summer project number one

One of my goals this summer was to teach myself to make bread. With help from The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger, the whole process is a little less mysterious and scary to me.
I love the yeasty smell, the springy feeling to well-risen dough when you shape it, and - of course - eating the finished product.

you got your ball you got your chain

Mondays are my favorite day of the week. The one day where I can grab a coffee after class, talk to a friend about whatever the hell is on my mind, read a graphic novel on the bus, spend a couple hours cooking / baking... and still have time to get a bit of homeworking done.

The graphic novel of this week: Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie. Originally in french, but it was hard enough to find in english... so I can't pretend I'm practicing french while I simultaneously get my bande-dessineé fix.


I love it. From my limited experience, it seems typical of modern french comics. Not the solid lines of Tintin, but a looser, flowing style that is nonetheless very controlled and full of detail. Any recommendations on what I should read next? Most of my success with graphic novels have been things I've stumbled on by chance, but I'd love to hear what other people enjoy reading.

Other Monday amusements include mini walnut soda breads, as Saint Patty's day isn't so far away. I have ambitious plans for a guinness stout ginger cake as well. Pretty excited.

Here's the soda breads:


I think if I do make them again, I'm going to load them with dried fruit. I have a terrible sweet tooth that cannot be ignored.

Does anyone else have Saint Patrick's day plans?

comfort

I recently discovered Epicurious, thanks to a certain talented photographer we know. Since then, I've been making absolutely every meal from it... I will never need to spend a cent on cookbooks.
(More for shoes!)
My favorite so far was these corn muffins, accompanied by vegetarian chili. Seriously some of the best comfort food around, and pretty cheap to make.
The great thing about this website is how people post feedback on the original recipe, substitutions and modifications. That way, you don't have to learn everything the hard way... and no one has to munch through ten servings of bland chili.

sticky

Is it just me, or is so much happening lately? And it's February. Nothing interesting ever used to happen in February, until this year - my first year for caring about both the olympics and fashion week. Sadly, fashion week is not quite so close by... and so my focus is a little shifted at the moment.
My usual internet rounds have been rerouted - instead of the morning blog circuit and flipping through style.com, I watch downhill skiing, speed skating, halfpipe, even biathlon - I'm a sucker for it all. Speed skating is still my favorite, though I'm not sure if the main reason is the pretty Dutchman or the fact that it's practically Canada's medal bank.
I may also be jealous of their badass leg muscles.

After watching other people's great feats of endurance and technique, I putter around with a little bit of exploring downtown, little bit of painting (badly), a little bit of cooking at a little (a lot) of eating. So far my main success was these 90 min cinnamon buns. So bad it's good.