Congratulations to every child that enjoyed an unexpected snow day last week. I feel your joy and am ecstatic for you. Did you used your free time wisely? Did you have snow ball fights, make snowpeople, then get into PJs and have warming drinks in front of the telly? That's the dream right there. Round my neck of the woods, the snow fell for several days, then iced over. It's skiddy and slidey but oh so beautiful. If you read my blog last week, you'll remember my drains were getting upgraded and my garden dug up. (No part of that sentence is a euphemism FYI.) Well, fair play to the guys involved because they cracked on regardless of weather. There're currently three diggers, several bags of cement, and a pile of railway sleepers in my back garden - all covered in a frozen snowy layer. Again, it looks kind of beautiful, in a mad industrial way.
 |
We're back! The next chapter of the first draft is underway. Only slightly but underway. My writing skej was a bit frenzied in the Christmas run up. I'd planned a lot to be completed before I stopped for the year. Now, it's a little more relaxed. I've got two chapters to write in January and two in February. That's doable. My problem is I've already reached day thirteen and not done much. I can see things are going to get frenzied again soon.
Culture
Two words...The Traitors. It's the best TV format ever. That's it. If you watch, you'll know. If you don't, you won't be convinced by my seeming-hyperbole. Fair play. You do you. Likewise, here're some more words. The Masked Singer. It's so bad it's amazing. I'm glued each week and it prompts a flurry of guesses that I send to my sister. The past couple of years have shown me that my January TV is as set-in-stone as the previous month's Christmas viewing. In the most hibernatory month of the year, grippingly brilliant entertainment is a must, amiright? And finally, I got round to watching Wicked. It'd started to become one of those films I wasn't bothered about but everyone around me was raving about how good it was. And you know what? Yep, they were right. It looked amazing, the performances were marvellous, and I'm always here for a Jonathan Bailey dance sequence.
Forgive me for being smug, but whenever I want to make bread, I have to Google my own recipe. In 2018, I wrote a post describing how I cocked up the ingredients of the bread I was making, but it tasted good anyway. I still don't know how it happened. Last week, I made it again, and it continues to be my favourite way to carb up. It contains no yeast, so no there's no time-consuming kneading or proving to hang about for. I use this for pizza bases, a loaf to slice, and last week it provided bread rolls for lunch. For those that fancy an easy, peasy, bread recipe, here's my gift to you.
Ballsed-Up Yoghurt Bread
(Makes a small loaf, four bread rolls, or two thin pizza bases.)
- 250g plain flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar or alternative
- 2 eggs
- 170g Greek yoghurt
- Preheat the oven on gas mark 5/190 degrees C
- Line a baking tray with foil or paper, and grease.
- Weigh out the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix together. (Flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar.)
- Make a well and add the yoghurt and eggs. Stir together till a dough is formed. (I use a fork initially, then get in with my hands when it's less wet.) Mild kneading is fine - it’s just not essential as there's no yeast to wake up.
- Shape the dough into what you want, place on the baking tray, and put in the oven. For the whole mixture, check after thirty minutes. The end is nigh. For bread rolls or pizza bases, less time is needed. If the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, and a skewer comes out clean, it’s done.
 |
| Saturday brunch - technically a fry up but with all the veg! |
On Monday, I left the snowy vistas of Merseyside and drove to the flooded countryside of Warwickshire. A day of babysitting ensued, with quite a lot of it spent on diverted roads. No matter! I had quality bants with the niece, as well as a well-earned Maccies. All good fun. Icy weather aside, I still managed to get in a Thursday night pizza and a Saturday morning brunch. Not bad for the most depressing month* of the year.
And on we go. The world may continue to lose its collective shit but we can choose to be our best selves regardless. Recognising our luck is a good start. Wherever you are, I hope you're safe. Shall we crack on for another week? Yes? Are you game? Oh, goodoh!
Have a lovely week, folks.
*This is what other people say. I actually love the beautiful bleakness of January. It's starker and less frenzied than the previous month but still cosy and candle-lit.
No comments:
Post a Comment