Cold Morning...Warm Bread

I thought we were in Florida!  The thermometer read a nippy 38 degrees when we crawled out of our cozy bed this morning!!  No frost and no ice on the birdbath, which is really nice.  I know, don't be such a complainer.... Vt is below ZERO !  Well, it sure is nice out there now at 3 PM.  Don't even need my sweater.  And one does sleep really well when it is cooler.

I have slowed down a bit this week.  All our activities at the Hall have been cancelled because of a nasty respiratory bug that has so many laid low.  We are hoping to stop its spread by not having so many public gatherings.  SO I have done some housework, knit another scarf, made a big pot of soup today and a loaf of really great bread.   Rosemary olive oil bread. We had some for lunch, right out of the oven!  Yum ! Here's the recipe if you want to try it.

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

1 C. Warm Water

1 Tbsp. Sugar 

2 Tsp yeast

Combine these in a med. sized bowl then mix spices and flour together

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. fresh or 2 tsp. dried Rosemary

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp each... basil and oregano

1/4 tsp. garlic granules

2 C. flour  (I used 1 cup each bread flour and all purpose flour)

1 egg white and 1 tsp water for a wash just before baking

Mix up... knead and set to rise in warm place till doubled, about 40 min.

Punch down and knead till you can form a nice round loaf.

Place on a greased backing sheet or round baking stone if you have one.

When risen again, coat with the egg wash and sprinkle on another tsp. of rosemary

Bake at 350 for about 30-35 min.  

It was great warm!

Tomorrow my new cell phone arrives.... so they tell me !  Hope so as I am anxious to have an updated one.  It will take me awhile to learn how to use it I'm sure.  It will have a touch screen and be capable of lots of things.  (Bet it can't make a loaf of bread!)   I decided NOT to go with an iphone simply because I am to frugal to pay the monthly extravagance of having such a fancy one.  I did get an LG800G, which has a lot of bells and whistles IF I decide I want to use them or order apps.  TracFone has them now and I like the no contract concept and I now get triple minutes.  SO we will see how that works.

Just went out to pick some collards for my friend.  They grow like crazy here.  We have a Cardinal couple who come every afternoon to eat at the feeder and take a bath in the bird bath.  I have never before seen a male Cardinal hop right into the bird bath and splash around.  The little birds do it all the time but he really splashes it up!  Yesterday we had a bluebird come and check out the bluebird house.  Last year we didn't get any bluebirds.  Hope they liked the place and will move in.

The Collards

This birdseed has started to grow!

Mr. Cardinal in the bath

On Monday the grandkids and their mom came up to visit us.  SO great getting to hug them and spend some time with them.  How they grow!  Nick is taller than Grampa by a little bit!  Wow!  And so handsome too.  And our little Mikayla is all grown up and just a beautiful girl.  She is learning to drive! Can hardly believe it.  Both love their school and are doing really well.  Nick plays football and of course loves that.  Time marches on!

Keep well .... stay warm and I hope you don't get the bug!   Or the flu!   

A quote for you:    "God is the only one who can make the valley of trouble a door of  Hope"

                                                                                                                 Catherine Marshall