Dogwood Winter, Orchids and Sourdough Bread

Hello friends, How was your weekend? Easter is always a special family time for us. We went to my sister’s house for a cook-out. I made baked beans and some cookie bars. How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

***My cookie bars just before baking them.***

I have been sitting in the early mornings listening to the whippoorwills while I drink my coffee. Whippoorwill winter will be here soon. All last week we were experiencing Dogwood winter. The Dogwood trees are now fully bloomed out and the temps have turned quite warm again. Dogwood winter was very nice while it lasted. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.

***I think the Dogwood is one of the most beautiful trees.***

I mentioned last week that I had visited Harmony Lane Farms in Smithville Tennessee. If you missed that post check it out Here. I took a sample of their sour doughbread starter. I didn’t have time to make the sourdough bread when I brought the starter home. I kept the starter in the refrigerator and took it out last Friday to feed it and get it to room temperature to get it ready to make bread. Just like my yeast bread it is a two day process. If you are unsure of making sourdough bread check out some of the YouTube or Instagram videos out there. There’s so many good ones. I think I’ve watched about a million trying to get different ideas of how people do theirs.

I fed the bread on Friday morning around 5:00 AM and marked my jar to be able to see if the starter was active and rising. I came home Friday night and ran to the kitchen to check the starter and it was rising. It had almost doubled in size. I fed it again that night and the next morning I started the bread.

There is a lot of stretching and folding when you are dealing with sourdough bread. It took most of the day, off and on. I finished it in the afternoon and decided to let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight. I had read that this makes for a more flavorful bread. On a side note I made more bread a couple of days later and didn’t do all of the stretching and folding and I didn’t leave it in the fridge as long. I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. I did stretch and fold a few times and let it rest and rise for a few hours.

***This is the proofing basket. I used to put the dough in after I had folded it and seamed the bottom.***

I baked the bread on Sunday morning. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It is very different from my yeast bread and the artisan bread that I make.

***I love the color and the texture of this bread.***

I celebrated my birthday this week and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don’t know if I told you but I got married on my Birthday. So we have a double celebration. I asked for an ice cream maker for my Birthday. The electric kind not the one you churn by hand. No thank you on the hand crank job I remember those from my childhood. Hubs and I took the day and did a little shopping and went out to eat. Very low key.

***My morning view a couple of times last week.***

I had read that if your cat has a box to play and sleep in it makes them more sociably comfortable and happy. I fixed a box for the kitties. They were very interested. Gus was the first one in it.

And then Kitty Kitty got in after Gus had finished inspecting it.

As soon as Gus saw Kitty Kitty in “his” box he ran straight into it and pushed Kitty Kitty out. The fight was on. I went down to the basement and got a second box and fixed it up for them. And wouldn’t you know it, neither one would have anything to do with the second box. Now they have lost interest in both boxes. Oh well it was an experiment.

***Several of my orchids are blooming and I am just loving all the different colors.***

That is what has been going on around here how is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

It’s Tuesday Let’s Catch Up

Hello friends. I have been a little quiet on the blog lately. My life has been busy but good. I really have no excuse except I have been so tired every evening I usually don’t do much after I get home. So here is a little bit about what has been happening in my neck of the woods.

My sister and I visited the cutest farm on Saturday. We have been planning this for a while. The farm produces tulips every year. For about four weeks out of the year you can go there and pick tulips and take pictures and just enjoy the atmosphere and scenic beauty of the farm. It is really quite lovely. We had put off going for more than a week because the owners had reported a very small crop of tulips this year because of the rain and wind. We finally went Saturday, even though the tulips were a little less than what they will be in a week or two, and we had a great time. The weather was warm and so nice. We picked a few tulips. Most of them hadn’t bloomed out. I put them in a small glass dish and they are really starting to open up. We also had lunch and did a little shopping. I ran into a dear friend I hadn’t seen in a while. She recently lost her husband and she and I have been planning to do lunch forever. I made sure I had her number and we will definitely go in a week or two.

I had to do some work on my orchids on Sunday. I repotted two of them. My orchid Oliver is blooming after almost two years. His leaves were always green and strong but he didn’t bloom. I am so excited that he is finally blooming again. I don’t know why some of my orchids are male and some are female but I just see them that way.

Last week I met up with two of my best friends Lorie and Emily at one of our favorite restaurants in Tellico Plains. It was Lorie’s Birthday and we had dinner and Emily brought a cake. This restaurant has some of the best truffle fries I have ever eaten.

So lots of things going on. I have been working on a crocheted egg for Easter. I will share that with you soon. I’m not sure how crazy I am about them and they are so time consuming.

I leave you with a picture of two of my babies Kitty Kitty and Gus. It looks as though they are on guard, protecting us I guess.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Making Chocolate Pudding Cake

Hello and happy Monday. It really was a true Monday. I left the house this morning and several miles down the road I realized I had forgotten my purse. I did not go back. I had my phone and my lunch. I can use Apple Pay on my phone if I need to. So I did without it today. It did feel a little strange though. Oh well I guess it just proves I don’t really need a purse. I think I will get me one of those cute little wristlets and hook it to my keys.

It was a great weekend. The weather was so nice. I went outside Saturday morning to check out the tulip bulbs, and there are now fourteen coming up. I am hoping for even more because some of them are just barely breaking through. Of course I had a little helper. Allie.

I spent some time out on the deck reading. I am still reading Ina Garten’s Memoir. The sunshine and warm temperatures were just great. I baked bread and took most of it to work with me today.

When I was growing up my mama made a very yummy chocolate dessert that she called Chocolate Pudding Cake. Think lava cake or something like that and you will have an idea of what it is similar to. For many years we have tried to perfect the cake and make it like hers. I think my nephew and I just about have it down. After we came up with our recipe, other than a few tweaks here and there, my niece casually mentioned that she made it all the time. We are thinking we need to have a bake-off and let the family decide which one tastes the most like my mama’s.

Here is the recipe:
First melt one stick of butter in a 9×5 baking pan or casserole dish.
In a separate dish mix these dry ingredients:
1&1/2 cups of self rising flour
1&1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1&3/4 TBS. of cocoa
after you have stirred these together add:
3/4 cup of whole mild
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
pour into your pan evenly (DON”T STIR) after you pour it into the pan.

In a separate bowl mix:
1&1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
Stir all of this together until all of the lumps are out of the cocoa
Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the first mixture (DON’T STIR) after you put it on top of the first mixture.

Boil 2&1/2 cups of water (this is where I am tweaking mine next time and only adding 1&1/2 cups of boiling water.) But I used 2&1/2 cups yesterday and it was still delicious just a little runny while it was still warm. Pour the boiling water over your mixture very slowly. Let it soak in for a few minutes and then put it in your oven at 350 degrees and bake for thirty minutes.

*The recipe we found online, from the sweetest woman from Alabama, Diane Leary, called for 2&1/4 cups of boiling water. Next try, I am only going to use 1&1/2 cups. Diane calls hers chocolate cobbler.* ***Chocolate and cobbler, how could you go wrong?***

***It was delicious. Next time I may even add some ice cream. This is definitely a once every now and then treat. Just a spoonful or two is more than enough. It is very rich.***

That pretty much sums up my weekend. Weekends go by so quickly. I have a full and busy week coming up. How about you? Have a wonderful week

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!

Hello Monday – Kitties and Tulips

Happy Monday. I had a great and very relaxing weekend. The weather here has been so nice. We were laughing about the weather because it has been cold in the mornings, very warm in the afternoon and then cold again in the evening. Welcome to East Tennessee. You never know what you are going to get.

My husband and I met some family for an early dinner on Saturday. It was a little retirement celebration for him. He didn’t want a big to-do so we agreed on a small dinner at our local Mexican Restaurant. I made a cake. There was just a few of us. We had a great time.

We also spent some time walking around outside. The weather on Saturday was warm but windy. I guess you could say March came in like a lion for us.

Back in the fall hubs and I planted about fifty tulip bulbs. We realized a little too late that something had gotten into them and dug them up and ate and chewed on them. I am thinking it was probably a raccoon. I thought they had all been destroyed. But maybe not all of them. While we were out walking I noticed about ten little buds coming up. I was so excited. I’m hoping a few more might have survived.

***Look at this little bud. I am thinking I will need to cover these up if another cold snap happens.***

The outside kitties love it when we are outside with them. They run and jump and show out. I got a few pictures of Izzy. I think she is very photogenic.

We also found more Daffodils blooming. You know spring is coming when you see Daffodils.

I spent the rest of the weekend reading and knitting a hat for my sister. She loved the slouchy hat I posted a couple of weeks ago so I started one for her. I have the four inches of the knit two purl two brim finished, and it is straight knitting from here on. My favorite kind of knitting. I should have it finished very soon.

My niece shared this little Bucket List of ideas for March. I am going to try several of them. What do you think?

It’s hard to believe that spring is just around the corner. We change back to Daylight Savings Time this coming weekend. I am probably one of the few people not crazy about it. It’s not that I don’t like the longer daylight hours but I say we just stick with one time and it will all work out.

Have a wonderful week.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!