Right then, New Year, new missions. I figured I’d get the easy stuff out of the way first, and build up to the tough stuff. Six months to achieve 40 things pretty much means ticking off two a week. So, start with what you know, I say…
Item #6: Invent an interestingly – flavoured new loaf of bread every week.
No problem, let’s start with a classic, my legendary Italian Herb Bread:
You need:
1lb Strong White Bread Flour
…just like these.
1 packet easy yeast (bit of a cheat, but we’re on a budget, here)
300ml lukewarm water
Tblsp sugar
Tsp salt
Bit of Olive Oil
… for your basic bread dough, then
Chopped Chillies
Handful of Chives
Handful of Basil
Dollop of Tomato puree
… to make it Italian.
Now, plonk all your main ingredients into a mixing bowl an mix ’em around, adding a little bit of water at a time until it all starts to come together as a dough. You don’t want it too sticky or too dry, so keep adding flour and water until it looks like this:
Now, add the other ingredients, knead it around for about 10 minutes, then leave it and go and watch an episode of Battlestar Galactica. This is known as leaving the bread to prove. When you come back, it should have risen a little bit. Bash it about for a further ten minutes, stretching it out and folding it back on itself, but take care not to squash it too much or you’ll squish the gluten (so I’m told), and the lil’ bugger won’t rise.
Cover your fingers in olive oil and wipe it round the insides of a bread tin. Fling your loaf in, cover with a wet tea towel, and go watch another episode. Or play the blues for a bit.
When you get back to the kitchen, your bread’ll look a bit like this:
…good, eh? Now warm your oven up to about 190 degrees, brush the top of your loaf with some olive oil and pop that little sucker right in for half an hour or so.
I used to use one of these….
But I’m more into one of these, lately. Horses for courses, eh?
Anyway, half an hour or so later, you should find yourself the envy of the football crowd and in the position of having something like this:
Note the chipped John Wayne mug, bought that way on Blackpool’s ‘Golden’ Mile.
…Let it cool a bit, then cut yourself a couple of slices and melt some butter into it while it’s still warm. Tell you what, tastes great with good thick ham as a sandwich.
Other points of interest today….
Item #4: Give up smoking for the final time.
– smoked 20. Try again tomorrow.
Item #32: Beat The Gaffer at chess.
– joined chess.com to get some practise in. Found I can play against other folk of similar ability all over the world. Played 7 games straight and lost every one. May need a touch more practise. Come and play against me – I’m known as DrRocka.
Item #31: Go back to Glastonbury village in a camper van, and spend a night on the Tor (used to do this a lot). Not when the festival’s on, though.
– took a prospective camper van for a test run. Spent an hour rigging up the electrics in the back, then broke the accelerator pedal off halfway to Blackpool. Not a good omen, methinks. Managed to get the van back to a garage by pulling on what was left of the Accelerator with a guitar string (low E). This means that, over the last 3 weeks, I’ve used guitar strings to:
– rig a makeshift accelerator in a camper van,
– clean out a blocked drainage system in a Renault Clio
– rig an electrical fuse while I sorted out a broken burglar alarm.
Seriously, is there anything in life a guitar can’t fix? And more importantly, do all these things count towards list item #37: invent something that’s never been invented before??
Exhausted and sleep pattern destroyed already! Let’s see how we can top it tomorrow.
