Beer Bread
Things have been a little crazy around here the last couple of weeks!!

First to the sad part - Broc's Grandmother passed away earlier in the week.  Although it was not unexpected as she has been unwell for quite some time, there has still been a profound sense of loss in the house.  His Mum is taking it pretty hard, and we share in her grief while we help to support her through this process.

My Nan has also been unwell, which has been a little stressful, although it's nothing serious -  Just another stage of growing old!

Last but not least, I went back to school for the first time since I finished College!  I'm super excited, but it was a little daunting at first.  Now I'm just busting to get into the real work!  No prizes for guessing the subject matter... Yep, Animal Studies!  More on that later on.

Anyway, I really wanted to share this recipe with you!  No pictures, as I really suck at remembering to do that, but just make it for yourself and you can drool over your own real life specimen!  Goes great with soup or stew, and would go awesomely with a hearty curry aswell!

Beer Bread

Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Plain Flour * See Note 1
  • 3 Teaspoons Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/4 Cup Sugar * See Note 2
  • 350mL Beer (most of a stubby, drink the remainder!)
  • 1/4 Cup Butter
Directions
  1.  Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a loaf pan.
  2. Sift Flour & Baking Powder well, and mix in other dry ingredients.
  3. Mix in Beer - lots of froth happens so be careful!
  4. Pour into loaf pan, and then pour the melted butter over the mixture.
  5. Bake for 1 hour - the first time you make this, put a flat pan under your loaf tin incase there are any drips!
  6. Remove from pan and cool for 15 mins before consuming.
Note 1:  A mix of Plain and Wholemeal flour can be used.  I used 1/3 C Wholemeal and 2/3 C Plain, and added a little extra beer (so I used a whole 375 mL stubby) so it wouldn't dry out.  You could also mix some melted butter in the batter.

Note 2: I found that the 1/4 C Sugar makes the bread almost sweet, but this would change depending on what type of beer you use.  Experiment!!

The original recipe can be found Here.

Edit: While this recipe is FANTASTIC fresh out of the oven, it's hardly even worth eating once cooled.

Labels: , , | 1 comments | edit post
26th Year in Review
This Saturday, the 12th of February, is my 27th Birthday.  A little scary to be honest!  Well past the quarter-century mark, and only 3 more years until I turn 30.

Aside from being a great reason to share great food and wine with friends - not that I'm generally hard-pressed to find an excuse to do that anyway! - I find Birthdays a poignant time to selfishly reflect myself over the past year.  What have I done?  What didn't I do that I wanted to do?  What really sucked?  What am I looking forward to in my next year of life?

Over the past 12 months, I have made some pretty important decisions regarding my physical and mental/emotional health:

I resigned from my job, as it was just too physically, mentally and emotionally draining to continue with - a decision I probably should have made some time ago.
I decided not to pursue more work for the time-being.
I'm really enjoying being able to do housework at my leisure, bake and cook, and exercise without worrying about being too tired out to go to work.
Cutting down on junk food.  I'm only likely to have maybe one glass soft-drink a week!  I've cut down on coffee, down to around 2 cups a day!  In the last few months, I've also been handling my comfort eating a little better.
I decided early last year to go back to school.  Today I submitted my application and sat an interview for a course due to start next week.  I am so excited!
I'm spending more time outdoors and really loving it.  Walking and gardening really relax me, sometimes I'll just sit outside in the garden and dig for the hell of it.
Trying to make our lives more sustainable, by recycling more, growing some of our own produce, and sharing it with friends.  We now have Solar panels installed that feed back into the power grid, and we have drastically changed our power usage in the home for the better.
I'm training dogs again which is something I've always loved doing.  I've missed Obedience Club over the last several years, and it's really nice to get into it again.
I'm reading more books which I had all but stopped doing for a few years.  I've been managing to average one a month, and hope to ramp it up this year!
Spending more time with friends is one of the bigger positive changes.  I'm always happier when I can share my experiences with friends, and I've got some really positive and supportive people around me now.

But it's not all good.  There's a lot of things I wish I had done, or had done differently over the last year.  I've thought about those too, but I won't share them right now.

For now, I'm looking at the positives.  This year I'll be expanding on all the positive points above, because they all make me feel better about Me (I said this was a time for selfish reflection, right?!)!  But they're also positive for those around me; sharing experiences, happy times, and personal growth.
Confronting the Unknown
Most of those close to us know that, for the last couple of years at least, having children has been frequently in our thoughts.

I have suffered with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome since my early teens, and although I manage my symptoms fairly well, I do have flare-ups from time to time.  Most days, I appear to be a normal, healthy, 26-year-old woman.  Other days, I can be irritable, physically exhausted to the point of not being able to drag myself from bed, anxious and jumpy, mentally exhausted and unable to concentrate on the simplest of tasks or hold a conversation - or any combination of the above, just to name a few!  My symptoms are exacerbated by - among other things - stress and physical exertion, so the thought of what being pregnant, and then taking care of a baby would do to my health terrifies me!

We feel very strongly about not having children until we can provide the best life possible for them - otherwise we would have had them years ago, I'm sure!

There is still little known about the effect of pregnancy on sufferers of CFS.  What is known for certain, is that I would have to stop taking my medication.  I currently take an anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication to help even out those symptoms, as they also help to exacerbate the physical side of the illness.  Although I am confident that I would be able to cope without them these days - under normal circumstances at least - I do not know how the hormones, and physical and emotional stresses of pregnancy would affect me mentally.  I have come to terms with the fact that there is a very high probability that I will suffer from Post-Natal Depression.

Friends assure me that we will cope - and yes, we have a fantastic support network of friends and family, but none of them suffer from Chronic Fatigue, so it's hard for them to think of the situation the way that I do, and I can't help but be scared.

I have been searching for the experiences of others in my position who have taken the plunge, and found a fantastic article on a blog.  A quote:
Here’s the thing, I am going to be sick whether I have kids or not......The thing is, the amount of joy we get from our kids WAY outweighs any hardship.
Reading the entire article, I feel much more at ease.

What do you think?  Especially to those who suffer from a chronic illness, how do you cope day-to-day taking care of your child/children?

I look forward to reading your responses!

Edit: PS: When you go and look at the linked article, make sure you check out the rest of the blog!  Some great reads there.
save the date