A little while ago, after months of careful consideration and deliberation, Pete got himself a bread machine.  I’m delighted to say that said bread machine has been used regularly; a store-bought loaf of bread has not darkened our doorstep since.  (I do, however, doubt those studies that you see all over the place that tout the added economy of the bread machine — one definitely eats a whole lot more bread in general when it emerges, fragrant and tender and warm, from one’s own kitchen.)

I mean, I’ve been busy with the baking as well, particularly since the weather has made me almost entirely uninterested in standard cooking.  I seized upon the cool period between thunderstorms last weekend to make some cheesy garlic bread, and a from-scratch Tunnel of Fudge cake (something whose charm I’d previously assumed rested in its status as Retro Dessert, but which was actually quite tasty on its own merits, like a deliberately underdone brownie).

Cheesy garlic bread and Tunnel of Fudge having been promptly demolished, Pete spent some time last night editing one of my favorite bread recipes for the machine.  We’d made it before in the ‘Zo, and with a great deal of success; still, the instructions were still unnecessarily complex, and Pete wasn’t sure about the liquid-to-flour ratio.  It sure smelled good while I drifted off to sleep, however.

And, this morning, we discovered this.  Behold, the Tunnel of Oats loaf:

Perhaps I should’ve stuck a ruler in there for scale, but rest assured that it contains a sinkhole worthy of Guatemala.  I think we’ve created a spiritual successor to last fall’s evil pie.  Actually, here:

Insert bad puns about us baking up devilishly / sinfully / evilly good food here.

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And a housekeeping note: Pete and I are going vacationing again soonish.  This trip will be significantly less ambitious and significantly more social than the previous one, but standard disclaimers about comments taking forever to be approved still apply.  We’re having a particularly busy summer, which is fantastic: at this time next year, we’ll have been kicked out of the country, and can only hope that some U.S. institution is willing to provide gainful employment that funds yet another international move.  Time to enjoy the professional and geographical limbo while we can.

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