A Day of Domesticity

It has been one of those unexpected days off of work, when I hide out in the house, indulging my inner hermitess and relishing the idea that no-one outside my immediate family knows I'm home. Most of my family were either gone today, or bent on indulging their own inner hermit, so the two dogs and I pretty much had the house to ourselves. Yes, you read that correctly. There are two dogs now. We recently acquired a six-month-old white collie. He's a sweet-tempered, curious little guy whose previous owners had apparently not bothered to teach him anything. I spent a lot of time today trying to make him understand that it's a good idea to come when he's called, that drinking out of the toilet and chewing on the ornamental pine cones are not acceptable pastimes, and that, contrary to his belief, the stairs will not eat him alive if he tries to surmount them.

When I wasn't teaching Beau (new dog), I was spending time with Lassie (old dog) to keep her from being jealous. And when I wasn't occupied with either of the dogs, I was messing around in the kitchen. I spent almost the entire day in an apron. I felt very domestic.

I still can't decide whether or not I like being domestic. There is something distinctly satisfying about feeling a meal take shape under your hands, laying it all out on the table, and watching it be devoured by a grateful horde. It all makes a nice change to my normal routine, but I can't say that I'd enjoy embracing it full-time.

I will probably never be one of those model housekeepers whose abode is always spotless, whose meals are always well-planned...and who never even thinks about going on adventures. I am one of those people who breakfasts on rice and tea (or sometimes just tea), and then goes off gypsying with an apple and cheese and a poetry book. Before you decide that I'm an utterly useless and indolent person, I must tell you that I also have days when I decide to make up for previous neglectfulness by tying into a dirty house with furious vigor, licking it into shape (not literally), and then concoct something fearful and wonderful and ethnic in the kitchen.

Speaking of ethnic, I found this recipe for an unleavened flat bread called 'lavosh'. I was surfing the All Recipes website for something that would go with the vegetable soup, and this fit the bill perfectly. It was also fairly quick and easy to make. Here's the recipe. * denotes my modifications.

Lavosh

Preheat oven to 400 F.

2 1/2 C. flour
1 t. sugar
1 t. salt
2/3 C. water
1 egg white
2 T. melted butter

In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add water, egg white, and butter; mix well to make a stiff dough. *Grease your hands (this stuff is super sticky), and knead until dough is smooth.

Divide dough into 10 balls (I actually did closer to 15). Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface until paper thin. *This stuff is very elastic and therefore hard to roll out. I discovered that it works well to keep flipping the dough over as you're rolling it out. This gets both sides thoroughly floured, and makes it a bit easier to work with.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. *Sprinkle with grated cheese (the original recipe called for brushing with egg white and sprinkling on sesame seeds, but I thought that the cheesiness would go better with soup).

Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 min. until edges have browned and *curled up.

This stuff was delicious. I'm definitely saving the recipe to make another time!