The Breadlympics progressed last night….
This is my alternative flours cupboard. From left to right and back to front: gold pea, blue corn, whole wheat, baking soda; black cocoa, quick oats, quinua, amaranth.
Before I could go further, though, I needed to visit my local Tienda, just around the corner from me. Carmita has had this place for 45 years and is a fixture of the community - it's where we all go to gossip and joke and just generally shoot the breeze. She's like the barrio police; it's likely, if you grew up in the barrio, that she knows your mother or your grandmother, and she'll tell them that you're being a malcreado….
The tienda, a fixture of every Ecuadorian barrio, stocks all the necessities - from napkins to noodles and tinned tuna fish. I'm here to buy flats of eggs (there are 30 eggs to a flat) and bags of milk. Carmita, shown here trying really hard not to laugh, says "hi" to all of you! You can also see her daughters and granddaughters. Luz, laughing in the background, will take over the tienda from Carmita when she retires.
Breadlympics progresses - the four bowls of challah-type bread have butter worked into them, and you can see why I needed to buy a few flats of eggs.
On the far right, that super-full bowl (my largest one) is herb focaccia dough.
It's the reason I have a docking wheel. This is such a popular bread in Baños that I produce somewhere between 1 and 3 batches of it a week; some of it is baked into large loaves for sandwich bread, but I've got a few diehards who prefer the more traditional flatbread style. The docking wheel is an invaluable tool and saves me a lot of time and effort.
While all of this was going on, I also proved how Canadian I still am at heart. Dinner was real honest-to-goodness orange, gooey Mac and Cheese from a box, with some tomato sauce and ground chicken thrown on top.
Some finished items in the Breadlympics event: cinnamon buns
Bagels and injerto buns
At the end of the night I'm achy and exhausted. This means only one thing - it's time for Jello! But maybe not the way you'd think…. My great-grandmother swore by a cup of hot gelatine at night when she felt creaky - she swore it was good for her arthritis. She was right! A mug of hot Jello, in this case pineapple-cherry flavoured, is a fantastic sedative and when you wake up your joints have ceased to hurt. Mom and I both partook.
