The Undomestic Godess

My oven is fuming and blazing since Christmas. 

Blueberry muffins, oh and my latest addition of dunno-what-plant-is-it to my gardening (with no garden) collection.

During New Year's holiday, i made a batch of blueberry muffin, with FRESH blueberry, impressive or not, hahaha ... The other day, Peter went all the way getting his hand dirty kneading dough and baking bread. Do check out the Basic bread recipe for details.   

According master Jamie Oliver, its just 6 simple steps of :

Stage 1: making a well

Stage 2: getting it together

Stage 3: kneading!

Stage 4: first prove

Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping

Stage 6: cooking your bread

Sounds simple right, but truth be told, its more expensive and extremely time consuming to bake your own bread rather than just went to bakery at the corner of the road to buy a freshly made loaf of bread. Its only cost a penny and is equally good (or even better) with home made. However, its a different kind of satisfaction I would say. To eat from the fruit of your labour, literally. Oh, and it gives you great muscle exercise with all the kneading and mixing too!

We made a grilled chicken sandwich with the bread. hmm..hmmm... delicious. 

I was so into the baking stuff that the other day i bought this chick flick book by Sophie Kinsella named "The Undomestic Goddess". I can totally echo with the main character Samantha Sweating. She is a successful attorney but a total workaholic who did a major blunder in her career and went down all the way to zero. To make things worse, she become a housekeeper by mistake. 

I like the way how the author put this smart women (with flighty thoughts) into a beyond imaginary circumstances and come out better than everyone could have think of. There is this funny scene which describes her first bread baking experience. She had a total nervous breakdown when the kneading is going no where and to make it worse, she has to wait for the yeast to make the bread rise. In her own words:

"I look at the bowl, trying to think miracles. But it isn’t working. I can’t feel calm or serene..... I used to be in control of my time to the minute. To the second. And now I’m supposed  to stand here, in an apron, waiting for a...fungus?"

Yeast = fungus, priceless!

I was literally laughing out loud. but a couple of pages after, i was on the verge of shedding tears. 

".... A yeasty smell is rising up. I open my eyes to see a  loaf of bread in my arms. Proper bread. Real, proper bread like you’d see in a baker’s window. Fat and plump and golden-brown, with faint striations and a crusty, almost flaky top. It smells so delicious I can feel my mouth watering. 

“Tell me that’s nothing,” says Iris, squeezing my arm. “You made that, sweetie. And you should be proud of yourself.” 

Something hot is wadding my throat as I clutch the warm loaf. I made this bread. I made it. I, Samantha Sweeting, who couldn’t even microwave a packet of soup. Who gave up seven years of her life to end up with nothing, to be wiped out of existence. Who has no idea who she even is anymore. I made a loaf of bread. Right now I feel like this is the only thing I have to hold on to."

I guess that's the meaning of comfort food. When you pour all the hard works and love into whatever you cook/ bake, the food will comfort your soul in return. Its almost like a cleansing and rejuvenating process. Anyway, now you know i have a soft spot for stuff like this. ;)