Dough girls

Making bread.  Something I've been meaning to do for a while now, since we did it at the Waldorf parent/tot groups we went to last year.  Think I've always been a little wary of it, what with all the yeast and rising and what have you, always thought it sounded tricky.  Sure, I've used packets but that ain't 'real breadmaking' now is it?  I keep reading articles on how all the kneading is supposed to be meditative and soothing so we just might get some peace around here for a few minutes, and even if you can't pull off the serenity bit then at least you can munch on the results.  There really isn't anything quite like bread fresh from the oven is there?

Getting down to business, we used Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe from 'Jamie's Dinners'.  He includes a whole host of different variations from the basic recipe, but all I wanted was honest no messing about bread.  We used 100% wholewheat bread flour, dried yeast packets and honey.  Heap your flour on a surface and pour the yeast/water combo into the centre he says.  Okey dokey.  Err, what about all the liquid cascading off the side of the kitchen counter?  Wondering why we didn't use a bowl (which was his alternative suggestion) at this point.  Ok, I get it, mix it from the pool at the centre outwards using your hand in a circular motion.  Just about holding it together at this point, add more water, now we're cooking.  Before you know it we have a lovely sticky mass of dough to knead for 5 mins, which is quite soothing I have to say, and a good wrist workout.  Anything that involves dough, or indeed just flour, is a hit with Boo, so she is entranced at this point.

Much to my surprise (oh me of little faith), the bread turned out wonderfully, after the requisite risings/knocking out.  I didn't quite manage to get a pic of the finished loaf before a little (and a big) mouth were wolfing down its still warm deliciousness.  

My other focus at present is Project Studio.  In its current state:

It can only be up from here!  Watch this space...

 

Birthday

Ah the decadence of being allowed to go 'back to bed' on my birthday morning with a cup of tea, and my birthday reads, 'Garden Anywhere' by Alys Fowler, and 'New Sushi' by Emi Kazuko.  Methinks my family had their bellies in mind with the latter purchase!  The creations look colourful and mouthwatering, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in once I've sourced all the ingredients and bits and bobs required.  Alys Fowler is head gardener at the Gardener's World garden and her book has already taught me just how those crazy Latin names work and what a 'half hardy annual' really is, so now I'm feeling a whole lot more clued up about the mysterious world of horticulture, and her recycling/thrifting approach to garden is really inspiring.

Our morning continued its laid back pace, with a short cycle ride to nearby Lynn Headwaters Park (how lucky are we to live in this location on the edge of wilderness?) and a walk along the creekside path beloved to runners and dog walkers alike.  Indeed, Boo insisted upon greeting every dog and, once one friendly dog owner let her feed her dog treats, she expected this to be the procedure for each and every dog!  Needless to say we went at 'toddler pace' with much meandering, doubling back and stopping to examine small fragments of the natural world. 

Back at the ranch, mama ripped some wallpaper off the walls in her studio (so satisfying!), whilst Dadda Boo caught the making bug and conjured up a Boo-sized 'mushroom' table and seats from some of our extensive wood stock.  

Black Bear joined us for a birthday tea party around the table, with cups of soil and some play cake (there was some real cake inside as well, fear not).

As usual we shared our garden with the local wildlife, though we were not thrilled about the posse of four raccoons that Boo and I came upon coming into our bedroom through the patio door that we'd mistakenly left open.  These long legged guys are a whole lot more welcome though, just as long as they stay outside.

Autumn Leaf Collage

Boo has recently shown interest in using a glue stick, so I wanted to do a spot of collage with her.  She can't use scissors yet so it would have to be a collaborative effort.  She could, of course, try using the glue stick with some scraps of newspaper but why not make something beautiful in the process?  Surely that's more satisfying and opens windows to the possibilities of collage more for a little one?  

So I found a piece of paper to which I had previously applied bleeding colours (wet on wet) - it was probably going to be collage material and never got used - and some Autumnal tones from my handmade paper stash.

I say handmade paper, but actually it's more akin to papier mache.  I dye layers of toilet tissue with procion fabric dyes and then laminate a few layers together with PVA glue mixed with water.  I like toilet tissue because it takes the dye well, you get some interesting blending of colours, and it wrinkles up when it's laminated, leaving you with an unpredictably textured surface.  

So I cut out some leaf shapes from my 'handmade paper. and showed Boo how to apply the glue and stick them down onto the background.

And that was it, a good skill practised and a beautiful picture for our Autumn Gallery.

Child of the Woods

And blankie came too, of course.

Tutorial: Leaf Monoprinting for Kids

Yes, you heard me right, you can do printmaking with a two-year-old, get great results and both get some creative satisfaction out of having participated in the process.  Monoprinting is the answer - I think it's much more versatile and sophisticated that the 'polytile' printing that is often kids' first experience of printmaking.  Hey, if its good enough for Tracey Emin, its good enough for us (though I wouldn't recommend her subject matter for young 'uns!).

Monoprinting, as the name suggests, is when you create on unique print (rather than having a plate or a screen with an image which can be reproduced again and again).  There are a number of different ways to make a monoprint, but this morning we retrieved some large leaves from a neighbour's 'green bin', Autumn/Fall is almost here, and I knew I had a stash of small pressed leaves from last Autumn, so these led me to this printmaking session.

Making monoprints is super simple, but you do need a few bits of equipment:

1. a smooth surface to roll ink onto - I use perspex, or you can use glass


2. an ink roller (available at most art shops)


3. ink roller tray - a polystyrene food tray works perfectly


4. printing ink - I used waterbased black printing ink.  (If you are doing monoprinting without little fingers involved then I recommend trying oil-based ink as it dries more slowly and is more versatile)


5. rags for cleaning


6. leaves (particularly effective if pressed)


7. paper - I used some slightly wrinkled newsprint we had from moving house which was actually lovely to work with, but you could also use cartridge.

So here we go:

Roll your ink onto the roller tray to cover the roller and until it makes a nice 'sticky' sound.  Your aim is to cover the roller with a thin layer of ink, not to cover the tray, so go easy with the ink.

Roll the ink onto the perspex/glass to get a reasonably even coverage (I like it 'not perfect' as I think it's more interesting).  Small hands can help here.

Lay leaves (I used pressed ones) onto the inked surface.  Boo enjoyed this bit too.

Place your paper over the image to be printed.  Press firmly over the entire image using the side of your fist.  Small hands can help here too.

Remove the paper to reveal your image.

Ta-da!

We also went on to create other prints by inking over the leaves with a roller and taking a print from that.

We went on to print using the same process from some fresh large leaves we picked up.

... and we finished up with playing in the ink with some toothbrushes (old I hasten to add!), getting dirty and needing a thorough wash, which is surely all part of the fun!

Actually you can also make prints in just this way, but you would need your ink to be freshly rolled out on to the surface.  You can make marks into the ink using whatever tool you can find or devise, have great fun with mark-making and then take a print from it.

Monoprinting rocks.

Clickety Click

I'm a novice knitter.  I find it tricky, and can readily find myself caught in a woolly tangle.  Not like my Mum, who's a whizz with the needles, as was her Mum before her.  You'd think it would be in the genes, but I haven't put in the hours I suppose.  I only picked up the needles at the ripe age of 34 whilst pregnant with Boo.  My Mum did teach me to knit when I was younger but I don't recall ever having actually finished anything, always abandoning my tangled mess in a bag somewhere.  There are probably still some 80's batwings half finished gathering dust in a bag somewhere in my parents house as they tend to keep things.  When I lived in England, my Mum used to 'sort out' my knitting when she visited.  Now she lives thousands of miles away and visits once a year.  It's time this knitter learnt to stand by her own two needles! So I have been keeping things simple.

This jumper for Boo was from a Rowan pattern from a book called 'Miss Bea's Playtime', and was knitted in cheap as chips Bernat cotton yarn.  It ain't perfect but ..

1. I made it all by myself with no maternal 'sorting out'


2. I've finished it before she's outgrown the size (there were a number of baby items which ended up on other babies due to my slowness!)  I made age 3-4 to be sure but it already looks wearable on my girl who is pretty slight for a 2 1/2 year old


3. Boo likes it


4. Now I've got the knitty kitty bug and my needles are going to be clacking away all Autumn/Fall

The way I see it, I've got to put in the clickety clicks now so that one day, I'll be able to 'sort out' Boo's knitting for her.  

Maybe I'll have to start something way too ambitious before my Mum visits just so she doesn't feel redundant!

Life's a Beach

Taking advantage of the glorious weather, Boo and I headed for Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver this morning.

We're missing Dadda Boo but with sun, sand and a freezer full of banana loaf/cake/muffins, I think we'll get by.

Hope you had a great weekend!

The Garden of Simple Pleasures

The days when Boo refuses to nap are looong ones, often unravelling towards the end.  Today was such a day.  It had started so well with smiles and laughter during our first swimming lesson at the local pool, a significant achievement since our last visit to a pool had consisted of 20 minutes sitting on the side whilst I tried to cajole Boo to enter the water.  She had refused and we had got dressed.  So all was going swimmingly (ouch, sorry!), until nap time.  After the nap time debacle, I suspected things would be going pear-shaped at the five o clock witching hour, which indeed they did, with one of us lying face down on the kitchen floor screaming, the other one only wishing she could.  But in the window of relative calm, we needed garden time to bring us to a place of peace.  

 

I love love love having a garden, especially having not had one for the last 18 months.  Today I was enjoying surveying this corner of our garden:

It might not look like much, and unfortunately I don't have a 'before' image, but you have to take it from me that this represents a real achievement.  The slope was completely overgrown and we've cleared it all out and mulched it.  I have hopes of doing some planting here, although some of it is quite shady and pretty rooty under the trees.

And oh yes the sunshine is back.  Thank you!

It's a mash up!

Looks good doesn't it?  Well, looks can be deceiving.  My mission: to create a spongy, light, melt-in-the-mouth bakewell tart for the 'farewell feast' before Dadda Boo leaves us for a business trip.  I followed Jamie's instructions diligently, the pastry base frozen for one hour then baked blind prior to the the addition of the frangipane (what a delicious word) filling mixture.  Bake. Allow to cool.  It looked great, it smelled great.  Upon delving below the golden surface, however, things are different, its sludgy, sloppy, sickly and greasy beyond measure.  It's pleasurable to eat for about as long as its pleasurable to eat uncooked frangipane mixture, which isn't all that long.  

Dadda Boo arrives home from work later with a bag of bananas which are just on the right side of edibility, a result of over-supply at the office.

Now I love bananas, and I hate to see food go to waste, so I go to work.  Perhaps raising a few muffins can heal my broken cuisinery heart?  Boo and I cook muffins all the time, so I'm on safe ground here and I whip up a loaf and a round of muffins quicker than you can say baking soda, only to be foiled by running out of ingredients for a second round.  

They're simple, but it's so satisfying to watch the little dough mounds rise and brown.  Only 5 bananas used though, so the race is on tomorrow to shop and mix up other banana delights, cake, more muffins...  any ideas?  My freezer will be stuffed with enough baked banana products to see us through the winter.  I will try the Bakewell again, but in the meantime find me skulking at the back of Jamie's remedial baking class questioning where it all went wrong.

Thank you for the sunshine

On a sodden September day, it seems fitting to give thanks for a glorious summer 2009.  We were treated to weeks of wall to wall sunshine in North Vancouver, where we bought our first Canadian home in July.  A trip to the Rockies just a week after moving in delivered some much needed family time with some spectacular backdrops and exciting glimpses of animals in the wild.  We got down and dirty (especially Boo) in our new garden with weeks of digging, weeding, chopping and cutting back.  Dadda's Boo's family visited in August to muck in and hang out.  There were picnics, beach trips, bbqs, walks and fingers and toes crossed in the hope of avoiding bumping into the cougars recently sighted wandering through our neighbourhood.  I took up residence in my palatial new studio, and put in some time on my book, with the promise to myself that I will redecorate and furnish the room just so when I have completed the final artworks (shouldnt be long now...) and I finally took some driving lessons.

Thank you!