Upcoming Wedding Bells, Movie Marathons, and Breaking Bread

 With only six days before the wedding, the reality of it all is setting in. I will become Mrs. Macrae next weekend. Hard to believe. Both exciting and scary. From what I'm hearing, the venue is coming along, looking beautiful as I would expect nothing less from my daughter. I keep telling her she needs to become a party planner and designer. She is amazing. 

Marina reports that her yard is filled with new sod to fill in after the construction of her home last year. Flowers and trees, bushes and plants of all types are being planted. Her husband, John, has completed the pergola he built for us. He has also been ordained to perform the ceremony. Everything is drawing near to the big day. Terry and I are elated. He is so excited to finally be married, as if we have been engaged for years. I have to keep reminding myself that we have only been together since August of last year. It will be a year in a couple of months; however, we are closing the deal within a 10-month time span. 

I once asked Terry, "Why marry so soon?" He informed me he wanted to marry me, so I didn't choose someone else and that he loves the idea of marriage. I believe he is a good man, and he is cute, personality wise and appearance. Great sense of humor. We always laugh together. I love to laugh. With all of that and his caring nature, I chose him as someone I would love to marry and be with until the end of our lives. 

Our dream will come true next weekend. June 17, 2023. Terry always reminds me, "It's our year, babe." So far, I agree with him on that. Between the move into a nice home, our relationship is stronger than ever, a shiny new car in the driveway, and the marriage next weekend. Dreams really do come true. 

Anyway, this weekend has been one of calm, of chatter about the upcoming weekend, and thankfulness that my daughter still has her home. The fire last week was terrifying as to what damage it could have done to the entire tiny community residing on "the hill." The fire is still burning but remains under control at this time. After the investigation, they have found it might have been caused by a brush fire that grew out of control with the strong winds that picked up. There is now a fire ban in place due to the dry grounds in the area. 

Mallory, Terry's daughter, is coming over again today to finalize the viewing of Twilight. We watched three of the franchise last weekend. Today will end the Twilight-athon. I have cleaned the house, mopped floors, and am now making bread. 

I used to love to bake fresh, homemade breads but moved a couple of times. Now that I'm with Terry and we have a house to spread out in, I finally have a kitchen I can cook in. Baking of bread is a must in my life. 

Years ago, I came up with a recipe for spinach, garlic, parmesan bread. It was a favorite in the family. I would bake some to take to the family gatherings we had, especially Thanksgiving. A couple of my granddaughters would beg me to bake a couple of loaves every year. Now is the time to dust off the apron and get busy on bread baking again. 

At 6:30 this morning, I woke up and began the process of baking some spinach bread. I felt in my comfort zone, in my element. It was nice to get back in a kitchen, in my kitchen, and bake bread. I love the feel of the dough in my hands, as I smooth it out with each stroke. The elasticity and smoothness of a perfect dough makes me smile. Now the dough is covered with a damp cloth in an oiled bowl to perform the magic that takes place between yeast and warmth. 

Mixing up flour, water, lard, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl to craft a perfect dough. That dough will be the foundation of a blend of ingredients that will make mouths water and bring beautiful memories to the party. It feels so good to be baking again! 

Flouring up the kneading surface to begin the process of smoothing, blending, and bringing it all to life. 

A good dough is smooth and elastic. This will give the bread a nice texture of soft, yet a little chewy.

Being patient and not rushing the kneading stage is the key to getting the best loaf of bread. 

Tuck your dough into a nice, oiled bed and cover it up with a moist cloth. This keeps the dough from drying out as it rises. Remember to kiss it goodnight and turn off the light after tucking it in. Do not disturb your dough during this time. Be patient and let your dough rise until doubled! Bread is not difficult to make but it is time consuming due to the two rising periods. Be a good dough parent and ensure you give it the proper amount of alone time to grow. Baking bread takes patience over anything else.  

Since I have time, I chose to take Peanut (Jasper), my chihuahua, out for a quick walk. It was potty time, definitely, and it also gave me a chance to get up and move for a bit. While I was out, I spotted some tiny flowers and some larger ones too and this means one thing, a photo opportunity of course. Nothing special, but I do love to capture flowers in photos. 

Even a clover bloom is beautiful to me. I guess it is all in the eye of the beholder, but I like the way they bloom. Bees can take these mundane flowers and make them into sweet, yummy clover honey. Nothing better on a piece of homemade bread! Yes, I do have bread on my mind. 

I am not sure what type of flowers these are, but they bloom from a crawling type of foliage across the street from our home. My dog typically pees on them, although I do find the tiny yellow blooms cute.  

I have seen these tiny flowers throughout the greenery across the street. I say "street," but it's actually a gravel alley. Falling in love with the miniature beauties, I had to take at least one photo of them. 

Pink lemonade honeysuckle is not only beautiful, but the scent is heavenly. I grew one of these in the yard at my prior house and loved them. The honeysuckle was planted alongside a lilac bush and the two together made the scent wonderful as you walked onto the porch. I used to love sitting in my porch swing, relaxing and breathing in the smells of spring and summer with those two plants so close. 

The pink color is pretty, but the fragrance is awesome. Honeysuckle is one of my favorites!

I came in from my short walk and checked the bread. It had not only risen, but I swear it was breeding. The large bubble was a good thing to see, as I knew then that the yeast and other ingredients had blended well to perfection. This was going to be great bread! Now to roll it out into loaves, slather each dough section with butter, and begin adding the fun stuff. The rolled-out piece in the photo above has butter but also has tiny pieces of mushroom in the butter. No, it's not dirt. Laughter ensued when I saw how it looked in the picture. 

I rolled the dough into oblong pieces. Each piece received a good covering of butter. The butter gives the other ingredients a shield against drying out during baking. Plus, who doesn't love butter? Butter and freshly baked bread go hand in hand. 

Next up? Diced mushrooms, parmesan and a touch of mozzarella cheeses and all of that is topped off with diced spinach. My mouth is flowing like Niagra here. But patience is needed again. Rolling the bread into loaves and placing them into the loaf pans, covering them with a moistened towel and now comes the second wait. I can literally smell the bread baking at this point. I know the upcoming stage is the baking stage and that sets my mind in rush mode every time, wanting it to hurry through the final stages.

Butter with pieces of mushroom that got into the mix accidentally. 

Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses coat the buttered surface, almost as if I were making pizza. 

Yum. 'Nuff said. 

Pieces of mushroom and diced spinach are thrown into the pool. Now everybody is swimming, blending, marrying into a delicious loaf of bread. I can't wait!

Rolling each section into loaves, preparing them for the second rise. 

Now we wait for the second rise to finish. Excuse the mess I have made, including the flour all over my hand towel. It's a moral imperative when baking. I now have three loaves and a small section of bread dough left over in another pan. It's so good that all of it has to be baked. It's the "no bread left behind" program in my kitchen. 

Only 10 minutes into the 40-minute stage of the second rise and the dough has already risen a bit. Enough to poke its head up and say, "Hold my yeast. I've got this." Now comes the worst part of baking bread or any homemade baked goods. The dishes. Ugh. Taking trash out, washing dishes, chiseling the flour and pieces of wet dough off the countertop. Sweeping the inch of flour off the floor. Yes, I'm a slob. When baking wedding cakes, forget it. You can't find my kitchen until I'm done. It's a party. Frosting swinging from the chandelier. Powdered sugar on everything, including the dog, cat, and the baker. Baking bread isn't so bad when compared to a wedding cake that takes three or four days to a week, depending on the design. Bread? About four hours and clean up time rolls around. No pun intended. 

Cleaning tasks done. Now it's time to throw the loaves in the oven. Twenty minutes into the baking and already the house smells like heaven. Texas Roadhouse steakhouse rolls have nothing on the aroma of bread in the oven at home. The entire house is smelling of mouthwatering deliciousness! I wish you were all here to inhale with me. That lovely savory smell of bread baking, wafting through every room in the house is unbeatable. 

Finally! About 30 minutes before Mallory arrived, the bread is done. I remove the loaves from the oven. Flipping the loaves out and onto a cutting board, I slice them up and place the pieces onto a plate. The cheese has melted, the butter has integrated with the soft, fluffy bread, and the spinach has made itself known by poking out of the swirls. I was disappointed in the "hollow" places in the loaves, but that's okay. The bread tasted great. 

Slicing up the bread to share with Terry and his daughter. I thought about eating it all after the aroma of fresh bread baking in the oven. So good!

Spinach rolled into the soft bread, lined with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Yum, it just does not get better than items made from scratch. Next time I will be rolling the loaves a bit tighter to remove the open spaces in the bread.

After grabbing the nacho cheese dip mixed with chili, the corn chips and tortilla chips, the veggie tray, fruit tray, banana nut bread and lemon bread, and of course setting up the spinach bread, we sat down to watch the last two movies in the Twilight franchise. Great story but I will never watch it again. 

Far too much fighting, breaking of necks, removing heads, biting necks and various other body parts really had me hiding behind my hand for quite some time during the film. I just cannot handle the violence in films anymore. The older I get; it becomes apparent that it may be Disney movies for me for the rest of my life. I was actually glad it was over, yet happy that I had watched it at least once for the sake of my sweet man and his daughter. They both love the film series and really wanted me to experience it at least once. 

Next is my turn. Those two will have to watch something I pick. We will be visiting the library of Johnny Depp or of '80s films. Life could be boring for them both once I get to choose! Chick flicks? Oh, quite possible. I'm not a chick flick connoisseur, but I do love milder, character driven films.

Another fun weekend but alas, the weekend is over once again. It always goes by so fast. My sweet man will have to head back to work tomorrow. I will be working this week as well. Back to the grind for all of us. Our wedding is around the corner. Terry is getting very excited for the nuptials and I'm working my way into excitement, with a bunch of anxiety following closely behind. We will be sharing the entire adventure next week, including the ceremony, the dinner, and the honeymoon trip to the coast via pictures and videos. Yes, we are inviting you all to come along on our honeymoon. Terry and I are both so extremely happy to head out for our short vacation too. We are supposed to have a hot tub in the room and a balcony out back. Can't wait!

Just seeing the whole family again next weekend and them sharing the wedding moments with us will be so great. The blessings are overflowing in our lives right now. I am wishing you all well, have an awesome week, and hope you enjoy our wedding photos and videos as much as I know we will. From now until our vows, take care and be kind to each other. Realize your blessings.