Allsorts Part 1

It's been another hectic week here as ever, and there are lots of things to catch up on. So I've divided the post into two parts. I have to tell you about,

A loaf,
A walk,
Book news
Potatoes,
A Meal 
and Yvonne's Crafting.

So this post will be the first three and the next one will be the rest.

The Loaf.

This is a recipe from this month's Country Life magazine (in U.K.)

It's a twist on the onion bread I did last week, this one is yeasted though and has more ingredients.

I started off by caramelising 1 kilogramme of red onions in the oven, half of them were for the bread and the rest were for another project.

I chop and oil the onions and then bake them for 1 hour at 180°C, then I add Balsamic and Brown Sugar and give them a stir and another hour. 400g were for the bread, the rest went into the freezer.

To make the bread dough you need flour, yeast and salt (500g, 10g, 10g) and a 330ml bottle of dark beer. Make as usual and leave to prove.

The additions are, the onions with 2tbsp of Mustard stirred in, 100g grated strong cheddar cheese, 75g crumbled Blue Cheese,

After the dough has doubled in size, knock back and flatten. Add the cheese and the onions and knead it all in. It takes a while so be patient.

shape into loaves and put into tins (I made two small loaves but you could do 1 big one), leave to rise while the oven heats to 220°C.

Bake for 45-50 minutes with steam, the crust will go very dark but that is because of the sugar. The loaves are done with an internal temp of 95°C.

This one's a keeper!

A Walk.

Instead of Yardes lane, I walked around Sharkham point today, it's my favourite and the source of a lot of my inspiration. When the dog is in a hurry to get back on the settee I can be round in half an hour, today, however, I took my time and soaked up the beauty of the South Devon Coast. There were Primroses and Vinca peeping out from the shelter of trees and a nice warmth in the air. Summer is coming. Hooray!

I'm going through my manuscript for my next novel, we are at the third revision stage and I'm ironing out the last little bits. I've applied for the I.S.B.N. (my unique indentifier for the work) and set up a publishing imprint. 

I've called it 4Star Scifi, in recognition of the four women in my life (I suppose with grandchildren it should be six star but when do you stop?)

and that's my logo.

The book has been beta read and critiqued. Here are some of the comments,

"I love the world building that you've put into this, and how clearly you've communicated the depth of that world in the opening chapter. It is clear that there is SO MUCH to discover in this world - mechanically and politically, in particular."

"The story was intriguing and never once did I want to stop (and I have a relatively short attention span). I liked your descriptions, as well as the pacing. You provided details slowly, but I never felt like I didn't know something I needed to know.
Overall, great work!"

"Overall a nice and easy read. Good pacing, really good world building and I especially like the names of things. While otherworldly they are familiar enough to paint an image just by the name itself."

And my cover designer has started work on the proper cover. I'm looking forward to seeing her interpretation of my words.

I will be back with part two shortly.