Bread Baking Babes: Bring on the Cuban and Pork

This month, the Bread Baking Babes got a little revolutionary with the choice of bread when we made a soft sandwich bread from Cuba.




Ilva from Lucullian Delights is our host kitchen and the recipe can be found here. It is from Bernard Clayton's "New Complete Book of Breads".

It is wicked easy to make and the really cool thing is the bread is baked from a cold start oven.

I paired this fantastic bread with pulled pork and coleslaw.

The pulled pork recipe is a family recipe and is made in the crockpot. The coleslaw recipe is one I found several years ago and I've modified it to make it "healthy" (no mayo or sugar).

If you want to be Bread Baking Babe Buddy,send Ilva the link to your blog post about it before midnight Saturday 28th of January to luculliandelights AT gmail DOT com, please write Bread Baking Buddy a the subject so Ilva doesn't miss it for her round up.

A New Me in a New Town with a New Life

Look words here! Bet you never thought you'd see them on this blog again and frankly I wasn't sure I was ever going to write them here again either.

But, here they are. I guess I owe you a small explanation for my long absence from The Sour Dough and what has brought me back at least every once in a while. So, what has happened since I last posted here?

Let's see here since I last typed words here, I've completely upset my life by quitting my wretched job, moving 1,000 miles due south of Connecticut to a state deep in the heart of Dixie, only working when I want to and then only for people I want to work for and only if the project doesn't require me to work a bizillion hours, weekends or travel one day away from home. When I'm not working, I'm doing what I really love to do, seriously work on my golf game.

I also made some major changes to my lifestyle in regards to food and how I use food in my life and what I do with food like baking and cooking, which has resulted in my dropping over 1oolbs of weight.

I haven't wanted to talk much about this here because well, it's was a food blog and frankly I was embarrassed by my weight, the way I got fat, and that I had let myself go as badly as I did, especially after Wren's death. I've never been a tiny petite person. I'm tall and from good Midwestern stock, but I was never obese and never not active. Even when I was a bit heavier than I wanted to be, I carried it well because of my height and body build.

When Wren passed away I put on so much weight that at one point, my weight had approached 300lbs. At my top weight in early and mid 2010, I was 298.7lbs. I was morbidly obese and wretchedly unhappy with myself, my job, and my life. The more unhappy I was the more I turned to emotional eating. It was a vicious cycle that looked like it would never end.

But golf saved my life. Seriously. It did.

I don't mind telling you how hard it was to do simple things like go up stairs and carry loudspeakers, etc like I needed to for my job let alone swing a golf club correctly to hit it long and walking a golf course was impossible when you are as fat as I was.

In September 2010, after playing golf for a little of six months, I ventured to a golf outing in Florida with some folks I met through an online golf forum. I had the most wonderful time and the people were non-judgemental about my weight and my golf game. All they cared about was that I loved the game of golf and was there to have fun. I ended up meeting people who have become lifetime friends and in some cases, as important to me as members of my family.

The big life changing moment came after the outing when I saw pictures of myself. I was horrified by what I saw (I'm the fat girl on the left)



I came home from that outing and joined Weight Watchers. It has been a long slog but this earlier this month when I weighed in at a meeting, I am now only 48lbs away from my goal weight. This is the new me as of October 2011 and I've lost more since then.



The new me is playing the best golf of her life. I've not only broke 100 but I'm well on my way to breaking 90. AND, if my instructor is right and I keep working as hard as I am right now at both my fitness, weight loss and my golf game, there is no reason I won't be playing in the mid-low 80s by the summer and driving the ball over 170yds.

The new me is actually interested in "gasp" DATING again and loves getting those looks from men again. The new me loves to shop for clothes and the girly girl I've always secretly been is living out loud in lipstick, red nail polish, and flirty clothes. But, most importantly the new me doesn't use food as a crutch for her unhappiness and stress.

SO, you are asking what the hello does this have to do with anything at The Sour Dough and what this blog is about?

Well, it means that this blog is no longer going to be just about food. It started as a general topic blog. A place where I could just write and let my thought come out. Because of food is no longer the center focus of my life, I'm taking The Sour Dough back to a more general topic blog when I post. Now that doesn't mean there will be no food here.

I'm still a Bread Baking Babe and hopefully, once a month, the bread of the month will show up here. My lovely sister babes have all thrown their support behind me and know that I will be baking with them when I can adapt the recipe for my new lifestyle.

I still love to cook and bake other things too but I don't eat much of what I bake. Basically, if I can't give away 99.9% of what I bake, I'm not baking it. The cooking I do is very healthy cooking...most of the time. I may post about some of that here if the mood strikes me.

What definitely is changing, is I'm not posting to just post. Also, you will notice there really isn't a way to contact me or leave comments. It isn't that I haven't enjoyed helping you with your bread and recipe questions over the years. Rather, my life has changed and this blog isn't the end all be all of my existence anymore.

So, thank you all for all your support over the years. Feel free to hang out and see if I can break 80 on the golf course before next year and definitely check out the Babe Bread every month and be a Buddy with us!

Bread Baking Babe-orama

What's this?

Typing??

Here??!!

Why, yes it is typing here!

And not only is there typing here but this is the beginning of me blogging with some regularity again. I'll go into my whereabouts, my reasons behind my taking such long blogging break, what is new in my life and how those new things are going to effect what happens here at The Sour Dough in a future post.

But for now, I have some long outstanding posts about the past two breads my lovely and understanding Bread Baking Babes (Karen, Elizabeth, Elle [Pat], Gorel, Sara, Natasha, Ilva, Tanna, Lien, Astrid, and Susan) have already posted about. I guess this makes me the Bad Babe in the Corner sent to the back bench of our classroom without her supper or her bottle of scotch.

In June, Ilva presented us with the recipe for the most fantastic soda bread I've ever made! Ballymaloe White Soda Bread with Herbs




I hate to say it but saying this was the best soda bread I've ever had includes my long kept family recipe of my great grandmother Sarah Kate Burgess of County Wexford in Ireland AND Michigan.

I made this bread when my mother was visiting.



It was so easy and quick to make that I made it for an afternoon snack on the day she arrived. We took the leftovers with us when we visited the Vanderbilt mansion in Hyde Park, NY



to have as a picnic dinner in the garden.



The deep purple iris



and white waterlilies



made a lovely backdrop to our light dinner



of soda bread, fruit, cheese and of course wine!


This past month, July, Sara gave us the freedom to make hamburger buns any way or shape we wanted to using a recipe from Williams Sonoma.



For my birthday in June, my brother and sister in law sent me a gift card to King Arthur Flour and I used it buy a pan to make homemade hot dog buns. I hadn't had a chance to use it yet but Sara's recipe was too much to resist.



After making my own hot dog buns, I don't think I'll ever buy them again. I've become addicted to turkey Italian sausage. I've been grilling it on my new grill at least two times a week. These buns are the perfect compliment to them.



I've made them at least three times this month and even made the buns using whole wheat flour last week. This recipe is a keeper.

I'm afraid it's too late to be buddy for either of these breads but I really suggest you give them a try. You won't be sorry.

Thanks Babes! I promise to try and be a better Babe for the rest of the year...



White Soda Bread with Herbs
from The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

1 loaf

450 g/1lb plain white four
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved
1 dessert spoon each of rosemary, sage and chives, all freshly chopped
400 ml/ 14 fl oz buttermilk

Heat up the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F

Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda into a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

The trick with all soda breads is not to over-mix the dough. Mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.

Gently roll the ball of dough around with floury hands for a few seconds, just enough to tidy up. Then pat it gently into a round, about 5 cm/2 in high.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in the middle of it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Then prick the four triangles with your knife: according to Irish folklore this will let the fairies out!

Put this into your preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for a further 25 minutes, or until cooked. When the bread is cooked it will sound hollow when tapped.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

from Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk
8 Tbs (1stick/125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups (625 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
5 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to 105-155'F (40 to 46'C). Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups of flour, the sugar and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 10 by 7 1/2 inch (25 by 19 cm) rectangle. Using a ruler as a guide, cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch (6cm) squares. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the buns evenly apart, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Remove the plastic wrap from the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg mixture (I brushed the tops with milk) and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake until the buns and golder and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun registers 190'F (88'C), 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut in half and use as hamburger buns. Makes 12 hamburger buns.

For slider buns: Follow the instructions above but roll out the dough into a 9 inch (23 cm) square. Cut into 1 1/2 inch (4cm) squares and place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Position one rack in the upper third of an over and one rack in the lower third and preheat to 400'F (200'C). Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake for about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking. Makes 36 slider buns.

A Babeiversary: Three Years of Breads, Bitchin' and Buddies

Well, well, well...

How time flies when you're having fun with twelve plus crazy women all wearing embroidered panties and aprons, up to your elbows in wet dough, wine, scotch, brandy, and the King Arthur flour catalog; not to mention changing jobs/careers (Karen, Gretchen, Sara, me), having a baby (Sara), getting married (Gretchen), becoming a grandmother (Tanna x 2, Lynn), losing a spouse (me), losing a beloved pet (Natashya, Katie), losing a sister (All of us when we lost Sher), losing our minds (all of us from time to time), moving homes (Gorel, Gretchen, Sara, and me), building a house in the Northern Michigan woods (Tanna), building a house in France (Katie), remodeling a house (Karen), building a brick oven in the backyard (Susan). Well, you get the picture...

In the past three years this little band of sisters has done a lot both in the kitchen and out of the kitchen but the one constant has been every month since February 2008, a bread has been baked in most of our ovens.

We've had some fantastic successes with the Royal Crown Tortano, Poilane style Miche, Challah, Asparagus Bread, Potato Bread with Chives, and Sweet Portuguese Bread. We've had some challenges with the Crocodrillo, Russian Black Bread, Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread, and the Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread. We've experienced international breads many of us had never tried or heard of with Ethiopian Injera, Sukerbolle, Sukkar bi Tahin, and Broa (Portuguese Corn Bread). We've had fun shaping with the Yule Wreath, Tanta Wawa, Viennese Striesel, and the Cornucopia.

To celebrate the Babes three year anniversary, I took advantage of a few down weeks at home in my Connecticut kitchen to pick one bread from each of the three years to make again or in the case of the last one, for the first time.



During our first year, the one bread that struck fear in the hearts of all us and still sends shivers down the spines of my sisters was the uber-wet dough Crocodrillo.



This bread not only was the wettest dough we've tackled to date (and tackling is the operative word when you are chasing dough off the end of the counter) but it also ended up one of the most satisfying when you got it right and out of the oven. The taste and the texture with the crispy, chewy crust and the large holes in the dough made all the cursing, crying, and pleading worth it.

In the second year, we made a bread sold on the streets of Beirut, the Sukkar bi Tahin. It surprised me when I sat down to pick the three breads that I was going to make for this post that this one kept popping up to the top of my mind. I wasn't a huge fan of the bread when I made it in July 2009, mainly because I'm not a big fan of tahini except in hummus. But when I made it this time I was blown away by how wonderful the bread was. I did stray from the recipe by shaping the dough into one large serpent shaped loaf but the result was stunning.



My office mates were also impressed because exactly ten minutes after I announced at the Monday morning project meeting the bread was on the cutting board in the kitchen, the last piece was consumed.

In the third year of Babe breads, I have to admit there are several breads I missed baking owing to job schedules and some other life changes (i.e. golf), I left our collective kitchen to go on hiatus. So, I decided to bake one of the breads I missed for this anniversary post. Having been itching to use my brotform for several months, I decided the dough and bread from 2010 that best suited the wicker shape was the Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread.



Like my revisit to the Sukkar bi Tahan, this bread surprised me with how much I loved it. It reminded me in taste and texture to my beloved Anadama bread. I admit, I ate about half the loaf at various meals before I finally took the remaining loaf into the office. It too was devoured by my fellow workers and already, I'm hearing rumbling to make it again. It won't be hard to twist my arm in that regards.

Of all the things the past three years that we Babes have enjoyed it has been inviting you, our readers (if I have any left) into our collective kitchen every month as Bread Baking Buddies.

So, this month there isn't a single bread that we are baking and inviting you to bake with us but rather there are thirty-seven! That's right, if you would like to help us celebrate three years of Babe Bread Baking, we would like you to select one of the breads in the below to bake, blog about and then email our host kitchen, our founder and den mother, Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups) with a link to your post by Feb. 29. She'll email you a little something-something for your blog!


2008 (from left to right) February: Karen Royal Crown Tortano (in Dutch) and in English:
March: Lien Coccodrillo
April: Tanna Sullivan Street Pizza
May: Sher - Poilane-Style Miche
June: Mary Breadchick's Dark Onion Rye
July: - in memory of Sher who passed away July 20 2008; this month we made something from her blog, something that reminded us of the warm and witty personality Sher was. The news of her passing shocked us. She is our Angel Babe.
August: Ilva Whole Wheat Pita
September : Monique Sûkerbôlle
October : Sara Challah
November: Görel The Rosendal Crisp Bread
December: Lynn Yule Wreath

In our second year, the loaves of 2009;

2009 (from left to right): January Katie Croissants
February Tanna Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Nod (Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts)
March Sara Pane Francese
April Mary Ethiopian Injera
May Ilva Pane di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian Knot Bread)
June Lien Asparagus Bread (in English and Dutch)
July Natashya Sukkar bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls)
August Görel Russian Black Bread
September Karen Chinese Flower Steam Buns
October Gretchen Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)
November Monique Brioche Mousseline
December Katie Viennese Striesel

And our third year 2010;

2010 (from left to right) January Lynn Curried Naan
February Karen Ensaimada
March Mary Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread
April Sara Potato Bread with Chives
May Natashya Tunisian Spicy Breads
June Lien Korni (in English and Dutch)
July Lynn Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread
August Tanna Sweet Portuguese Bread
September Görel Brunkans Långa
October Elizabeth Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread
November Susan Cornucopia
December Ilva Taralli Pugliesi

And finally, just this past month



2011
January: Astrid Hildegard's Spelt Bread



Now, I'm going to get a little sappy here so you might want to go grab a box of tissue. I want to take a few words to thank my Babe sisters for all the love and support of the past three years while I've made some major life changes including leaving the kitchen to pursue a dream of mine, to work on my golf game and get good enough to play serious competitive golf. You each have been so supportive of me and kept my spot on the back bench warm, a bottle of my Macallan 25 taped under the bench, sent me well wishes when I've been competing and helped pick me up when I've failed. I know I won't be joining you every month in the upcoming year but I also know that when I drop into the kitchen and the classroom from time to time, you will welcome me back with open arms. Ladies, may your yeast always bloom, your flour always stay dry, and your loaves always rise.

To go see what my Sisters, The Bread Baking Babes did this month to celebrate three years, go visit their blogs. You can find them over there on the side bar of this blog.

Three Years of Babe Bliss

Three years ago a little email arrived in my mailbox from my dear friend Tanna asking if I would be interested in joining her in an endeavor: find a very small and intimate group of ladies to bake bread, share laughs, tears, drinks and bottles taped to the underside of back benches, and most importantly create life long friendships.

How could I refuse not to join such a group? Especially when Tanna told me we would have custom embroidered panties and aprons...

Just for kicks and giggles and because as I get older, I feel the need to wander down memory lane more and more, let"s revisit the breads the Babes have baked the past three years:


2008 (from left to right) February: Karen Royal Crown Tortano (in Dutch) and in English:
March: Lien Coccodrillo
April: Tanna Sullivan Street Pizza
May: Sher - Poilane-Style Miche
June: Mary Breadchick's Dark Onion Rye
July: - in memory of Sher who passed away July 20 2008; this month we made something from her blog, something that reminded us of the warm and witty personality Sher was. The news of her passing shocked us. She is our Angel Babe.
August: Ilva Whole Wheat Pita
September : Monique Sûkerbôlle
October : Sara Challah
November: Görel The Rosendal Crisp Bread
December: Lynn Yule Wreath

In our second year, the loaves of 2009;

2009 (from left to right): January Katie Croissants
February Tanna Pane ai Cinque Cereali con Nod (Five-Grain Bread with Walnuts)
March Sara Pane Francese
April Mary Ethiopian Injera
May Ilva Pane di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian Knot Bread)
June Lien Asparagus Bread (in English and Dutch)
July Natashya Sukkar bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls)
August Görel Russian Black Bread
September Karen Chinese Flower Steam Buns
October Gretchen Tanta Wawa (Peruvian Bread Babies)
November Monique Brioche Mousseline
December Katie Viennese Striesel

And our third year 2010;

2010 (from left to right) January Lynn Curried Naan
February Karen Ensaimada
March Mary Gluten Free No Knead Hearty Seeded Sandwich Bread
April Sara Potato Bread with Chives
May Natashya Tunisian Spicy Breads
June Lien Korni (in English and Dutch)
July Lynn Yeasted Sprouted Wheat Bread
August Tanna Sweet Portuguese Bread
September Görel Brunkans Långa
October Elizabeth Broa: Portuguese Corn Bread
November Susan Cornucopia
December Ilva Taralli Pugliesi

And finally, just this past month



2011
January: Astrid Hildegard's Spelt Bread

Visit back on the 16th of February to see the beginning of the next year....

Look Who's Back!

After a two month hiatus to work on a few things out of the kitchen, I'm back for a little food blogging while I make some decisions about what the next stage of my life is going to be and where I'm going to be living for that stage.

A few things I've decided like where I want to be living: the Carolinas or southern Virginia. A few things I haven't but I'm working on those and hope to have that figured out by late winter or early spring. So, next year at this time, I'm hoping to be out of New England and happily living someplace where it doesn't snow that often and I can play golf year round.

For the past eight weeks I've been dedicating almost all my free time to improving my golf game. It has been break from blogging I needed and good way to re-center my life around an active and healthier lifestyle.

During my time away from blogging, I hired a fitness coach, swing coach and a nutritionist. I began a regime with a workout in the morning and evening while watching what I ate (cutting out white flour, sugar, etc. which made baking bread a very hard thing to do). I would go to work, go to the driving range and the golf course, and then come home and fall into bed exhausted. The work has paid off, not only am I almost thirty pounds lighter than I was at the beginning of September but I've got a pretty mean golf game these days.

So, now that the cold weather is setting in and besides doing drills on the golf simulator and working with my coaches inside, my time on the course is going to be very limited, I've decided it is time to see if I can find a way to slowly bring back into my life my love of bread making and not lose the good work I've done. The office and my neighbors is going to love me because nothing I'm baking is staying in the house. I'm giving it all away.

Now this doesn't mean that I'm going to be updating every week but what it does mean that I am back in a place in my life where finding a balance and being in the kitchen amongst the baking pans and flour is as much of a place of peace and comfort as standing on the tee box and smacking a 3 wood 180 yards down the center of a fairway.

It also means that I'm going to try and find a way to participate a bit more with my sisters, The Bread Baking Babes who this month made the most stunning bread I think we've made, cornucopias.

One of the bread baking items I did purchase while I was away was a Pullman Loaf Pan.



I have been wanting one of these forever because who can resist the perfectly square loaf of soft sandwich bread you bake in these.



This bread went right into the office with the exception of two slices I used to make a turkey sandwich for lunch.

Right now, I'm working on some very zingy sourdough bread from my favorite starter, Groucho. Since I haven't been baking much Groucho was pretty dormant.



To revive him, I started a few days ago by taking half of the dormant starter



Adding one half cup of luke warm (about 75 degrees)



and stirring in one half cup of flour



About forty minutes later, I had some bubbles.



I repeated this for three days and this morning, Groucho was bubbly and happy. Tomorrow, I'll be baking a boule for the office.

The office is really glad I'm back in the kitchen because they have been missing things like this Triple Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake on Gingersnap Crust I took in to work at the end of the week.



LB is pretty happy I'm spending more time at home too. So much so, when I'm sitting on the couch working on my laptop or watching some golf on TV, he immediately hops up and assumes his favorite napping position.



Have you ever seen such big feet on a cat?!


Triple Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake on Gingersnap Crust

Crust:
1 2/3 C Gingersnaps, crushed
1/3 C Vanilla Wafer Cookies, crushed
1/2 C Confectioners Sugar
1/3 + 2 Tbsp Butter, melted

Cheesecake
3 8oz packages Cream Cheese, softened
1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2/3 C Dark Chocolate (66% or darker), broken into small pieces (or in chips)
2/3 C Milk Chocolate, broken into small pieces (or in chips)
2/3 C White Chocolate, broken into small pieces (or in chips)
4 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
1 C Semi Sweet Chocolate, broken into tiny pieces (or in mini chips)

To Make Crust:
Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and moisten with melted butter. Press crust into prepared 9" spring form pan. Make bottom crust about 1/4" thick and press any excess crust evenly up the sides of the pan. Set aside.

To Make Cheesecake Batter:

Using 1/8 cup of cocoa powder coat semi sweet chips and set aside.

In large bowl using a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in sweetened condensed milk and continue beating until smooth.

Melt dark, milk, and white chocolate in a double boiler until completely smooth. Stir into cream cheese mixture. Add eggs in, one at time and combine until smooth. Stir in vanilla and semi sweet chocolate until combined.

Pour into spring form pan over the crust and gently shake pan to remove any bubbles.

Place spring form pan on a baking sheet with edges to prevent butter from the crust leaking out in the oven and bake cheesecake for 60 minutes at 300 degrees until firm in the center.

Allow to cool for 20 minutes before gently loosening the outer ring of the spring form pan. If necessary, run a knife under hot water and run along side of outer ring to loosen cheesecake from outer ring.

Let cheesecake cool completely or overnight in the refrigerator.

To serve, shave dark, milk, and white chocolate over top.

WCB: A Fond Farewell For A Few

We're hosting Weekend Cat Blogging this weekend and it is a bit of sadness that Mom is letting me announce that this will be the last time that we host WCB for this year.





You see, Mom is getting ready to take a break from blogging for the foreseeable future to pursue an outside venture that doesn't involve food. Don't worry, Mom is really excited and once she is in a place where she can tell you what she is going to be doing, I'm sure she'll be back at The Sour Dough to explain and share her news.

Since I only get to use the computer when she is using the computer, it will be really hard for me to host as Mom isn't going to spend much time on the computer.

Don't worry, our really good friends Othello, Salome and Kashim have offered to take our slots for the rest of the year.

In the mean time, since this is our last hosting, we want to thank all the kitties over the years we've been hosting for all the purrs and friendship.

If you want to join us with this lovely early fall weekend and show us what you've been up to the past week. Leave us a comment and check back on Sunday to see all the kitties in comments.