Hectic Heaven

Summer has arrived

Wow its been hot here! I think its just a taste of things to come later on in the summer... sounds like we have some cooler air moving in soon...

The garden is growing and I am still trying to get everything planted.. I have had one minor glitch, I seem to have a critter that lives under the ground, that has a taste for heirloom tomato stalks, yesterday DH noticed one of my cherished little plants a heap on the ground... when I went out this moring it was about half the size it was yesterday and  and was still in the ground... when I  gently lifted the plant it came up without any trouble and had obviously been gnawed on... Now I dont mind sharing.. and thank goodness I have another  Cherokee purple plant.... but for cryin out loud.. there are 6 1/2 acres of weeds and this critter picked a tomato plant  right smack in the middle of the property....I have planted  quite a bit and have a bit more to go, but am kind of waiting for it to cool a bit...  melons tend to be a bit shocky when moved so I would rather do it when its cooler...

I have been making bread,  lots of bread... on Mothers day I made 6 loaves of bread...and Christine's potato rolls (they are so good)  gave all but one loaf away... then the other day on the warmest day of the week I decided to work on making a recipe that fits in my new 12 inch pans... I think I got it worked out...but I gotta tell you,  that little bit of heat in the kitchen made that dough go plumb nuts... I punched it down after the first rising, then thinking it would take a bit of time set the timer for about 30 minutes... that dough climbed clean up and almost out of that pan.... so I punched it down again.. set the timer for 15 minutes... I thought it looked ok.. but I guess it had risen to high... I ended up with  a perfect loaf of brick bread...it tasted great though.....

Last night when I got home from work I was so hungry for pizza... but way to tired..so today I made the dough and made pizza.. but again the heat in the kitchen put those little yeasty creatures into overdrive... My crystal ball is predicting a trip to the grist mill in the very near future (read tomorrow)..as I am now just about out of flour and yeast...