bread and stuff

Last week my nephews and neices came over and we made some lemon bread. I don't remember what it was called...but anyways it turned out pretty good. It was a bit dense but still had a really good texture. When you get it out of the oven you pour a lemon glaze over it, which soaks into the bread as it cools and makes it really moist and gives it a good strong citrus flavor. The kids had fun making it. I was trying to teach my 8 yr old nephew how to crack eggs...he like to try to just stick his thumbs in it and hope it cracks open right. Of course it doesn't and egg shell is all over the place...haha...but it was cool, they are learning. And my neice got angry because there were only two eggs to crack and she insisted I let her do one. But I didn't. I'm a bad auntie.

Oh and I'm baking more brioche...I got my sister to buy me some butter, so I made some more. It's in the kitchen rising right now. I'll bake it soon and eat the whole loaf. hah!

Oh btw I took pictures of the lemon bread but they turned out ugly. So I won't show you.

On the subject of school, I have a computers class and a nutrition class. I already know most everything they are teaching so I get bored. But I have to have those classes if I want the dang certificate. So I'll still do them. And the homework...which I need to do now...before Tuesday...bleh. Well Mr. Pachutto usually has some good stories, so at least that is a bit interesting. And we start lab next week in nutrition, so we'll see how that goes.....

I was going to bake again the other night, after making that lemon bread, but for one reason or another I just didn't. And I didn't sleep well that night either because of it. I suppose that's the reason why I decided to make brioche, to satisfy the fact that I didn't bake the night before. I wonder if I talked in my sleep that night, like I usually do when I don't bake when I say I will.

well shoot. This is a boring post because I don't have any pictures. I will bake more and more this week and make a blog with pictures sometime soon. I'll go bake my bread. You go....do..something. goodbye.

~lacey

"There are people in this world that are so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread."
~Mahatma Ghandi

Oooooh boy

There's a new kid on the block, folks. My new baby nephew, Brock Thompson Nickell, was born last Friday night at 11:51 pm ( go to http://www.thenickells.net to see pics :D) Mom and baby are doing awesome :) He is a cool little kid. My sister, Heathyrre, and my brother-in-law, Isaiah, are going to be great parents. I'm so excited for them. It's still really weird for me to know that my sister has her own baby now.....

Unfortunately, with the start up of school last week, I've been pretty busy getting papers and other boring stuff sorted out and I haven't had a whole lot of time to do much in the kitchen. I did make some chow mein a few weeks ago, which turned out pretty much mouth-watering. I have a few pics to share of that, chopping onions over there <--- and the finish product in our wok down there. The recipe I used, (I actually used one this time!) was a mock recipe for *official* panda express chow mein, but, in my opinion, it tasted better than their stuff ;) I made egg rolls too, but the pictures I took of them turned out crappy because my lighting was leaving me and I was too lazy to set the ott light up. So I'll just have to trust your imagination to conjure up an image of the best tasting egg rolls you can imagine ever eating, along with the best sweet and sour sauce you've ever eaten as well. Your probably wondering whats the deal with the Chinese food. And, unless you are an old hermit who lives in the mountains or possibly a deserted island somewhere off the coast of Bora Bora, you will probably assume it's because of the recent Olympic games that are held in China this year. Well congratulations, you are correct. Watching all those Chinese people all over the tv made me want to eat their food, so I made some myself. Smart, huh? I made some tomato-basil bread on Friday night, when I was too antsy over the current baby situation to do anything but bake. It was delicious (of course!) but I've realized my recipe needs some perfecting. The bread is a bit too dense and I need to fix that....somehow. As far as school goes, I got two classes out of three that I wanted to take. Computer concepts and Cooking for a Healthy Lifestyle. I must say, the computer class is pretty boring so far, but my teacher, Mr. Pachutto, seems cool. Plus! His name is really fun to say. Say it, Pah-chew-toe! yipee. My nutrition class is actually a bit boring so far too...I don't mean to be vain, but I already know everything being covered in the class so far. I can't wait until our lab days start though, and we get to actually cook. My sister Laurel finally got herself a culinary blog set up, ( allnaturalbakerwoman.blogspot.com ) go see it too! I added her and some other blogs and websites to some lists on the right, so you can check them out anytime you like. Ok I think that's it for now. I will write again soon, because baking competition is coming up for our county fair, which is coming up in a few weeks. Hm. I don't know why, but this link won't stop linking itself. STOP! Eeep! It's like a never-ending link that's following me, watching everything I type and think!!! RUN RUN!!!! AIIYEEEE!!!!

Oh phew. All I had to do was insert a new paragraph. That was a bit frightening.

And I'm off! *whoosh*

~lacey

"I always wondered why babies spent so much time sucking their thumbs. Then I tasted baby food."
~Robert Orben