Well-bread

Our new Cuisinart convection bread machine came yesterday, and after spending an hour doing chacha at the Elite silver lesson, I came home and gleefully unwrapped it - extremely gleefully. Caspian can attest to it; I was squealing and beaming and possibly even shouting with joy.

I had to make a run for a couple of ingredients that I was missing - bread flour (I had whole wheat flour already) and nonfat dry milk. I based my own wheat recipe on the one in the recipe book that came with the machine, and made a small loaf - which finished at around midnight. It was so incredibly comforting to drift off to sleep, wrapped in the warm, lovely scent of baking bread, which is unfortunately very much a novelty to me. I woke up naturally around 2 AM and unplugged the machine. When I woke up for real, I plopped my little loaf onto the counter, hacked off a couple pieces, toasted them, spread them with strawberry jam...

NOM. So very, very nom. The convection oven gives the crust the perfect texture, while the inside is soft and wheaty. The nutty taste goes perfectly with yogurt butter and sweet jam. It was very wheaty, and I may decide to change the ratio of bread flour to whole wheat flour for future loaves. White bread is bland and boring.

Finished two beautiful short-sleeved, fitted cotton blouses over the weekend - one is black with tiny white polka dots (surprise) and another is a sort of Mediterranean red and gold jacquard. They look better than storebought because of their quirky buttons and the fact that they are exactly fitted to my bust and waist measurements. A great idea occurred to me yesterday as my partner and I were driving to and fro fun/stressful meetings of import - buying large clothes at the thrift shop, cutting them down and making new, stylish clothes out of them. I'm an extra small and could easily find large clothes in interesting prints that would make pretty and unique tops (not to mention cheap and totally fun to make). It's a win-win-win situation.

However... As eager as I am to create (and even design) new things, I have a piano performance in 1.5 weeks. Sewing will have to wait.

These money-saving + fun ideas will soon be very important, since Caspian's job is ending (his company is moving to Montreal) at the end of June. He will not seek regular employment after that and will be spending all of his time building repertoire, practicing, teaching voice lessons, conducting his choir, taking voice lessons and rehearsing for shows that will prepare him for a future career as a professional singer. This path is narrow and rocky in the beginning, but ultimately fulfilling and unique, and I'll be glad to support him as he traverses this initial rocky portion. Honestly, I'm worried and nervous and occasionally resentful, but I'm also honestly aware of the above, despite my bouts of childishness.

It's a hard thing, to spend all of one's time working in a career that one doesn't truly enjoy, while one's spouse pursues his dreams. I need to seek harder for a path that I truly enjoy.