Monday, March 21, 2011

Update from a sunny March day, the first day of spring

I am happy to report that the inherited iris bulbs are sprouted and still green, despite the roller-coaster temperatures of the last few weeks.

I am worried that a few of the bulbs in the front planter didn't make it, but a few have green shoots shoving through the soil, and the pots are looking more promising. The onions and inherited mystery bulbs in the front are growing with wild abandon.

The weather outside today has been gorgeous. In fact, it has been nice for several days now. I was able to gallivant with our dog outside barefoot over the weekend. It was so nice to run around barefoot, squishing the grass between my toes. And so nice to see my feet! I've stuck them in socks, fuzzy socks, and layered socks for so long to keep them warm that it was refreshing to leave my feet free.

This past week was Spring Break for the local university (where I work) and the public K-12 schools. Traffic was a breeze, and our hallways were quiet. Also very refreshing.

Our local grocery store had a sale on butter (2 for the price of 1). We went Wednesday night, and they were sold out - not un-expected. Thankfully, they were expecting a truck that night. As I had off for St. Patrick's Day, I went that next morning to pick up the butter before they could sell out, and also got a 10 lb bag of flour.

Yes, a 10 lb bag of flour. I may have mentioned that I really enjoy baking. However, I don't bake as much as I would like. Otherwise, we'd have cookies and bread spilling out of our house, into the streets. The weekend before Spring Break, I made cookies and bagels and pancakes. The cookies were so tasty and quick that I made several more batches throughout the week (also not great for our overall health). The flour cache was rapidly dwindling to nothingness. The Wednesday we couldn't buy butter, I scoped out the flour prices. A 10 lb bag was about $4.50, while a 5 lb bag was $3-4 (this is bleached, enriched, all-purpose flour, not my favorite, but the most affordable and versatile). Considering my baking kick and the price, how could I not get the 10 lb bag?!

Well, this past weekend I made soda bread (wheat and white flour), cookies (of course), and a very crumbly shortbread. I've gone through more flour, butter, and eggs than I care to admit. But there is nothing like the satisfied feeling of having something in the oven.

Do you have a favorite thing to bake or cook?

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