Yearly Archives: 2010

A Daydream of my Dad’s

I am sad to realise that my Dad’s hopes of being asked to form a new government by the Queen have been dashed once again. It was one of his favourite daydreams that, disgusted by the choice on offer to her, she would turn elsewhere and somehow mysteriously alight on him as the obvious candidate.

He would be sitting at home after a hard day’s work, having had his evening meal, perhaps reading a broadsheet, and the phone would ring. The house would go quiet, and our eyes would open wide as we realised what was happening – then with a calm smile and a slight air of triumph, he would say, “I have to go to the Palace.”

She could do worse….. :)

What daydreams do your parents have?

Bread – Jeffrey Hamelman – Errata sheet

Just a quick info post for anyone who owns a copy and/or bakes from the wonderful ‘Bread’ by Jeffrey Hamelman.

Paul who organizes the Mellow Bakers (and has this great blog Yumarama Bread ) has been in contact with JH and has been given this errata information to distribute.

So if you want to update your book then pop over to Mellow Bakers and download the update, courtesy of Mr Hamelman! And if you are thinking about buying this book, make sure you ask which print run it is and get the latest one :)

Here is a pdf with a list of the breads in ‘Bread” available from Amazon. This book is not easy to find on the shelves of english bookstores so I hope it’s ok to put this here and doesn’t break any copyright rules. There are also chapters on decorative bread making and all you could want to know about braiding breads. Great reference book. Nuff said.

List of breads in “Bread” by Jeffrey Hamelman

Memento Mori

I went into Gloucester City Museum the other day in search of a loo (like you do) and stopped to have a quick peek at the exhibits. I liked this skull framed with an extraordinary collection of amber and Dorset shale beads. The central bead is of pyrophillite which came from the Baltic as did the amber. The head below is a reconstruction of the skull.

Here is a mirror they found in the same Iron Age tomb. The museum’s notes say:

The Birdlip Mirror is one of the most important discoveries from Iron Age Britain, discovered alongside a rich selection of exotic goods and human remains. This exquisite mirror may have belonged to a priest, an aristocrat, king or queen 2,000 years ago.