Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Shop Hop Loot & Singing Bread

Here are some of the goodies I got on our quilt shop trip to Country Loft and Fat Quarters.  Lots of rick rack, both jumbo and small.  A soy candle in Country Apple.  A Cheri Saffiote pattern.
Lots of yummy fabric, and some spring colored felt and wool.

And a great book by Renee Plains.  Fun avian related projects for spring and summer.









Also this past weekend, while I was shopping in the rain, Greg was home making another loaf of the hand made bread.  This is a unique method by Jim Lahey who says you don't NEED to knead bread and do repeated rises followed by punch down and kneading again. His method is simple.  Although you do need to let it rise and rest for 18 to 24 hours.  This time we left it for 24 hours and it created an even better airy texture.  It had a soft but chewy crust, and was THE BEST bread made so far.
Ta Da!!!  And here it is "singing."  Have you heard that term?  It is right after the bread is removed from the oven.  You can hear it singing.  Try it.  


I think this bread will be a weekly staple around here.
It is a busy week here for me.  I am getting estimates on some things we need to do to our house.  Yesterday was especially busy.  Then in the late afternoon, I wound up gabbing the dinner making hour away with an old friend.  Lesley, this is what I made for dinner while we chatted.
I love to make quiche for a quick dinner.  I had  all the goodies for my favorite combo....bacon, tomato, asparagus, onion, red peppers, and shoot, I forgot to put the mushrooms in.  Oh well, it was still really good.  And this time, I didn't even put any cheese at all in it.  It was tasty . Since I used Pam's method of potato crust instead of dough crust.  Much healthier too.  
I also made a new bread in my machine.  Lemon poppy seed, with a lemon curd topping.  YUM!  I brought it over to my neighbors Carl and Sue who just got home from their winter place. Sue had to have some skin cancers removed from her face, and she was pretty ouchy.   


I could eat a big bowl of that lemon curd.  SOOOOOOO Good!!!!!
Spring is springing here in my neck of the woods.  The sycamore trees are just about to open up and reveal their fresh spring greens.  The bluebirds are eating worms and preparing to nest.  The orange trees are all bursting with their fragrant blooms about to scent the air with that intoxicating aroma!!  I am beginning to put the spring decor out.  Got my front door baskets out with spring flowers in them.
And some other spring things are popping up in places around my house. 


Happy Hump Day.  I am going to get my hair all pretty by my talented daughter Gennifer!

11 comments:

Maryrose said...

Sounds like things are quite busy on the Grover homefront. Bread looks great, quiche looks great, shopping looked fun. You made me very excited to break out the spring stuff...I can't wait for those intoxicating orange blossoms, those are the best.
Is Greg feeling guilty about not picking me?

deb said...

Love this happy post.....your goodies are awesome, I love that book, Im so glad we all got one...but the most amazing thing of all...THAT BREAD...OMGGGGGGGG are you kidding me, it looks amazing!!!!! my mouth is watering!!!!
I can tell its spring around here too, the birds are all fighting with each other....lololol

Calamity Jane's Cottage, Bonnie said...

Hi Kris, I love seeing what all quilters get into and the shops they visit. I'll have to get the book and I can smell the bread from Texas.

Katie said...

oh that quiche & lemon poppy seed bread, OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG my mouth is watering!!
I love that the Mr is cooking up bread while the Mrs is away ;)

Jennifer {Studio JRU} said...

My goodness... your post is making my mouth water!! :) I am *loving* that beautiful brown fabric!

Debbie said...

I am going to have to quit visiting your blog when I am hungry. lol WOW the bread looks great. Soo yummy. And your goodies from the quilt store look good too. Yes, spring is a coming. You may have inspired me to get my spring wreath out. How wonderous to have your daughter do your hair.

Genn said...

Oh that quiche looks good!

Bread too.

And nice new things from the quilt shop.

Hope you're hair is feeling beautiful now!

Tawny said...

Yeah for loot,yeah for yummy bread, yeah for spring popping up, and YEAH for Hump Day...only 2 more till FRIDAY!!!

Kristi said...

Great loot Kris! That quiche looks so yummy, and I'm not even going to discuss the bread!

Nancy said...

What's for dinner tonight??

Ginger Patches said...

Ohhh love that rick rack! You guys have sooo got to hit Starry Night Hollow next trip...their rick rack selection is off da charts! That's kind of the bread method I use these days, I do the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day...yum!!! That quiche looks delish :)