At last our hot days seem to have come to an end and although the clouds this morning looked more like the white fluffy summertime clouds they changed and by noon it was quite cloudy. Not long after it began to rain. I sat on the porch and listened to the sound of the rain on the skylight and enjoyed the cool fresh air.
Cool days make me want to bake so I made a couple of individual-size apple crisps and some raisin/fruit bread ( using the breadmaker on the dough cycle).
Earlier this week I made a big pot of Borscht (Mennonite cabbage soup). What we didn't eat at supper I put in jars in the fridge. It's nice to have it on hand for a quick lunch or light supper.
We were given some most delicious plums . They were very ripe and needed dealing with that day so what we couldn't eat we froze.
My DH is away visiting his family for a week. I will have lots of time to do some much needed sorting through 'stuff' and organizing the rest which I actually enjoy doing. I won't bother with making meals and I plan on getting a lot of reading done too.
One last thing to share is this female Black-headed Grosbeak that visited the birdbath today. I don't think I've seen one in this area before so I was quite excited to see her. I hope she comes back and brings her much more colourful mate with her.
Thanks for stopping by,
Granny Marigold
Those fruit loaves certainly look good. Enjoy your weekend.
ReplyDeleteSome alone time is good, although since you have family in the same house, if it becomes too much, you don't have far to go to find company :-) I know we have seen Grosbeaks at our feeder, including the more colourful males, but I can't remember what kind. The rain is good, we need quite a bit of it, but the upcoming forecast looks a bit depressing, hopefully some sunshine will squeeze in there!
ReplyDeleteI like to use the dough cycle on my bread machine too.
ReplyDeleteFall is in the air! Enjoy the coolness! Baking sounds like a good idea!
ReplyDeleteHow sweet to have a visit from the grosbeak :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat do you eat when you aren't bothering with meals?
Tomorrow I will mend my ways and eat at regular times. Today at one point I ate a couple of cucumbers, then some leftover cottage cheese... Not really the best way to eat although the things I ate were okay choices.
DeleteI've only seen a grosbeak once here. And it never came back, so still hoping... The borscht looks so good. I love any soup with some cabbage thrown in! Very good.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pretty little bird! Enjoy your productive days alone at home. It sounds like your weather is going to cooperate for pleasant reading time :)
ReplyDeleteYour bread and Borscht look amazing! I would love to make a fruit and nut bread using the dough cycle, but my machine doesn't beep to let me know when to put in the nuts and fruit. Do you have a particular point when you add those ingredients?
ReplyDeleteI kept an eye on my breadmaker the first time and found that the initial mixing and kneading was 20 minutes. What I do is wait until it has been thumping around for 16 or 17 minutes and then I add the raisins etc.. There is an add ingredients beep somewhere in the middle of the cycle but I've found it doesn't incorporate adequately. I hope this helps.
DeleteOh, thank you, Friend! I am going to give this a try. We both enjoy raisin bread so this will be fun to try making our own now. :)
DeleteHello, GM. I'm glad you're having cool temps now. That makes me want to bake too, but sadly, autumn isn't making any inroads here! Baking is wonderful, and I love how you use everything that comes your way! I'm catching up now on blog reading since I'm finally home and have a working laptop. Enjoy those lovely soft rains and cool breezes!
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