Enjoy being a stirrer! Cheap Thrill: #12

Life, as Christmas draws nearer, gets more and more frenetic, even if you haven't got to plan the Christmas play and manage children who struggle to cope with the necessary changes to routine that go hand in hand with the festivities - why would they want to go to school in a Christmas jumper when everyone knows that you go to school in your uniform? 

Despite being retired, I still find myself writing this in the middle of the night:

1. because I can't sleep
2. because my husband is snoring and
3. because in the morning I have to bake sausage rolls and banana muffins for a girly gathering tomorrow evening!

So, my latest cheap thrill involves taking time to relish and enjoy nourishing my family, whilst sneaking a few cheeky minutes to myself. Yes, I give you…risotto! 

Roast squash, sage, chestnut and pancetta risotto (thank you Jamie Oliver!)

I love risotto. It is so comforting to eat and can be made from the simplest of ingredients, which I usually have in my store cupboard. Now I have to admit to oven baking risottos on occasion, but for maximum creaminess, nothing beats the traditional method of slowly adding hot stock to rice and stirring gently until it is absorbed.

Watching the magic happen

For me it is a labour of love which cannot be rushed and is truly mesmerising and cathartic. I turn on the radio, stand at the stove and stir. My mind wanders as the rice releases its starch and I unpick my troubles or worries and they seem to evaporate with the steam. (A glass of wine to hand is also mesmerising and cathartic, but maybe thats another cheap thrill!) 

I am fascinated by the way the texture of the rice changes as the starch seeps from it, and it is up there with bread making in ticking my ‘earth mother’ boxes. All in all, it takes about twenty minutes to make, but in those twenty minutes I have to stay by the stove and pay it close and loving attention - no multi-tasking, no trying to fit in checking my bank balance or ordering another Christmas present - just carefully stirring the pan, waiting for the magic to happen. Bliss. And I am not alone - we visited my daughter last week who made us a delicious meal. ‘I love making risotto, Mum, it’s so therapeutic.’ Great minds!

Lovely lemon and prawn risotto

So next time you’re stressed and wonder where you're going to find a minute to yourself, try making a risotto. Not only do you sneak some time, you also get to provide a delicious meal for your family or friends! Joy, pure joy!

Adventures in Dough!

I love bread. Whenever I have been trying to lose weight, it has always grieved me that the first thing to go is bread, although to be honest, its not the bread, its the butter and cheese that I have with it that challenges my many and various bids for a sylphlike figure! 

Anyway, bread. I have always enjoyed baking with yeast, but this has usually been limited to making my own hot cross buns at Easter. During my career break, when the children were small, I did bake most of my own bread, but I always remember it being worthy, wholemeal loaves that didn’t always rise, but that we ate anyway!

New book!

As part of my retirement basket of goodies, my daughter gave me Brilliant Bread by James Morton and it’s reignited my passion for baking my own loaves. I started at the beginning (a very good place to start) and made the first loaf in the book. It was a genius recipe that involved lots of time waiting for the dough to rise, but minimal kneading and faffing about. James Morton is not a lover of faff, and this makes his recipes relatively simple to follow.

My first baking success

My first loaf was amazing and I thought I had this bread business cracked…then I baked another loaf, following exactly the same recipe. Disaster! Not a taste disaster, but it stuck, wouldn't slice and, although we devoured it while it was still warm, would never have passed muster as a loaf of bread!

My second baking...

I was a little disheartened, but persevered, and when my daughter sent me photos of the bread she had made on a french bakery course, I determined to prove myself (little baking joke there!) and had a go at baguettes. Unfortunately I mis-read James Morton’s recipe and, having made his ‘poolish’ pre ferment, realised that it used a sourdough starter that I didn't have. If I’d only done as he suggested and worked through the book from the beginning instead of jumping ahead, I would have known what to do, but I hadn’t, so I didn’t. Suffice to say that following about three different recipes from the internet does not produce professional baguettes! Again, they were tasty and we very much enjoyed them dipped in home made soup, but no self respecting Frenchman would have carried one home under his arm!

Bamber - our faithful, frothy friend

Undeterred, I decided to try making a sourdough starter. Sourdough is, after all, the holy grail of breads, and how hard can it be?! I followed the instructions to the letter, even the bit that says to tip 75% of the mix away after two days, and now have a jar of bubbling, fermenting stuff. As it needs feeding and nurturing I felt it had to have a name - it’s like my surrogate child! After much deliberation, we decided on Bamber, as he’s our ‘starter for’, oh well, never mind! 

I then went out and bought rye flour, semolina, a proving basket and a lame, for cutting the top of the dough. Up until that point, I’d intended ‘baking bread’ to be a cheap thrill. £15 later, I thought maybe not!

Last night I used 100grams of Bamber in the dough for a Pain de Campagne. After kneading (in my Kitchenaid, I can not tell a lie, because I was trying to watch Strictly at the same time!)I did the windowpane test, just like on the Bake Off, and left the dough in the fridge overnight.

New proving basket

This morning, I shaped it, proved it again in my new basket, and baked it. I felt so proud when I got it out of the oven, smelling delicious, and so crusty! 

Crusty!

I suppose we should have eaten it with a baked Camembert for authenticity, but we had Stilton instead. Yummy.

Yummy!

I haven't progressed to a loaf that uses only the sourdough starter as a raising agent, but in time I’m sure I will. In the meantime, there’s an interesting Marmite Bread that I might try next…

So baking bread is a luxury that I can enjoy because I am retired - poor Bamber wouldn't have survived a nanosecond this time last year - and having the time to indulge myself, and my family is, I have to admit, ever so slightly wonderful!

Run, Jillikins, Run!: Cheap Thrill #9

Run, Jillikins, Run!

I have never been able to run. When I was a child, I suppose I could, but as an adult, never. Even as a teenager I viewed cross country lessons at school as a good opportunity to take the art teacher’s dog for a walk.

So it may come as something of a surprise to you that I have chosen running as this week’s Cheap Thrill. 

Two years ago I was searching for a way of getting fit, having lost some weight but knowing that I still wasn't particularly healthy. I discovered the Couch to 5K programme and thought I’d give it a go.  I used the treadmill at work and slowly began to discover that I could run. I even took part in a couple of Park Runs, although I have to say I didn't particularly enjoy them - as soon as I’m with other people, I put myself under pressure to keep up, forgetting that most of them are under 40, and I’m, well, not!

As with many ventures, life got in the way, and pressure of time meant that I could only realistically run once a week. This led to my fitness levels dropping, and I stopped enjoying it and then - I just stopped.

So pink!

I was determined that, once I retired, I would start to run again, and dusted off my trainers, my lycra (!) and my podcasts. I have determinedly run three times a week, starting from the beginning of the 9 week Couch to 5K programme. And this morning I completed it! Woohoo! OK, strictly speaking, for me it’s more like Couch to 4.2K, but I can now run, non- stop, for 30 minutes.

The great thing is that now I can continue to run three times a week, without feeling that I should be doing something else. Maybe retirement isn’t so bad after all!

I have a strange relationship with running, in that I enjoy it most when I stop, but it gives me a chance to challenge myself, clear my head, think about random things to blog about, say ‘Good morning’ to lots of dog walkers, and occasionally overtake a mobility scooter!

Go for it - you might like it!Couch to 5K

So if you think you can’t run, but feel you’d like to try, give Couch to 5K a go - you may surprise yourself. I know I have.

So there we have it this week’s Cheap Thrill. 

Cheap? Certainly, if you have a pair of trainers, the podcasts are free to download and really supportive.

It's lovely when you stop!

Thrilling? Yes, when you stop! And exercising regularly means that I get to eat cake and drink gin - oh, the joy!