Oven You, Oven Me! Aha!

My lack of baking recently was not only my wonderful holiday with my family in Majorca, but also the birthdays of my son and myself. I had some wonderful presents, including some bakery related goodies. I now have a set of scales (mains adapted!) that are better suited to my needs than my Argos special from Salter. I also have lots of lovely vouchers for Bakery Bits – suppliers of bakeware and well, bakery bits! I currently have granite worktops which is lovely to knead on, but it is rather cold and tends to take the warmth out of the dough. So I was given this beautiful solid work board, of huge proportion and look! It’s got my name on it. 


The second big news of the the week, is that I have finally taken the plunge and found an oven that I hope will be a welcome addition to my bakery (which is still my kitchen for the moment). I am collecting it from a lovely lady who has expanded to a new cafe and no longer has a use for it. I pick it up Friday from over 100 miles away and I am hoping to squeeze it into my car and give it a new home. All being well (and clean!) I intend to experiment with it for this Saturday’s bake! Risky, but I reckon it’ll be Ok.


The biggest news of the week is that my closest friend has asked me to be godmother to her three adorable children.  What a week. Does anyone love their life more than I?

Learning to Play the Banjo

It occurs to me that life is way too short to cram in all the things that I would like to do.  So I generally bungle along (albeit in a serial organised way) doing what I can remember that I must be doing at the time.  I have just returned from a fabulous week away in Mallorca with my husband, son and mother-in-law.  We had wall-to-wall sunshine and I didn’t have to wear socks or long-sleeves even once.   Whilst I was away, I couldn’t do any of the things that I do on a daily basis when I’m home.   I obviously couldn’t cook or bake (not possible in a studio apartment).  I couldn’t watch the tele (not that I watch much of that anyway) and I couldn’t web-surf or nosey on facebook – too scared to ramp up data roaming charges.  So all that was left was to finish my book that I’d started 3 month’s earlier, dig in the sand, swim, sunbathe, sleep and eat.  It’s no wonder that I put on 4 pounds.
I was expecting to come back on Thursday, returning straight back to work today, with the prospect of another mad two weeks in ‘the shed’.  But I have had a bit of a reprieve and things have been delayed until further notice. Despite this, it is with some reticence that I may now have a free-er week than I originally thought.  This has thrown my brain into a complete muddle, as all the things that I have been wanting/meaning to do for a long time that have been supressed by the absolute HAVE to do work tasks, are now floating around near the surface all vying for attention.  In isolation, all tasks are not nearly so daunting, but when you add them all together, they are going to take up more time than you physically can give.  For example, my son recently had a birthday (as did I). I have a bounty of thank you notes to write. He and I both have cards to re-read and tidy away/re-cycle.  There is lego to build.  Books to read.  Old toys to recycle and new toys to tidy away.  We have a reasonably sized 4 bed house. I would have to say, two of the rooms (ours and that of the boy) are tidy(ish).  The other two are fast becoming dumping grounds for anything and everything for which we have no permanent home or no time to deal with straightaway. My small hobby bakery business needs my attention, else I risk making it even smaller, although my excuse for hanging back a bit is the fact that my son is only a couple of months from full time education – he comes first.
 A few weeks ago, my mum gave me her 5-string banjo to sell for her on ebay.  It was a gift to her from my Stepfather when they married nearly 25 years ago. She had always wanted to learn how to play.  How ironic that I am now keeping it in my spare room, in the hope that it will strum out it’s first proper tune with my fingers.  I wonder when I will get around to that.
My friends, we are so time poor in this life.  At least I can be happy with that fact that I am NEVER bored.  Maybe it’s a baker thing??
My first baking post- holiday  is for this Tuesday, 19th June, followed by next Saturday, 26th June and then every Tuesday and Every Saturday after that.  Please check out my new EVENTS page for details of upcoming events from Jo’s Loaves.