I realise that it has been a while and if my faithful followers are not so faithful anymore then I understand completely. I will only say that it has been a tough six months and although I have been baking and knitting I haven't felt inspired to write about it, until today. Not sure what has changed today but this morning I found myself thinking about writing and I didn't immediatley think "naw, can't be bothered", a step forward I think you will agree. So enough of that and onwards with the news.
The post title implies that I have a new friend, I do indeed. But it's not a flesh and bone friend (don't worry it's not a six foot rabbit called Harvey!), it is a brand spanking new glorious....KitchenAid. Now people who even have a vague, passing acquaintance with me know that I have coveted one of these babies for, well a long time. My friends are positively sick of hearing about it and as for the boyfriend well he had reached the end of his tether. Perseverance pays off and having been a good girl last year Santa came up trumps leaving a Candy Apple Red KitchenAid under the tree for me! I have to say that in person (well, it is my new friend) it is a thing of beauty, such a wonderful design and you can see why so many people want one. But does it work? You bet ya it does. The only thing I haven't done yet is knead bread in it but that's more to do with me having learned how to do it by hand and preferring it that way. But I will try it. I've used it to make cakes, icing, pastry, meringues and, I think, everything tastes so much better! Not really, but it does make creaming the butter and sugar very easy, just turn it on and let it do its thing. But I think I have waxed lyrical enough about the shiny red thing and will move on to my other activities.
In my efforts to make cakes from around the world, I made a couple of Pannetone's for Christmas and am planning to make some Colomba's again in the run up to Easter, I still have some of the moulds left. I am still baking bread but now almost exclusively using the Dan Lepard kneading method (see The Handmade Loaf) with great success. My sourdough starter is still alive, almost a year old now, and although I don't make a loaf every day it is very easy to reactivate it as long as I plan ahead. In fact, I have just taken it out of the cupboard today to remind me to do just that so I can make a loaf at the weekend. I have also worked on getting the loaves as crusty as I can and have managed this but still can't work out how to maintain that crust, any hints gladly accepted.
In the knitting stakes I was stymied in my "lace cap sleeved top" project by running out of wool that you can only buy in Italy but I have an insider on the case. So while that is on hold I have started a runner for one of our beds. I've made up the pattern myself, altenating suares of stocking stitche and moss stitch in a red aran wool. Not groundbreaking but I think it will look good in the room.
I think that is enough for now, I will post about my weekend sourdough and hopefully kepp you glued to cakes and cardies for the rest of the year.
