Bread and Groceries

Guess who the baker is? Not me. Ned made this loaf of bread and it is crusty and has a wonderful texture. Susanne has been telling me that she had the easiest bread recipe in the world and she is right. And here is the No knead recipe that she had from the New York Times. You can even watch a video on making the loaf.

At any rate Suzanne and John showed us how to finish the loaf one evening and then to prove how simple it is John insisted that Ned should start the next one. So while John read the ingredients, Ned put them together and we brought the bowl of bread dough home to rest/rise for about 12 hours. The next day, Ned finished it off and put it in the oven. So you can call him 'Ned, the bread baker' from now on.

I like whole wheat bread so I found another no knead recipe in the New York Times that has whole wheat and rye flour and I'll have the 'Bakerman' give it a try as soon as I find the flour.

We had another busy week but tonight we are staying home and I'm cooking. I was thinking about what would be good and I remembered that I had a large slice of smoked ham in freezer. Suddenly my mouth was watering for ham, potato salad and baked beans. I know, not a Mexican dinner but it sure sounded good to me. I mentioned it to Ned and he agreed. So off I went to the San Juan de Dios Mercado. The veggies were not any problem but the beans were.

I must have stopped in seven little tiendas for canned Frijoles Bayos. Hey, I'm not going to find canned baked beans in my neighborhood so I figured that these might be as close as I could come. I think with a little bacon, catsup, onion, brown sugar, mustard and a few spices I can whip up a Mexican version of Boston baked beans. But first I had to find some cans of frijoles bayos enteros. Everywhere, even the smallest tienda, had frijoles bayos refritoes but no enteros. It took some seaching but I finally found a can.

To gather the ingredients for tonight's dinner, I walked several blocks to the mercado. I stopped at two vegetable stands, about seven tiendas that sold some canned goods, another store for queso ranchero. The food stalls in the mercado were busy with Sunday customers. Dogs wandered through the mercado. Some dads were buying their kids the latest new toy which is two balls that clank together on a string. I don't get it but the kids obviously do. I heard the bells ringing at the Parroquia and thought about walking into town to see what was happening since it sounded like the welcoming bells for a procession to the church. I stared at the Jacaranda trees still in glorious bloom. Then I walked home carrying my groceries. I love this life.

Food, wine, bread and a little exercise....what more could I ask.