Doris Grant Loaf

So about the bread.  Dead easy to make - I would hazard to say no fail.  I used raw honey for the sweetner, let the bread rise in a warm place for 40 minutes.  Baked for 30 mins then another 5 -7 mins out of the tin.  When semi warm I sliced one loaf and shared the cooks treat with eldest son, (with butter gently smeared on top) it was lighter textured than I had expected and with a nutty taste.  Tasted great with the chicken corn soup that I made for dinner.  Toasted, took a little longer than normal BUT was delicious. 

Dear Houswives - If you love your husbands, keep them away from white bread

Ah you look at the cover of the book and chuckle to yourself, this should be full of patronising do's and don'ts of a 1950's housewife (I accompanied my mooseboy to his aunts house which is stuffed with books which we are encouraged to look through) .  Upon reading the opening to yourself, in a very prissy upper middle class interior voice, you discover tone and prissy-ness galore. BUT, then it strikes you in the back of the head like a dense whole-wheat loaf which is filled with goodness and made with love, that Doris Grant is a woman ahead of her time.  I dropped the prissy voice, surreptitiously took the book from the room it had rested in for years went outside with my find, sat on the very cold concrete edging in the garden, finding the only piece of sun and started reading, properly. 
This slim volume of passionate discourse, is about the benefits of eating non processed food, demanding food that has been untouched by science or as Doris says, (I feel I can drop the formal Mrs Grant and call her Doris as she is now my newly formed reading companion) men of science. 
Needless to say Mooseboy's aunt very graciously gave me Dear Housewife and the companion book Your Daily Bread and as I sat with these treasures on my lap going home, I felt that I had discovered a new friend and I needed to know more about this 'go-get-at-it-ness' of a woman.
I researched when I got home and found that Doris "...early in her married life found herself incapacitated by arthritis, which became so bad that she found herself climbing the stairs on her hands and knees. A cousin, who was a doctor, then gave her an unusual prescription, consisting of three columns of proteins, starches and acid fruits with the instruction, "Don't mix foods that fight!" 
Doris's (now my very good friend) book has chapters labeled Public Enemy No. 1 & 2, Food, Health and Happiness, speaks passionately about the over refining of sugar, not mixing concentrated starches,sugar, and acid fruits in a meal.  In Your Daily Bread, she has a wonderful chapter labled Murdered Bread. I quote the wonderful style of Doris;

"Many people choose the white bread, firstly, because they are entirely ignorant of its potentialities for illness and unhappiness; secondly, because it is wrapped in the attractive whiteness of seeming purity; thirdly, never having tasted real brown bread they thing that white bread, on account of its colour, must taste better."

Doris's 'Real Bread' is wholewheat bread - which requires no kneading - her own discovery which I will be trialing today -

The Grant Loaf
To make three loaves
3 lb of stone-ground wholewheat flour;
two pints of water; two teaspoons of salt;
three teaspoons of Barbados sugar (or, alternatively, a tablespoonful of honey);
and three teaspoon measures of dried yeast
or for a smaller quantity
1lb/450g strong wholemeal or spelt flour
1 tsp brown sugar or honey
½ sachet
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter
Mix the flour with the sugar or honey, yeast and 2 tsp salt. Stir in the oil or butter and ¾pt/420ml water to make a loose, sticky dough.
Scrape the dough into a greased 1lb/450g loaf tin.
Cover loosely with oiled gladwrap; leave in a warm place for 30 mins (until dough has risen by a third).
Preheat the oven to 220C

Bake for half an hour. Slip out of the tin and check that the base sounds hollow when tapped (if not, give it another 5-10 minutes). Cool on a rack.

To finish I quote again Doris who died at age 98;

"If you love your husbands, keep them away from white bread . . .If you don't love them, cyanide is quicker but bleached bread is just as certain, and no questions asked."

"Lucille" picnic bag - it is quite small but can hold quite a lot.  Takes about three hours to make as it is very easy, if you don't have had the company of a friend while sewing, it would take about two hours.  You know how it goes, you sew, you drink tea, you chat solve the problems of the world etc, you sew a little more, you unpick because you are distracted.  Good friend decided that I must have been making it for her and took it with her when she went home.    The site to find the pattern is  http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/

Finishing off quilt top

Gryff just trying to be helpful as I lay out the quilt top.

weekend taken care of

I started writing something very lyrical yesterday at work as I looked out through the window across to the large park.  Something about ...a world beyond work, of trees, birds, of mystery, of sparkling early morning dew, oh it got worse.... the sun gracefully sliding across the open field, people coming and going, catching some late autumn warmth.  Not terribly original but I was feeling wistful for the open air.

As you can tell I was using my excellent avoidance skills, instead of writing monthly reports (the sound of gagging intrudes here at home, even now) my reverie was rudely interrupted by phone ringing and the need for me to focus on helping people who are in need of support.

BUT now it its the weekend, it has to be I slept in 'til 7.35am!   Which is a big deal when you usually have to be up, mostly awake and on the road by 7.00am.  Two whole days in which to clean, tidy, forage, do dutiful things (visit eccentric aunts), and then maybe find time to do some creative stuff. 
The 'to do' list goes like this
1.  finish bag started last weekend - the dining table which doubles as sewing table needs to be cleared for, I don't know, dining on.
2. Cut out another bag or two one for a good friend and another for b'day present for step mother
during all this the cuckoos in my nest will want feeding -
3. Drink some bubbles - memo to brain do this after I have cut material - also good time to sit with husband.
and that takes care of the weekend.

Working Girl Blues

& the sound of bubbles.

You work all week, and do your best BUT your hanging out to go home and finish what you started on the weekend.  The pattern from Melly and Me is wonderful.  You can make it as bright as you like or (I found some lovely curtaining remnants) sedate.  I am really pleased with how it is coming together and as an apprentice I am finding great satisfaction in putting it together.  I have some ideas for designing bags and as you know the perfect handbag is the holy grail - i may never find it or make it BUT the challenge is half the fun.  Finding material from op-shops and cast off clothes from friends has really set my imagination on fire.  BUT i am determined to get more skills before I lurch into designing, of course finding the time out of the working week is also a challenge.  Ah the joys of paying a mortgage and the bill collection.

The wonderful sound of cork escaping a bottle of bubbles can be heard from the kitchen and a glass full of Barrossa Sparkling has been placed in front of me - hmmmmm tuff choice.  Cheers for now.

spent the afternoon with the beginnings of a 'stitch and bitch' group. Lovely women who are willing to experiment with their sewing. I did my usual (you would think that being the age that I am I would engage brain) lets try something new, not just rehash the old and safe sewing. Lets make art journals, lets look at some contemporary work, lets use bold colors and design, remembering I had only just met half of the six member group. Whilst the more conservative balked at making journals they did say that they are willing to watch, learn and if they felt comfortable they would try. So I guess that if someone can stretch to listening to new ideas about mixed media - I can return the favor with, whilst not playing safe, participate and learn some old tricks- EVERYONE has something to teach us.
I was also given (from one of the conservative ones) a swatch of materials that was given to her, which she admitted she would never use- which blew me away. She said my face was a picture as I looked at these rather large pieces of material, which are BIG AND BOLD.
Sorry Lavendah Chile no purple BUT wow. Can't wait to really explore what I can do with the material.

All cultured out

I am drowning in music, dance, sound and light. What a crazy but hypnotic week. I have sat in large doorway and viewed young artists as they perform in front of critics who can only dream of being brave enough to put their trust in the audience.
I marvel at how a group of people can see, hear and be a part of art and all come away having seen or felt something completly different.
Today will be a day of reflecting, watching the mood of the day as it drifts from rain that feeds my parched garden to a display of thuder and my husband taking pleasure of sitting outside under tin roof enjoying another form of music for the soul.

A wellness day. I took a wellness day from work and felt very well spending money and being an omnivore at the quilting fair. People everywhere. I managed to find material to make a japenese quilt with a large red disc and cranes flying.
I am all cultured out. WA Opera Sublime, musical theatre on Tuesday (brillant young talent) with a retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Defying Gravity last night at WAAPA and tonight Don Quixote at His Majesty's.