Ok, so I admit that I may have underestimated this whole moving overseas and starting a new job thing. It turned out to be, as Willie Wonka would put it, a wang-doozler of a task. In short I have been terribly absent from the kitchen since February. I have missed Daring Bakers Challenges, I've missed all sorts of new baking books, AND I've missed reading all of your blogs.
Hopefully we can get things back on track here...
I will admit that I had a bit of a crisis of content. What do I blog about? There are already so many good bread sites out there. Very informative bread sites at that. Ones with shiny forums and friendly administrators. Just because I moved to Italy I didn't want to become a travel blog - frankly, there's enough of those out there to cure any travel question you may have. What does one blog about? Am I so one-dimensional as to only bake bread? (By the way THAT'S NOT A BAD THING!) It is definitely on the top three list of things I like to smell in the oven. (Bread, cake, and herb chicken) I do enjoy the whole process - mixing, kneading, forming, baking, and the history of each loaf. Hmm, so what's a boy to do?
Well, I think we may have to broaden our horizons. I blame the Daring Bakers for this crisis of conscience. I never would have believed that I could pull off some of the desserts that we did in the past. (Yule Log anyone?) That experience gave me the confidence to move forward with new things - to be 'Daring'.
One of my fantasies has always been to become a pastry chef. Julie over at One-Wall Kitchen is currently living that experience and I can only imagine the kind of fun she's having! I invite you to see the beautiful things she creates over there.
So, in closing, I am going to explore the hidden pastry chef inside of me and that will more often then not include bread :) but also many, many other treats!
To all of my constant readers who stuck around during my transition - sorry for that absence, your constant visits warmed my heart. Now let me see if I can repay you in beautiful treats.
What have you all been up to? What treats have you been baking? Please stop in and catch me up!
Posts
7 comments:
So glad you are back in business. I cant wait to see what you bake up. :)
Lewis!! Glad to see you back.
It wouldn't be a bad thing to put up a lovely shot of somewhere in Italy on your blog every so often... so we can live vicariously..?? even though you don't want to turn it into a travel blog....
Yep...the Yule Log... remember it well...all the work you did on that was part of my inspiration to get on with learning to bake more..and to just get over my fear of trying something, anything..with yeast in the recipe. Thanks for being my inspiration.. I am baking bread every couple weeks now... with ease. However...I still have not tried any of the specialty breads ..yet. But... it is pretty hot still and the summer is too short to spend much of it indoors..we have very long winters in Canada...so I will do that when golf and motorcycle season ends... in between dolls and bears...hahahha.....obviously I have too many fun things to keep me busy....
slush - thanks it's good to be back in my zen baking zone :)
bumblevee - Of course I will post pictures! I love living here and you can expect a few photos up soon! I will see what kind of "specialty" breads I can whip up for you to try :) Suggestions are always welcomed!
Italy? Wow! Post some pictures!
anna - definitely! I will be a bread sleuth at every place we go!
i'm glad to see you are back up and posting. what an adventure. to be able to follow your heart takes a lot of courage and faith. your wife must be a strong and adventurous woman as well. how the bread rises is anyone's guess, but the mix sure looks good from here.
again, good luck, and i'm with the others, pictures and an occasional travelogue is not a bad thing. especially since you aren't visiting there, you live there, with american sensibilities and an american background.
that, and submariners as a whole tend to accomplish whatever the hell they set their minds on.
just a trait of the breed.
bothenook - thanks for the vote of confidence...and I attribute all of my success to the three days straight that I stood messenger because my Sea Dad didn't tell me where my rack was and I was too afraid to ask ;)
Post a Comment