Standing Into Danger: February 2023

Friday, February 17, 2023

Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread and Newfie Toutons

My sister Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread always brings back memories.

One of my favorite memories as a young girl living in Smith's Cove

was stopping by my great grandmother's house on the way home from school.

Great Grammie would give me a snack of milk and warm buttered brown bread,

and we would chat, play a game of Chinese checkers, or work on a jigsaw puzzle together.

Great Grammie by Her Beloved Snowball Bush

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

October 1959

Today it's my sister Barb who makes the best traditional Nova Scotia Brown Bread,

and I use her recipe to bake this nostalgic taste of home.

Last night, after searching my computer for over an hour, I could not find her recipe.

I was determined to because Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date

theme for this week is Bread, and Barb's is delicious.

No such luck.

The only copy I have is in my recipe box at home in Aurora.

So before going to bed I texted Barb for her recipe,

and it was waiting for me when I woke up.

I can always count on Barb!

She has been with me during some of my darkest and happiest hours

and everything in between. She's the best!

Barb (on the right) with Me

Beautiful Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

December 25, 2016

Nova Scotia brown bread is rich and flavorful, but not overly sweet.

I love to toast a slice and spread it generously with butter.

It's scrumptious with hot soup or homemade baked beans.

It's the perfect comfort food!

Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

During the Covid pandemic I made Barb's bread a number of times.

I'm using my photos to illustrate making her bread.

I divided the dough into loaves differently from her recipe,

so don't be confused by the discrepancy.

This is perfectly okay to do.

When I'm making anything, I like to assemble all the ingredients first,

in this case old fashioned oats, butter or shortening, molasses, yeast,

salt and water, as well as a little sugar for proofing the yeast.

Impulsive me has learned from sad experience

that it is important to have all the ingredients

actually in the house when I start cooking or baking.

Ingredients Assembled, Recipe at Hand

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Bread is really quite easy to make, but it does take some time.

When making bread that requires yeast and rising,

I usually plan for about three hours from start to finish.

Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread Recipe

In a heat proof bowl:

3 cups boiling water

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup shortening or butter

Put all ingredients in a bowl and set aside to cool (about 20 minutes).

After the mixture has cooled,

add 3/4 cup molasses and set aside.

In a second bowl:

Dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar in 1 cup warm water

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of yeast in the solution.

- if regular yeast let stand for 10 minutes

- if fast acting, let stand 4 minutes.

Time to Add Molasses to the Cooled Oatmeal Mixture While Yeast Is Proofing

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

In a large bowl mix together:

8 cups flour

4 teaspoons salt.

Make a hole in the center of the flour.

Pour oatmeal mixture and yeast into the hole in the flour.

Ready to Mix Before Kneading

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Mix with wooden spoon and/or hands.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes.

Place the kneaded bread in a large bowl greased with butter.

Ready to Rise

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the dough rise in a warm spot

for one hour and 15 minutes or until doubled in size.

Ready to Rise

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Punch down the dough and divide into 3 portions.

Shape each portion for a bread pan.

Grease the bread pans well with butter.

Place the portions of dough in the bread pans.

Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until the dough is doubled in size.

While the dough is rising for the second time, preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Ready for a Second Rising ~

Note: Louise chose to divide her dough into four portions in two bread pans.

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (I often bake the bread for 40 minutes).

Test for doneness by tapping or knocking on a loaf.

The bread sounds hollow when it's done.

Let the bread cool in the pan before turning it out.

Ready to Eat!

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

Making bread is more than baking something to eat.

To me it's an act of love.

It nourishes the heart and soul as well as the body.

It connects me to all the strong women in my family who baked it before me.

When I make Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread it reminds me of

happy times with her and how important she is to me.

Sisters are the best!

Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada

August 3, 2019

Here are pictures for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Sisters Share a Special Bond

A Sleepy Me with Donnie and Barb

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

Late Spring 1957

We Five: Barbie (5), myself (11) with Bertie (2), Roy (10) Donnie (7),

and three lake trout barely out of the waters of Lac Seul

Lac Seul, Ontario, Canada

July 1961

Family Is the best!

We Five: Donnie, Bertie, Roy, Barb, and Me

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

July 31, 2018

Happy creating. Take care!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

My next post will be on

Friday, February 24, 2023 🤞

On the Bay of Fundy
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved

Notes:

Making bread is more of an art than a science.

Humidity, air temperature, and elevation can impact rising and baking times.

That's why ranges are given.

My mother always said to knead bread dough until it felt like a baby's bottom.

My friend Jeff left a good tip in the comments:

"When dough is properly kneaded,

if you push in the dough slightly with a finger and then let go, it should spring back."

He learned this while working as a baker when he was in university.

Proofing the yeast means testing it to make sure that it is still alive.

This is done by gently stirring the yeast in warm water with a little dissolved sugar and setting it aside for 5-10 minutes.

If the yeast is good, it will form a creamy foam on top of the water.

Yeast Proofing

Aurora, Colorado, USA

September 20, 2020

If, for some reason, you have left over bread dough of any kind,

you can follow the time-honored tradition of thrifty Newfies and make Toutons.

Take roughly biscuit-sized pieces of dough, drop them in oil in a frying pan,

fry until browned on each side and cooked through,

dust with powdered sugar and serve with jam,

or plate them like a pancake and serve with butter and maple syrup.

Yum yum!

Toutons Straight from Barb's Kitchen!

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

February 2023

I wish I could say that Barb's Bread was my Great Grandmother's recipe,

but it's a traditional recipe from another family in the area.

We aren't sure whose. Our only clue is "Aunt Geraldine."

Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread Recipe

In a heat proof bowl:

3 cups boiling water

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup shortening or butter

Put all ingredients in a bowl and set aside to cool (about 20 minutes).

After the mixture has cooled,

add 3/4 cup molasses and set aside.

In a second bowl:

Dissolve 2 teaspoons sugar in 1 cup warm water

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of yeast in the solution.

- if regular yeast let stand for 10 minutes

- if fast acting, let stand 4 minutes.

In a large bowl mix together:

8 cups flour

4 teaspoons salt.

Make a hole in the center of the flour.

Pour oatmeal mixture and yeast into the hole in the flour.

Mix with wooden spoon and/or hands.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes.

Place the kneaded bread in a large bowl greased with butter.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the dough rise in a warm spot

for one hour and 15 minutes or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and divide into 3 portions.

Shape each portion for a bread pan.

Grease the bread pans well with butter.

Place the portions of dough in the bread pans.

Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until the dough reaches the top of the pans.

While the dough is rising for the second time, preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (I often bake the bread for 40 minutes).

Test for doneness by tapping or knocking on a loaf.

The bread sounds hollow when it's done.

Let the bread cool in the pan before turning it out.

When Barb Was Barbie ~ Such a Cutie!

Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada

Summer 1959

Friday, February 10, 2023

Vegetable Trauma

Rain's Thursday Art Date theme for this week is a scary one,
and at least one item in this photo can send me running from the kitchen in horror.

An Array of Vegetables

Wikimedia

"Vegetables?" you ask.

Yes vegetables. I have suffered from vegetable trauma all my life,

and addressing Rain's theme of Vegetables brings the horror to the surface.

Don't tell me you're supposed to eat vegetables multiple times a day for your health,

or God-forbid you are a vegetarian.

Swallowing vegetables is a struggle for me every day.

Look at the next photo, horrors from my childhood.

I remember gagging on limp boiled cabbage, bitter orange turnips,

ghastly celery root, and scratchy beet greens.

The Stuff of Nightmares ~ Cabbages, Celery Root, Turnips, and Beets

Portobello Road, London, UK

May 29, 2014

I have been probing my earliest vegetable memories for this post
to understand my aversion to this healthy food group.
My mother started it with turnips.

Mom Studying at Acadia University

Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada

1947

Now, I'm not sure what has happened with turnips in recent decades,
because most vegetables and fruits have metastasized.
Turnips have shrunk.
When I was a kid in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI),

turnips were the size of candlepin bowling balls.
My mother would boil those bowling balls up,

mash them with butter and pepper, and plop a pile on my plate.

Need I say more?

Wikimedia

My mother suffered from Graves disease and Graves eye disease

when I was a young girl, so perhaps I should forgive her for the turnips.

To ease the burden on my mother during several summers,

I was shipped off to Morell, PEI, to stay with Nana's sister, my Great Aunt Maude,
Aunt Maude's thing was beet greens.
They were full of iron, and iron was essential to growing bodies.

Beets with Beet Greens Attached

Wikimedia

Aunt Maude would boil those beet greens up

and drop them on my plate swimming in vinegar and butter.
Those red veins were so full of iron they would scratch going down my throat.
Sometimes they would get hung up.

Aunt Maude (upper left) and her Siblings: Belle, Myrtle, and Chester

St. Peter's Bay, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Circa 1905

Sometimes during the winter my brother and I had dinner with Nana,

again to ease the burden on my mother.

Nana conveniently lived next door, and her thing was parsnips.

She thought parsnips were particularly important for the development of strong bodies.

Parsnips with Carrots

Wikimedia

Imagine that dirt-covered, vampire-pale thing roasted and placed on your plate.
Aside from its wretched taste, it was stringy. At least it wasn't boiled.

Nana ~ Myrtle Jane Pratt MacBeath

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada

Circa 1910

My father's family weren't the only culprits traumatizing me with vegetables.

Some summers it was off to Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia,

to stay with Grammie, Mom's mother.

Grammie with Roy and Me

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

Summer of 1952

I remember sitting on Grammie's back steps many times

preparing yellow wax beans for supper.

I'd snip off the pointy end, detach the cap at the opposite end,

and pull the string from the back of the pod.

If I didn't do a good job with each pod, someone would be eating a nasty string,

in addition to the pale yellow, waxy pods with hard little gray-green beans inside.

Yellow Wax Beans

Wikimedia

I remember reading a scene in Paul Malmont's brilliant pulp fiction novel,

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril.

The requisite damsel in distress was being attacked by a slavering monster, and I quote:

"She tumbled back under the force of its weight and landed heavily on her back.

The impact knocked the wind out of her and she began to struggle,

desperate to get the creature off her so she could catch her breath.

She clawed at its face with her fingernails, and it pushed away from her in pain.

The texture of its face reminded her of the yellow wax beans

she had prepared as a little girl."

(Malmont, Paul, The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2006, p. 262.)

Do you know how many yellow wax beans you have to de-string for a family supper?

A lot. And then you have to eat them.

I'll bet Malmont detested yellow wax beans as well.

If that wasn't enough trauma, sometimes I would stay with Great Grammie down the road.
One of this venerable lady's claims to fame was home remedies for what ailed you.

Great Grammie ~ Sara Cossaboom

Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

Circa 1967

She was well-versed in medicinal teas, healing soups,
and such delights as mackerel poultices for your chest.
And if you had a cough, well, there was boiled onions in a sugar water syrup.

Onions with Onion Rings

Wikimedia

I coughed a lot.
Decades later I discovered that I had chronic asthma much of my life.

I can remember sitting in GG's parlor (not the front parlor - that was for special guests)
playing Chinese checkers or working a jigsaw puzzle with her and praying not to cough.

Now, boiled onions in a sugar water syrup

was bad enough when the concoction was warm.
Imagine waking up in the night, coughing desperately into your pillow,

and hearing GG call out, "Take your medicine, Weesie!"

I would dutifully spoon the congealed cold mess of onion rings and crystallized sugar

into my mouth and swallow; she would check in the morning.

She could hear me coughing into my pillow, downstairs,

on the opposite side of her house, behind her closed bedroom door,
when she was asleep.
And my parents called me Big Ears!

And then there was Dad, who did NOT cook.
When Mom went into the hospital in Middleton, Nova Scotia, to have Bertie,
Donnie and Barbie shipped off to Charlottetown, PEI, presumably to deal with parsnips,
while Roy and I remained in Margaretsville to deal with

more than a week of Dad's culinary efforts.

Dad with Me (to his upper left), Donnie (to his lower left), Barb, and Roy

Alymer, Ontario, Canada

1958 ~ About a Year Before Bertie Was Born

Every night that Mom and Bertie were in the hospital,
long before the days of drive-thru baby deliveries,
Dad served up fried eggs with canned spinach floating in vinegar.

Dad brooked no nonsense at the table.

If any of us refused to eat something, it showed up for the next meal, and the next,

or even the next, until the recalcitrant one was starving and ate it.

Spinach petrifies me to this day, especially anywhere near an egg.

Spinach and Eggs

Wikimedia

And in the North!

Consider canned peas, canned carrots, or canned cream style corn

of questionable age,

stored in a warehouse in Nakina, Ontario,

then dragged for weeks or months by tractor train across frozen lakes and muskeg

to the Hudson Bay Post in Lansdowne House

there to languish until they landed under the counter in our kitchen.

Cat Train in Alaska

This is the closest image I could find to the reality.

Wikimedia

Says Mom, "Weeser, did you check to make sure the cans weren't bulging

before you put the vegetables on to cook?"

They were the perfect foil for the powdered mashed potatoes.

Now, I haven't even touched on the joys of squash, broccoli,

Brussel sprouts, and dulse.

Some of the world's best dulse grows in the Bay of Fundy.

Bay of Fundy

In the interest of brevity,

I'll mention only one more trauma-inducing vegetable I had to eat.

Remember not cleaning your plate was not tolerated in our household.

There were starving children in China you know.

Check out this photograph. Maritimers eat something in this picture!

Codroy Valley, Newfoundland, Canada

Summer of 2011

Roll those puppies up into tight curls just popping out of the ground,

and you've got fiddleheads!

Fiddleheads Before They've Unrolled into Ferns

Wikimedia

OMG, Maritimers love these so much, they've erected a statue to them!

Statue of a Maritime Delicacy, the Fiddlehead

St. John, New Brunswick, Canada

Wikimedia

Wash 'em well, boil 'em up, douse 'em in butter and vinegar, and eat.

I kid you not.

Just looking at them in a photograph makes me gag.

Cooked Fiddleheads

Wikimedia

And that vegetable that could send me running from the kitchen in horror?

Okra! Just the thought of it makes my throat clench.

So don't look at me askance for disliking vegetables.

Vegetable trauma in childhood has left me with vegetable PTSD.

And for Nicole's Friday Face Off, in addition to the family faces in my post,

a final photo of another nightmare inducing vegetable:

Ents at the Bellagio Conservatory

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

November 9, 2014

This is one post I'm glad to put to bed!

Take care!

Till next time ~
Fundy Blue

My next post will be on

Friday, February 17, 2023 🤞

The weather in Honolulu has been drizzly, cloudy, and windy.

Today (Thursday) we have wind warnings for Honolulu

for wind gusts up to 50 or 60 mph (80.4 to 96.5 kph).

But the wild weather has its benefits, like a fabulous rainbow.

I saw this from our lanai this morning:

Honolulu Rainbow

Honolulu, Hawaii USA

February 9, 2023

Books Read in 2024

"5 Languages of Love: The Secret to Love That Lasts" by Gary Chapman
"At Home in the World" by Joyce Maynard
"Cockroaches" by Jo Nesbo
"Death's End" by Cixin Liu
"Eruption" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson
"In Darkness" by L. Diane Wolfe
"In My Time of Dying" by Sebastian Junger
"Nothing to Fear" by Julie McFadden, RN
"The Bat" by Jo Nesbo
"The Dark Forest" by Cixin Liu
"The Frozen River" by Ariel Lawhon
"The Last to Vanish" by Megan Miranda
"The Montauk Monster" by Hunter Shea
"The Road to Character" by David Brooks
"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller
"The Twist of a Knife" by Anthony Horowitz
"The Uninhabital Earth: Life After Warming" by David Wallace-Wells
"The Women" by Kristin Hannah
"Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
"Writing the Shadow" by Joanna Penn

Pages

Friday, February 17, 2023

Barb's Nova Scotia Brown Bread and Newfie Toutons

Friday, February 10, 2023

Vegetable Trauma