Quick daily posts

[fccs]

But you have cats, Richard.... therefore once the girls up and leave your house still won't be your own....it belongs to those Fabulous Felines!

Yes but at least they purr amiably at you and then go off and do their own thing

One of the many reasons why I love cats! In fairness, I also love dogs - you can leave the room and come back ten seconds later and they are happy to see you, as if you've been gone for years.

[richardandtracy]

Well, one of the things I really appreciate about our current clutch of cats is that they quite like to see us. Not like old Albert (my avatar) who was just as likely to swear long and hard at you as he was to sit on a lap. He hated rain, always sat out in it and swore at us for not changing the weather when he wanted it changed. We were often subject to his swear-ups. He sat foresquare in the living room, facing the sofa, head level with his shoulders and yowled at us, putting in so much effort in that he lent forward and rose onto his toes every time he swore at us, and did so for up to 5 minutes before getting it off his chest. We always felt very chastened after he'd insulted us, our children, our children's children, our parents, grand parents, and the rest of the human race. Individually. He was very thorough in making sure no-one was left out.

I do know that the house won't be entirely ours once the girls go, but the cats are just so adorable we can't complain about them...

Regards,

Richard.

[fccs]

Ha! Albert sounds pretty amazing.

Jackson is more like a dog, I think because he grew up with dogs. He will come when I call him more often than not. He greets me at the door. He goes right up to people who might be here fixing things, sure he can help.

[Mabel Figworthy]

So the cats are more adorable than the girls, are they Richard? Do your daughters read the Forum ?

Doing a virtual baking session with my best friend in the Netherlands this morning, to compensate for the fact that this is the first time in over 25 years of friendship that we won't have seen each other in real life for over a year
At the moment we're in between sessions as the dough is proving
We're making Challah, mine cinnamon and hers choc chip. And we're both going to attempt the four-stranded round braid

[richardandtracy]

Yes & no respectively Mabel.
Everyone in our household is fully aware of the relative positions of cats & humans in the pecking order. Humans are not the dominant species in the view of any of us.

Debby, Albert was, erm, unusual. OK, he was a one-off. It's not every cat that launches unprovoked attacks Doberman's and Alsatians (German Shepherd Dogs) for the simple pleasure of it, as he did. Or is terrified by a small frog. I have never come across another cat like him, or even remotely like him. The only fictional equivalent I have come across is 'Greebo' in Terry Pratchett's Disc World series.

Regards,

Richard.

[Sahari]

We're making Challah, mine cinnamon and hers choc chip. And we're both going to attempt the four-stranded round braid

That's so cool that you and your besty baked together virtually, Mabel. How did it turn out?

I made some for the first time a couple weeks back, which was a feat because we don't eat eggs -- finally found someone on YouTube who had reworked the recipe using Just Egg (a wonderful, wonderful product made from mung beans!). I did the four-stranded braid too, which was fun. How long did you knead your dough, btw? I think I underkneaded mine... I 'knead' to try again and your post has inspired me to do so.

Sahari

[Mabel Figworthy]

Mine was slightly challenged by me forgetting to put the yeast in...

I'd been measuring out some of the ingredients in advance, and then added others while we were on video call, and somehow the yeast got left out In an absolute first I then kneaded it in almost at the end of the first prove, and left it for a bit longer. It came out all right, I'm happy to say!

This particular recipe said to knead for 7 minutes which I thought was far too short, so I did it for about 15 mins which is my usual time.

Also note to self and others - the lady who did the video for the cinnamon version put hers in a straight plait, and because of the wetness of the filling that would have been a better idea than this four-stranded round braid, which was slightly undercooked and soggy right in the middle (I'd still use the round braid for a "dry" bread). All the rest tasted lovely so that was fine

[rcperryls]

But you have cats, Richard.... therefore once the girls up and leave your house still won't be your own....it belongs to those Fabulous Felines!

Yes but at least they purr amiably at you and then go off and do their own thing

But then they do come back and start ordering you about.

Carole

[Mabel Figworthy]

Here are my friend and I showing off our breads. We ate far too much of ours!

[richardandtracy]

What a lovely thing to do.

Regards,

Richard.

[fccs]

Richard, I haven’t read any of Terry Pratchett’s books, but now I think I must so I can learn about Greebo.

Mabel, your baked goods look yummy! What a fun idea, too.

[richardandtracy]

Debby, the best one featuring Greebo is 'Witches Abroad'. It's a re-working of the Cinderella story, but not as you'd know it, with all sorts of other things thrown into the mix.

Regards,

Richard.

[Sahari]

All this black stitching is making me a tad crazy. The little tiny specs of the aida showing through has me reworking stitches and the blackness makes it difficult for me to find the top threads so snagging ensues, leading to frogging, leading to craziness. I'm thinking that in the future, full cover projects that have this much black would be better stitched on black aida, using a light source behind the frame.

On the upside, I'm already 1251 stitches in on my Lovely Butterbur.

Mabel, that bread looks good enough to eat! I do knead our sourdough bread 15 minutes too but thought that'd be too much for such a dryer dough. You and your friend do look like you're cut from the same cloth. Destiny friends I call that.

Sahari

[poppy]

Your baking look delicious, Mabel. What a fantastic idea!

[richardandtracy]

Shari, when working with black fabric, the light needs to be good on both sides, not just the back.

Regards,

Richard.

[Sahari]

Shari, when working with black fabric, the light needs to be good on both sides, not just the bac

Thanks Richard, I do realize that. I should have said 'in addition to' my top light. ~Sahari

[Sahari]

as we are rationing our bread supplies.

Is flour hard to come by where you are? We've been stockpiling a bit because I'm worried it will get that way here... I haven't bought a loaf of bread in over two years I think. And I bake sourdough so I don't need to worry about the yeast supply.

[Serinde]

See! I'm away at a wedding on Friday, and everything happens here! Yes, since you ask, a lovely wedding; small, of course, but in a beautiful situation and every chap -- and I mean just about every chap except 2 old gentlemen and a baby-- were kilted, of course, and even the baby had tartan trews. Younger Son did his Best Man thing very well, too, so everyone happy.

@Mabel, the bread looks scrummy. Never made that sort, so I might give it a try.

@Sahari, bread flour was scarce on store shelves in the spring in the UK, but not because there wasn't any flour. It was an issue of bagging it up for household use instead of wholesale for bakeries. As a result, it's now possible to get large (4kg) sacks from one of our larger supermarkets, which simply means you need to find a way to store it. But I might suggest that you buy a bit extra if there's a particular type of flour that is usually difficult to source.I bought 2 x 1kg bags of Hovis Granary the other day -- haven't seen that in my Tesco for yonks. Win!

[Mabel Figworthy]

Glad to hear the wedding went so well - it all sounds very lovely and very Scottish (which are practically synonyms anyway, of course )

The bread was definitely a winner despite the late addition of yeast, but the round braid is too thick for something with this wet filling, so next time I'll do a plain plait as the lady suggested in her video. If you want the recipe give a shout.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I follow a podcast where two guys, Adam and Chris, discuss modern technology and faith - this time one of them tried to describe crochet to the other (don't ask...)

Adam: "It's kinda like knitting, I think."
Chris: "I think they're different right?"
Adam: "Knitting has straight needles and crocheting has like a hooked needle."
Chris: "Oh my gosh how do you know this?"
Adam: "You might just have one needle or maybe you have two needles, and you end up with a scarf, basically."