2017–The Year in Review

Warning – Long post, photo rich

Another year has flown by, and my goodness, what a year it has been. Here is my annual review of what has happened in my life over the past twelve months.

Mum

The most significant event was the death of my mum on 9th December. She was 96 and was ready to go. Over the past few years her quality of life had deteriorated greatly and she spent the final couple of years in residential care, almost completely deaf and unable to do much. I often think that the progress of modern medicine may have succeeded in prolonging life, but if the quality of that life has deteriorated to the extent that it no longer holds any pleasure, what is the point? I am absolutely against euthanasia, but do not hold with “striving officiously to keep alive…”

Although during my adult life, my relationship with Mum was not what it might have been, I have many good memories, and am grateful for many things – during my childhood she was always there for us, with a hot meal on the table when we would arrive home hungry from school; she was always taking us out for walks, outings to the seaside with our little friends, and providing memorable birthday parties and so on. I learnt my home-making skills from her and am so grateful for the knowledge passed down through the generations from mother to daughter, so often lost these days when economic pressures make it necessary for mothers of small children to be so often out of the home in paid employment.

My hubby

All through this year my hubby has been far too busy, rushing around and hardly being at home. This has made him very tired when he has been home, dropping straight off to sleep in front of the TV etc.! I had been on at him for taking on too much, and the need to remember that he is no longer 30 years old! Then, at the end of November, he slipped and fell, and broke his leg, and he has been immobilised since then, walking with difficulty on crutches and not being allowed to put his foot on the ground. It has been touch and go whether he would need it pinned but they seem to think he’s doing OK for now, but he’s going back to the fracture clinic in four weeks’ time and they will make the final decision then. He is going to be in plaster for a long time, it seems. During this whole time he is unable to drive, and we have been very stuck, but our wonderful friends, neighbours, people from church and family have been very supportive and helpful, taking us out when necessary for hospital appointments and other engagements, doing odd bits of shopping and helping with things at home.

One friend said it was a good thing he was immobilised for a while because it would make him stop and rest a bit! Also, being unable to rush around all the time, he now has time to sort through all Mum’s papers and deal with things following her death.

I have found this whole period a great strain because I can deal with our normal life OK, managing what I have to do and factoring in the necessary rest times, but with my hubby so out of action, I have not only had him to look after, but have also had to do a lot of the things that he would normally be doing, and there have been times when having to keep constantly on the go, and simply having too much to do, it has all got too much for me and I’ve lost the plot and thrown a wobbly. I find that with my ME brainfog (and probably residual chemo brain – this has definitely affected my memory and concentration as well) that I tend to cave in under too much stress and don’t deal with it too well. I have also been carrying the anxiety about my present state of health, not to mention the stress associated with Mum’s death and all the extra things to do because of that, and then Christmas in the middle of it all.

I yearn for a period of peace and quiet and our lives returning to some sort of normality.

Health Issues

It has been another significant year for me, health-wise. In 2015 I was successfully treated for bowel cancer, and throughout 2016 I enjoyed better health than I had done for years, with the eradication of my ulcerative colitis after the removal of my entire colon. My ileostomy was very settled and easy to manage throughout the year, and I believed that this would be the story of the rest of my life, but in the autumn of that year I developed a parastomal hernia.

At the end of January this year, this caused an obstruction which necessitated emergency surgery and a two-and-a-half week stay in hospital, very poorly, and taking quite a long time to recover. A simple sutured repair of the hernia was performed by a general surgeon and as anticipated, this failed, and by the autumn the hernia had returned, and it is now in the same state that it was at the beginning of the year, causing me to be fearful of another blockage, and history repeating itself before my specialist colorectal surgeon can perform a proper repair and insert a reinforcing mesh.

I was due to see him before the year’s end, but this has not happened, and I now have to wait till mid-January to see him. I am hoping that now that the hernia has returned, and knowing my history, he will be prepared to have me in for elective surgery before it causes me another obstruction.

My system remains free of cancer, which is something on the plus side. I have seen the oncologist twice during the year and she is very pleased with me. I continue to suffer from peripheral neuropathy as an ongoing side effect of the six months of chemo I had in 2015, and this may or may not clear up; whatever happens, it is a small price to pay for survival!

Diet

I began the 5:2 diet in the summer of 2014. I had to take a break from the diet throughout 2015 while undergoing cancer treatment, but I resumed it in 2016, and this year I reached my target weight, having lost a total of 4 1/2 stone, and losing 10 inches around my waist! I have a tremendous sense of achievement over this as it proves that it can be done, and through diet alone as well, because with my ME I am unable to take sufficient exercise to make any difference to weight loss.

I am absolutely delighted to have been able to get rid of clothes that are now too big for me (trousers and leggings that wouldn’t stay up!) and to have an excuse to buy some new things, but above all, to be able to get into some old favourites again! For years my friends were telling me to get rid of these clothes because I should be realistic and accept that I’d never again be as thin as I once was, but I have proved them wrong. I had a lot of clothes that I really loved, and couldn’t bear to part with, and they are now wearable again. This makes me feel good, good, GOOD!!

Here’s me in my Afghan Nomad Dress (which I made years ago – definitely in the 1990s as this photo was taken when we lived in Plymouth:

And again, on Christmas day this year:

Here are my “before and after” pics – the first was taken in 2013 (the year before I started the diet) and the second was taken this May. I  can’t believe I looked like that…….

Kitties

Another significant, and sad event during this year was the death, only three weeks apart, of our beloved old kitties Beatrice and Phoebe.

Phoebe, aged nearly 14, developed bowel cancer and had to be put down; she had also suffered from grand mal epilepsy for the last couple of years of her life, which was extremely distressing. After she died, Beatrice, nearly 17, seemed utterly lost without her, despite the fact that they were never that close. She lingered in all Phoebe’s favourite spots as if looking for her to return, and went completely off her food, until she became so weak and obviously heart-broken and grieving, and she was put down three weeks later. We knew that both of them, being in poor health, would die this year, but we never thought it would happen so close together.

Then followed six weeks with no kitties in the house. This is only the second time this has happened to us in over 30 years of marriage, and it was very hard!

We found our new babies online, and at the end of July we drove over to west Dorset to collect them. Amazingly, they were born on our wedding anniversary (24th May)! We won’t forget their birthday in a hurry.

Here they are at 5 weeks, when we were first introduced to them (we couldn’t have them till they were 9 weeks old).

This is what they look like now – I can’t believe how much they have grown!

Lily and Ruby are now (unbelievably!) seven months old, and so much part of the family that we cannot imagine life without them. They are an utter delight, full of personality, and so pretty too! I’ve done lots of blog posts about them – far too many to provide links for, and I have also made numerous videos of them which are on my Youtube channel.

House

Back in March we discovered dry rot under the kitchen floor, which was a worrying thing because we knew it would be very expensive to deal with.

It turned out to be only in one small isolated area and although costly, a lot less so than we’d been led to believe, which was a huge relief. Work began in April.

It meant that the old-fashioned cupboard in the kitchen had to come out (it was a pain to use anyway, so no great loss) and we then had to wait until July before the carpenter was free to come and make me a beautiful walk-in pantry.

During this time I used the kitchen in Mum’s flat (which occupies half the downstairs of the house) – very small and cramped, but perfectly adequate!

The new pantry completed:

The whole unpleasant matter of the dry rot turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the new pantry has made my life so much easier, and I continue to be thrilled to bits with it. I made some extra shelves to house all my supplies, and I made some decorative labels to go on my jars, and the whole thing looks fantastic!

Food

Considering what else has gone on, I’m happy to say I have been able to do some baking and cooking this year. I find this very therapeutic.

I went on a bread baking day too (my hubby won the ticket for that).

Finally, I cooked my first Christmas dinner for over ten years.

For our annual family get-together after Christmas, I made four puddings:

Cancer Group

Our monthly cancer Cakeathon continues but we are now meeting here at my home instead of at the cancer support centre. Numbers have dropped off somewhat over the last few months because people have been busy with other things. I bake regularly for these meetings. One of our members had a coffee morning in aid of Macmillan’s this year and several of us attended that, and we baked for it too. I am perpetually grateful for all the wonderful friends I have made through getting cancer.

Bible Study Group

This has been ongoing too – our numbers remain small but they are so faithful and I am grateful for that! We completed our course on the Tabernacle, and have done occasional sessions on the Feasts of the Lord to coincide with the calendar dates on which these fall, and we began a major course on Prophecy, interrupted by a short course on Salvation (since the subject was raised by one of our members – we are very flexible about what we do!) – to be completed in the New Year. There is a lot of work involved in preparing the sessions, including designing the PowerPoint slides (which are creative and fun to do) but I find it very fulfilling, and just lately it has been something which has encouraged and built me up in the middle of a lot of troubling events.

Art

As a result of everything that has gone on this year, I have found it very hard to find the time, energy and concentration to do much art at all, and my studio has lain neglected, a sad, dust-gathering dumping ground, for far too long. I have got new stash which has been sitting around for months not even opened. I hate the fact that it is always my creativity which suffers the most when the pressures of life encroach. When time has become available, I have found that I am too tired to do anything, which is an ongoing frustration.

However, I have managed to achieve something!

Mamhead Album completed:

This was a project I worked on for several months in 2016.

I made another little book as well, this year, called “Second Wind”:

which was my first attempt at a Coptic binding.

I had hoped to finish the other book I have been working on by the end of this year but with the pressures on me over the past few weeks, this hasn’t been possible. This is a book giving examples of all the different techniques you can use with Infusions.

I also made a selection of simple stamped cards to replenish my stash:

I made a couple of cards for my hubby, one for his birthday and one for our anniversary, both mixed media with Infusions.

I have done some Zentangle in the iPad Pro this year. This was my best piece.

I did some other digital art using the Procreate app as well, including this picture, following along with a Youtube tutorial, and adding the silhouettes of some trees to make it my own:

I also continued with some digital mandalas which I save as outlines, and can then colour  as I wish.

This year I acquired an excellent video editing app for the iPad Pro called Luma Fusion, and have been able to make a lot of videos (mostly of the kittens) to upload to Youtube. Very convenient, very user-friendly. One of the best things is being able to use the iPad as a video camera so no transfer of video from one device to another is necessary. All I have to do now is rig up the iPad over my work space instead of my normal video camera.

Continuing with my ongoing embroidery project to make drapes for the bed half-tester, I’ve done a few more pieces, including these:

I’ve also done a bit of knitting, getting involved with a project at church to provide socks for the homeless.

This was supposed to be completed by the end of November, but with everything else going on, I haven’t finished the rainbow pair yet. However, I have been reassured that the project is ongoing, and someone will make sure my socks, once completed, will find a recipient!

That’s pretty much the sum total of art done this year. Not a lot to show for a whole year, is it, but other things certainly have intruded in my life big time this year!

Looking back on last year’s annual review, it’s interesting, as always, to re-read my intentions for the coming year and see how well I’ve done. As usual, the answer is, not very well!! Perhaps I should cease from this unprofitable exercise because every year, I fail!

Here’s what I intended. And whether I succeeded.

• Not making so many cards. Yes, but I didn’t do much else either!
• Books. Yes, to a limited degree.
• Boxes and 3-D objects. No.
• Textiles in my mixed media work. No.
• Felt. No.
• Finish all those UFOs (UnFinished Objects). No, no, no. Hopeless! They remain UnFinished.

So as usual I didn’t do too well on the resolutions scale.

Oh, I can’t help myself – I’m going to list some of my intentions for the coming year, despite what I’ve just said!!

• Finish the Infusions Mini-Album.
• Start using my as yet unopened Distress Oxides.
• Make more books.
• Make more boxes.
• Do more mixed media stuff and incorporate different materials including textiles.
• Make some upcycled clothing from all the bits I bought in charity shops several years ago.
• Definitely finish some of those lingering UFOs.

We shall see how well I do in the coming months!

After such a rollercoaster of a year, I am hoping for a more peaceful year ahead so that I can draw breath a bit, and get back to normal, and have more opportunity to develop my creativity. Also, now that Mum is no longer with us, maybe my hubby and I can have a bit more time together and go on more outings as the weather improves.

Wishing all my loyal followers and friends in Blogland and beyond a very happy and fruitful year ahead.

WOYWW 436 A Tidy Studio and Some Zentangles

At last I have tidied my studio! As always happens when I haven’t been using it, it had turned into a dumping ground and was an absolute mess.

This is the further side of the room.

On the left, by the lamp, is my little gallery area. In the corner is my sewing zone with my sewing machine, and the storage boxes on the shelves contain mostly textile stuff. On the right is my drawing zone.

This is the side of the room looking back towards the window.

On the left is my iMac. My cutting machine is across the corner. Misc. supplies in the storage boxes on the shelves. I’ve got all my distress inks and Infusions and Dylusions sprays and paints out (in the plastic boxes on top) so it’s not over-tidy at present! To the right is my main work area – my desk, for the purposes of WOYWW! The white unit in the foreground is one of several pull-out units. When stowed away, this one would go under the main desk but it never goes in there because that’s where I mostly sit. When pulled out, it provides an extra surface and still gives me access to the shelves – this one holds card and paper.

Here’s the desk itself.

Apart from being a bit tidier than before, not much change – you can still see the current work in progress – my Infusions mini-album.

I continue to alternate between being busy with various commitments, domestic tasks and looking after the kittens, and crashing out on the recliner suffering from extreme exhaustion! I am taking a bit of a dip with my ME at the moment which is a tremendous bore because it’s preventing me from getting much creative stuff done – this is always what gets pushed to the bottom of the heap when energy is in short supply! I am trying not to overdo things on better days – I run on adrenaline on busy days and then pay for it later. My internal clock has gone all haywire again so I’m not getting to bed till well into the small hours, and then struggle to get up in the mornings – normal ME fare!

Zentangle

I was getting so fed up with not being creative that I charged up my Apple Pencil and started drawing Zentangles on the iPad again. I can do this from the comfort of the recliner or in bed, and I can also flip back and forth to look at the step-outs for the various patterns, either in my own folder on the iPad, or online. I can also listen to audio books while I’m doing it! Multi-tasking…

Here’s my experiment with Diva Dance flowing through Paradox – I’ve always found the latter pattern problematic but think I’ve mastered it at last! Full details here.

Yesterday I completed another one, which had taken me several days to do. Full details here.

Kittens

Lily and Ruby are now 4 1/2 months old – I can’t believe how quickly the time is going, or how big they are getting! As my hubby says, they may be growing, but they are not growing up! Here they are in the kitty bed, suckling on the fluffy toy.

They won’t use the lovely new kitten bed I bought for them, and they are now getting too big for it! I got the old bigger bed out for them and they wouldn’t use that either, until my hubby put the fluffy thing in there, and now they go in to suckle, but sleep either on top of the wooden cat tree my hubby made, or in the kitty castle.

Lily pending…

(In my hubby’s pending tray in his office!)

Together on the scratching post, looking like two little meerkats on a train.

They are getting on quite well with the clicker training but both tend to have off days when they won’t concentrate! Also, when I try and put what they have learnt into practice in a situation where there are distractions that they find far more interesting, they behave as if they’ve never heard of clicker training! We persevere, though.

A couple of weeks ago they discovered what fun you can have for a minute or two with a new roll of loo paper.

The latest video of them, wrestling on the scratching post.

Health update

I got the result of my recent CT scan this week and the hernia has definitely returned. The emergency repair done in February when I was admitted for emergency surgery because of a blockage, has not even lasted a year. I knew it would fail eventually. I am seeing my surgeon again soon, according to his letter, and we will discuss options then. I really hope he agrees to admit me for elective surgery for a proper repair, and doesn’t wait for another blockage…

Zentangle–Gold Fold

The other day I decided to experiment further with the tangle “Paradox” and was trawling through Pinterest for inspiration, when I came across something related, from Margaret Bremner, and was captivated! I just had to try this…

I have called this piece “Gold Fold.”

I just love how the addition of some shading makes a design spring into 3D!

Tangles in this piece include Striping, Elven, D’eneh, Footlites and Barberpole, and I have added some dewdrops (my first attempt) and various random elements of my own devising. Elven and D’eneh are new ones in my repertoire and I really like them. They are really 3D.

This also embraces my ongoing interest in improving my ability to draw shiny reflective surfaces. I have learnt that the secret to this is to make as much contrast as possible, something I haven’t been brave enough to do in the past! After working on this piece for a while, I went back and added more intense shading and this helped with the reflective elements as well as the general 3D-ness of the whole thing.

I drew this on the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil, using Procreate, and it’s taken me several days to complete. It’s the first one where I have created a textured background – I’ve saved this as a Zentangle tile template so I can use it again. I have only recently attempted drawing on a non-white background, and I love being able to add highlights as well as shading. I am also thinking more about “white space” in my designs – like many people, when I first started, I thought the idea was to fill every space with tangles, but I think this approach sets off the individual patterns better, and allows them to speak for themselves.

I must get back to practising Paradox, though! It’s a pattern which has always been a problem for me!

Zentangle Again

Another day feeling poorly with my ME… just when I thought I was getting better this week! It seems to happen when I don’t actually have to do anything. I’ve obviously been overdoing things a bit “lately and as soon as it gets the chance, by body says “REST!!”

My lack of art has been getting to me recently, so today I got my iPad and Apple Pencil out and got back to tangling! I’ve been adding quite a few Zentangles to my Pinterest album over recent days and it’s got me fired up again to do some.

Rick and Maria, the inventors of the Zentangle method of drawing, recently uploaded a video with two different tangles interwoven, which was a new idea to me.

I was so taken with this that I thought I must give it a go. Rather than being tempted to follow what Rick did too slavishly, I deliberately didn’t watch the video again straight away, but did my own thing to see how I got on.

The two tangles are Paradox and Diva Dance. When I first started, I really struggled with Paradox and it always went wrong – I couldn’t seem to get my head round it! So I abandoned it, but I thought I really should get to grips with it and I think I’ve finally got it! Diva Dance was on my “to do” list, so this was a good opportunity to try my hand at both of them.

Here is my first effort (with only a memory of the video).

I got the basics of Paradox right, but didn’t follow Rick’s instructions to make each one a mirror image of its partner, so it’s a bit random and chaotic. I added quite a bit of shading and a different “front end” to the design and it ended up looking like some weird deep sea creature!

I decided to watch the video again and try and follow Rick’s instructions a bit better. If you go to the end of the video you can see his completed version, and compare it with my take.

This is the black and white version.

Doing the Paradox sections as mirror images does give the “gingko leaf” effect that I was after. Even with the shading, I didn’t think there was quite enough contrast between the two tangles, and the woven effect didn’t show up too well, so I decided to add some colour.

This is the final result. I added some spots to enhance the watery effect of the Diva Dance.

I am quite pleased with this result.

I drew these on my iPad Pro, using the Procreate art app. It’s great because you can work in layers, and save the different stages as separate images – I tend to save the black and white version of my drawings, which I can then colour again and again to get a different effect.

In my first version, I drew the Paradox sections first, and then simply drew the Diva Dance over the top, and went back in with the eraser tool to give the woven effect. This is the lazy way! It could not be used when drawing in the traditional way with pen and paper of course, so for my second attempt, I followed Rick’s directions on the video and built up the two tangles simultaneously to get the woven effect, so that I could learn how to do it properly.

I hope any Zentangle purists out there aren’t throwing their hands up in horror, but there are definitely advantages in using the iPad Pro for Zentangles – working in layers enables you to put the string on the first layer, the actual Zentangle on the next, then the shading, and finally any colour. You can delete the string layer if it shows on the final drawing, and it’s very handy working in layers because if you make a mistake with the shading or colour, you can erase it without damaging the actual Zentangle. You can also zoom in for fine detail, and tidy up any careless pen strokes along the way. Drawing on the iPad takes as much skill as with pen and paper – more, in some ways, because even with a screen protector, the iPad doesn’t have much tooth and the Apple Pencil moves a little more freely on the surface than a pen on paper. It’s also not quite so easy to turn the drawing (or the whole iPad) as it is with a paper tile, as you work. Apart from being able to overlay lines and erase them to produce a woven effect, there aren’t too many shortcuts, and anyway if there were, I wouldn’t use them because the whole point of doing it is to enjoy the repetitive strokes, building up the pattern step by step. I do use the Paintstorm app to start my mandalas, though, because it has a nifty tool for repeating what you have drawn by a selected number of times around the circle, and this gives a nice even result, and takes a lot of the hard slog out of it – you do still have to draw the designs and I always colour each section individually on a separate layer.

I have made a Zentangle tile template on Procreate, and saved this. When I want to do a new drawing, I duplicate this file and work on the copy, so the template is available to use again and again. It is the standard 3.5 x 3.5 inches square and consists of the four layers mentioned above.

Procreate has just undergone a major upgrade and there are all sorts of new features I have yet to discover and try out. As far as I can see, there is now the ability to choose what sort of “paper” background to work on, rather than just a plain background colour – there are various textures etc. I am looking forward to trying some Zentangles on tan paper with a bit of texture.

I particularly like the ability to do Zentangles while I’m out and about (waiting for a doctor’s appointment, etc.) – I always take my iPad with me and I don’t need to take paper and pens.

Jewish Baking and Zentangle News

Beginning on the evening of Wednesday 24th March this year, and ending on the evening of the following day, is the Jewish feast of Purim, the Feast of Esther. You can read the story of the exploits of this remarkable young woman who saved her people from destruction by the evil Haman in the days of the Persian Empire, in the Book of Esther in the Bible. At this festival, the Jewish people continue year by year to celebrate their deliverance by reading the whole of the Book of Esther and by partying – the children dress up in fancy dress, a lot of noise is made, gifts are exchanged, and special foods are eaten, and a good time is had by all.

In honour of my Jewish friends, and because I value the Hebraic roots of my Christian faith, I decided to join with them in making a couple of traditional foods for us to enjoy.

Hamantaschen

One of the favourite foods is Hamantaschen, literally “Haman’s pockets” in Yiddish, symbolising the money which Haman offered to Ahasuerus in exchange for permission to destroy the Jews. These pastries are also known as “Haman’s ears” from the Hebrew “oznei Haman.” Traditionally Haman is said to have had misshapen ears, and these delicious little sweet pastries are supposed to represent his pointed ears, or possibly his three-cornered hat. I first tasted these many years ago when a I went with a group of Christians who had been invited by our local synagogue to join in their celebration of Purim, and after the synagogue service we all adjourned to the hall next door and joined the party.

Doing some research online, I found any number of different Hamantaschen fillings that can be used. I tried making the traditional poppy seed filling from the recipe book I have got, but I did not like the results, so I discarded it in favour of the alternative filling made with dried fruit, cinnamon, apple, sugar and the juice and grated rind of a lemon. This is minced or ground into a chunky paste which is used to fill each circle of pastry, pinching the circle into a triangular parcel.

Here is the pastry for the Hamantaschen. It is a sweet, enriched pastry with egg and sugar added. I think I made it a bit too soft and it was rather difficult to handle – it might have been better if I’d wrapped it and left it to rest in the fridge for a while but I forgot to do this.

I divided it into two to make it easier to handle, and rolled out each piece quite thinly, and cut as many 3-inch circles as I could – this quantity yielded about 50.

I finished cutting them at lunch time and had to stop at that point. I could see that some of the first ones were starting to dry out a bit, so I layered them all between damp kitchen paper and returned after lunch. The problem was that during this time they got a little bit too damp, and were very hard to handle without the pastry disintegrating. In future I think I will fill them as I cut them, and make sure I can complete them without interruption.

The Hamantachen being filled and moulded into shape, and placed on a baking tray ready for the oven. The small dish contains water which I applied around the edge of the pastry circle with my finger, so that the parcel would stick together.

The next photo shows the Hamantaschen straight out of the oven, cooling. Because I had had problems with the pastry being so soft and delicate, some of them are a bit misshapen, and one or two ended up with four corners instead of three! Generally, though, they were OK, although one or two got a bit overdone. I am still getting used to my oven which was installed with the new kitchen when we moved two years ago – I have not used it very much until now because I was extremely busy in the first year and of course was out of action last year with cancer and didn’t do much cooking at all; also, I do tend to use the smaller top oven for most things because it is more economical to run. I have to remember that the main oven is a fan-assisted oven and needs to run at a lower temperature than that stated in most recipes. As it was, I took them out five minutes before the due time, and even so, one or two were a tad overdone.

Here are some of the better ones! You can see I have decorated them with hundreds and thousands over a honey glaze.

As for the misshapen ones, well, what can I say? Haman has a pretty bad press and is generally considered to be a forerunner of Hitler, with the same motivation to destroy the Jews from the face of the earth, but what I have done to the poor fellow’s ears almost makes one feel sorry for him (well, almost…) – his ears are not only a bit singed, but he looks as if someone has boxed them and given him a cauliflower ear!! Still, he deserved all he had coming to him!

My hubby and I had some with a cup of tea and they are truly delicious! The filling is reminiscent of that used in the Rugelach (what we nicknamed Death Gliders) that I made recently, but I love the slight tang of the lemon flavour. The pastry is a combination of crisp and melt-in-the-mouth and if I’d brought them all through rather than just a few, I think they’d probably all have gone by now!!

Challah

Challah is the traditional egg-enriched plaited loaf eaten each week at Shabbat (or Shabbos as the Ashkenazi Jews pronounce it) – the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, strictly observed as a day of rest, the Queen of all Jewish festivals. It is the most delicious of breads. At Purim it is often made with a sweet icing (frosting) and decorated with coloured strands. I have not made challah for many years. Actually I have not made any bread since my illness last year and when I was making it up till then, it was in the bread maker, which is very convenient – you just put all the ingredients in, press the right buttons and lo and behold, several hours later, out pops a loaf! There’s not much hands-on involvement in its creation and this is something I missed.

When I left school in the early 1970s I took part in a commercial bakery course twice a week (bread bakery and confectionery) and I learnt how to knead the dough correctly and how to mould it for various shapes of loaves and rolls to ensure even rising. There was quite a bit of science involved and the whole process has always fascinated me. Part of the joy of real hands-on bread making is the tactile experience – the stretchy consistency of the dough and how it responds under one’s hands, and the most divine aroma. It has a magical quality too, containing a living organism (yeast) which makes it grow and transform into something truly wonderful, and there is also the feeling whenever I make bread, that I am continuing something which has been done throughout the millennia – a process that has changed very little, apart from modern mechanisation enabling mass production, and one feels a historical connection with one’s distant forebears back to Bible times. There is so much spiritual significance attached to this staff of life and it’s an amazing feeling, getting stuck in and producing it from scratch with one’s bare hands. For anyone who hasn’t tried it, I recommend it!

Anyway, enough of the waxing lyrical, and back to the practicalities!

Here is the dough which is formed once the flour, water and yeast, with a little sugar and salt, have been thoroughly amalgamated and vigorously kneaded until the consistency becomes elastic. At this stage it speaks to you – it squeaks as you stretch it across the table!

I put it in a bowl and covered it with a towel, and put it in the airing cupboard while I made the Hamantaschen and had lunch. During this time, the magic began. See how it has grown!

The next stage in the process is the “knocking back” – turning it out onto the table and kneading it again, to knock all the carbon dioxide out of the dough, which has been produced by the reaction of the yeast with the sugar. When left to rest, or “prove” again, this ensures even rising with no oversized bubbles. Vigorous kneading is required.

Once it was knocked back, I divided it into four equal parts and rolled each out into a long sausage.

I pressed their ends together in order to begin to form the plait.

Working the four-strand plait. It’s very easy – you just weave the lengths alternately over and under, until you reach the end.

The completed plait. I have tucked the ends underneath to finish it off. It is on the greased baking sheet that will take it into the oven, but first, it requires proving again.

Before putting it back into the airing cupboard, I glazed it with beaten egg white. This egg white was left over from the yolk I used in the Hamantaschen pastry. If I hadn’t had this handy, I would have used whole egg for the glaze.

When I went to rescue it from the airing cupboard a couple of hours later, it was about to crawl out of the door! See how it has spread and grown in volume.

The loaf in the oven.

Finally, out of the oven and cooled somewhat. There is a lovely way to test whether the loaf is cooked or not – you turn it over and knock it on its bottom and if it sounds hollow, it is done. Lovely sound.

I wish we had scratch-and-sniff Internet so that you could enjoy the full experience – one of the best aromas on earth, along with new-mown hay and freesias and freshly-brewed coffee, is the smell of bread baking, and it permeated through the whole house!

My hubby and I had a simple pasta meal tonight with some Bolognese sauce that I had made, and grated fresh Parmesan cheese, accompanied by a big chunk of this bread, still warm from the oven. I don’t think there will be much left for frosting…

I wish all my Jewish friends a very happy time this Purim.

Some Exciting News

This week I heard from Jane Marbaix, the author of the soon-to-be published new book on Zentangle which I am privileged to be a part of. She has the advance copy and she emailed me a photo of the spread with my design. It’s so exciting to see it in print. Here is a sneaky peek.

The book is due out in May. More news as I get it.

This post has been edited after my error regarding the translation of “Hamantaschen” was pointed out to me by more than one person. Thanks for the info, and my apologies for the mistake!