The little board nobody wanted

While working on clearing out my Dad's house, a certain board would always catch my eye.  My Dad was a woodworker and a great hoarder collector of boards.  This one particular board was spalted, possibly maple and about four feet long.  The reason it wasn't wanted is that it was so bowed that when it was laying flat, the middle was almost 3/4" higher than the ends.  I must admit I picked it up many times, admiring the discoloration of the wood, then put it back down.  On our last trip to the house I picked it up knowing it might just be something special.

The board has sat in the garage for the past six months, still bowed.  A couple of days ago I thought if I cut off a piece, the bow wouldn't be so bad and perhaps it could make something useful for photograpy.  If nothing else, it would make a good practise piece for me to work on.

I cut it into a shape of an old fashioned bread board, shaped the edges and sanded and sanded.  When it was smooth enough I gave it a coat of hemp oil and oh my, the grains and the spalting gobsmacked me.  I don't think I've ever seen such a beautiful piece of wood.

Instead of "just" using it for photography, I had to bake bread to shoot with it.  I used the no-knead artisan bread recipe, quite easy to google, with 1 cup multigrain flour and 2 cups white flour.

And the bread turned out quite tasty as well.

The moral of the story? Well, with most of you being photographers and creative people, appreciating the beauty in old objects and crooked wood, I'm sure you know the moral of the story.

Kim's texture kk_ugglove was used in all three photos to add a little texture to the background.

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A busy week

It's been a busy week here.  We don't often go to the big city, but this week we went twice to pick up insulation for the garage and a little Christmas shopping. It's very cold here, but the highway was clear after last week's storm.

Still on the highway, but in the city there are massive power lines.  As ugly as they are, but cool in a certain way, we'd be a little lost without power.

Shooting out the window of the truck I happened to get a little burst of light while trying to get a shot of the snow mountain in the parking lot.

Back at home and back in the warm kitchen, we decided on roasted winter vegetables for dinner.  A little salt and pepper then topped with chopped garlic and scallions and baked in the oven.  Oh my, they were delicious.

My son and daughter-in-law gave me a new cookbook, The Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines so I tried a new recipe, French Dimpled Rolls.  I lost the dimple during the proofing and baking, but they were so good.  The recipe can be found all over the internet if you google French Dimpled Rolls.

I hope you all had a good week and thank you for such a warm welcome back.

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A New Year

It's 2014 and a new year.  Last year my "word" was "create".  I'm afraid I didn't do so well with the word, so this year I've decided not to have a word.  It will be a free year for me, trying to find my creative side again.  No words, no rules.

Lately on Facebook and the cooking channel I've been seeing a lot of puddings.  I did not grow up with Bread Pudding and I don't remember ever having it before.  Deciding to create something new for the new year I did some searching and came across this website mountainmamacooks with a recipe for Brown Sugar Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce.  Looked to be easy enough so I gave it a try.

I thought if raisins were good, then apple might be as well.  I had a few slices of Granny Smith apples in cinnamon left over from Christmas Eve, chopped them up and added them with the raisins. Bread, milk, eggs, raisins, apples and yogurt = a well balanced meal.

Oh my, it is delicious.  Not sure how I've survived all these years without eating bread pudding.

Instead of the Caramel Sauce, I had it with frozen Vanilla Yogurt.  Yum.

I hope that you all have a  very happy, creative and prosperous 2014 and may you find a way to make your dreams come true.