Awakening

Guest Bedroom -- Radiant Lilac

Seems we awoke from winter and went straight to summer as I have been hard at work. I have been busy painting inside and vetting contractors to do some repairs and upgrades to NOLD. This winter, my husband and I painted the guest room, including the closet,  as well as the guest bath and the central second floor bathroom.

Guest Closet -- Beach House

The bathrooms in an old house are quite challenging to paint as you cut around all the fixtures and tiling and also work to cover up previous paint jobs that were poor at best. I try to take it slow and steady with small goals each day, inching toward completion. Some days I fair better than others and get more done than anticipated, and other days don't go quite so well. I have an eye for detail and set my standards high. Still, I am progressing with one more major painting push ahead along with a fair number of small projects, detail work and accents to polish and present NOLD, fitting to a house of her grandeur.

Guest Bathroom and Second Floor Central Bath -- Hummingbird

Hot, dry weather set in after the last snowfall just over two weeks ago. As a result, buds and seeds burst forth far too quickly and spring flowers even succumbed to the heat. I could almost see the ferns grow and the irises arise from the soil. The rains of the last day seem to have arrived in time to wash away the pollen but not save the blooms. The daffodils have already shriveled up, and hellebores has seen brighter days.

So, I am trying to match my time indoors with roller in hand with time outdoors in garden gloves with trug at my side, cleaning up the beds, weeding, and planting seeds directly in the soil rather haphazardly to be honest. All the projects tire and invigorate me at the same time. I awaken with to-do-lists dancing in my head and fall asleep with gardening and home magazines in hand, finding it hard to do any substantial reading as exhaustion washes over me.

May is such a busy month for the family as the academic year at the university begins to wind down, and the calendar fills with receptions to celebrate and bid farewell. At the same time, my daughters take exams and trips and perform concerts and recitals. May is such a flurry of activity before summer slowly creeps in with its own demands and an altered pace of life.

Morning in May

Rosalind Brackenbury

Grass grows in the night
and early the mockingbirds begin
their fleet courtships over puddles,
upon wires, in the new green
of the Spanish limes.

Their white-striped wings flash
as they flirt and dive.
Wind in the chimes pulls music
from the air, the sky’s cleared
of its vast complications.

In the pause before summer,
the wild sprouting of absolutely
everything: hair, nails, the mango’s
pale rose pennants, tongues of birds
singing daylong.

Words, even, and sudden embraces,
surprising dreams and things I’d never
imagined, in all these years of living,
one more astonished awakening.

I wanted to share a few recipes for rolls that work well in the summer for hamburgers straight off the grill or sandwiches of fresh tomato, cucumber, basil, and vinaigrette, for example. I can feel the juices rolling down my chin, anticipating an awakening of taste sensations. You can make these in advance by either refrigerating the dough or freezing the baked rolls.

Never-Fail Refrigerator Rolls

Prairie Home Cooking by Judith M. Fertig

2 cups milk
½  cup granulated sugar

½  cup unsalted butter
5½  teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon sea salt
5 to 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Combine milk, sugar, and butter in a saucepan and scald (not boil) over medium-high heat. Remove and cool to about 100°F. 
2. Pour yeast on top and allow to proof for five minutes. Add salt and stir.
3. Pour into the bowl of a standing mixer and add flour, one cup at a time, stirring until dough is firm. Knead the dough with the dough hook or by hand until smooth and elastic.
4. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free location until doubled in size or about one hour. (This is when you could refrigerate the dough, covered, for up to five days.)
5. Punch down dough  and divide in half. Lightly oil two large baking sheets or cover with parchment paper. From each half of the dough, portion off 12 to 15 pieces and roll each into round balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheet.
6. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free location until doubled in size or about 45 minutes.
7. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
8. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 24 to 30 rolls, depending on size

Poetry

I couldn't let National Poetry Month pass without a poem or two on the literary form. If I connect with a poem, I see beauty, truth, and empathy in its simplest, purest form. Or, put another way, here is what poetry is to me:

Some People Think

James Laughlin

poetry should be a-

dorned or complicated I'm

not so sure I think I'll

take the simple statement

in plain speech compress-

ed to brevity I think that

will do all I want to do.

Poetry Is

Poetry is written in a conversation between the heart and the mind, when the

Work of the dual authorship pours forth like a river spilling over its banks,

Breaking the damn of intuition with each breath, each beat, each impulse until

A part of you is covered in the mud of experiences, emotions, ideas and

Flooded with sparse wording on the pathway to eternity, the topography of truth.

*****

Certainly, one could say brioche is the poetry of food. Not only does the word, French in origin, roll off the tongue but these rolls will melt in your mouth. They are rich and decadent due to the eggs and butter. You may prepare these rolls in their traditional form (with a small ball of dough on top) or in their simplest shape to suit you.

Brioche Rolls

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

½ cup lukewarm (90-to-110-degrees F) water

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading

½ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

4 eggs

¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, beaten

Coarse sea salt, if desired

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together yeast and water. Set aside until yeast becomes active and bubbly, about 10 minutes.
3. Combine flours, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached. Add yeast mixture and stir well to combine. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well with each addition. Add butter and knead until all ingredients well combined.
4. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead with the heels of your hands until dough comes together to be smooth and soft, about 5 minutes.
5. Place dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with a kitchen towel. Set in a warm place to rise until dough is doubled in size, about 1 hour.
6. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece firmly into a smooth, well-formed ball and place on the prepared pan, spaced equally apart. Cover loosely and let rise until doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.
7. Brush tops of rolls with egg wash. Sprinkle with sea salt, if desired.
8. Bake at 375°F until rolls are a deep golden brown color, about 20 minutes.
9. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 1 dozen rolls