Bread Alone

One thing about taking over bread duties... is that I'm not so bad at making it now. (I'm not showing you the first loaf, mind.)
The Old Man do instruct on basic sourdough loaf "recipe proportions and oven heat" like so:
500gm flour of choice;
250gm sourdough starter (my starter is 100% hydration = 1 measure of flour to 1 measure liquid when feeding);
250gm tepid water;
and about half or whole tsp of salt.
(Basically that is 2 parts flour to 1 part each "starter" and water.)
Oven heat (on our oven - top and bottom heat) is 225 C and time is 30mins with another five minutes with the heat turned off.
This loaf has been proved in a well-floured proving basket and baked on a hot iron (Steel) plate that The Old Man uses for the purpose in the oven.

What makes differences can be the flours. Not just whether they are wholemeal (which can need some of the water to be added later in the kneading process 'cos it takes time to absorb the water) or refined ...but also which grain the flour is milled from ... or even ... which brand or mill. Takes practice to get to know how the different flours behave. Don't be scared if the dough seems a bit (not a lot, mind) too wet to handle or knead easily. My tip is to flour your hand rather than the dough.. and to have patience. Sometimes all you need is to let the dough sit for a few minutes and it catches up with itself in that crazy amalgamating way of bread dough. (For all the details of the process find a  good bread-making book or Google it! cos I didn't mean to do a full how-to post.... and I ain't that much of an expert.)

But.... if at first you don't succeed. Take courage. Keep baking.

Still Raining...

And The Old Man is still fuming over the analysis of the Somerset Levels flooding as pundits still talk about rivers overflowing their banks (not the core of the problem) and angry members of the public still seen intent on confusing The Environment Agency with some kind of environmentalist pressure group.
Meanwhile the constant rain is revealing some of West Cornwall's inclinations. A house in Camborne did a partial collapse the other day when mine workings opened up underneath it. (No one hurt... family had moved out when the cracks appeared the day before.)
And a day or so before that... a hole (another mine-working collapse) appeared at the side of the main road in the village of Rosudgeon... between our village and Penzance...
On hearing this last piece of news The Old Man showed alarm.
"My newspaper!" cry he. For this indeed is the village where he gets his daily paper.
Me? I'm too busy frantically trying to recall how close the nearest workings are to us, according to the mining survey. (You really have to have one of these before you buy a property down here, you know.)

The Old Man And The Somerset Floods

He be still spitting feathers... OK... some media coverage at last but not exactly in-depth... (That do read like a bad pun in this context!) ...nor accurate... say The Old Man, who do grow up not a million miles away from the Levels or "The Moors". In fact he do grow up on a hill from where you could see for absolutely miles... but given the nature of that landscape... it be a pimple by Cornish standards.
So... where was he?
Aah! ....Nobody reporting on mainstream telly or radio, nor indeed the honchos pronouncing, seems to give due respect to the fact that this is drained wetland... (for may be a thousand years?) not rivers overflowing their banks. Paterson and his "cutting trees to block flows and re-planting..." don't apply to this fen-like place.
The Environment Agency's "Can't put the silt on the (dredged) river banks because that will obstruct run-off from the fields..." makes The Old Man apoplex. The field drainage never relied on "run-off"... cause they be pumped. The clue is in "Pumping Station" like where Paterson did look around on Monday.
I do like to think I am indeed a bit interested in the environment. The sad thing is that....in some angry and popular reactions...the Environment Agency equals "environmentalists". I don't think so. An Agency is an Agency (in this case related to DEFRA) ... not a movement of green-thinkers.

Animated Discussions: Joseph Brett's Video for "Where The River Don't Flow" by Liz Green

Talking of where rivers don't flow... (or shouldn't).
I do jump up and down to find out that Liz Green (that most reticent of musicians) is releasing a new album of her dark, I-dunno-what-style-this-is music in April. The album is called "Haul Away" and this is the stop-motion animation video for one of the tracks by film maker/paper sculptor/animator Joseph Brett...  the promo says it explores " the themes of mortality and legacy. With skellingtons."  

The Rain... The Levels... Paterson...

... it raineth everywhere and everyday....
Not least in The Old Man's childhood home of Somerset.
And The Old Man do spit feathers that national news seem to be ignoring the plight of the flooding on the Levels... as is the government. Today DEFRA Secretary of State Owen Paterson (grouse moor owner, climate change sceptic, the minister who accused the badgers of "moving the goalposts" after the results of the badger cull proved debatable) finally visits the flooded villages and farms. And has outraged the local people ... by not speaking to any of them according to The Guardian.
Nor do we hear anything from neighbouring MPs... not least and not surprisingly Lib Dem David Laws whose constituency borders the flooded areas. It is left to Conservative MP for Bridgwater Ian Liddell-Grainger... not always the voice of liberal views and green issues....to be the lone voice of protest on the part of his constituents. But...  he does not seem to appear to have the ear of his fellow Tory MPs.
What no photo call Mr Cameron? Actually... I am surprised.

Madame Deficit Considers Rural Life And Chilblains

Alors, mes enfants. I do love the pretty, rural life, don't you?... Peace, tranquillité, a simple way of living that do bring us connection with the earth..... Mais... How can this poor person have this "chilblains" thing? They have lived the life of a generation blessed with ease, free education, jobs and pensions. And gold-plated pensions too, yes? It is not possible that they can be cold.
After all, this kind government do agree that the cost of energy and fuel be outrageous at the moment. They do declare that the price of Gas and Electricity must be reasonable, yes? That suppliers must put their customers on the best tariff. Pouf! Naughty suppliers.
Nevertheless I agree that the government does not appear to have given much thought to the particular fuel cost problems of those who live a life of charm in the countryside. In such rural areas there is not always access to supplies of Mains Gas. People may have to use either Oil or LPG for their heating and cooking. And it appears that Oil and LPG do cost much more than Mains Gas.

So... for example... we have this particular couple... who do not run the hot water except during the couple of hours in the mornings and the evenings when the LPG central heating is on.... Even so the LPG do cost more than one hundred pounds per month. (They have already switched supplier - a choice that has become almost impossible over the years because the area's main supplier (a nationwide company) have bought up most of the local independents.) Remember also that this fuel bill is for LPG alone. There are Electricity bills to be paid on top of that. And there is no recourse to "dual fuel tariff" deals in such households. No electricity supplier includes Oil or LPG supply in such price schemes.
Alors! So...
Cold hands, cold water, un peu de fragilité... et voilà... lumpy, blistered, itchy chilblains...

I can only suggest that, if this man's hand is so cold, he can chop wood to keep it warm, non?

The Old Man's Hand

So some have asked... what have happened with The Old Man's sausage fingers?
They is still swollen, boys and girls. I tell you I be a bit fed up with kitchen rota duties on me Tod - cooking, washing-up, baking the daily bread.... If these posts are a bit thin on the ground it's cos I is up to my elbows in dough and washing-up liquid.
Recap. He has one swollen hand that now has discoloured patches of skin what do itch like mad. The Old Man do have a blood-test that indicates his sodium level is too low... so the doctor do halve one of his drugs (Spironolactone) and ask to see him in a week or so. Meanwhile the doctor is trying to get him a blood-test (what needs no delay between taking the blood and analysing it) at the main hospital. We wait in not so blissful silence for the possibility of that being arranged.
Now, people be saying to him "That's chilblains". And we do think.... indeed he do seem to have chilblains on that hand. But which came first? The swollen hand or the chilblains? Like... be the chilblains opportunistic on the "bad-circulation-cos-I-is-swollen" front? Or.. was it chilblains all along? Surely the GP would recognise that?
Anyway.... . The Old Man be due to have another ordinary blood-test next week to see what effect on his sodium level lowering that drug dose has had ...
But meanwhile the skin on his hand be getting fragile...
As am I.

Snickety-Snick

The Old Man do not like going to the hairdresser. He do not like going to the barber. Always some reason why they do not do it right.  For some time I do complain he look like an old tramp, but it do no good. Now all the shopkeepers he do visit are crying out...
"Get you hair cut!"
So.... Snickety-snick-snack.... I do cut it for him.
Ho-ho.