Trying Out My New Toy

Yesterday morning was a very exciting morning. My new bread machine arrived on Monday evening and yesterday morning I decided to give it a test run making a loaf of bread. 

It's fabulously easy to use and although I feel slightly as if I'm cheating by not making it completely by hand, it's a huge time saver and although my upper arms are no longer going to benefit from a daily workout, I'm sure all the lugging of bales of hay and 25kg bags of animal feed will keep the bingo wings at bay.

The resulting loaf of bread was absolutely delicious although it didn't taste any better or worse than the ones that I have pounded by hand. Today, however, is the critical test. I will be making focaccia. Both normal focaccia and gluten free and also, dairy free, gluten free focaccia. Heaven knows how that will turn out but I have been asked to make some by someone who comes to the market so I'm more than happy to give it a try. In fact the recipe actually says that if you use rice milk, it makes it dairy free so fingers crossed it turns out ok.

Finally, a taste of spring. Daffodils always cheer me up and on Saturday, a friend at the market gave me some to bring home. 

Spring is Spriging ........ Fingers Crossed

Well, Sunday was a lovely day. It was sunny, bright and kind of sparkly and there was a real whiff of Spring in the air. With my washing on the line blowing briskly in the breeze, I decided to snap a few photos of what I am hoping are the first signs of spring. I really don't like winter. The cold weather makes me want to hibernate and eat stodgy, warm, comforting food, which is fine, until it gets to Summer, at which point I regret the puddings, pies and casseroles.

On my post a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I had planted the seeds in the lovely herb planter that my daughter Meg had given me for Christmas and last week I noticed that the seeds were beginning to sprout and the basil was just beginning to poke through the soil.

This is what they look like today. It won't be long before I will be using them in my cooking.

There are also signs of spring popping up in the garden so in good old blogging tradition, I couldn't help taking some quick photos of the spring flowers.

My rosemary, that I planted in an old enamel bread bin is beginning to flower. It has beautiful pale lavender coloured flowers. I don't know if you're supposed to let it flower but I think the flowers look beautiful so I just let it get on with it.

I also found these. They were tucked away in an old hanging basket that I had put behind the shed, assuming that all the plants in the basket were dead. It seems that they weren't :-)

An Exciting Course And The First Signs of Spring .... Maybe

I have a fabulous craft shop in a town close to where I live and I love going into the shop, not  only because they sell gorgeous fabrics and trimmings and things but because they have such wonderful works-in-progress being made by people on the fabulous craft courses which they run. The courses are very popular and I'm usually too late to sign up because they get booked up quite quickly. This time however, I managed to get onto a course I have wanted to have a go at for quite some time. It's a carpet making workshop. I'm really looking forward to it. We get to make this cute little owl wall hanging using this intriguing rugging tool. It's called an Oxford Punch Needle (I wonder if anyone out there in Blogland has used one of these things?). Apparently they're quite expensive but I've seen the results and they are fabulous. I can't wait to get started.

Anyway, in keeping with my New Year effort to "Do More", I decided to get out of the house for a while and go for a wander up the lane to see if I could find anything nice to photograph. Blogging has turned me into a bit of a nerd .... well.... more of a nerd that I usually am and I take my camera everywhere I go. I wonder how many other bloggers do this or if it's just me? 

Metro and I wandered off in the direction of the village, about 3 miles away, peering into the hedgerows as we went to see if there were any signs of spring. I didn't have to look for long before I came across daffodils growing up through the dead leaves and grass. 

A little further along, I spotted some tiny primroses just beginning to poke through the ground. 

And even in the depths of winter, there is still the odd flower brave enough to show it's face. It's probably just a weed but pretty nonetheless. 

I also found something else. A Plaque on the garden wall of a house about half a mile away from where I live. I was intrigued. I took out my camera to snap a picture of it and discovered the battery was flat. Sods law. Anyway, the battery is now charging and tomorrow, Metro and I will go back and take some pictures and add them to the blog post I am writing about it.