It's a bakey kind of day

So chilly! We just had to stay inside and bake. Bruno and I started some bread in the morning, and when Jack got home from school we made brownies. Before you go picturing us feasting on sugar-infused baked goods 24/7, I'll just tell you that a few weeks ago we declared Friday the day of the treat. So, instead of treats being this thing that are constantly begged for (like by Lassie), we just do it once a week but we really do a whole shebang and bake or make something sweet together and Jack gets to pick. This is really working for Jack... finding the yes in the no... instead of focusing on being denied on the other days, he gets all excited about the special day to come. I want to point out the chopper he is using in the above picture... I ordered something like it from a Montessori catalog a few years ago. It's a really safe two handed chopper that kids can use really easily to get in on the chopping and the dicing. I discovered recently they actually sell these at Ace Mart, the restaurant supply store, and I was really psyched... so much cheaper of course.
Bruno and I made bread from this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: the discovery that revolutionizes home baking. I was a full on skeptic before I bought the book, but intrigued, and who'd a thunk it, it REALLY does work. I've almost never been able to bake a loaf of bread the normal way, I've been cursed about the bread and it's just been a (hot) cross (bun) I've had to bear. But this way works, it really really works and that's a beautiful thing. And in less time than it takes to order and eat a McDonald's hamburger! OK, not really. But it is on the quick side, let's leave it at that.

Oh my gosh, I just remembered something Jack said during brownie making. I said to him, "Go ahead and stir the chocolate and the butter so they will melt together in the pan" and he said, "That's another way of saying two people like each other". "What?" I said, and he repeated, "Melt together, that's what happens when two people like each other." Wow! Quite a concept, pretty stinkin' beautiful, and just in time for Valentine's Day...