My dear Lucy,
Sorry I haven't written to you in a while, I have been giving our situation a good deal of thought and, upon great reflection, I realise that you wouldn't want to hurt my feelings - we have known each other for too long to indulge in such silliness; so, yes, all is forgiven, and if I have been ungenerous at all, I hope that you will forgive me. I must say that your story about your parents on the motorbike made me smile and realise that you are cut from the same cloth as your mother; I have a vision of you with your hem up around your 'ahem, whizzing along while Mr L hangs on for dear life!
Anyway, my latest bake turned out to be a great success on a number of levels: kneading bread dough for 10 minutes is excellent for calming a troubled mind and toning-up one's 'bingo wings'. What a juxtaposition of relaxation and tautness I experienced! However, I did make the mistake of attempting to bake bread by hand on the very day that I had arranged a play date for the little Chinos after Nursery; by the time we returned home, the risen dough had taken on a life of its own and was oozing across the work-top. All was not lost, however, as I simply 'knocked it back' and left it to rise again. The result was scrumptiously crusty bread (Cottage Loaf p101). I know that Margo will be disappointed to read that I normally use a bread-maker, but a busy mum of three who works part time must make concessions; at least I am serving up home made bread each week rather than shop-bought, so I do know what is in it. But this simple and delicious bread went down a storm and requests have been made for more. Perhaps next time I shall experiment with making two smaller loaves as the mixture did result in a whopping loaf that was hard to fit in the bread bin! Commiserations on the Cornish Pasties, Lucy; but we do need to learn from our mistakes, don't we?
We also need to welcome Amanda, another new follower, into the fold. I don't know what her stance is on mechanical gadgets, but I hope she enjoys our letters. By the way, I have just watched the man across the road put the finishing touches to a fence around the front of his property. I've observed the whole process from start to finish and feel that it will give them a good deal more privacy; people can be so nosey, can't they? I'm glad to say that I don't fall into that camp, I just find my eye is drawn across the road from time to time...
Glad we're back to the way we were.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Cathy x
May I suggest for next time dear, you sharpen your bread knife, or perhaps a better idea is to ask Mr Chino to do it for you.
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