artisan bread

I put together a crockpot of ham/bean/barley soup first thing Friday morning (1/9) and took it over to Anne & Bryce’s for their dinner, while Michael ran to the store for me.  After we finished breakfast I headed downstairs to sew (YAY!), while Michael took the dog for a walk, as it finally warmed up to 46 degrees.  While I was downstairs the doorbell rang.  When I went up to see who was there, Barb was at the door, her arms laden with food and gifts!  She was so sweet….she wanted to make sure I (and my eye) were ok, and she brought us a BIG pot of sausage/pasta/spinach soup, a loaf of cinnamon bread and a beautiful cardinal ornament (that my mom would have loved) for our Christmas tree.  I was overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness...what a caring and generous person!  I considered serving the soup to my dinner guests…but decided to make my skillet pasta/spinach/chicken sausage dish.  Well, by 4:30 my energy was totally flagging and Michael said “let’s just serve Barb’s soup…it looks good”.  We did…but that turned out to be both a good and bad idea.  Good because our guests (Debra & John)had a fabulous tasting dinner…but bad because now there’s not much left for me and Michael  :~).  Anyway, I made a loaf of artisan bread to go with it (I swear it's been over a year since I made any)…and all was heaven! 

 

 

We played SHEIST after dinner, while nibbling on Chocolate Mocha Truffle Cookies.  I read for just a tiny bit after they left….I was really tired…I think the events of Wednesday and Thursday finally caught up with me.