Back Home and Inspired

We arrived home safe and sound on Tuesday night, February 24.  It is good to be back.  We are looking forward to all that the Lord has in store for us in the coming months.  I must confess I haven't been very energetic about unpacking.  Probably quite a few things will stayed packed since, Lord willing, we'll be moving later this year.
I would like to dedicate the rest of this blog to my friends Sandra and Jessica.  They'll both laugh when they read this, and probably deny it, but to me they are Cooking Divas!  Sandra and Jessica are my sources of inspiration when it comes to the kitchen!  I am convinced they can cook anything!  I on the other hand.....well, my Hubby is always so gracious when he eats my cooking, but let's face it -  a gourmet chef I am not!!
We were at the store recently and I bought a couple of loaves of bread.  I saw a package of yeast, and almost bought it, but changed my mind.  Yesterday I was at a different store, and by that time I had changed my mind again about the yeast.  I found NONE in the store!  So yesterday evening I pondered the yeast situation.  I didn't really feel like making a trip to the store just for yeast.  Getting to the store here is kind of complicated - I can't just hop in the car and go.  As I was mulling things over in my mind, the Lord reminded me of Sandra and her yummy sourdough bread.  Yeah!  I thought, "Why not?  I could give it a try, and I wouldn't need the package of yeast, and a bag of flour is cheaper than a loaf of bread!"
Well, I found a Sourdough Starter recipe on the internet (isn't it wonderful to be able to just Google something?), and I took the plunge!  It is obviously a momentous occasion when I undertake old-fashioned cooking, and it certainly was last night!  As I was mixing up my sourdough starter batch, we had an earthquake!  Welcome Home to Peru!  I dropped everything and scrambled to get the kids and get out the door!  We are all fine - I don't think the kids even remember it!
So, now I'll have to start a side-line blog called, "Sarie's Sourdough Chronicles"!  I am on Day 2.  I fed my starter this morning (just that thought conjures up a picture in my mind of something kind of creepy hanging out in my kitchen, lurking on my countertop, waiting to pounce on me if I forget to feed it!).
As I was reviewing my starter recipe and steps this morning, an article about making your own ciabatta bread caught my eye. I remembered Jessica writing about making ciabatta bread, and again I thought, "Why not?"  That is on my list of things to attempt in the world of bread-making.
Last night Matt asked me why I decided to do this.  I gave him my list of reasons including flour being cheaper than loaf bread, and homemade bread is better for you.  But I think my number one reason is that I want to teach my girls to bake bread.  I can't teach them if I don't know how, and I want my girls to be accomplished in arts of "Bread and Button-Holes."
And so it begins.....