antipasto and cider

after watching 'spain - on the road again' i have become somewhat smitten with cured meats, good bread and olive oil.

last night, the bf and i shared a perfect little board of antipasto and a half-litre of pear cider in the balmy, golden light of the late afternoon that i love (amongst most other things) about early autumn. transitional seasons are special because they carry with them the promise of change that we're all too ready for after a hot summer or bitter winter.

it was lovely.

we sipped the cider from wee glasses and picked from sweet prosciutto, insalata caprese and a fantastic discovery: caponata from the mediterranean wholesalers. we also enjoyed a fantasticly dense and chewy spelt and rye sourdough - the second product of my bread-making venture - with generous amounts of olive oil.

tonight i will use the stale end-bits of my first loaf to put together a grilled mushroom salad that has been tempting me on stonesoup. i'll throw in a little arugula and serve it with some bresaola that i picked up at the wholesalers. simple. delicious.

my starter is bubbling along nicely and while my second loaf still needed boosting with fresh yeast, the starter gave the bread a deliciously sour flavour and a denser, stretchier crumb that the first.

i only have rye flour on hand at the moment, but it will be interesting to see how a 100% rye turns out. so, off i go to make another loaf.

joys of baking

i baked bread.

something which i have never done, nor thought i could do before. but it was surprisingly and wonderfully simple to make. i followed jules' no-knead yeasted bread recipe on stonesoup with some slight tweaking: i used fresh yeast in place of instant and 50/50 of '00' flour and wholemeal stoneground spelt flour.

i felt a sense of accomplishment when the finished product was revealed, which turned to undeniable pride when i bit through the crunchy crust into the chewy, but light bread i'd baked myself.

i think there is great joy to be had in doing something productive and creative. the act of baking a delicious, nourishing loaf to share is so gratifying to the soul. there's also something satisfying in making something that takes hours. i will often throw food together simply out of a desire for instant gratification, but investing time and effort into food - like anything, really - makes the end product that much more pleasing.

and i am very pleased with this bread.

finding my zen

the concept is simple:

less is more.

nor is it a new one.

its application, however, presents a dilemma to most of us.

in the clutter of my day-to-day life i have slowly come to recognise a pattern. my desire for more generally detracts from my enjoyment of life, rather than adding to it.

stacks of half-read books with ears folded, open browser tabs in the double digits, notebooks brimming with unactioned lists, plans and ideas. does it sound familiar? 

this is a life lived in the future, dominated by promises for tomorrow and hindered by procrastination. 

my chief desire is to lead a life lived in the present, with an appreciation for simplicity and an ability to discriminate between necessity and desire. 

i have drawn inspiration from beloved authors such as pirsig, higgins, bach, garder and carey, while fellow bloggers such as mnmlist, stonesoup and allcatsaregreyatnight are examples of the joys of simplicity, positivity and aesthetics. 

through a focussed process of elimination of my distractions, i hope to establish what is important in my life and devote more time to these things.

ultimately i seek to find greater health and happiness through the act of leading a fuller life.