Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The Power of Baking

I get home from a faculty meeting that almost hit the three-hour mark. I am exhausted. Since I am already home almost an hour and a half later than usual, I decided not to stop at the grocery store.

I go to the fridge - not really anything to eat, other than eggs which don't sound good at all and leftover pasta which I ate for lunch.

I go to the cupboards - wow, I need to do some shopping, but at least I have cans of soup.

Soup, what goes well with soup? Biscuits sound amazing, but I'm not sure I have the energy. But somehow over the weekend we have consumed all the bread and crackers in the house, and soup alone probably won't cut it.

I dump the dry ingredients into a bowl, and lightly mix them. The powder feels soothing to my fingers. I dice the margarine before dumping it into the bowl, distributing it with my fingertips, just until the mixture is a fine crumb. I raid the fridge for milk and decide on buttermilk that is about to expire, and swirl the right amount into the bowl. At first I lightly mix the dough with a spatula, but soon abandon it for my hands.

I mix, I knead, I roll, I cut - and the biscuits are ready on a greased baking sheet before the oven has finished preheating. I realize the exhaustion has left me, and I feel exhilarated.

A can of soup alone is so lonely. A can of soup accompanied by fresh homemade biscuits with delicious jam is comfort food at its best.

3 comments:

Sara said...

I like this post very much. You've also reminded me that I should make some biscuits soon - haven't had any for ages. I'm very happy that I've found your blog!

Helene said...

You are lucky I live 3 hours away from you or would have an extra mouth to feed. Biscuits look great!

breadchick said...

Your biscuits are perfect! I haven't made homemade biscuits in ages BUT I have one last jar of last years homemade strawberry jam that needs to be used quickly...

Thanks for inspiring me to make biscuits this weekend!