Hiking in Norway....

Leaving Skogadalsboen, there are many ways to go........

Poem time #4

If    by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are loosing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ' em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ' Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!


For my son and for my daughter: this poem is one to think about/over !

Music from Dalarna, Sweden

Traditional music from Dalarna....

'Gammal Fabodspsalm' was composed by Oskar Lindberg in 1936, based on a traditional Swedish   tune. Abba used to play it.

 

Same melody but played by other artists: Sofia Karlsson & Augustifamiljen. I like this song!!

Very Basic Bread: Sourdough

Sourdough is one of my favourite bread taste. In a village next to the little town where I live, there is a bakery where they sell it. So sometimes, I buy some dark rye bread.

But after my first bread experiments with dry yeast, then with poolish, I wanted also try to make a sourdough - bread.

I surfed the net for a recipe to make a sourdough starter. I made 3 different starters with an interval of 3 days. I kept it very small: the first with 1 tsp white flour and some water. The second with 1 tsp of rye-flour and the third with a mixture. Every morning, I stir them and in the evening, I feed them with some flour and water.

What I have learned: 1. the rye-flour works the best; 2. a broad jar works better than a narrow one; 3. the feeding with bio-flour (white) is much better than the flour from the supermarket; 4. best is to cover it with a plastic, perforated foil .

I am so happy with the result: after a few days, bubbles are visible and after 10 days (and a lot of lovely attention), the smell changed to a fruity, a bit sour but agreable smell and the texture is very airy with even more bubbles.

After a few days, the first bubbles appear 

This is the rye-flour starter

More bubbles

More and more bubbles

The smell and texture are amazing! Time for bread-baking!

The dough before rising

The dough after rising (3 hours)

Look at that!!

 I made this bread with the first starter:

Before rising

              

After rising (1 hour)

My very first 'sourdough - bread (a little out of shape)

The shape gets better ...

The taste is wonderful!