Sunday, November 18, 2007

Weekend wanderings



After reading several friends blogs, I've decided that I'd like to join this exciting world of blogging. So here goes... wish me luck on my first attempt!

What a weekend this has been! My wonderful husband I are truly blessed. Literally! This Friday, we had a house blessing and I absolutely loved having all of the people from church here. Our priest called Thursday evening to let us know how many people we should expect and the number of attendees ended up being about 10 more than that!! But each individual that arrived was someone who meant the world to each of us!!!! WOW! I worried a little bit about seating and food since we had so many extras show up, but shouldn't have. It all worked out. We had more than enough food, wines, desserts and seating. :) In fact we ended up with lots of left overs (especially desserts and wine).

Then yesterday, my dear husband headed off to a conference for work and I was blessed by having the time to go work in the yard with my church friends. This is the first work day that I've attended in quite some time. I really enjoyed it...
Then when I got home, I discovered that our dogs Rachel and Shayne had uncovered a bit of a brick walkway in our yard. Neither my husband nor I had any idea it existed. So off to the hardware store I went to purchase a hoe. Hoe in hand I worked diligently for over an hour clearing dirt and grass and weeds off of our newly discovered walkway. It did not turn to be as large as I'd hoped that it would be...but my arms are thankful for this. It's about six feet long and has the nicest brick patter. I'll try to post a picture of our new walkway soon so that you can share in our excitement. Once it was cleared though...the image of this walkway made all of the work worthwhile, even if my allergies are giving me hell today for having done so much work outside yesterday, but c'est la vie.

So I decided to turn my interests in doors after my outdoor adventures and have been perfecting my bread baking skills. I attempted two different breads yesterday and had one turn out pretty good. It would have been better, I think, if I'd put the ingredients in, in the right order. So I'll try that again soon. In the meantime; however, here's the recipe. I hope that you all have as much fun playing as I did.

Amish white bread

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.

Mix salt and oil into the yeast.
Mix in flour one cup at a time.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat.
Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half. Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

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