A French Love Story

First off, as promised, here is a photo of yesterday’s dinner…brace yourself…it was GOOOD!

For the sauce on the salmon I mixed a little chili sauce, some soy sauce, a little oil (any kind is fine), and a little garlic pepper. After I brushed on the sauce I threw some sesame seeds over and then let it sit in the fridge a bit…maybe a half an hour? Baked this at 350F (180C) for about 15-20 minutes…the majority of you know me by now, I seldom time things, just look at it and say- NOW it’s done…hahaha…

After dinner last night I felt like getting my hands on some dough…but what to make? I looked through my cookbook and came across a lovely photo of some french bread with blue cheese…it looks so yummy….so I decided it would be french bread. I made the dough out of the following recipe which is in Norwegian but I’ll translate, this is enough for two breads:

25 grams yeast (I used dry yeast mixed with a little warm water)

1 kilo all purpose flour

1tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

2-3 Tbsp Oil

6-7 deciliters of ice cold water

I mixed the dry ingredients, then added the yeast and the water..mixed well and poured it out onto my kitchen counter where I proceeded to indulge in my French love….kneading the beautiful dough like a romantic French lover….eh hem…excuse me, got a little carried away there…

After the dough wasn’t sticky anymore I put it back in the bowl, tucked it in under a plastic cover and put it to rest in my fridge overnight. Next morning I took it out again on my kitchen counter which was lightly dusted with flour and rolled out two loaves of bread which I let rest on the baking sheets for about 30 minutes. You then bake the breads on the lowest rack in your oven at 250C (about 425F) for ten minutes (10 minutes) and then turn the heat down to 180C (350F) for an additional 30 minutes. At this stage you’ll also put a small pan of water under your baking sheet…and when you’re done your bread should look something like this….

The more rustic the better in my opinion….This has a nice chewy/crunchy crust and soft center to the bread…and yes, I had a slice with blue cheese…it was heavenly…just like it looked in the book!

Jen over at Muddy Boot Dreams commented yesterday about my lilacs…but Jen, if you’re reading this…you’ll see you misunderstood- I doubt seriously there will be any lilacs this year as my darling Captain thought the trees needed trimming and took off the tops on all of them…

But who knows, they might come…we can wait and see…

In the meantime I’m enjoying these sweet wild pansies that are sprucing up all around my yard…

And the cherry trees are in bloom…lovely isn’t it?

We have removed some small trees which were hogging some valueable garden area, yesterday. Now I’m trying to think what I’ll put in there to give this area a burst of colour…I think Thursday I’ll head to the local garden center and see what I can find…any suggestions are welcome!

One of the things I love about living in the woods is that there isn’t just blooms in my gardens but everywhere…like these along the road up to the house…

Wish I could tell you what these are (if anyone knows- let us know in the comment section please!) but I’m not an expert in the garden..I love to play around in there but I go mostly off of what pleases my eyes and not plant names..

Well, I’m off to a meeting at work…hope you all have a lovely day and don’t forget to leave a comment that always makes me so happy!! :-))

Until next time my friends…