As I write this post I’m four days in on creating a sourdough starter using rye flour. Naturally once the starter is fully active I’ll be making loaves of rye bread.

I’ve not done any baking since Nan left us in 2021. At the time she was the reason I baked.

Yes I had a sourdough starter back then, and I’d make a sourdough loaf regularly. After taking the loaf out of the oven, and once cooled a little. I’d take the loaf round for Nan to see. She’d put both hands on the warm loaf. She used to love doing that. I think it was the warmth of the bread, and the sensation it gave her. At the time Nan was well and truly bedridden, her dementia slowly stealing her away.

Nan would eat the tiniest of bits of the fresh loaf. She had trouble eating solid food, and literally no appetite. So to get her to eat a piece that wouldn’t even feed a sparrow was a major achievement. Nan definitely got great enjoyment from just holding her hands on the warm loaf.

But my baking didn’t stop there for Nan.

I made cookies, shortbread, muffins, poundcake, lemon drizzle cake, lemon meringue, cheese cakes, chocolate mousse, you get the idea.

Nan would eat just the tiniest of pieces of all of them. But even if they required a lot of effort, technical skill, or took time to make. It was all worth it. They were for my Nan.

Once Nan had left us I no longer felt like baking. I didn’t have the heart or desire. My reason had gone.

But now the desire to bake has returned.

I think it was initially sparked into life with my cousins daughter who has got into baking. I sent her a couple of books to do with baking (Ratio, and Dessert Course: Lessons in the Whys and Hows of Baking). Nan would have done the same. She would have wanted to encourage her.

It was helped along making bread and butter pudding for mum. She really likes my bread and butter pudding (I use brioche, and a mixture of dried fruit, nutmeg, and double cream).

Then recently I’ve had a hankering for rye bread. I love it toasted. However when I can find it in my local supermarkets it’s not cheap. So I thought you know what? why don’t I make my own? It’d be cheaper.

Obviously depending on the weather while UKGE is on instead of noodles there might be rye bread sandwiches, or just a chunk of rye bread to have with cheese. Although these might be my preference.

Plus I think each day there might also be a slice or two of pound cake to be washed down by some damn fine coffee.

I definitely will have biscuits as well to go with the coffee, which might just be home made now instead of the individual packets you can get.

So at the moment my food plans have completely changed.

Another first for me is I’ve come up with a list of stands, games and expansions I want to visit/get at the expo! That’s very organised. Especially for me. I blame my friend Duncan. He messaged me on BlueSky giving me a stand at the expo where a game I might be interested in is. So a note was created on my iPhone so I didn’t forget. Before I knew it a single entry had grown into a full blown list!