Simple
Of the many pleasures in life, the simplest are often the best.
One of my favourites arose from a necessity from the past: what do you do with stale bread?
Many years ago, when bread was made without preservatives, it had a shelf life of a day or two before it got stale or, worse, mouldy. When I was a boy, my mom would still bake bread on a very regular basis, as in 2 or 3 times a week. Even after we moved from Brazil to Canada, she rarely bought bread. So what would she do if part of a loaf was on the verge of going bad? She would cut it into slices, put the slices on a cookie sheet, and slowly toast them in the oven.
At 300°F, it takes about half an hour to dry the bread (turning it once or twice) and then cranking up the heat to about 375°F for 15-20 minutes (again, turning the slices once or twice) will get the bread a lovely, toasty brown.
Now, here's where the pleasure comes in. You take a slice or two of that toasted, roasted bread, pour some coffee (with milk) over it, and watch the bread absorb the coffee. Once it's nice and saturated, sprinkle a bit of sugar over the bread, and eat. It is absolute heaven.
Now, the nature of simple pleasures is that they are often very narrow in scope. What do I mean by that? Well, in this case, most of you have grown up with store-bought bread that has quite a long shelf-life, and so the issue of what to do with bread that's gone stale was never an issue. Also, most of you did not grow up being allowed to drink coffee. For me, coffee has been a regular part of my life since I was around 5 or 6 years old. Part of spending some of my most formative years in Brazil.
Anyway, just wanted to share one of my joys in life. It may not translate properly from me to you, but believe me when I say that this treat sends me into paroxysms of delight whenever I have it.
One of my favourites arose from a necessity from the past: what do you do with stale bread?
Many years ago, when bread was made without preservatives, it had a shelf life of a day or two before it got stale or, worse, mouldy. When I was a boy, my mom would still bake bread on a very regular basis, as in 2 or 3 times a week. Even after we moved from Brazil to Canada, she rarely bought bread. So what would she do if part of a loaf was on the verge of going bad? She would cut it into slices, put the slices on a cookie sheet, and slowly toast them in the oven.
At 300°F, it takes about half an hour to dry the bread (turning it once or twice) and then cranking up the heat to about 375°F for 15-20 minutes (again, turning the slices once or twice) will get the bread a lovely, toasty brown.
Now, here's where the pleasure comes in. You take a slice or two of that toasted, roasted bread, pour some coffee (with milk) over it, and watch the bread absorb the coffee. Once it's nice and saturated, sprinkle a bit of sugar over the bread, and eat. It is absolute heaven.
Now, the nature of simple pleasures is that they are often very narrow in scope. What do I mean by that? Well, in this case, most of you have grown up with store-bought bread that has quite a long shelf-life, and so the issue of what to do with bread that's gone stale was never an issue. Also, most of you did not grow up being allowed to drink coffee. For me, coffee has been a regular part of my life since I was around 5 or 6 years old. Part of spending some of my most formative years in Brazil.
Anyway, just wanted to share one of my joys in life. It may not translate properly from me to you, but believe me when I say that this treat sends me into paroxysms of delight whenever I have it.