I've been sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write today.  I'm rolling around things.  Typing a sentence and then deleting.  Then I asked myself, 'If these guys were sitting here in my kitchen with me what would I talk about'.  I guess that it would depend on the person but mostly I would be all over the place, filling you in on my life, on how I'm feeling and what's going through my head.  It would probably sound pretty random.  Sometimes that's all I've got though.  Random stuff floating through my head.  So, pull up a chair, grab a cup of something warm and comforting and let's have a little convo...

1.  I saw in a post recently that the author was celebrating her sons half birthday... it took me a few minutes to process the information.  I thought it was her kids birthday and then when I read it again I really 'saw' the half part in front of the word birthday.  What's a half birthday.  How is that even a thing?

2.  Kid #2 went to a birthday party recently at this place.  It's hell.  I can't think of a better way to describe hell.  It's loud.  It's too warm.  There is lots of screaming and crying and the food sucks.  Yup.  Hell.  I actually went to a Mall just to escape it.  A MALL!

3.  I have a kindle.  When I first got the kindle I put quite a few cookbooks on it thinking that it would be perfect.  I hate it.  I hate reading recipes on a kindle.  I love reading on a kindle... but not recipes.  I've decided emphatically... no more recipe books on kindle.  Real pages only.  Something about the picture quality, the way the recipes are laid out - the page turns, recipe searches... all completely sub-par on a kindle as far as I'm concerned.

4.  I've been reading  - on my kindle - this book lately and this quote really hit my gut.  'While we are all entitled to our own opinions, we are not entitled to our own facts...'  The author is writing this in reference to the whole Christian v. Science debate.  Like I said, blew my mind.

5.  My BFF is going to be a foster parent very soon which is awesome.  It's been a long process and it's about time that something happen for them.  I'm thrilled... and scared and a little sad and jealous.  That's hard to admit (I haven't even admitted it to her yet so I think I'd better get on that) and I've only recently just realized it.  I want the very best for her and she is in this 120%.  I'm just scared and jealous that I won't have a BFF any longer... I'm such a bitch AND a baby - once again... all about ME.  KT xoxoxo

6.  Sometimes parenting sucks.  I think that when you have these babies and little kids you think it's pretty intense but it's all gonna be good and that you can balance everything and be a super-hero and all that crap.  Then they start to get older and want to do stuff and you want them to do it too and even though you always said that you hated those parents who just taxi their kids from thing to thing you find yourself wanting to do it and hating yourself all at the same time.  Screw it... I want to be a pioneer.


7.  It's family day weekend in Ontario which means Monday is a holiday.  The good news, I get an extra day to make lots of stuff and take lots of pictures.  The bad news, the food box delivery isn't happening until Wednesday this week (as opposed to the usual Monday delivery).  In my food box this week I'm getting some awesome bread... but not until Wednesday.  I need bread... NOW.  So, I'm at it again.  Not a bad thing because I was thinking about the bread I just made a few days ago and I was wanting to tweak it a little bit.  Well, just change it up a bit.  So, essentially it's the same recipe just using Red Fife flour instead of whole wheat and soaking the oats before adding them to the dough.  The result... it was cool.  Not much different from the last one.  I found that the bread didn't last well - by day 3 it was feeling stale, still usable but definitely not as fresh.  Use this one up quickly.


Red Fife Oatmeal bread adapted from King Arthur Flour
makes 1 loaf

1 cup red Fife flour (or whole wheat)
2 cups all purpose or bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 generous tbsp honey
1 1/4 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup milk
1 cup rolled oats

Combine the Red Fife flour, all purpose flour and salt.  Set aside.
Combine the 1/4 cup milk and the rolled oats.  Set aside.
Combine the lukewarm milk, honey and yeast.  Stir to dissolve and then set aside in a draft free place for about 10 minutes to proof (so that the yeast can activate and get all frothy and yeasty smelling).

After 10 minutes combine all the ingredients together.  Stir to form a dough ball.  Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes.  Dough should be silky and smooth.
Place in a lightly greased bowl (stainless steel or glass/ceramic work best).  Cover with a clean cloth and place it in a draft free (slightly warm) place to rise for about 55 minutes.  It should almost double in size.
Knead it down long enough to form it into a loaf shape and place in a lightly greased loaf pan.  Cover with the cloth and let it rise again for about 75 minutes or so.  It should come up over the top of the loaf pan, forming a dome like you would expect bread to do.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the bread in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and it sounds hollow when you knock on it.
Wait for about 15 minutes before slicing.
This will keep for about 3 days so if you aren't using all right away you might want to cut it in half and freeze the other half.