Hubble Bubble

What a incredibly busy few weeks..thank the Goddess - sighs, the house is quiet today - and also back in order after having the kids home for school holidays, sadly Sarah has also returned to Melbourne and having her not here, always leaves a bit of an emotional gap for me.. So over the last four days, there has been catching up on those things that just don't seem to get managed when there are extra people in the house everyday. Apart from a few veg seedlings needing to be planted and 5 kilos of tomatoes waiting to be made into soup and frozen all is quiet in my corner of the world. Although today we have had to call in a repair man for the deep freeze. It packed a sad yesterday (just as well the tomatoes are not yet soup) and decided it would be selective on what it kept frozen!
I had to toss most porous things as well as a few frozen veg that couldn't be consumed easily.. I have managed to salvage most things into a small freezer space until Monday when the parts are in, as much as a pain as it is, getting it repaired is far cheaper than a new freezer! I wonder if Samhain yesterday had anything to do with the fridges new selective freezing patterns..*smiling*

The plumber finally arrived as well, and now the kids don't run out of the bathroom screaming the toilet bowl water is bubbling.. Considering the gremlins in the bathroom/laundry plumbing and the resulting mess out the back door, one would think that I would be over the fixation with all things brewing, bubbly and fermenting - however over the last few weeks I have become slightly obsessed with making Sourdough bread.. The first few 'starters' where a no go, infact the icky messes were banished in case I poisoned the family (wonders if this is what blocked the toilet- ok now I am really laughing at that thought) then after a bit more research, I realised I was starving my wee pet.. So after wasting a few jars of the flour and water brew I hit on the combination.. she hopes.. feed it more and feed it high protein flour.. it seems it likes the rye flour a bit better.. more natural goodies for my wild yeast babies to fed upon it seems.
I am almost convinced now though, the family think I have turned into a mad woman, as every morning I race down the hall into the kitchen with Mister P and Dim Sim in hot pursuit just so I can peer into a jar of flour and water, while cooing and coaxing it to froth. Tah Dar -
Today I have been rewarded with the perfect bubbly, yeasty, slightly sour smelling jar of goodness -
At 7 am this morning, everyone circled round watching with wide eyed fasination as this pajama clad, mad woman with hair all askew, mixed up the first *sponge* like some possessed scientist.. The sponge which is really just a bowl of warm fermenting flour batter, should treble in size over the next 12 hours.. there are a few more steps as yet but the Goddess willing this will turn out to be my first ever loaf of Sourdough bread. I will keep you updated on it's progress...

On closing todays post..a total digression here... last week I thought Miss C was being unusually quiet and no where to be found when she was needed to set the dinner table. I knew Sarah was in the bathroom braiding her hair - I should have guessed Miss C would have been in there too... this is what I found when I opened the bathroom door, Sarah braiding away and Miss C happily reading in her new nest!