My Day

Baking away a snowy day! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Limpa Bread

 during the rising

Honey Wheat Bread

ready for the tasting

Yes, I said the 's' word

SNOW!

Check it out ~ I linked up with

 Under the Table and Dreaming

Homemade Soft Pretzels

As often as I've baked bread, I've never made 'Homemade Soft Pretzels' until today. I was planning to bake some bread and having just seen a recipe that Alton Brown had posted on the internet, I used it as my guide but then (you know me) I went about and changed the recipe.  The first alteration was that I used a sourdough bread recipe and then I decided to add garlic powder, onions and herbs. Oh yeah - very good choice! The recipe calls for boiling them first then baking ... and I must say they turned out GREAT!! 

Bummin' and Bakin'

We spent a few days sharing time and laughs having a mini family reunion with some of my husbands side of the family.  They put on many miles doing one of their favorite things ~ casino hopping!  And I mean hopping! They jump in the van and visit casinos to and fro as they travel up from Tennessee, and Illinois to North Central Wisconsin .  We had a ball, won some money, lost some money, won some money, lost some money.  Final tally ~ we had some  winners and we had some losers!  But a good time was had by all.
We also visited the local park where our sweet Aunt who's 80 years young showed us how she's still a kid at heart.

What a doll!

EDITION:  When I originally posted this yesterday I forgot to add my Bakin' stuff. So here it is. While we were gone our rhubarb grew and was needing harvesting on our return.  So it was time to bake up a Strawberry Rhubarb Custard Pie and a small batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam; 3 jars and bowl for quick use.  The rest went into the freezer for later use.

Snow Crusted Rhubarb

O, wind,

 if winter comes,

 can spring

 be far behind?

~

Percy Bysshe Shelley

O, ruby rhubarb

how I prefer you

encrusted in pie

with streusel topping!

~

CherShots

Blessings Surround Me

I got up early this morning and as I walked from room to room, I caught myself smiling.  I realized it's the little things in life that make me smile on a daily basis.


I started the day off by baking a rhubarb custard pie with steusel topping. I was pulling it out of the oven just before 8:00 a.m.  Now mind you, that is quite ambitious for the likes of me.

I spotted a deer right out the kitchen window.

I love my collections of glass bottles and cookbooks.

I adore this little teapot my Aunt Gerry snuck into my suitcase when we last visited her, just because she knew I loved it so.

And as you know from prior postings, we like wine. So I displayed a wine bottle surrounded by an ivy draping from a birchbark basket, setting alongside a grape motif plate box.

I recognize my blessings, large and small and will never take them for granted.