Challah

I am normally the sort of person who gets things done quickly and efficiently. But lately all the things that need to do are purely self motivated and without deadline. So I have been putting them off for longer & longer. I have still been baking. I have about seven things baked and photographed, but I haven't made a single peep on this little space in two weeks for no real reason other than I haven't sat down & told myself that it was time to make it happen.
I got a pretty gross flu type thing, and for the last week while I laid in bed for hours on end, I kept thinking that I would magically write a new blog post. But that never happened. Instead I read six young adult books. Because teen fiction is really my main drive at this point in the winter. It keeps me from growing stir crazy at work on my lunch breaks or rolling out endless cinnamon buns, and it keeps me pedaling the stationary bike at the gym. It has also been winding it's way into my dreams. I keep waiting to find out that I am truly a witch or that I can overcome the government in a post-apocalyptic society. I re-read one of my favorite books, the Golden Compass. I read all three books of the Infernal Devices (which is infinitely better than the Mortal Instruments). I read Divergent & Insurgent, and am currently the 89th hold on the last book in the trilogy. I just checked out three more random young adult books today, A Great & Terrible Beauty, Legend, and Daughter of Smoke & Bone. So forgive me if things are a little quiet around here. I just keep hoping to grow into my magical powers that will help me break this spell of winter.


I can't remember when I made this challah. I had promised Greg numerous times that I would make it, and I finally kept my promises. It's Isa's recipe from the PPK. The bread was wonderfully soft and fluffy and a beautiful shade of yellow. I felt like the banana flavor was a little too strong for me, so next time I might try to use either pumpkin puree or applesauce or some other sort of mixture to replace it. I forgot how much I love braiding bread. It's been so long since I was on a bread kick. There was a time where I was making the the yeast braid from Seitan is my Motor once a month or more.
Also in the last week I have learned that it is very difficult, but not impossible, to cook & eat dinner with a book in your hand. If you are right handed you probably want to save that hand for the stirring and what not, but you can set the book down on the edges of the stove that aren't hot and turn the pages with your right hand when needed. Also, it's best if it's a book that you bought so you don't smear pasta sauce or soup all over the pages before you return it to the library & sadden an actual teen. They have volatile emotions, so it could cause an uproar. And they might be a witch or a fairy or demon hunter, so it could turn out badly for you. Consider yourself forewarned.