Staff of life
So it's rather manky outside. The weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse at the start of this week - the sunny spell at ten o'clock notwithstanding - and to be quite honest, I'm rather pleased about it. Not at the prospect of damp feet and smelly socks, which being now a pedestrian rather confines me to, but rather at the idea of sitting snug in my little place and enjoying it. At least for the next couple of months, before it starts getting bitter again and I have to spend another fortune on my storage heating. I shall be investing in a large number of packet soups, teabags and big jumpers.
Have been on somewhat of a Bronte-related overdose of yet. Good books and plays so far, not all of them Bronte-authored, and I'm feeling all virtuous for visiting the classics. I should really have read them before now, but I think that it's only at this time in my life that I'd have been interested enough to enjoy them; I'm beginning to appreciate a lot more that much of what I think, say and feel has been done over a thousand times before and recorded in much more beautiful language than I could ever essay. And it's right handy for refreshing your vocabulary, heavily-laden with chemistry-jargon. I'm enjoying it, and will be moving onto the books of sister number three tomorrow.
Play is running on apace and I still have learned hardly any of my lines. Really I should sit down tonight and do some of that, but I think I'm more likely to spend some time at it tomorrow evening, and in fact that would be a good way to spend it. Rehearsals tomorrow, but I shall hopefully be home early and that gives me a good couple of hours, which if dedicated I'll have at least a scene down pat. Really I should have the lot down pat already, but I cant seem to work up enthusiasm for this one....it's a bit of a crap one, to my mind, but it'll probably turn out all right!
The other thing which has been taking up a lot of my time is a sudden obsession with bread-making. Bread is so ridiculously expensive these days, that I begrudge paying so much for it, especially when a lot of it is just so much pap. So I decided to have a little go at making some myself, courtesy of a recipe I found via google and have since had the bare-faced cheek to lose the link to (whilst retaining a printed copy). Shame, 'cos it's a good recipe I'd happily have shared! Bread-making turns out to be a lot of fun. Unhurried, the greater part of your time devoted to waiting for rise, and therapeutic, something about kneading which is fundamentally satisfying, though I cant go at full whack with my wrist still a bit dodgy. And I turn our rather passable loaves; at least I think so, and there are few others who will have it inflicted on them. P will be diplomatic here and keep his trap shut if he doesn't like. But I think it will do me, and a regular couple of bags of flour will have to make their way into my weekly shop from now on, inconveniently large though they may be. Buying in large quantities, easily done via the internet, doesnt seem to be such a good plan; delivery costs push up the price, to say nothing of the logistics of delivery (and I dont want a half-cwt of flour left out in the hallway for god-knows-what to get at it), and most of the stuff you seem to be able to get is OTT-organic stuff, which would defeat the point of making bread (cheaply) in the first place. I just want bog-standard, gluten-rich white flour! None of your three-seeded macrobiotic hand-reared silk-polished guff!
I've even gone so far as to attempt to tend my own yeast colony. Sounds hideous, eh? As if I've scraped my athlete's foot into a jar and am watching it fester, but no - a bit of flour, a bit of water and a bit of dried yeast for a reliable kick-start and all I have to do is wait. My flat may begin to stink of beer in a couple of days, but if my starter can thrive, I wont even have to buy yeast anymore, just tend my little microbial friends and turn them into delicious loaves every once in a while.
And on that note, I have to go check my proving dough.....
Have been on somewhat of a Bronte-related overdose of yet. Good books and plays so far, not all of them Bronte-authored, and I'm feeling all virtuous for visiting the classics. I should really have read them before now, but I think that it's only at this time in my life that I'd have been interested enough to enjoy them; I'm beginning to appreciate a lot more that much of what I think, say and feel has been done over a thousand times before and recorded in much more beautiful language than I could ever essay. And it's right handy for refreshing your vocabulary, heavily-laden with chemistry-jargon. I'm enjoying it, and will be moving onto the books of sister number three tomorrow.
Play is running on apace and I still have learned hardly any of my lines. Really I should sit down tonight and do some of that, but I think I'm more likely to spend some time at it tomorrow evening, and in fact that would be a good way to spend it. Rehearsals tomorrow, but I shall hopefully be home early and that gives me a good couple of hours, which if dedicated I'll have at least a scene down pat. Really I should have the lot down pat already, but I cant seem to work up enthusiasm for this one....it's a bit of a crap one, to my mind, but it'll probably turn out all right!
The other thing which has been taking up a lot of my time is a sudden obsession with bread-making. Bread is so ridiculously expensive these days, that I begrudge paying so much for it, especially when a lot of it is just so much pap. So I decided to have a little go at making some myself, courtesy of a recipe I found via google and have since had the bare-faced cheek to lose the link to (whilst retaining a printed copy). Shame, 'cos it's a good recipe I'd happily have shared! Bread-making turns out to be a lot of fun. Unhurried, the greater part of your time devoted to waiting for rise, and therapeutic, something about kneading which is fundamentally satisfying, though I cant go at full whack with my wrist still a bit dodgy. And I turn our rather passable loaves; at least I think so, and there are few others who will have it inflicted on them. P will be diplomatic here and keep his trap shut if he doesn't like. But I think it will do me, and a regular couple of bags of flour will have to make their way into my weekly shop from now on, inconveniently large though they may be. Buying in large quantities, easily done via the internet, doesnt seem to be such a good plan; delivery costs push up the price, to say nothing of the logistics of delivery (and I dont want a half-cwt of flour left out in the hallway for god-knows-what to get at it), and most of the stuff you seem to be able to get is OTT-organic stuff, which would defeat the point of making bread (cheaply) in the first place. I just want bog-standard, gluten-rich white flour! None of your three-seeded macrobiotic hand-reared silk-polished guff!
I've even gone so far as to attempt to tend my own yeast colony. Sounds hideous, eh? As if I've scraped my athlete's foot into a jar and am watching it fester, but no - a bit of flour, a bit of water and a bit of dried yeast for a reliable kick-start and all I have to do is wait. My flat may begin to stink of beer in a couple of days, but if my starter can thrive, I wont even have to buy yeast anymore, just tend my little microbial friends and turn them into delicious loaves every once in a while.
And on that note, I have to go check my proving dough.....
posted by J at 7:18 PM
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