Macoo says: Preparing a sea lift order

I know I whetted your appetite with my enthusiasm about making bread, but did I make you curious about the subject of the sea lift?

Just in case I will tell you about it.

When we made our decision to move to Frobisher Bay, now Iqaluit, we were told to prepare a shopping list for a whole year and to bring all of our non perishables on the boat which was much cheaper than air travel which we needed to use for our perishables.

At the time of our decision, we lived in Thunder Bay my husband and I and the two children about age 4 and 1 ½ or there.

            I therefore started to measure everything we ate, everything we used, everything we drank etc… I put a new tube of toothpaste out, measured the cereal we used, the jam, we went to powdered milk (yuk) to see how much powder we needed, laundry detergent, chocolates, sugar, salt, nuts, peanut butter, chocolate chips, oat meal, corn flakes; we started to use more canned goods: peas, carrots, mushrooms, since air freight was $1.00 per pound. No more potatoes since the “winter potatoes” which keep for a long time were not going to be harvested until after the boat left Montréal; we would have to make do with dried potato flakes, dried scalloped potatoes, rice and pasta. Soft drinks, which we didn’t use much, but would now be a real special treat had to be included. And of course I started to make my bread to see how much I would need per week, or per month and then multiply by the adequate factor: 52 or 12.  

          Once you have the list made;  how I wish I had kept it! Then you had to chose a grocer and get the grocer’s wholesale catalogue. I was really lucky there, because the grocer had 20 years experience with the sea lift to Baffin Island. I called him many times while I was making my order to pick right the size container  and the right size of case. He was a very patient man and laughed many times at my anxiety about all of this. He was happy I spoke French with him since he was Québecois.  Did I want the small size containers, or the large size, could I break a case, were there any other options, did he have any smaller cases , did he have another product because I didn't like that one. I really did not want to fall short of anything and therefore we did over purchase the first year, but since it was non perishables we weren’t really losing much except may be some freshness and flavour for the next year.

          
When we left Thunder Bay at the end of April, we went to Montréal to meet him and bring him the final order and the cheque. I was shocked when I found him in a little tiny corner store no bigger than a postage stamp in a remote section of Lachine. My order was larger than the store itself. My fear and anxiety must have been easily read on my face because Monsieur Turenne started to laugh his good hearted laugh again. He showed me the warehouse behind the shop where he packaged the orders and he packaged almost all of the orders for the whole of Baffin Island. Explained the whole set up to me. Him and I became very good friends over the years; we worked together on improving the seal lift service after  the horrible fiasco when it came to late and couldn't be unloaded. Not only did he do the shipping for the sea lift, but he also was one of the main grocers involved in the air lift for the perishable goods which came in once a week on Nordair. We are talking mid seventies here, things have changed drastically in Iqaluit, Nanavut territories; they have flights every day now, and more stores than The Bay. It is the capital City of Nunavut Territory.

        But doing your shopping that way actually saves you money, because you have fewer visits to the stores and therefore less temptation. However, children change their eating habits, develop different tastes; in Thunder Bay they ate cornflakes all the time, they adored it; by the time the sea lift arrived they couldn’t stomach it at all…. And I had two cases of 12 large boxes!  Luckily there is a big frenzy around sea lift time, and every one comes and check if you  have extras, or if you want to trade or share when the sea lift arrives. Also I made cookies, breads, crumbs, whatever I could invent with cornflakes. Many of my friends were blessed with some of my corn flake inventions in Xmas baskets.

I’ll leave it at that, because I have a tendency to not be able to stop when I get going so maybe the subject will come again under another lens, during another blog.

Cheers

Mama Cool

Macooo says: let's try again with the bread making

Yesterday I wrote a blog which went to Internet Heaven, it just disappeared. It was about the wonderful smell of bread baking in the kitchen. I have been baking my own bread for about 32 years!
I started making it about 4 months before we left for the Great White North, Iqaluit now, Frobisher Bay then, in the mid 70's. We had been told that buying bread there was at your own risk, and very expensive. We were strongly advised to include flour in our sea lift so we could make our own breads. In order to know how much flour I needed for a whole year, since the sea lift with our food only came in once a year,( but that's another story I'll share with you one day) I had to make bread and see how many we ate each week in our family of four, and then multiply it by the number of weeks, and add a bit more for pastry and other uses.
Baking bread is not as hard as they make it out to be in the books. And in the 70's there wasn't yet all that talk about fibers and the arguments between white vs. brown bread. We were a white bread family.
For two loaves, or 12 buns I used 3 1/2C  to 4 C of flour, 2 tsp of yeast, 1 tsp of sugar and 1 C of warm water. Put the sugar and the yeast in 1/3 of the water and let it rise ( no draft please); the 3 C of flour in a big bowl with the salt and make a well in the middle. When the yeast was all bubbly, about 10 minutes, ( the comfy smell is starting) poor it in the well and add the rest of the warm water. With your fingers, blend in the flour into the liquid. When it gets a big hard, sprinkle some of the flour on the counter, plop the dough on the counter and start kneading the  rest of the flour. And knead about 10 minutes until the dough has an nice elastic body and is velvety or smooth like a baby's butt on top. Kneading is just folding the dough and then rolling it with the heel of your hand. It is sort of stretching it and rolling it back together. You can actually get a nice rythm doing it and sing along while doing it...very therapeutic!
Put the thing in a greased bowl , roll it in the bowl so it gets greased all over, cover it with a towel ( no draft please) and let time do its work. Wen it is double in size give it a punch and watch it deflate like a balloon (kids love that part). Then you have a choice, either let it rise a second time in the bowl, or shape it in loaves and let it rise like that. I have done both, it gives you a different texture for the inside, that 's all. 
Let it rise in the loaf pans or in a ball, or as baguettes and then bake at 425° F for 10 minutes, then turn down to 350 for breads, buns I just let them cook at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes. 
If you want a hard crust, steam the oven with water (either in a pan at the bottom or just spraying water in the hot oven when you put the loaves in). If you want a soft crust, rub some butter on it when it is still really hot. 
There you go. You can get fancy after if you want and experiment with various flours, and recipes, but whatever your searches and recipes, try to always use the KISS method (Keep It Simple Stupid) that's usually gives you the best results. Remember that bread making is an ancient art, invented when there were limited resources....no big secrets and inventions there!Kids love it, I have so many lovely memories: making breads with my children, one on a chair, the other right on the counter, they had their own little pans. There is nothing as soothing as the feel of warm dough, its velvety touch, warm, elastic, floury... and I personally love eating it raw!
The children made beautiful breads full of raisins, dog hair, stones, and whatever esle was flying around the kitchen: the dog loved it too licking all the bits dropped on the floor. I have never been one to be really concerned about tidiness, cleansiness, over-washing your hands, using all those super duper cleaning products that sterilize your environment and make you breath all those odours and chemicals...a strong believer in building immunity to germs and bacterias. Maybe that's why my children were rarely sick after the age of 2. But that's another topic altogether!
Rising bread has such a wonderful scent, baking bread bathes the house in a wonderful, peaceful, comforting and loving smell. Plus you know exactly what is in it, no additive, no bleach ( I always use unbleach flour if I can).
Home made bread is not only good for you, it's psychologically good for you, it's a great entertainment, a great shoulder exercise, great passtime for kids, a rewarding craft, a creative art, a great gift for others.... Need I say more?

Cheers Mama Cool

Macooo says: GRRRRRR.....

I had just finished writing a post, was just checking the spelling mistakes, and GRRRRRR as I said I must have hit the wrong key or Internet stopped working, but I lost the post , I lost my blog page and this not so techy lady just lost a lot of time trying to get back on her blog to write. I couldn't get back on it to post... but I just found the page again, through Facebook... You'll have to be patient with me.
Anyway my lost post was about the beauty of making home made bread! I am not going to re write it now though. I think that what I may do from now on is write the blog on word and then paste it, maybe Internet will not play games on me then!
Now I am just going to go and eat a nice crust of homemade bread, too bad guys and girls, you'll have to wait for the KISS recipe to bread.
Oh, by the way I am a very faithful member of the KISS Association (Keep It Simple Stupid), so you will never find anything very difficult on this blog. But I will probably share many ideas, fun anecdotes... of course as I get more expert at all this I may share pictures, patterns etc....
Cheers
Mama Cool

Macooo says:: Macooo says: Let's get started

Macooo says:: Macooo says: Let's get started: "Here I go ladies and gents. Why did I choose the name Macooo. My mother , when she became a grand mother was given the nickname Boumba by h..."

Macooo says: Let's get started

Here I go ladies and gents.
Why did I choose the name Macooo. My mother , when she became a grand mother was given the nickname Boumba by her first grand child who couldn't pronounce "Bonne maman" at the tender age of 28 months. I always loved that name and all the grand children adopted it.
When I became a grand mother I wished to also be baptized by grand children. My first grand child didn't pick a name, because his parents were talking about me as Grand Ma, and not using Mama Cool, therefore it was the second one Ardan who baptized me, because there Mama Cool was used by the parents, aunts etc...
There is nothing sweeter than hearing say " Hi Macooo, or I love you Macooo"... Maybe one day they will all call me that way. Or maybe each will find their way to call me... their voice and soft tone make me melt every time, whatever they call me anyway!
It's funny because until I became a grand mother I never believed that it would be special, that I would become "gaga" over those little ones, that hearing them or seeing them would brighten my day, would fill my heart with that special kind of love and happiness...but I have been really hit by that grand mother bug... trust me it is LOVELY!
Cheers
Mama Cool