Thursday 25 October 2012

A gloomy, gloupy kinda day... UPDATED!

First of all, welcome to my new follower hiddenhavenhomestead!

The weather is still gloomy here but the light levels are better than yesterday and at last, we can see some small streaks of cloud.We went on our walk yesterday, just the 3 of us still as E. is still recuperating from her broken leg. 

We think we may have to change our name to The Lost Walkers. This time though, we believe the map attached to the walk was incorrect. Apparently, we needed to turn left at a T junction but only came across a Y junction, where we reckoned we needed to turn right, especially as it referred to the village we were trying to walk to.

Anyhow, we duly turned left at the Y junction as instructed and carried on for another mile or so. Arriving at a village not on our map, we realised we needed to go back. Luckily we had noted several public highways leading back to where we began and took one. After coming out of this lovely wood:


the only place not shrouded in fog by the way, we were not sure whether to turn left and carry on with said route so headed back to where we had begun. After more zig zagging, 2 toilet stops, and very, very hungry and thirsty by now, we arrived back at the car 1 hour and 40 minutes later, having walked around 4 miles. All in all, a lovely walk, but the fog was thick so not a lot to see.All the above refers to the gloomy reference in my title. The gloupy bit refers to not following my instinct and listening to Paul Hollywood on how to make wet bread dough manageable by using oil rather than flour. Yeah, right Paul. The picture below shows my wet dough, plus lots of oil, some 10 minutes into kneading.


In the end, DB had to un-stick me with lots of oiled implements so I could finish this part of bread making. I'll post a photograph of said bread if and when it is finished. It may turn out well, but in future I'll stick to what I know works for me with regard to making bread. Here it is:
Finally, a sunny bit of info. As you know, we love beetroot soup. Our beetroot crop had failed as had that of a friend but she gave me her little bunch of golden beetroot. Not quite enough to make beetroot soup so I added a bit of swede and a few carrots - in keeping with the golden theme. Here they are, freshly peeled, diced and ready to go. 

Now doesn't that colour cheer you up on such a dull day.



The soup was a little pithy in places so we liquidized it and that helped. Despite being made with golden beetroot and a few extra veg, the smell and taste was almost the same. Anyway, we served it with home made bread, salt & pepper and a dash of soy sauce.


Whilst the bread was still rising and the oven on, I made a 1/2 quantity of Granola. It has just come out, had its dried fruits added and is now cooling. The kitchen is as warm as toast and smells wonderful.

 
I saved a little bread dough to make a pizza for tea, which we had with some fresh tomatoes. The base was covered with some of the beetroot soup with added tomato paste and garlic. Then a layer of pepper, ham and cheese finished it off.


 
 

5 comments:

  1. you should see the photos on my blog today, as we had a gloomy foggy day yesterday.

    Gill

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have, just about the same as on our walk. The fog seems to have lifted now so although it will be getting much colder for up to 10 days or so, hopefully we might get some clear skies and sunny weather.

      Delete
  2. You are really such a good cook - very inventive - the pizza looks great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lizzie, what a lovely thing to say. I am lucky though, that I have over the years, had my husband (and son when at home) always eaten what I have produced (disasters as well). I hold dear to that saying, "necessity is the mother of invention".

      Delete
  3. We have had a week and a half of gloomy days like that lately, but luckily the sun shines today :)
    You have been very busy lately, it was so nice to catch up on your latest posts.
    The soup and pizza looks yummy!!

    Wishing you a wonderful weekend :)
    (oh, and I haven't forgot about the knit pattern I promised you. Sorry about the delay, I will get round to it eventually...)

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you, will read all your comments and try and answer any questions you leave. Please leave comments in English. Don't forget to come back and read my reply! All comments are moderated so if you try to link it to a commercial web site, it will not be published.