Cocooning

It snowed two nights ago and it also got very cold.  After running errands on Sunday I didn't venture too far today.

In fact I feel very tired and quite cold.  I've got  the heat turned up high and am just taking things easy.
I even cancelled a hair appointment for tomorrow but hope to run a few errands later this week and possibly  take in a workshop on Friday. It really depends on  how much snow we get because more snow is forecast for a few more times this week.  It's highly unusual for us at this time of the year.

 In the meantime, I'm cocooning by reading cosy books, making slow dinners, watching small apartment decor videos and organizing videos, watching movies and once again making some bread.  I seldom really learn anything from the You Tube videos where everyone seems to want to show how they have decorated and show you ever single thing they own and where they put it. I do love to see how others live in their spaces but I do not like hearing the word "random" over and over again in the same video or hearing about every single area or item in one's home.  A nice overview will do and then perhaps draw audience attention to a few specific highlights or design ideas. 
But that's just me. I'm sure others like all the detail and additional information

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Have any of you see the old movie called "Black Narcissus" with Deborah Kerr?
It's a psychological drama about the emotional tensions of jealousy and longing within a convent of nuns in an isolated valley in the Himalayas.

I saw it once or twice before and I enjoyed watching it again on the weekend. 
Somehow the ill wind in the Himalayas seemed apropos for the weather and feelings it brought over the past few days. I'm talking literal weather now, not psychological.  Thank heavens.
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Speaking of movies, my brother and I went to see the Black Panther movie on Friday which was opening night.  We went early to avoid dealing with the sell out crowds.

It was a terrific movie and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. It will be an especially important movie for young black (not just North Americans but also in other countries) kids and youth.  It enables them to see a good movie with their own kind playing the leading roles.  The plot was decent for a movie based on comic book characters and  the special effects were great.

I always like to see a good, clean movie with no gratuitous sex scenes.  In fact, there were no sex scenes at all in this movie though it wasn't devoid of romantic relationships which are a normal part of life.

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On the home making front, the cushions I am remaking are not all done.  New stuffing has been added to the 3 cushions I remade (and the outer liners taken apart and washed 3 times).  Then they've been stuffed into the newly purchased, newly washed store bought cushion covers.  All except for the very large cushion (in ivory muslin) for which I'll probably have to sew up a cover.  I think I need to make 2 more cushions from scratch so I can use all my new cushion covers.
I'm sharing a hurriedly shot photo of one decor option featuring one of the recently made afghans and some of the new cushions.  My apologies for the poor lighting but it is difficult to get enough light at this time of year.
I also can't take a full on photo so it is a bit of a weird angle to view things but it will have to do.
I've moved one of my large photos from above the sofa and replaced it with the floral one to coordinate with the gold cushions. The floral photo used to be above my fire place so I've simply switched out photos for now rather than buy completely new wall art.
If I had to buy a new piece I'd have to store all my other ones because they won't coordinate.
I don't want to spend the additional money. Nor do I want to add things to my dusty storage area.

Here is one decor option with my new cushions and one of the afghans.

This is my cosy read of the moment. It's lovely to see all the cottages.

In the bread making department I'm sharing the recipe I used I've made this one several times.  It always turns out good.  It's from the Robin Hood  website and I doubled the recipe so I could make some buns and some cinnamon rolls. I'm all out of raisins so this time it will just be cinnamon and brown sugar in the buns. 

The cinnamon buns are super small after forming and shaping a dozen medium sized buns.  I didn't put any cream cheese frosting on them. I usually prefer them without frosting.

Ingredients:

1 tsp (5 mL) sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
1 envelope (8 g) active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp/11 mL)
1 cup (250 mL) milk
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter or margarine
2 tbsp (30 mL) sugar
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) water, warm
5 1/2 cups (1375 mL) white flour

 

 

Directions:

1. DISSOLVE 1 teaspoon (5 mL) sugar in 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water in large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast. Let stand 10 minutes, then stir well.
2. HEAT milk to lukewarm. Stir in butter, 2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar, salt and 1/2 cup (125 mL) warm water. Add milk mixture and 2 cups (500 mL) white flour to dissolved yeast mixture. Beat with wooden spoon or electric mixer until smooth and elastic.
3. STIR IN 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) of remaining flour gradually. If necessary, add more flour to make a soft dough which leaves sides of bowl. Turn out on floured board. Round up into a ball.
4. KNEAD dough, adding more flour as necessary, until dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky (about 10 minutes).
5. PLACE in lightly greased bowl. Turn dough to greased top. Cover with greased waxed paper and tea towel.
6. LET RISE in warm place (75°-85°F/24°-29°C) until doubled (45-60 minutes).
7. PUNCH DOWN. Turn out onto lightly floured board and divide into 2 equal portions. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
8. SHAPE each portion into a loaf. Place seam side down in 2 greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 2 3/4" (1.5 L) loaf pans. Cover with tea towel.
9. LET RISE in warm place until dough rises 1 1/2" (3 cm) above top of pan in centre and corners are filled (45 to 60 minutes).
10. BAKE at 400°F (200°C) on lower oven rack for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pans immediately. Brush top crust with butter if a soft crust is desired. Cool on wire racks.
11. QUICK NOTE: This recipe makes 2 loaves.

I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer to mix up all the dough but once it is mixed I knead it by hand for a few minutes. 

I don't knead it for 10 minutes like recipes usually recommend due to arthritis.  

I've only really made bread in this fashion after trying a bread machine many years ago but not liking it much. 

There are many people who do use a bread machine and they like it just fine. 

Home made bread, whichever method you use to make it is a real treat.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday this week. 

Have an awesome week ahead.

A Slow Dinner

Today was a day for a slow food dinner. I made Oatmeal Bread, Pork Roast with Tuscan Salt Rub and Baked Beans. For greens, I had the left over spinach salad from last night.

Cinnamon buns were made later for another day.  Photos above are of the buns before they went into the oven.  First photo has the butter and brown sugar sprinkled on the dough after it is rolled out to size. The middle photo is after the cinnamon spice and raisins have been added and the pieces cut for the pan. The third photo is after the dough has risen a bit and the last of course is the buns right out of the oven.

RECIPES

Oatmeal Bread

This was made in the bread machine and so is simple because all you do is throw all the ingredients into the machine, set it and away it goes until the bread is nice and done.

In case you do not have the recipe here is the one I used.

Ingredients:

9-11 ounces of water
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar or honey 

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
  3 3/4 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons powdered milk
  2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order listed. Select White Bread setting, and Start.

This recipe yields a 2 pound loaf.

Roast Pork with Tuscan Salt Rub

This again was easy. I put the roast pork into a small roaster, sprinkled some tuscan seasoning rub on it and cooked it for about 4 hours, first on low heat of 250 F. oven for an hour and then on 350 F. for the balance of time. I have a pre-mixed rub from Suzanne Somers company. If you don't have such a rub readily available or you like to make your own, you can try this recipe from the blog Eating Well.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

6 tablespoons dried basil

3 tablespoons garlic powder

3 tablespoons coarse salt

2 tablespoons dried rosemary

2 tablespoons dried oregano

Boston Baked Beans

I soaked the beans last night and boiled them for about one hour today. When I was ready to make dinner I put them in a glass baking dish along with a recipe I adapted from www.allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups navy beans

1/2 pound bacon

1 onion, finely diced

3 tablespoons molasses

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar


In my version, I omitted the bacon and Worcestershire sauce which I did not have on hand. I added some Louisiana hot sauce in place of Worcestershire. If you would like to use hot sauce, any hot sauce will do. I added the diced onion to the sauce mixture.

Basically you place the beans in a baking dish and pour the sauce over top. You can add a bit of liquid (from the boiled beans or water) and cover. The recipe says to cook the beans for 3-4 hours on 325 F. oven. I cooked mine for 4 hours and the first hour was at 250F along with the pork roast after which I turned the heat on to 375F for the remaining time. I  had about 3 times the beans so I tripled the other ingredients to taste.

Cinnamon Buns

For easy cinnamon buns I made the dough in the bread machine. I then rolled it out to size, placed margarine, brown sugar, cinnamon spice and raisins and then rolled the dough into a log, pinching it together where needed so it didn't fall apart. Once I had a log, I cut the roll into evenly spaced pieces about 1 inch each in width. I set the cut pieces on a baking sheet, covered with a tea towel and let it rise before baking at 350F oven for approximately 30 minutes. You can make a cream cheese frosting, a confectioner's sugar glaze or leave them plain.

 

Enjoy!