Sunday Dinner.....

Just waved goodby to big brother & sis-in-law who were heading back to The City about 25 miles from here. They were here for the afternoon & Sunday dinner. We visit each other about once a month, except when spouse & I are in FL for 3 months every winter. The meal turned out to be eatable, altho' at one point yesterday afternoon I did wonder if I was going to be able to pull it off. Had had a time trying to decide what to serve, wavering between meatballs & ham. First the meatballs were too much bother. Then the ham I looked at in the store last week stared back at me & didn't look particularly healthy. Think it was the green cast it seemed to have. Back to the meatballs...nah! Still too much diddly work & too hot for diddly. Luckily by this week a new shipment of ham came in, so ham it was. Whew! Then I decided to have fruit salad with bowl of cottage cheese in the middle of the plate, surrounded by the fruit & lettuce. Didn't want to pay extra for raisin bread to serve with it & being I love my breadmaker, thought I'd bake a loaf. No problem.

Everything seemed to be going hunky-dorey with the breadmaker yesterday & finally the buzzer went, indicating the loaf was baked. Smelled delicious. Carefully I opened the lid & using a tea towel to grab hold of the hot basket, I proceeded to unlock & pull the basket with the loaf inside, up & out. I said, I proceeded to unlock & pull the basket with the loaf inside, up & out! Hummmm...it is unlocked. Now why can't I pull the dad-blamed basket, hot I may add, out of the dad-blasted breadmaker!!!!???? Twist, pull, yank, twist, pull.......A-A-R-R-G-G-H-! What the Sam Hill is wrong with it?!

Well, this stand-off lasted several moments, the bread getting cooler.....me, not very cool. Then I decided to get a dinner knife & carefully loosen it along the sides, then very gently push with the knife & pull with my fingers. Did I mention the bread was still hot? Finally out came the loaf, just slightly lop-sided. I placed it on the wooden board to cool, blew on my fingers which were stinging a little & then tried to pull out the dratted basket. Still stuck! Peering down at the paddle in the centre of the basket, I could see a raisin was stuck beneath it. Also the paddle had a piece of the loaf wrapped around it which with the raisin was why the paddle wouldn't lift off & why the basket wouldn't either. Amazing how quickly the basket came loose once the paddle was cleared. Despite the rough treatment, the raisin bread seemed to be a hit. Was really glad the rest of the meal was more easily prepared. I think the next time I bake raisin bread (was my first), I will do with it what I do to make dinner rolls. Take out for the final rising & bake in the oven. Much easier on the nerves.

Starfire