I think we ought to ask more people to come and stay, it's a definate reason to have a whole spring clean. I even washed and ironed all the curtains. Not a speck of dust in sight, wait until that scruffy dog gets back in the house though and shakes fur everywhere. Just put some Sunflowers in the guest room and keep the door shut or that dog will be on the beds, windowsills, and rolling about on the floor.

Please don't think we haven't tried to train the dog. It just looks at us and has that 'yeah right, when I feel like it' look. .. Wonder where she got it from, they say dogs are like their owners. She and my Husband win the look-alike contest, and she and I share the 'don't take any notice of anybody/do what I like' snap cards.

The dog got a bath yesterday, so it's relatively clean fur, unless she decides to go rolling. She gets a good brush, and then her 'mowhawk' goes fluffy. She is a smooth coated dog with a ridge of long wiry fur down her back that goes into spiky points like a punk rocker. When she has just been bathed it has that 'can't do a thing with it look'. No I do not put hair gel in the dogs coat! Whoever thought of such a thing.
She suffers the bath with good grace thankfully, and then has a mad dog half hour feeling wonderful... probably that she won't have to have another bath until next time.

It is wonderful that she has this coat, as she had the worst case of demodectic mange a puppy could have survived. A lot of work to bath her and get her better over a couple of years, but worth all the effort to find we had a dog with a mowhawk. God just has a sense of humour that's what I think. I still think she is a gift from the Klingons, as she has the very look and nature of that Targ, She couldn't have looked more like the Targ when we got her. She also bit everybody, I bit her back one day so she stopped it immediately.

It is scorching hot for late September, more like mid summer. If it stays like this our French friends will have a fabulous weekend.

Not going to be posting anything for a few days, so have a great weekend anyone who actually ever reads this stuff I put on here. It is a bit of a one sided conversation, but I quite like having a chat to myself. I don't have an awful lot to say in conversations as I tend to listen to other people. People don't ask me what I think. None of what I like thinking about interests my Husband either, although he has the grace to listen occasionally.

I think that's why I end up talking to God a lot, although it's not a sort of conversation in words, it's images and connections, and fleeting moments of recognition. Then I have to try and turn the feeling into words, like yesterday when I realy wanted to say something in response to Avivah's book. I wouldn't have had a reason to write it down without this blog thing going on.

May a huge blessing rest on you and those you love, that knocks your socks off in amazement this weekend.

This is the day we got her home. A poorly sickly tired little thing. You can't actually see the sores and just how bald, smelly, with this kind of greasy discharge from her skin plastering her fur.

This was the day after. I had given her a bath, and she just seem to have lots more fur right away. Look at that grin, how can you get angry with this little tearaway?

The shape of things to come... yes. Fallen on it's paws... yes.

She looks totally different now!

I like toast, althought it never occured to me to lash Both sides with Jersey Butter, and then put marmalade on Both sides!

I like this idea, I might put Crunchy Peanut Butter on top of the Jersey butter, and then the Marmalade. Then it wouldn't matter which side it fell on the floor if I dropped it! (provided the floor is clean - ish...)

I dropped a snail in garlic butter the other day out on the tarmac, (during lunch). I wondered what it was like for the dog to eat something full of grit, so I tried it. It was gritty. So I spat it out after a bit. The Snail tasted pretty much the same.

I like making bread. I made some Brioche and some high fiber bread on Sunday. I make loads and then portion it and put it in the freezer. I just followed the recipe for Brioche on the packet, nice rolls. It's the first time I made them, and next time I will glaze them so they look shiny. My Husband likes Brioche.
I like this recipe;

Get a butternut squash and cut it in half and bake it in the oven until it is soft on about 180c for a fan oven, or 200 for a normal oven.
This caremelises it a bit, and reduces the water content. Peel it while it is still warm, or you can just use the skin as well. The skin has got lots of nice things in it. When when it is cool enough put it in the blender until it is fairly 'goo-ish', You can add some water, but remember that the quantity you are putting in the mixture must come from the amount allocated for the bread recipe.
Once the Butternut is cooked turn off the oven as you will be using this to help the fermentation process.
Scrape all the seeds and goo out from the middle and keep them, you need them later.

I make bread by hand, with a hand held mixer with the dough hooks.

We both like a multigrain bread, so I use the French 'francine' Multi-Cereales flour, and a dried yeast culture that I reactivate with warm water and a bit of sugar. I tried doing this with Honey once and it killed most of the yeast.

For one medium size squash I use 1 kilo of flour and adjust the recipe accordingly. I like to add a teaspoon full of the brown French salt into some of the warm water I put into the blender with the squash.

I put the whole of the measured flour into the big mixing bowl, and warm this through in the oven. I also keep the yeast culture in there until it's frothy. When the yeast looks like it's having a party, I just put the whole lot together in the bowl with the flour and stand there with the blender mixing it. It's easier to move the bowl than try working through the whole lot with the blender. I guess you could stir it first, but I quite like seeing the way it all comes together with the dough hooks.

Once it's all mixed. cover it with a damp tea towel, and put it back in the oven. Don't get the oven over 40 degrees c, or you will kill the yeast.

Leave the mix until it has pretty much doubled in size. So long as it has multiplied by a third, you can go to the next stage, but if it goes beyond double the carbon dioxide from the yeast is unstable, and you don't get a good 'second rise'.

I don't tend to bash this dough about too much. I just put it on a very well floured area, using a good handful more flour and then gently lift the sticky dough into the middle untill it dries out a bit. Then I portion it for the bread tins. This amount is good for three pound loaf tins. If you put it in two, it ends up creeping over the top of the tins because it's pretty sloppy. Just oil the tins and brush the oil round with a pastry brush. Divide the dough in three roughly equal amounts, lightly roll it in some more flour so it's sort of oblong and drop it in the tins.

Then I smear the top of the dough with the seeds from the middle of the squash. Just so they look fairly well spread out and a bit 'arty'.

Then put the tins in the warm oven until the dough expands about another third. Up to half again in other words. If it expands more than this, it doesn't 'rise' when it's baked so well.

I put the tins in the (pre heated to 50c and turned off) top oven of my cooker to do this, while I put the bottom fan oven on to 200c. 

Once the dough has expanded to said proportion, I pop it gently in the oven as quickly as possible, so that I don't loose too much heat while the door is open. I think it's better cooking the first ten minutes on 200c, and then reduce the oven to 180c (fan oven).

I don't have a 'time' that I cook the bread for, I just wait 'till it smells cooked. Then I check it by getting one out and tapping the bottom.
If it doesn't sound 'hollow' it's not cooked. Ha, that's funny!

Once it sounds hollow, I get it out and leave it to cool on a wire rack the right way up. I usually start picking the seeds off the top at this point and have a snack on a few of them.

I leave this bread about 24 hours before cutting it into slices, because it needs to 'cure' a bit. It wouldn't cut so well. I cut it so that I can portion it for four slices and put it in the freezer. Two slices a day of this is quite adequate for roughage purposes, and is full of most essential nutrients. 

I keep the crusts together and blitz them for breadcrums in other recipies. They are very good for fishcakes.

You can use any edible fish for fishcakes, and give the poor old Cod and Tuna a break for a while! See Hugh's Fishfight!
Line Fishing is fun. I like Pike! However the traditional way with beurre blanc.

Actually, if you like this recipe and you try it, and it works for you, would you consider giving a donation to your local Cheshire Homes?

It is wonderful that so many support Hospice, and this is an essential service. However there are many people who need ongoing care in a way that is appropriate for them in their community. Cheshire Homes is active in about 70 countries. It is a wonderful charity.

Even better if you can get involved in some way.

I think this is my poem for the day; http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179559

Sorry I keep pinching links but there is so much wonderful stuff out there.

I checked the ingredients listed against the 'named brand' I am currently using and found that 'Astonish' does not have 'non ionic surficants; Enzymes, and Hexyl Cinnamal. (Please excuse the brand reference, but I tend to use bio-degradable products when I can).

I am trying out Crystal vinegar in the rinse aid compartment. This is not very successful at the moment as it doesn't reduce the surface viscosity of the water, however it keeps the dishwasher fresher!

The 'Astonish' product is brilliant for removing nasty scaly deposits on the loo as well as cups thermos flasks coffee pots....

As it is just an oxygen derivative it breaks down easily, and shouldn't cause as much harm to the environment as Caustic soda products that find their way into household use.

I also used it to soak my nails in to get the tea and fag stains off my nice acrylic nails!

By the way a good tip for reducing the amount of energy you use is to put boiling water in a thermos flask. If you get one with the lever top like they use in hotels it keeps for a couple of hours.

Check out how to use a pressure cooker properly too!