Today I Bake......and bake.......and bake

Whenever I'm feeling a bit stressed out, I bake. And if the amount of baking equates to the amount of stress....then this was a doozie.

I work in a public library. And being a public facility, anyone is allowed to come in...... Most of the time people behave themselves but every once in a while someone needs a time out........and I'm not just talking about children. Adults can be just as bad, if not worse, than kids. And when the behavior of an adult comes to my attention, it usually means that behavior is bad. And "time out" for them usually means I've asked them to leave the building.

Yesterday, we had an adult who was in need of a time out. When she didn't leave I called the police (who arrived after she finally decided to leave). But at least it was overwith or so I thought.

Our friend decided to come back less than 2 hours later and she was just as bad as she was earlier. So the police got called again. And like the first time, she scampered off before they got there.

Ok......let's all take a deep cleansing breath........ Nope, didn't help because even though she didn't come back for a third time, the staff and I stayed pretty stressed out. We wearily locked the doors at closing time, breathed a sigh of relief and went home. But not before I thanked the staff for having hung in there for the duration of the day.

By the time I got home I was mentally spent. I went to bed early and got up today wanting to bake. It seems the stress level was still pretty high.

I had been wanting to bake an apple pie with some apples I bought last week but I also had some pretty ripe bananas. And biscuit Boy had been asking me to make some bread. So I told myself that I could spend the day baking. Which I did.

Before I ate breakfast I put together some English Muffin Bread, set it to rise and took a shower. Then popped the bread in the oven and called Biscuit Boy who had flown home this weekend to visit his family. He was having a great time but looking forward to coming home to the bounty that would be awaiting him.

Once the bread was done I started making Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread. Biscuit Pup assisted by helping me keep the kitchen floor clean. I slopped a little bit of mashed banana on the floor and she was there in a flash to lick it up. Then I let her lick the spatula once I had the bread poured into the bread pan. She's an excellent assistant.

While the banana bread was baking, I looked up apple pie recipes. One caught my eye so I printed it out and set out to complete my baking trifecta.

My faithful assistant ate little bits of apple I tossed to her while I peeled and cored the apples. I conferred with her on whether or not to tweek the recipe and we decided to add a red pear I had laying around in the fridge. And just for quality control purposes, my assistant tried a bite of pear to be sure it met with her approval. It did.

So while the pie is baking, I am writing about my day in the kitchen. Biscuit Boy's plane is about to take off and will get here in about 2 hours which leaves me just enough time to finish baking the pie and take it out of the oven before I pick him up. Then he's taking me out for sushi.

And am I more relaxed, you ask? Why yes, yes I am. After spending the day slicing, dicing, peeling, coring, stirring, blending, measuring and mixing, I am relaxed. And the house smells wonderful.