My new favorite Sunday activity - making homemade bread! Robert made Green Chili Stew yesterday because it was raining and we were talking about this bread that we had bought once that was a perfect match for Green Chili Stew. It was like a regular French bread but had grainy bits of cornmeal in it. We haven’t been able to find it since so I decided to try making it myself. My bread turned out delicious - warm, moist, and crunchy. I used cornmeal and some coarse polenta for more crunch. I made sure to not put in too much flour while I was kneading because that can make it really dense. It’s hard to do because the dough becomes really sticky but it is important. I sprayed the oven walls with water because that is supposed to make the crust crisper but I’m not sure if it really did anything. I think I’m going to start making bread regularly on Sundays and freezing half of the dough for later in the week. That way, I can make smaller loaves for the two of us and avoid spending $3 to $4 on bread that we can only eat half of. In other news, I used my new salad spinner for the first time lat night. It really works! My lettuce was nice and dry. Also, Robert’s Green Chili stew turned out fantastic so it was a great Sunday dinner all around.

This week I went way outside of my cooking comfort zone and cooked a whole fish! Nothing huge - just a 1.5 pound snapper but it still barely fit in my biggest pan. I think I like the idea of cooking whole fish more than actually doing it. People used to cook whole fish more in the previous generation so it has a cool, retro quality to it. And it looked really pretty (as pretty as a dead fish can look) in the pan before I cooked it. I placed the fish on a bed of sliced lemon, fennel bulb, and carrots and then I stuffed the cavity with lemon thyme and garlic, drizzled it with olive oil and white wine and roasted it at 475 degrees. As usual, I overcooked it. It was really hard to tell when it was done. Plus I spent about 10 minutes after removing it from the oven trying to figure out how to carve and serve it so I’m sure that helped to make it even more overcooked. It tasted fine but I don’t think it was really worth the trouble. I guess I’m a little squeamish when it comes to carcasses - I didn’t like the way the eyes turned white as it cooked and how these teeth came out and stuck to my pan. If I try this again, I think I’ll have them take the head off for sure. All in all, it was a pretty fun experiment but, until I find myself catching my own trout in the woods, I think I’ll stick to neat, pre-cut fish fillets.

Ever since Robert and I started dating, we have gone out for Sunday breakfast. It’s a nice treat but there aren’t nearly enough restaurants offering breakfast in our neighborhood and, those that do, are usually so crowded that you typically have to wait for a table. Lately, I’ve been making breakfast at home instead and it has been so nice. I love not having to get up and leave the house right away and there is nothing better than eating a freshly-cooked breakfast in your PJs. Last week I made your typical scrambled eggs, soysage, fried potatoes combo but, instead of toast, I whipped up some miniature blueberry-cornmeal pancakes. That was delicious. Today I took it a bit easier and made French toast and bacon for Robert. I also made a quick berry sauce for the French toast (just frozen mixed berries, sugar, and a bit of cornstarch for thickening. I didn’t have any lemon otherwise I would have added lemon juice too.) Next week, I think will be something southwestern like migas or huevos rancheros. Mmm…I can’t wait.