Today: Doughly crap! I made bread!

The only thing more satisfying than making something from scratch, is eating something from scratch.  Inspired by Heather, I set out to make a loaf of bread this weekend.  One mushroom cloud of flour later, I pulled this masterpiece from the oven:

The recipe Heather shared is surprisingly easy and comes from King Arthur Flour.  I added fresh rosemary (which was about to expire in our refrigerator) and a touch of sea salt for character.  I must say, I am quite pleased with myself.

Just hours before preheating our modern oven to 450 blazing degrees, I was touring the Dillaway Thomas House, with features a very non-modern oven, with my Promising Pal, a seventh grader at the Timilty Middle School in Roxbury.

From the DCR: The Dillaway-Thomas House at Roxbury Heritage State Park was built in 1750 and served as headquarters for General John Thomas and the Continental Army during the siege of Boston in 1775. The house has been restored to show how it changed over two centuries and now offers exhibits which interpret both the past and present history of Roxbury and its people and cultures. A new park adjacent to the Dillaway-Thomas House provides a scenic overlook of downtown Boston.

Pretty cool, eh?  The house is located right next to the Timilty School which, for the past 24 years, has matched every, single student with a pen pal from the community.  This was my third year participating; my current Promising Pal hope to attend either Boston College (my alma mater) or Harvard University (not my alma mater) and loves sports.  Each year, pals meet face-to-face for the first time at a breakfast hosted at the school.  Before touring the Dillaway-Thomas House, we had our photo taken outside my pal’s homeroom, enjoyed breakfast in her cafeteria and picked up a few books at the school’s book fair.  I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to open your mailbox to find a hand-written, thoughtful, inquisitive letter from a middle school student.  Okay, fine.  I can tell you.  It’s really, really rewarding.

If you’re interested in participating and want to learn more, let me know! In the meantime, I’m off to eat some more bread.  Muhahaha.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Condo cleaning extravaganza! 🙂
• Whip up some white bean dip and baked pita chips for Christopher’s party
• B.Y.O.D. with Clark.  Woof.

What is your favorite thing to make from scratch?  Do you/did you have a pen pal?