Daily A~Musing #7:  Flannel

You’re probably thinking, 
“Cloth? Really?  
This is a 
happified
                               thing?”

Okay, granted, if you’re from warm climates, today's entry may mean precisely SQUAT to you.

However, if you’ve ever endured Nor-easters, Lake-Effect snow or just the average bone-chilling winters of the colder climes, you probably cracked a little smile when you saw the title.  (You might never admit it…but you did.  I know…I SAW you do it.  Hah!) 

Mmmm…flannel....  

 Flannel Factoid #1:  Flannel initially came from carded/worsted wool.

These days it’s made from wool, cotton and synthetic fibres.  Flannel is used in clothing, bed sheets, sleepwear and diapers. Flannel was originally made as a heavy, comfortable, soft and slightly napped wool cloth. The thing that kills me about this is that flannel trousers were traditionally worn in warm weather which totally contradicts my cold, northern weather bit about flannel.

Flannel Factoid #2:  Although the origin of the word is uncertain, it has been suggested that flannel has Celtic origins (goddess bless the Welsh). 

The word flannel may be derived from the Welsh word “gwalnen”, meaning woolen cloth.  The Celtic tribes were always big on their sheepies, so I'm gonna vote for flannel as a primarily Celtic invention.  

Flannel Factoid #3:  Flannel bears contradictory connotations of a person’s status.

Flannel was a fad fabric of the 1920’s era. In the 1920’s, it was the casual attire of well-off college students-but was definitely not appropos for swanky affairs.  

Now it tends to be associated with lumberjacks, farmers and other “blue-collar” type professions.

Dude.  I grew up in Maine which is riddled with people who have Scottish/Irish/Welsh heritage.  That and the shivery cold here makes flannel the greatest textile invention next to Gore-Tex. In rural Maine, flannel (particularly PLAID flannel) is a bonified wardrobe staple.  Flannel sheets and  jammies are also absolute necessities in the winter (well, they are in MY house, anyway). 

I think I love flannel so much because it feels all snuggly and cuddly.  Putting on flannel jammies and crawling between warm, flannel sheets makes me feel like I’m completely ensconced in some giant hug by someone who loves me and thinks I’m pretty special.  J    

Daily A~Musing #6:  Spun/creamed honey and fresh butter on fresh bakery bread

If you’re not drooling after reading that, you’re either uninitiated into the fine art of munching tasty bakery treats—

Or—

you’re one of those peeps who always says, “Oh, you know, I’m just not really a ‘sweets’ person.” 

If you belong to the first category of delightful droolers, come away with me to the bakery casbah.  We’ll wear our flannel cupcake jammies and do things that I’m gonna tell all my friends we did anyway.  J

If you’re one of those non-sweets types, I’m pretty sure we can’t be friends and we must part ways.  Sorry.  I’ll miss you.   L

Alrighty, my drooling darlings, let’s talk about honey.  Creamed/spun honey is just honey that’s been allowed to crystallize a wee bit so it’s spreadable.  If you’ve never tried it, GOGOGO get some!  Sue Bee makes a lovely, inexpensive spun honey which you can get in most grocery stores.  (If you’re in Maine, I’m pretty sure it’s at Hannaford.)  My personal local fave is Mclure’s Creamed Clover Honey made in Littleton, New Hampshire.

www.mclures.com/store/

(Also can be found at Hannaford.)  Mclure does maple stuph, too, but we’ll discuss that another time.  If you want some variety, I found a whole buncha different flavors at various gourmet-type sites online (waaaay too many to list here) that include fruit flavorings, different types of honeys (yup, there’s ACTUALLY a difference between clover honey and orange blossom honey).  I also saw some that had chunky stuph like pecans mixed in.  I’m thinkin’ I might try some of that sometime soon.

(Don’t forget that honey is soooooo very good for you in about a zillion different ways BUT do NOT feed honey to little ones under age 1.  Honey and other raw agricultural products may contain spores that can cause Infant Botulism…nasty, nasty stuph.)

www.kateshomemadebutter.com

Next…butter.  Oh yes…REEEEEEEAL butter.  None of that margarine fake crap.  If you wanna support local products, check out Kate’s Homemade Butter.  They've won a ridiculous amount of awards for being super tasty and you can get it at the grocery store, too.  (At least here you can.  If you live in Belize or Korea, probably not.) 

And, finally, zee 'piece-de-yeast.'  If you are blessed with bread-making prowess, I imagine your own bread would be excellent.  As for me--being a person who lacks the ambition to bake my own bread--I’m ALLLLL about bakeries. 

Bakeries have always held a very special place in my heart and I pretty much consider cake a religion.  But, my passion waxed into obsession when I lived in Germany.  Every town had a local backerei (bakery). 

(Every town had a local brewery, too…heh heh...but I digress.)

  

I used to take my little wicker shopping basket and stroll down the main strasse in tiny Euerbach (right outside of Schweinfurt) to bring home fresh brotchen.  Milch brotchen (loosely translated ‘little milk bread’) made me swoon and I made sure I had some every Saturday.  Back then, American grocery stores didn’t usually have the fancy bread selection they have now so I was not accustomed to having beautiful bread right on my doorstep.  (Ooo!  If only I could wake up everyday to milch brotchen on my doorstep!)

I’m always on the lookout for good bakeries, so if you know of any that I should try out, please PLEASE tell me.

Some good local places for bread:

The Maine Bean Bakehouse & Deli (Windham, Maine)

www.mainebean.com

The Bread Shack (Auburn, Maine...the bread there is more like art)

www.thebreadshack.com

Grant’s Bakery (Lewiston, Maine…they also make fabulous cakes and traditional Franco-American treats)

www.grantsbakery.com

Big Sky Bread (Portland, Maine…they also make AWESOME fresh granola)

www.mainebread.com

Borealis Bread (Wells, Maine)

www.borealisbreads.com

There are some good chain restaurants with yummy bread, but I have to say Panera is my fave.  (I know, I know…some of you are totally cringing, but I can’t help myself.  I walk into that place and I well up with tears of joy at being surrounded by so much pastry.)

 Guten appetit!