First off hubby is ok, physically... He fell out of bed and cracked his head on the night stand... I fully expected to grab a handful of brains when I helped him up, yes he hit his head that hard... Other than a small bump and being a bit stunned he seemed to be in complete control of all his facilities... I got him an ice pack, helped him dress and escorted him downstairs... He seemed fine... He fixed himself a bowl of cereal, we had a normal conversation ( neither of which has happened in more than 4 years )... Then, out of the blue, he says that since he can't take a nap he was going to watch TV for a while ( !!! )... Within a half hour he said his neck hurt and wanted a pain pill ( hasn't ask for one since he had hip surgery! )... That's when I took him to the hospital. While we were waiting for the results of the MRI hubby became quiet, very quiet... The doctor said there was no sign of another stroke, nothing wrong with his neck, brain, skull or anything in between... Everything was ok... Hubby didn't say a word to the doctor or for the rest of the day... Since then signs of his dementia have intensified, in some ways... Ok, enough on that subject, just wanted to bring everyone up to speed and I had to unload. Now you know why I didn't have the time to truly express my pleasure with my Swap box... Sorry Kate! Before I opened the box I cleared off the little table and got my camera out... I wanted to make sure the batteries were charged and everything was ready to go... Good thing I had my handy little coupon cutter handy, Kate really knows how to tape up a package and make sure nothing could possible shift and get broken... LOL The first thing I opened was the manila envelope with Kate's lovely letter... It's not often that one gets to sit down to read a real letter any more and it was a pure pleasure... She even included a picture of herself and her hubby, ( He kind looks like a young skinny Captain Picard. lol )... I'm still trying to figure out who Kate reminds me of, she does have my Mothers eyes... Oh, I did read the letter twice because I enjoyed it so much. The next thing I spotted was a big plastic envelope thingy.... It's big, it's heavy and there's no chance I'll be able to open it with my bare hands ( lol )... A few moments with the coupon cutter and out comes AnnT's Cookbook!!!. Needless to say I had to take a quick look at the contents... Well, an hour and a half later I figured I better open everything else... LOL I'm totally amazed that you took the time to print out all 200 and some odd pages just for me and on such high quality paper too... I mean, that's more than half a ream of paper and if your printer is anything like mine it probably took a couple sets of ink cartages too... Not to mention laminating the cover and having it bound... Thank you, so very much.. The cookbook alone would have been enough... Well maybe the cookbook and the black licorice... Or maybe the tea towel and some licorice... Or maybe just $30. worth of black licorice... LOL Oops, almost forgot everything else... Loved it all!!! Oh, the gorgeous embroidered tea towel is going to be framed, under glass, and hung in the kitchen... I'm not taking any chance that hubby might use it, nope, no way! Hugs, Rita P.S. Jessica I can't even count the many times I've used the Le Creuset stoneware, for veggies, cheese cake, braded bread. lots of stuff... And any time I need a quick pick me up I go back and reread the post ,'My wonderful surprise!', to relive every joyous moment I received from your special surprise.

You are very welcome. Most of our members are more than than happy to answer the same questions over and over again. So don't hesitate to ask if you can't find something. Someone here will find it for you. Ann

Like Terri, I have some leakage when I add jam to the cream cheese, I usually just open a jar of homemade jam and use it as filling on top of the cream cheese, I like them both together. And it freezes wonderfully no matter which filling is used. Arlene, just use a pie filling recipe, if you want just fruit, or jam, or make a fruit filling out of any fruit you have, sweetened and cooked, mix a little cornstarch with the liquid and thicken it and voila! Fruit filling of your choice. I'll bet lemon curd would be really good in these along with the cream cheese... Annie

ann_t, you saw the shine! As my bread mentor, I sure wanted you do see my progress and am thrilled you popped in! I had a better photo showing the shine but didn’t upload it. I let this bread rise the same time, but the difference was the pizza stone and the grill – sure hope I can replicate it as we enjoyed in so much this weekend! I think you’ve done an amazing job at describing the uses of the pockets/holes, the flavor difference, texture difference. dcarch, as always, your words are so kind – thank you. I agree, a bread with only massive holes would be useless. It needs ‘pockets’! I admit, I am proud of this loaf. Ricky (fawnbridge), I’d never heard of ‘voonge’ but clearly I do it, a lot! We used this loaf to voonge gravy and bits from beef tips : ) Thank you for the kudos! mamapinky0 – wonderful descriptions of ciabatta and artisan breads – makes me hungry for it right now – and how blessed you are to have a bakery to make it for you! I like all breads – white and whole wheat sandwich for our lunches, and eggs on toast, savory for cheese and herb breads, uber-soft Hokkaido for melt-in-the-mouth dinner rolls and decadent French toast – and yes, even bread pudding. DH and I love the crust of artisan, the pockets that hold flavor, and the ability of this bread to hold up to moisture over regular sandwich bread – but the flavor is also quite good. We all have our preferences : ) Hi chas045! Seems you’ve been following posts! The credit really goes to ann_t, who in her recipe (link above) explains the entire process and includes wonderful photos. I thought it was the grill – my first pizza on the grill had nice holes and pockets accompanied with an excellent crust, but the 2nd was like my cast iron in the oven pizza… I suspect it’s the wetter dough, among other things. As with my first attempts decades ago with white bread, there came a point when it was muscle memory while kneading – it just felt and looked right at some point. Hopefully I can attain this over the next year on a consistent basis with artisan. annie1992, thank you! I’ve seen photos of your breads – and your bread always looks better than mine (and while it’s not about looks, when bread looks right, it tastes right) – and you explained it so well also, the artisan is chewier and more substantial. Chewier does not equate to ‘tough’ in case anyone who hasn’t tried it is wondering. . I started making artisan bread a few years back, but it was rather tasteless and touch, rather than chewy. The crust was like concrete also – and my pizza could not hold up to sauces, so I just stopped all attempts. ann_t’s tutelage and recipe have improved my recent efforts to the point we prefer this over sandwich breads now. I’m hoping others who want to try artisan breads will be encouraged to! I’ve learned some wonderful lessons in bread-making, but the biggest lesson which ann_t taught me: Don’t be afraid of the dough – it can take a lot!