Life, life, life. It seems that we all have our own ideas of what life is and what life should be and then life happens.

Yes, you can direct your life and yet at the same time, those around you are also directing their lives and sometimes the direction that they take is in direct conflict to the direction you took. That is when things can collide.

Sometimes things happen that weren't really what you were looking for and all of a sudden you are faced with a set of circumstances that you did not want.

We have so much information about how we can create the life we want. We have the Law of Attraction that tells us that we attract whatever we think about. We have our own ability to create whatever we want out of life by not allowing fear to stop us. We have positive thought.

We also have circumstances that occur even if we are not thinking about them. Why? Who knows. Some call it destiny, some call it coincidence, some call it an anomaly.

Sometimes I feel like we are spending so much time thinking about how we want our life to be that we forget how to get up and do things. Sometimes I also think that we have forgotten how to enjoy the little things. So today, I will knit a baby sweater for someone special who is scheduled to enter our lives in the coming year, knowing that who they are and who they will become has nothing to do with me and everything to do with me. We never know how much of an impact we have on those around us, but if we behave as if it could be huge, we might just be a little nicer, to ourselves and those around us.

More and more bread. Yes, I love bread and I love making bread. I have been playing with all of the different options of how I can make bread and my latest is ciabatta burger buns. Stay tuned for photos and the recipe!

SPELT HOT CROSS BUNS!!!

Spelt Hot Cross Buns Recipe

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups of milk (rice, soy, hemp, almond, cow, goat, etc.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (of your choice)
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups white spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1 1/4 cups currants or raisins pre-soaked in hot water for 5 minutes before adding to mixer - 1/2 added before mixing, the other 1/2 added half way through

Apricot jelly or jam to cover

Method: Use kitchen aid mixer.

Place ingredients in mixer in order listed - except for 1/2 the dried fruit and the apricot jelly or jam.

Mix on low speed (#2 on kitchen aid) for 5 minutes, add remainder of raisins, then mix on next speed up (#4 on kitchen aid) for 5 minutes. The dough should be well mixed and away from the sides of the bowl.

Remove the hook and let rest in the mixer bowl for 15 minutes, then take it out onto a lightly floured counter top and divide into 12 even balls.

Place balls on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it, lightly brush with oil and cover with saran wrap to maintain moistness during proofing.

Proof for 1 1/2 hours.


Before baking, draw the cross on top of the buns:

Cross ingredients:
3 tablespoon of white spelt flour
2 tablespoon of cold water.
Mix well together into a paste with no lumps.

Put it in a pastry bag with a little hole and draw cross on the top of the buns, be careful not to flatten the dough on top; be gentle.

Then bake on middle rack in pre-heated oven at 350∘for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile lightly heat up apricot jelly or jam with a bit of hot water on low heat, for glaze on hot cross buns. After the buns are baked, brush each bun with glaze and let sit for 10 minutes.
Happy Easter!!

Granddaughter...

I just had a whirlwind trip down to Northern California to visit my beautiful granddaughter, my son and daughter-in-law. Christine came up with an idea for a great gift for Lilja that was just perfect - A little baking kit with a mini muffin tin, tiny tulip cups for muffins like we used to have at the bakery and cookie cutters, mini cupcake papers and a little tool kit with rolling pin, whisk, wooden spoon and spatula.

On Thursday morning we left and drove to Portland, Friday morning we got up and drove to Fortuna in Northern California driving through incredible Vancouver like rain. Driving past the big trucks is always hard in the rain, but on the I5 were these massive three trailer long trucks. Passing one of those in a torrential downpour certainly takes some skill and effort. They spew alot of water out their sides and visibility becomes incredibly difficult. Then we arrived there and had dinner and time to open the gifts. She was so excited every time she pulled something out of the bag, she would open her eyes wide and make a noise of delight and her Mama, Britta said that she loved to help cook and bake. Christine, back in Vancouver was on skype and Lilja sat in her booster chair so that Christine could watch and see the whole thing on computer. She was so happy and excited. How lucky we are to hold such delight in small things.

The next day was time to bake with Nan (That's me) and Lilja and I made some little tiny blueberry muffins for everyone to share for breakfast. Lilja has to be the best two year old egg whisker I have ever met. There were adults who worked at the bakery who couldn't whisk an egg as well as Lilja. Britta told me that she loves whisking eggs and now she has the perfect size whisk and bowl just for her. I was impressed and she even helped me fold the dry mix into the wet and then add blueberries. We put them in the little cups and then into the oven.

Out they came and Lilja still in her pajamas sat down in her chair for breakfast. I have to say the highlight of my trip was making muffins with my granddaughter and it was well worth the 2 day drive and 2 days back with only 2 days to visit. Next time I will aim for a little more time down there. In the meantime we will continue to skype and hopefully they will come here soon.

Taxes!!

I love doing taxes! There are alot of people who think I have lost my mind when I say such things, but it's the truth. I filed my first taxes on my own in 1986. I like the forms, the simplicity of the numbers going where they are supposed to and I love the tax laws. I love knowing what you can and can't claim. Learning the changes that happen each year, including what can and can't be claimed. I even love working with the accounting firm Morrow Co. and passing completed financial statements onto them for some of my clients to have their taxes done by an accountant.

I have done both full service bookkeeping, payroll and personal and small business tax returns since the early 90's. I remember when I was a single parent with two small kids, I would help other parents do their taxes.

I am now available to help people with their taxes. Please feel free to contact me if you or someone you know needs their taxes done. thespeltbaker@gmail.com

I look forward to this season and helping those who do not want to do this on their own.

Baking Day.

The life of a spelt baker did not come about because I hate to bake, it is because I love to bake and today was baking day.

I made four different types of cookies all with organic Spelt flour of course.

Double Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Seed Butter, Almond Butter and a new creation - Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. I am pretty sure that I ended up making over a hundred cookies, but only baked 48 for taking to a friends house and having some at home. The rest I scooped out and froze the dough in balls. Cookies for later.

I love sharing cookies so much that I am going to share my newest cookie recipe with you today.

Here it is:

Spelt Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup of butter or Earth Balance
1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg - well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup white spelt flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Soften butter/Earth Balance and cream.

Then add sugars, vanilla and the egg.

Whisk until creamed.

Add dry ingredients

Mix until smooth and fully blended.

Scoop onto tray using a small ice cream scoop. Press with fork.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 12 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

Alzheimer's

What a word and what emotions we have attached to it. Dementia is another one. A process that is difficult to understand and yet when presented to us we run in fear and in horror. When we are faced with someone we know and love being diagnosed with these, there can be a sense of relief and a sense of despair. The relief comes from knowing why our loved one has been unable to be there in ways that we expect them to. Our despair is knowing that this is not temporary and that the prognosis is not good. This can also be said about Cancer but we can still communicate with someone who is terminally ill with Cancer. This becomes less possible with Dementia.

Having a conversation today about just this subject my sister said that someone with Alzheimer's may not remember where they bought the shoes they are wearing, what city they were in, the cost, the person who went with them, or whether or not the sales person was male or female. There will however be a feeling that they have about those shoes. Do they feel good in those shoes, do they like the colour, do they have a positive association with those shoes. That feeling could come from many different places and probably part of it is how they felt with the people around them.

I immediately thought what an amazing gift that this illness can give us to stop a moment and look at the person in front of us and actually just be with them for a moment. Yes, we are lucky that we can remember where we live, what time we need to get to the coffee shop. Where our bank is. Which way the switch gets turned on the stove to turn it off or on. And how hard it is for us to see anyone, especially someone we love not remember those things or to try so hard to remember those things that they become distressed. Decision making becomes difficult when you don't have all the information and with Dementia, you don't no matter how hard you try. But all of those abilities may have robbed many of us from an ability that it appears Dementia does not take away and that is to feel the energy flow from one person to another. To feel the presence of someone caring about you and being with you in this moment. That moment may never be described by the person with Dementia, but the imprint of how they felt seems to remain.

One of my grandparents who suffered from Dementia always called my daughter - her great granddaughter - the nice little girl in the yellow dress. She did not know her name, she did not know that she was her great granddaughter. She knew how she felt whenever she saw her and she associated it with the yellow dress she wore once. What was inside her head I will never know. The functioning of her brain is in my mind for the scientists to try and figure out. How can I use what I have learned to not only help myself, others and those who suffer from Dementia. I will pass this message along. If you find yourself answering the same question four times and getting impatient, stop, breathe and recognize that how YOU feel is going to impact how the person you are with feels. Know that the only impact you have on this persons life, because you cannot give them their mind and their memory back is how they feel about what they are doing right now. It is in fact about being present, but not present in your mind, present in your energy. Feeling a connection as opposed to making one. Making a connection is all about using words to connect to someone. Feeling a connection is about feeling the energy from one person to the other.

This is my lesson for today. Thank you.