january is a slow month

I made bread for the first time ever!  I've made banana bread and zucchini bread and the like but this was my initiation into the mysteries of bread with yeast and kneading and letting it rise, etc.  Very exciting.   

It was enjoyable but my baking has been pretty limited to pies and cookies lately.  It took me a while to mix everything together and get the hang of it.  I don't think there are supposed to be pea-sized pieces of butter in bread dough.  Plus, it was so messy, what with the water, and smelly, what with the yeast.  But I think it worked and turned out quite well!  I made a recipe from Beard on Bread for cinnamon bread.  It was not a typical cinnamon bread.  Instead of rolling the cinnamon in after mixing everything together, the cinnamon was mixed in at the beginning, giving it a very light cinnamon flavor.  Less like a cinnamon!! bread - more bread that just happens to have cinnamon in it.  It is quite tasty with lots of "good, sweet butter," as James Beard recommended.  He was awfully fond of good, sweet butter on any number of the breads featured in the book.

        

52 weeks of celebration... maybe

Maybe I got a little carried away by my idea of celebrating a holiday every day. Some of these days are actually interesting or fun. Compliment Day sounds like a good time. National Pie Day - well, I would be celebrating that anyway.

However, some of them are mostly pointless, hence why no one ever thinks to observe them. Or even knows that they exist. I mean, Monday was Milk Day, in honor of the day milk was first delivered in bottles, in 1878. Milk Day? Really? I don't have milk delivered so I... drank some milk. Whooo! Maybe I should've delivered milk to someone as a surprise, though it was awfully cold out and I would've been worried about it freezing. Delivering milk in a plastic jug isn't really the same, anyway. Some of my co-workers have been interested in my "holiday-every-day" thing but I couldn't bring myself to tell them yesterday was Work Harder Day. Imagine the glares. I think perhaps I did work harder but it didn't make me especially happy. Saturday was Apricot Day and all I managed to do was eat a handful of dried apricots. There's not much joy to be found in dried apricots, as much as I enjoy them. I'm also not looking forward to days like Dress Up Your Pet Day. I don't have a pet. Or Inane Answering Message Day.

So, what to do? I think perhaps I'll focus on one day a week, or at least one day a week, but really pick the best day of the week to celebrate.

This week, the holiday is actually today - Poetry Break Day. I've been read a volume of e.e. cummings' work this afternoon as well as the Walt Whitman poem Garrison Keillor featured on Writer's Almanac today. Take a break and read some poetry. Anyone have anything to recommend?

Next week is full of days centered around food - popcorn, cheese, blonde brownie, and pie days. I will definitely celebrate Pie Day because I love to make pie. And to eat pie. But mostly to make it. National Pie Day is not to be confused with 3/14, Pi Day. Lots of people tell me I can't celebrate Pie Day on January 23rd; it is only to be celebrated March 14th. I think there's room in the world for two Pi(e) Days, don't you? Plus, the American Pie Council says Jan. 23 is Pie Day, and who am I to argue with them? I think Dahlia Bakery's butterscotch pie with pistachio brittle is in order for Pie Day.

Dear Lillie

One of my favorite Etsy stores is having a giveaway of one of my most coveted shirts.

Some more upcoming days are Bubble Bath Day (Friday), Apricot Day (Sat.), Peculiar People Day (Sun.), and Milk Day and/or Secret Pal Day (Mon.).

365 Days of Celebration

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2010 is to celebrate a holiday every day, or at least attempt to celebrate a holiday every day.

This came to me when I was looking up birthdays of random famous historical figures to put on my desk calendar. Why was I doing that? Mostly because January seems to be a month devoid of birthdays among my friends and family. It made me sad to look at the birthday column on the calendar and see it so empty. Obviously Martin Luther King, Jr. is a big one. Among my favorite birthdays for January, I found Benjamin Franklin (the 17th), Rubber Duckie and Ernie (yes, of Sesame Street fame - the 13th and the 28th, respectively), and Robert Burns (the 25th), who seems an apt one for me to celebrate this year, as I'm going to Scotland in May.

While searching for birthdays, I noticed that January 3rd was the Festival of Sleep and that sounded appealing to me, so I researched it. It's described as a day to catch up on sleep and to let your body recover after the busyness of the holidays. You are advised to sleep in, or take naps, or stay in bed all day - you get the idea. It sounded too great to pass up. On Sunday, I slept in. And went to bed earlyish. It was glorious and I really did feel better. Plus, it was kind of neat to be observing a new "holiday," especially one that didn't involve too much effort on my part. It was decadent without being expensive or commercial. It was nice.

After this, I looked at all the other holidays for January and the rest of the year. Turns out there really is a day out there for everyone. Why not celebrate some of them? It seems weird and like a lot of work, but I have a bit of time on my hands. It can easily be translated into a more common New Year's resolution - try something new. And, even though it's cheesy, it's a way to make every day special. Plus, it gives me something to do to get through the winter doldrums.

To bring everyone up to speed. It started with the Festival of Sleep. Monday was Trivia Day - that didn't go so well, mostly because I was unprepared. Was I supposed to ask other people trivia? Was I supposed to just read up on a lot of trivia? It was kind of a bust. Tuesday was National Bird Day. Birdwatching was out of the question since it was about 4 degrees outside. I did read Audubon's Birds of America and learned some things I didn't know. I would go into detail, but this post is long enough. Today was Cuddle Up and Bean Day. I didn't eat any beans but I looked at seeds online. And I cuddled up, mostly because it's so cold out! Tomorrow is Old Rock Day. It's a day to appreciate old rocks and fossils. I don't have any old rocks or fossils, so maybe it's back to reading about them again. If you have any, dust them off and admire them!

More to come.