Rosie at a blog for my mom, for one of my very favorite blog activities: the "My Sunday Best" link-up.

I don't have a whole lot to show you as far as my Sunday fashion choices.  Today, I wore what has essentially become an almost daily uniform for me: a black skirt that I've had for eons, purchased at TJ Maxx; black opaque tights (great varicose vein hiders) from Walmart; and my favorite comfy black leather flats.  On top: a hot-pink cotton twinset from JC Penney (which I've also had for eons), accented by the gorgeous silver Celtic cross that my youngest son bought when he was visiting the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland last fall and gave me this past Christmas.

You don't need to see the bottom part of my outfit in this awkward selfie snapped in the kitchen of my husband's childhood home.  There's just a lot of black going on, per usual.  I am a creature of habit (a nice way of saying that I'm a bit on the boring side).

You know who really did make a splash this Sunday with their Mass ensembles, however?  That would be son #2 and his little namesake (and virtual mini-me), who were looking extremely dapper in matching powder blue.

When my daughter-in-law Ginger texted this picture to us a couple of hours ago, I thought, "Oh, this is too good not to share!"  So with permission, here he is, our adorable Junior, wearing a John John Kennedy-inspired romper and round-collared shirt.  I love it when wee lads are dressed just so, in delightfully vintage-looking styles; I think my grandson looks like a little British prince in this get-up.  I also love it that his dad has recently made a commitment to wearing a suit to Mass every Sunday, complete with a button-down shirt and tie.  My hubby and I decided years ago that we wanted to get dressed in our Sunday Best every week, and he started wearing a suit coat and tie while I started wearing a skirt or dress.  We are big fans of the idea of putting on your best outfits to attend the most important event of every week, Sunday Mass.

Another one of my VA grandchildren was sporting a priceless outfit last Sunday, when we were down visiting so that we could attend a big party in honor of her first birthday.  Princesa, the daughter of son #3 and Preciosa (and the younger sister of G-Man), wore the best thing she could possibly wear when it was time to dive into her smash cake: she wore her birthday suit, accented by a sweet felt crown made especially for the occasion by her mom and her maternal grandmother.

Princesa had a lovely dress on earlier, before this picture was taken; but I think this outfit is the real winner.

The smash cake was a bit of a winner, too.  It was my one contribution to the birthday festivities, and I was determined to get it right. 

My first effort was a Pinterest fail, as you can see.

But I posted the photo of my epic failure on Instagram and got some wonderful advice about Wilton icing tips from one of my best online buddies.  So the second try was much more successful.

Just looking at the above photos of two of our little VA darlings convinces me that, although it won't be easy to leave our home in NH, we are doing the right thing by moving closer to them.  The next time one of them has a birthday, we won't have to head to the airport and spend half the day getting to the party; it'll just be a short drive by car.  Another reason to open up those cabinets, folks!  (Also, being able to let your little one eat her cake while stripped down to a diaper, sitting outside, in February?  There are going to be some very nice things about living in a southern climate!)

Okay, before I go I just have to share one more picture of Junior where he's absolutely killing it fashion-wise.

I can't take it.  I can't.
  
And now if you'd like to have your cake and eat it too (am I trying too hard to make this post cohesive?),  head on over to Rosie's for more Sunday fashion talk. 

Happy Belated National Chocolate Cake Day!! And National Cake Day!! And Birthday!!

So I was catching up with my blogging friend Madeline over at A Dash of Snark this morning, and I realized that I had missed a national holiday without even knowing that it existed.  There is a holiday known as National Chocolate Cake Day!!  True story!  And I missed it!!

(Am I the only one who didn't know that this perfect excuse for baking one of the best treats a sweet tooth ever tasted even existed?  Did everyone else know about it and not tell me?  Were you keeping it from me because you wanted to help me finally start and stick to the "21-day fix" healthy eating program that is on my long list of grandiose and ambitious resolutions for 2017?)

Well, I Googled "National Chocolate Cake Day," and I found out that it was Friday, January 27, 2017.  That got me curious to know if there was also a National Cake Day for all kinds of cakes, so I Googled that (yes, that's how I spent my morning: Googling national cake holidays!); and it turns out this is a holiday as well--and it was last celebrated on Saturday, November 26, 2016.  Who knew?!  What's so sweet to me is that my dad's birthday is November 26; what's more, he died on November 25, 2016, one day shy of his 82nd birthday, which he really wanted to live to celebrate.

Well, I know now what I have to do: I'm going to bake a cake today in honor of Dad's birthday, and I'll start my "21-day fix" tomorrow.  (Yeah, that's it: tomorrow.)

So...what kind of cake to bake?  There are so many great choices!  My go-to, however, is always a golden cake (made with butter instead of oil), topped with homemade buttercream frosting.

And it just so happens that I have another great excuse, aside from Dad's birthday (and of course, the important national holiday that I missed), to bake such a cake.  In February, my husband and I are heading down to VA to celebrate the first birthday of our little granddaughter, Princesa.

And I was asked if I would be willing to make her a "smash cake" for the party, which will be a royal affair fit for a princess if I know her other grandmother (who could seriously start a party-planning business, she's that good at it).  My answer of course was, "Would I ever!"

So this is the kind of cake I'm going to try to make for Princesa's big day, using 6" round pans.

As soon as I can get out to the grocery store for baking supplies, I'm going to practice by making a prototype of this little beauty.  And then my husband and I are going to do some practice eating of the cake, I believe.  Just so we'll be up to speed for Princesa's birthday.

Yes, I want to "fix" my bad eating habits.  But life is too short...and I also believe that every now and then, I just need to

(P.S.--Perhaps I'll post a picture of my practice smash cake tomorrow...even if it's a "Pinterest fail"!)

Ready and Waiting

I've been busy making my house ready to have all five sons, four daughters-in-law, four grandchildren (and let's not forget two big dogs!) staying in it for about a week, starting this afternoon!  The great thing is that this two-story Colonial in which we raised our family is going to be able to fit 15 people and a pair of dogs fairly comfortably...which means that my husband and I are never, ever going to sell it.  (And if the grandkids keep coming--let's hope they do!--we may just have to convert our walk-up attic into a dormitory.)

Two of my sons are on the road right now, traveling up north from VA.  Son #3 is set to arrive within the hour, with his wife Preciosa and almost-three-month-old son G-Man; so is son #4 and his wife Braveheart, with their canine "babies" Allie and Finny.  A few hours after my two Charlottesville boys get here, my husband will be returning from his last trip until after the New Year (woot woot!), and he will meet our baby (a college senior who's flying in from Notre Dame) at the airport in Boston, then they'll drive home together.

Tomorrow, our firstborn, his wife of five years Regina, and their three adorable daughters will join the party.  And the day after that, #2 son and Ginger (the newlyweds!) will round out the crew.

To say that I'm looking forward to Christmas this year is the understatement of the century.

I have been baking, wrapping presents, cleaning, and arranging all the rooms so that everyone has a bed.  (Except my baby, who will be sleeping on a couch--which he will have no trouble doing, since he's been blessed with the ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, with lights, noise, etc. This is a handy skill that he and his brothers inherited from their Mom's side of the family tree.)

I'm on my way out to the grocery store, to get a few key items that we won't be able to do without around here once the gang has fully descended upon us.  So I'll just leave you with a few pictures that tell the story of my recent activities (which have not included blogging, you might have noticed!).

The Nativity is set up in its place of honor in the dining room...


.

...and I hope our grandchildren are entranced by it.

I've added length to our already quite long dining room table, by putting a round drop-leave table at the end, with one side down.  We should be able to squeeze 14 people around it now!  (G-Man gets a lap--mine, if I have anything to say about it!)

 The tree is lit!

Family game night, anyone?

And you can tell there are going to be little people around, that's for sure.

The fridge has magnets on it, for the wee animal lovers who
will arrive tomorrow!

This hand-crafted rocking horse, which we bought
from a FL neighbor for their father--about 30 years ago--
is still in great condition!

The high chair we bought for their dad is still in remarkably good shape,
too.  (There's a crack in the tray, but Grammy took care of that.)

There are Santas all over the place!



A got a new, very sturdy, version of "The Night Before Christmas,"
and I think we'll start a new tradition this year, and have Papa read it
aloud to the kids on Christmas Eve.

I hope the grandkids will be delighted with my little lighted village.


It's Ralphie's house and school from the movie "A Christmas Story,"
and the bridge from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life. "

I'm leaving some of the sugar cookies unadorned--and I plan to get some help decorating them, from a trio of miniature baker's assistants.

Well, it won't be long before the first of the troops will be pulling in the driveway, so I must go.  Is it possible to be TOO happy, I wonder?