Saturday, September 08, 2007

What on earth is going on in my kitchen?

Welcome to a new great toy for kids... a bucket full of 25 lbs of wheat berries!



Mommy, they won't let me get in there!



Seriously. It was a child magnet. Every single one of them (you can't even SEE poor Kathryn in the picture! She's buried in there next to Reilly) was compelled to put their hands in the bucket, wriggling their fingers and straining to see if they could reach the bottom.

I know, you're asking yourself, "Wheat berries? Does that mean that Ouiz is becoming one of those 'make everything from scratch' types?"

Hardly.

I am, however, pleased to say that my neighbor and I have gone in together to buy a wheat mill. She needed to get one for health reasons (for one of her children) and I jumped on this chance to be able to go in "halfsies" and use it as well.

I have a friend who has one (yeah, you know who you are!) and she makes the most incredible bread. I have used the same recipe for years now, and while my bread turns out pretty decent (I must say), the texture and taste *is* noticibly different with freshly ground wheat.

On days when I actually make bread (and don't think this happens on a weekly basis!), the kids hang around the kitchen, just waiting for the loaves to come out of the oven. If I play my cards right and get the whole process started in the morning, I can have fresh bread by lunchtime -- which then consists of warm bread with honey or crunchy peanut butter on top, with a hot cup of tea. For the kids, there is no finer lunch around!

So, I'll have to keep you posted on how our neighborhood "experiment" goes...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

OK, so this off-topic, Ouiz, but you seem to have a few children around - what kind of vehicle do you all drive?

We're in the market. We have five kids and Lord knows how many more will be around the dinner table in three years. A minivan just doesn't cut it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Ouiz said...

We have a Chevy Venture that seats 8 people total... we are currently looking for either a Chevy Express or a Dodge Sprinter, both of which can seat more.

If we don't find something in the next few weeks, we are SUNK!

Margaret said...

On the vehicle thing - maybe you should do a post on it...
As you know, but for the benefit of others, our family of eight fits well in a 15 passenger Chevy Express. (we also have an 8 passenger Suburban that we've had for a while and while it's a tight squeeze in the third seat, that's our 'around town / go to Mass' vehicle.
How *is* the vehicle hunt going?