Baking Forecasting / Prévision Culinaire

ARIES
(March 21 –April 19)
Organization has never been your thing.
- How dare you! You don’t know me, I mean; yes …I can be…sometimes…but not always.
Your ruler; Mars, is driving you to get the big stuff done- like finding the perfect pair of furry boots, or getting your MySpace profile just right.
- Note the signification of “The big stuff”! We are in July; I don’t think I would need some furry boots. As for MySpace profile, I don’t have one anyway.
You’ll be quite accomplished in 28 days’ time.
- It will take that long! Why not 26 days? Does it have to do with my lack of organization? What should I do in the meantime? Sleep!
You’ll also be more intense than usual. A pleasantly casual hookup? Not on the schedule this month.
- Wait a second: you first accuse me of being disorganized, and then superficial, then slow and now you say that I am “intense!” What does it mean? Do you have something against Aries? And for your information, I am married so back up couple breaker!



Here is how I would rewrite my own, personalized Horoscope of the week:

ARIES
(March 21 –April 19)
As the week begins, you will feel the need to get things done, to battle the winds, read your forgotten Marguerite Duras’ books and go back to the gym, something you have been talking about 3 months ago, but don’t wait too long as the weather man has predicted some rain for Tuesday and Wednesday and being active during bad weather has never been your thing. We don’t say this often, but it’s time to look like a woman a little bit, a little make up doesn’t hurt! Make a trip to the store near you where they have 75% sale on select cosmetics. A steal!
Tuesday will be your day of great baking achievement. You will finally make the apricot-nuts bread of your dreams that wasn’t that good a couple of weeks ago. At least now you know that starting to bake something, without making sure that you have all the ingredients is stupid; and why we said previously that organization has never been your thing!

Apricots-Nuts Bread

Recipe:
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- ½ cup rye flour
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
- ½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
- 1 tbsp crystallized ginger, finely chopped
- 12 dried apricots, diced
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup whole milk

Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
Stir together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, zest, ginger, apricots and nuts. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, brown sugar, butter, and milk. Beat just until blended. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches and mix just until mixed. Do not overmix.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula, which you lightly wet (it helps a lot). Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 55-60 min. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool, first 5 min n the pan, then turn it out onto the rack and cool completely. You can store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or freeze it for up to a month.

Pain d’Abricots et de noix

In francais please:
- 235g de farine
- 75g de farine de seigle
- 1 ½ tsp de levure chimique
- ½ c.c de bicarbonate de soude
- ¼ tsp de sel
- 1 c.s de zest de citron
- 60g de noix, grilles legerement et hachees
- 1 c.s de gingembre crystalise, hache
- 12 abricots secs, coupes en des
- 1 c.s de graines de tournesol
- 2 gros oeufs
- 185g de sucre brun
- 90g de beurre, fondu
- 125ml de lait entier

Positionner votre grille au milieu du four et prechauffer a 180C. Beurrer une moule a cake de 23 cm de longueur sur 13 cm de largeur.
Melanger ensemble les farines, la levure chimique, la bicarbonate de soude, le sel, le zest, le gingembre, les abricots et les noix. Mettre de cote.
Dans un grand bol, melanger les oeufs, le sucre brun, le beurre et le lait jusqu’a ce que le mélange soit homogene. Ajouter les ingredients secs en 3 fois et melanger jusqu’a incorporation complete. Eviter de trop melanger.
Mettre votre pate dans le moule a cake prepare et lisser la surface avec une spatule en caoutchouc ou une cuillere en bois, que vous mouillez legerement. Faire cuire jusqu’a ce qu’un cure-dent insere dans le pain en ressorte propre, 55-60 min.
Laisser votre pain refroidir sur une grille a patisserie, d’abord 5 min dans le moule puis demouler et laisser refroidir completement sur la grille. Le pain se garde parfaitement dans une boite hermetique a temperature ambiante, pendant 2 a 3 jours comme il peut etre congele jusqu’a 1 mois.