2020: Week 3

January 13, 2020 – January 19, 2020

Learned the ASL alphabet. This video for kids made it easy.
Tried embroidery. I bought a kit during the summer and finally got around to using it. I looked up how to do stitches on YouTube and came up with the arrangement.
Baked a good loaf of bread and some focaccia. See below for the recipes.

It snowed. I love how it makes the world so bright and quiet. It usually only snows maybe once a year here, and this year was deeper than usual. I couldn’t make it in to work, so I got to work at home in my PJs under my kotatsu (Japanese heated table).

Continuing with the snow theme, I have been watching a ton of Jonna Jinton’s vlogs this week. She lives in a tiny village on a lake in Sweden and documents her life as an artist. I admire her love of nature and joy in the small things.

Here’s what I made over the weekend for the upcoming week.

No Knead Oatmeal Bread. This is the first bread recipe that has turned out fantastically for me. Thank you Alexandra’s Kitchen for the fabulous recipe. The flavour is slightly sweet, and it has a lovely, soft interior texture and tasty crust.
Shakshuka is such an easy and flavourful dish. I look forward to having this for lunch this week. I will serve it with homemade focaccia. This recipe is from Cookie and Kate.
Overnight Refrigerator Focaccia. Another Alexandra’s Kitchen recipe.
Sourdough Starter. I followed this tutorial from Joshua Weissman’s YouTube channel to begin a sourdough starter. I can’t wait to try new bread recipes with it next week.
Toshikoshi Soba. This is traditional in Japan for New Year’s. It’s too late for that, but it will make a delicious meal for the week. I will just keep the stock and noodles separate and the fishcake in the freezer until serving. Just One Cookbook is a treasure trove of recipes for Japanese food.
Hiyayakko. Another Just One Cookbook recipe.

I’m participating in an Uber Frugal Month with the Frugalwoods. I did ok with discretional spending this week except I’m borrowing my Mom’s car while she’s away and bought some gas. I also spent a bit more on groceries than usual because I stocked up on flour and other bread making ingredients.
I made a little progress on 30 Days of Yoga with Adrienne. I want to finish by the end of the month and start the new set of 30 she’s uploading this year.