Keeping busy

... inbetween refreshing Twitter and the Guardian live blog. I almost get the feeling none of the key states want to be first to declare. Meanwhile, here is Stephen Colbert expressing some of the horror.

Anyway ... a couple of weeks ago I signed up for an online breadmaking class given by a famed West Cork bakery. Somehow I convinced myself that it was today, so yesterday I made the required poolish (overnight ferment) needed for one of the loaves. Then I realised it's actually tomorrow ... so obviously I had to use this poolish and start another one. Yes, I could have put it in the fridge till tomorrow, but this keeps me entertained. I made some Pane di Como, a kind of Italian baguette (from Carol Field's consistently excellent The Italian Baker). I had a few issues last time I made it, but it tasted good so it was worth persisting. Better this time, with careful handling and the aid of a peel sprinkled with cornmeal. Eating a slice with cheese as we speak!

Also some more tesserae arrived in the post, so I did a bit more mosaicing ... a crafty day, spent indoors as it was overcast and gloomy.