Patriots Day

 It's been 20+ years since the attack that devastated America on September 11, 2001. Three thousand individuals would lose their lives, and many first responders went down in history as hero's. Four airplanes were in the air and their missions were dictated by those flying the planes. The pentagon, the twin towers in New York and the other plane destination was not truly known. However, all of these planes would crash killing the individuals in the plane as well as many others in the areas that were hit. 

What a terrifying day it was I will always remember that day. I was at work and our Administer announced turn on the TVs we are under attack. For days it seemed we were all glued to the TVs trying to find out all that we could. I felt for those families that had family members in those areas and prayed while we all wanted to hear if they had been found. 

While today, September 11 is not a public holiday it is a day to remember. Many places around America have celebrations to help not only remember but to think about what we could do to make America better. 

The response of this attack on America was answered by forming the Department of Homeland Security. This organization created in 2002 is responsible for border security, immigrations, disaster relief and prevention. In addition, many other steps have been taken to ensure safety. Screening of baggage by airports as well as full body scans help to insure safety to all those as well. 

Shall WE Never Forget 

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns have been around for many hundred years. Some say that they were introduced to the world by a monk who marked them with a cross in honor of Good Friday. He wanted all to share them and show love in their friendships. 

Queen Elizabethan in England decided to limit the production of hot cross buns in the 16th century. They would have only been sold during Christmas, funerals and Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. This law to ban the buns was not one that was observed, and many people disagreed with the ruling.  Thus, the buns were made throughout the year whenever the people wanted.

Another idea that the hot cross buns held special healing powers also was found to be a suspicion. Some that enjoyed these buns believed that if the hot cross buns were baked on Good Friday, they would never go stale and would ward off evil.  In the past ages these buns would only be ate on Good Friday, however modern time has saw them baked many times throughout the year and hosting no special powers. 

Make your own Hot Cross Buns 

• 3 teaspoons instant or rapid rise yeast (9 grams) , Note 1, CHECK still active!
• ▢1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• ▢1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk, warm , full fat or low fat (Note 2)
• ▢4 1/4 cups (640g) bread flour (or plain / all purpose) (Note 3)
• ▢2 tsp cinnamon powder
• ▢2 tsp All Spice OR Mixed Spice (Note 4)
• ▢1/2 tsp salt
• ▢1 1/2 cups (210g) sultanas (Note 4)
• ▢1 – 2 oranges, zest only (Note 4)
• ▢50g / 3.5 tbsp  unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ▢1 egg , at room temperature

Mix dry – Place flour, yeast, sugar, all spice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Briefly mix with stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Add wet – Add butter, milk, egg, sultanas and zest.

Standmixer: Mix for 5 minutes until a smooth elastic dough forms. Start on speed 2 then once the ingredients are combined, increase to speed 4. After 1 minute, add extra flour if required, just enough so dough comes away from side of bowl when mixing and doesn't stick terribly to your fingers. (Note 5).

Hand kneading: Alternatively, dust a work surface with flour and knead by hand for 10 minutes.

Dough is kneaded enough when it's smooth and does not break when stretched – see photos & video for before/after comparison.

Rise #1:

Leave dough in the bowl, cover with cling wrap and place in a warm, wind free place to rise until doubled in size. This will take anywhere between 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how warm it is – see Note 6.

Forming Balls (watch video, it’s helpful):

Line a 31.5 x 23.5 cm / 9 x 13″ tray with baking paper with overhang.

Remove cling wrap and punch dough to deflate.

Dust work surface with flour, place dough on work surface, shape into a log – this will deflate the air. Cut into 12 equal pieces.

Take one piece and press down with palm, then use your fingers to gather into a ball, then roll the dough briefly to form a ball. This stretches the dough on one side and that’s how I get a nice smooth surface.

Place the ball with the smooth side up on the tray. Repeat with remaining dough. Line them up 3 x 4.

Rise # 2:

Spray a piece of cling wrap lightly with oil (any), then loosely place over the tray.

Return tray to warm place and leaver 30 – 45 minutes, until the dough has risen by about 75% (less than double in size).

Partway through Rise #2, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).

Crosses:

Mix flour and water until a thick runny paste forms – see video for thickness required.

Spoon into a round 3 mm piping bag or small ziplock bag then snip corner.

Remove the cling wrap and pipe crosses onto the buns. Go slow so it hugs the curves.

Baking/Glaze:

Bake in preheated oven (180°C/350°F) for 22 minutes, or until the surface is a deep golden brown. The surface colour is the best test for this recipe.

Meanwhile, place jam and water in a bowl, microwave for 30 seconds. Mix to combine.

Remove buns from oven. Use overhang to lift buns onto a cooling rack.

Brush with jam mixture while warm. Allow to cool to warm before serving.

Recipe Notes:

1.  Yeast: Use any yeast labelled instant or rapid rise yeast. I use Lowan Dried Instant Yeast (red tube, sold at Woolies/Coles baking aisle). 

YEAST CHECK to ensure your yeast is still active (unless you just bought/opened a fresh bottle): mix 1 teaspoon yeast with 1/2 tsp white sugar and 1/4 cup warm water (40C / 100-110F). Leave 10 minutes. Foamy and creamy, smells yeasty = yeast is good. If no foam, it’s dead. Time to get another!

Normal yeast / active dry yeast – same ingredients, but start as follows:

mix yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and all the warm milk in the bowl, then leave 5 – 10 minutes until surface gets foamy;

add all the other ingredients (including remaining sugar minus the 2 tsp used above), then mix/knead per recipe; and

proceed with recipe as written.

Fresh yeast (comes in a block that crumbles, not powder like dry yeast) – use 27g/ 0.9 oz. Crumble it into the milk and let stand until it foams up, same as using active dry yeast per above.

2. Milk warmth – Scalding hot milk kills the yeast. I heat it for 45 seconds on high in the microwave. The test is this: stick your finger in. If it was a bath, would it be pleasant? Good. It’s not too hot or too cold!

3. Breads are also fluffier and more tender if made with bread flour rather than normal flour. However, this recipe works great with normal white flour too.

Flour quantity – differs all year round, and with different flour brands. Start with 4 1/4 cups to be safe (better to start sticky and add more flour as required), expect to add an extra 1/4 cup. DO NOT add too much flour – results in dry dough = tough buns.

4. Flavourings

Spices – All Spice is my default, but I also use Mixed Spice too and no one would ever know the difference. Sub with: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp each cloves and nutmeg

Sultanas: Some recipes say to add sultanas after the dough has been kneaded or risen. If you do this, you’ll find it very hard to disperse them evenly throughout the dough. By adding them before kneading, some do get squished. But it’s not noticeable in the end resu

National Hummingbird Day

 Today, September 7th is the first Saturday of the month and is a day that bird lovers and others observe as The National Day of Hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are loved by those that admire them and are born with the chic and males both caring for them from time of birth. The chic will do her job as the mother, but the male is the defender of the nest and there are many things that the nest must be defended for. The hummingbird is small in nature and is threatened by pesticides, bad weather, big insects and other predators as well as any habitat changes. 

The hummingbird is a brave creature choosing to fly alone often. Not only are they the only bird that can fly backwards it is one of the fastest moving birds as well. A hummingbird wings have been to be known to move as fast as 200 times a second. Most species of hummingbirds are from North and South America. It may seem odd to have this holiday at this time of year rather than spring or summer, but the hummingbird is the busiest during the months of August and September. Thus, it only seems right to bring awareness to this fast small proud bird at this time of year. 

Hummingbirds have one large flaw and that is that they cannot smell. Thus, they are attracted to bright colors, and they often like to be in an area where vines and so forth are present. Bright colors as well as nectar producing plants, red and white tubular flowers and brightly colored hummingbird feeder 

For all of you nature lovers there are a few other bird days that will be coming up. First, will be National Bird day in January and then a day to remember to feed the birds in February. 

National Beard Day

 When you think of individuals with beards what characteristics come to mind?? Masculinity, rugged, wisdom and possibly even wildness. Some mean can look strong and mature, others may look rugged and strong, while others are blessed with a look of wisdom but at the same time a beard may also make some look a bit wild. Do you have a beard or love someone that does?? 

Beard Day is celebrated the first Saturday of September every year. History would show that all men primarily had beards until around the year 4,000 when shaving became a custom. One reason that men sported beards was because a beard helped prevent a layer of warmth. Many places around the world admired their men and the beards that they wore. In fact, one town in Sweden would ban all men without beards out of the town as a way to shame them for not having a beard. 

One of the famous individuals that appreciated his look because of a beard had the word beard as part of the name he went by. Black Beard was a pirate whose real name was Edward Teach. Black Beard was around during the early American colonies that were still under British control. 

Being from Illinois I would be shamed if I did not include our famous president from Illinois. President Abraham Lincoln was one of only 5 United States Presidents that sported a beard. The others were Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford Hayes who gets credit for having the longest beard, James Garfield, and Benjamin Harison. However there is another famous man that while he has never been president, he wears a full beard to aid in warmth and is recognized everywhere he goes, dressed in red and is known to the world as Santa Claus. 

Don't worry for all you that do not like the look of beards or the feel of them either your day will arrive next month. On October 18th the National NO Beard Day will arrive. 

Two Musicians Celebrate September 1st as their birthdays

 As of 12:01 am we entered the month of September. This month holds many great days for our family. Including birthdays, anniversaries and more. There are also a cople of famous singers celebrating their birthdays this month as well.

Both Conway Twitty and Barry Gibbs were born in the month of September. 

Harold Jenkins better known as Conway Twitty was born September 1st 1933 in the great state of Mississippi. Conway Twitty sang music, wrote music for himself and others, and earned himself in the great hall of fame. Conway at the young age of 10 sang on the radio and also would preach a bit as well. In school he would become a baseball star of his own and even earn a chance to play professional ball by the Philadelphia Phillies. However, the army would draft Conway before he made a decision to play or not. 

Elvis Presley was idolized by Conway Twitty and the military could not stop him from continuing his music. In the army Conway would form a group that would entertain the troups during down time. By 1965 Conway had left the original sound of rockabilly and was strictly playing country music. In 1970 he would write and perform one of the songs that made him famous "Hello Darlin" 

In addition to music Conway Twitty would find himself starring in some movies as well. His love for baseball / softball would not disappear and he actively supported many teams and players. June 1993 would be the last that he would be seen as the star would pass away at the age of 59 just shy of his 60th birthday. 

Another great singer with his own records to be proud of that celebrates September 1st as birthday is Andy Gibbs. 

Born Barry Alan Compton Gibbs would be born to a musical family. With his father a drummer when Barry was born it was not hard to figure music would play a big part of this young mans life. At the age of 12 Barry and his brothers would fit the world-famous group Bee Gees. The Bee Gees would break up in 1969. Later Barry would come out on his own as solo star and his brother Andy Gibbs would also be a solo star. 

Barry would not only sing and perform but write music as well. With over 100 songs wrote in total Barry holds a record for having 6 #1 songs. To honor his accomplishments Barry was added to the song writers hall of fame as well as the Rock and Roll hall of fame.