Wednesday 5 February 2014

A Productive Afternoon

I like to read about other people's lives. I enjoy posts that give me a peek into what someone else has been doing. I'm guessing at least some of my readers are the same so I thought I'd give you a peek into my afternoon yesterday.
 
I had a lot of baking but I wasn't feeling that great so I had a nap first. I didn't get going until after 3:30. First I had to make a list - I love lists remember - of what I needed to do. Here's my list... 
  • bread
  • sourdough bread
  • meat for supper
  • chicken broth
  • grape nuts cereal
  • dessert? (not sure if I was going to do this)
3:36 - finished my list...time to start
 
3:37 - children decide to go play in the snow so I stop what I'm doing to dress my toddler (I was actually glad they wanted to go out because the house was quiet and they were burning off excess energy in a non-irritating way ☺)...then the phone rang...take a pencil case and its contents away from the baby
 
activating my yeast with warm water and honey
3:45 - try again...start the wheat mill going with six cups of spelt...take a picture of the baby watching his siblings outside...start my sourdough...start proofing the yeast for my yeast bread
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3:57 - the phone is ringing again and I search frantically because I never put it down in the same place twice
 
3:59 - decide I better have a tea to get me through this
 
4:06 - finish mixing up my sourdough bread...I won't need to do anything else with it until tomorrow
 
4:07 - start mixing my bread...As an aside, why am I making two kinds of bread? I need bread tonight and the sourdough won't be ready until tomorrow. Also, the sourdough only makes two loaves which will be gone in a blink and my regular recipe makes four loaves which will last a tch longer.
 
4:10 - more pictures of the fun outside
 

He's wearing the leg warmers I made.
4:16 - finished kneading my bread and set it aside
 
4:19 - time out to change the baby's diaper and nurse him. I enjoy my tea while he's nursing and may or may not have played a couple of rounds of Candy Crush also. ☺
 
4:42 - the phone again
 
4:49 - finish my tea and start mixing the grape nuts cereal. My husband loves plain cold cereal that he can share with the baby. This fits the bill, but it could be jazzed up with fruit or coconut or nuts (or chocolate chips - just saying)...the phone again - my dad this time.
 
5:00 - the cereal is ready to be baked...punch down and flip my bread dough over
 
5:02 - finally decide that yes I will make dessert...brownies...a double batch with walnuts and chocolate chips added
 
much later- the finished product
 5:05 - my teenage son agrees to chop up the stewing beef so we can use it in spaghetti sauce...we use the food processor for this
 
5:12 - the meat is ready
 
5:21 - the brownies are ready...phone rings...another nursing break...call my teenage daughter from her bedroom because she offered to make supper
 
5:38 - nursing the baby again...it's just that time of day when he wants to nurse a lot...the bread needs to go in the pans now for the final rise
 
5:43 - bread is in the pans...wash some more dishes

 
 
5:48 - put the chicken broth I made two days ago into Ziploc bags prior to putting them in the freezer
 
my method for holding the Ziploc bag so I can fill it
 5:57 - call my second son to take the chicken broth to our freezer in the basement
 
 
 
6:01 - supper is ready
 
So I now have six loaves of bread (in various stages of readiness), cold cereal, supper, brownies, and enough chicken broth for six meals. Not bad for a couple of hours of work. It feels good to get a bunch of stuff done all at once.
 
Do you ever do a bunch of stuff all at once in your kitchen?
 
 

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2 comments:

  1. Wow - you get a lot of phone calls ;) LOL
    You DID get a lot done and I'm amazed at your ability to nurse while playing ;) I guess Jonah is a calm nurser?
    The greatest pic, of course, is Ethan outside - could he see under that hat? :) So cute

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    Replies
    1. Jonah is pretty calm - concentrated on getting down to business. :)
      I was wondering the same thing about Ethan. It didn't seem to slow him down.

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