Bakin' Bread

As this past new years eve drew nearer the thought of resolutions struck me as clique yet appropriate. One of my resolutions was to find a hobby I enjoy. Running was once my hobby that I could not get enough of but as time went on it just didn't give me that same enjoyment it once did. Having fallen into this rather boring zone of having no particular favorite past-time a new resolution was added to the list.

This summer, with a bit more time on my hands, I am determined to try almost anything to find out what I enjoy but have never tried. I have plans to sign up for a pottery class in hopes of making some oversized mugs to try and fulfill my roommates and my oversized love for large quantities of tea. I am still in the works of trying to convince my parents to let me turn part of our back yard into a vegetable garden but in the mean time I have taken up baking.

Baking cookies and the like is enjoyable but what has really sparked my interest is bread. Yup, just good ol bread. Everybody eats it, and its something that is easy enough to make at home.

One of the things I like most about baking bread is having an excuse to call up my Omas (my grandmas), both of them whom have baked an uncountable number of loaves of bread, have lots of words of wisdom when I call with questions. Calling and talking about baking bridges the fifty-something year age gap between us. When I call it feels more like Im calling up a friend for some helpful advise then I am calling up my Grandma to do simply what a good granddaughter should do.

today: bread, brunch, movie

A few different paragraphs for a few different thoughts

Today I feel great. I woke up and at last was met by a shining sun after a long stretch of cloudy, overcast mornings. On a day like this you want to roll out of bed to meet the sun, to find where the world has left space between the shadows to allow the sun’s delicate rays to beam upon and slowly warm and bring to life.

I love spring it gives a chance for new growth, and for life to spring up from its roots. I agree all of this sounds undeniably cliché but Spring is my favourite time of year and after my year in Germany, a year spent mainly with farmers, you learn to look as Spring in a different light. Spring is a gamble, where do you plant what and how much of it? Will the Spring nurture and coddle your plants or will the rain drown your seeds or even wash them away. Spring keeps you on the edge of your seat to see what summer will bring.

My dream garden which would take up the majority of my parent’s backyard and also the majority of my spare time, would be full or vegetables, fruits and herbs but within current standings I am more than willing to settle for a few potted tomato plants and some windowsill basil. Hopefully they grow well. And coupled with my new skill in-the-works of bread baking, I will be able to trade with our neighbors other veggies and home-grown goodness. If you have ever seen the show “The edible garden” you will understand what has inspired a large majority of my passion for home grown love! (Although I had no luck with getting chickens this summer, this will not be my last attempts at homegrown eggs!)

After a delicious breakfast of summer berries and yogurt I went to yoga. This week my mind has been running about a million miles a minute for no reason in particular. I found I couldn’t really focus at yoga and although it did feel great to stretch and move, I feel like the hour I spent just wasn’t enough time to let my mind drain of its running thoughts. I came home and ditched the idea of running errands and instead decided to spend the day in the kitchen baking bread and on the back-porch reading. It was a splendid day but alas I feel as though my mind is still on a treadmill of thought. Coming home from Uni was much different than expected. I’m not sure what it is with my need to know what’s coming next. I am a planner, I outline, I prepare, I try and know what’s to come.. to have some kind of expectation, but after 20 years of life I am beginning to learn that you shouldn’t keep expectations. Everything is constantly changing and expectations should never be concrete. Situations are constantly being reshaped and revamped by changes going on in life so why should something so fluid be subject to concrete expectations? I suppose I answered my own question, with this.

I want strawberry season so I can hit up Springridge Farms and pick a dangerous amount of strawberries and make buckets of jam for the winter months. Mmmm! Nothing like homemade jam on a slice of homemade bread.

Today: yoga, laundry, read, steak and beer with dad!