Beer bread and flowers

Taken late one sunny afternoon between snow storms were these first two pics of the orchids in the kitchen. I've photographed this particular orchid quite a few times over the last few years now...for such a small expense, I've gotten soooo many blooms out of it. (Sharon recently asked about using a 50% off coupon for orchids at one of the big box stores - I say GO FOR IT!)



Day later, the snow is falling and baby it's cold outside... The orchids and green growies crowded by the kitchen window help fight off the winter blahs, even though it honestly is really pretty out there after a fresh snow fall!


But what better way to keep toasty warm inside than bake up some nice, warm bread. I haven't been geared up for dealing with an all day project like making a yeast-risen bread lately, and both Andy-from-NY and Julie-from-work have been talking about beer bread, so I thought I'd give it another try.


While it turns out the recipe I found was basically the same as Andy's, Andy also adds herbs and cheese to his recipe. And Julie tends to swap in some whole wheat flour with just about everything she bakes, plus this week she brought me a slice of beer bread that she worked rosemary and pink peppercorns into. Talk about a heady aroma and great savory flavor! Sadly, what you see here might LOOK good but it was a bit lackluster... Next time I'll try a different recipe and/or add in the extra goodies like Andy and Julie do.