Ambivalence

My trainer, who also happens to be one of my very best girlfriends, is getting frustrated because the longer we work out together, the fatter I get. Not that I’m fat, but I’ve got a belly. In all fairness to her, she is frustrated on my behalf, because she knows I’d like to have a nice, flat stomach. Apparently not as much as I’d like to have a muffin, however.

I’ve battled with this back and forth about food and weight my entire life and, ironically, I don’t think what I look like has shifted much in that time. I’m not one of those people who gains and loses a lot of weight, or who yo-yo diets. I’m a slightly thinner than average 40-year-old woman who has had a child.

I used to care a lot about how skinny I felt (note I didn’t say looked because who the hell knows how they really look, anyway?). But over the years, I’ve gradually cared less. A bottle of olive oil, which used to last years (really, years!) now needs to be replaced every couple months. I think part of the growing ambivalence comes with the wisdom and security that comes with age. What seems like a big deal when you’re 15 turns out to really just be a pimple when you’re 30.

Going to France was definitely the turning point. The quality of the food there was just so high that it seemed like an insult not to appreciate it properly. And now that I’m home, it’s that kind of eating that appeals to me. Not the mindless snacking or eating endless muffins (although I do make great muffins), but the appeal of fresh, home baked bread with good chèvre or this molé, which I plan to make soon.

I still want to look good, but mostly I want to be happy. I’ll keep exercising because I want to be strong and healthy for myself and my family, and because I enjoy my time with my trainer girlfriend. But I think the days of striving for no belly fat are long gone. And, honestly, I’m glad. Because enjoying good food and good wine with friends is one of the things that makes me happiest. About that I have no ambivalence.

Our Daily Bread

Ever since we came back from France, I’ve become a bread snob. One of the pleasures of life over there was our daily quest for fresh, crusty bread. Coming home, I didn’t even want to bother with store-bought bread. I’d seen the light; I knew what was possible! I decided to try to bake my own, but wasn’t sure how to work it in to my already overzealous list of to-dos.

And then I stumbled upon Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. The title aroused my curiosity, but I was very skeptical of the results. I came home and Googled the book and found review after review of people saying they’d tried it and the bread was fantastic. And it is! We’ve had amazing, fresh baked bread every single day since I read about it. Here’s the deal:

You spend a couple minutes mixing up a batch of dough (basic recipe below). You literally just dump 4 ingredients into a bowl and stir; no kneading. Then you put a lid on the bowl, put it in the fridge and cut off a piece each day (or whenever you want) to bake. The dough will last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge and it actually does improve with age. The only gadgets you need are a baking (or pizza) stone, which helps the bread develop a nice crust, and a pizza peel (which is handy, but not really necessary).

Here’s a step-by-step of my recent batch:







And the delicious result:



I’ve made it several times now, including my own variation of subbing whole wheat flour for one-third of the white, and it’s turned out great every time. There’s a video that the authors of the book have put up on You Tube showing how it’s done in real time. I definitely suggest watching it once before you start.

So, try it! You can just use the recipe below and have fresh baked bread for breakfast tomorrow! Let me know what you think.

Basic Bread recipe:

• 1.5 T yeast
• 1.5 T kosher salt
• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6.5 cups flour

Stir until just mixed. Dough will be sticky. Cover and let rest for at least a couple hours (I’ve made the dough at night so it can rest overnight). When you want some, sprinkle on some flour so you can handle the dough and slice off a grapefruit-sized piece. Pat into a ball, let rest on some cornmeal for 40 minutes. Bake on a pizza stone at 450 degrees for 30 minutes (place a pan of water in the oven, under the pizza stone). Watching the video once will clarify all this.

(Note: some of the links that I’ve added here will take you to places on Amazon.com where you can purchase the items mentioned if you want. If you do so, Amazon will give me a little piece of the action, and thus will begin the experiment to see if I can average at least a dollar an hour for time spent creating the content for this site! This may be something I continue to do here, but will never have anything to do with why I write about something or what I have to say about it.)

Lessons so far

We've only been here a few days, but I already have a few dominant impressions:

1) “Renovated” means different things in France than in the U.S.
2) Weather.com lies.
3) Nothing in France is as far as it looks on a map.
4) Carbs, the more refined the better, are somehow “good” when you're in France.
5) We take an awful lot of daily comforts for granted in the U.S.
6) No matter where we are, Anna talks all day long. From sunrise to sundown. Speaking of which,
7) It doesn't get light here in the morning until around 9am. This is fine for us since we have no where we have to be. Ever.
8) Bread, cheese, and homemade rhubarb jam can be turned into many different types of meals.

There will be more, I'm sure. In the mean time, today's plan is to try to find the “downtown” area, which Jean-Paul drove us through the other day. It looked amazing. I'll post pics of what we find later today.

A bientôt.