The song of the bread

I'm making a brunch tomorrow, for a small group, 7 - 9 people.

One of the reasons it's a small group is that I am NOT expecting a party of four, since that party included one of my work friends and her husband. They're pregnant; her due date was October 25th, but she called us Thursday (10/9) to say her water had broken.

So, it can be looked at as another worry, to go along with the financial crisis - what's up? Is she having a long hard labor, or are they simply enjoying that brief time when the baby's all yours, before you tell anyone outside the delivery room.

My brother and I have both been watching our inheritance dwindle; we both don't look at the money as ours so much as what we want to pass on to our kids - to help them as our parents have helped us. He's been complaining abut losing sleep.

I just found out that my house needs a new roof, and I am on tenterhooks awaiting the next disaster that I can't pay for; the type of jam my dad bailed me out of time and again. I thought the fridge was going to be the next to go - it's making really awful noises - and what about the furnace(s)? I actually own three - 2 for the 2-flat house where I live, and 1 in the 2-flat house that I rent - and they're all about 12 years old ... John's in New York, and I guess he already got a $100 ticket for too many kids swiping the same fare card in the subway - although one of the cops came over and told him to just call in about a week and say he shouldn't have to pay 'cuz he's just a know-nothing tourist.

yikes.

For the brunch, I made two loaves of the long-rise-no-knead bread (using my favorite version from Cook's Illustrated, where you do knead it some - and it has a little beer in it; when it's two loaves the bread and I split a bottle of beer, so that's kind of nice for late at night when you are setting it to rise). I love the smell in the house when it's baking - it's like pizza parlor wood oven yeast and steam. And this time, I got to hear the song of the bread; the sound of the fresh crust crackling and the steam getting out - I dropped the whole wheat loaf, prematurely venting its crust, so it did not perform, but the white one did very well.

Now the question is how to expand that happy feeling of accomplishment and all is well, peeping in the oven to see the nicely risen breads, the good smell, and hearing the song of the bread, so that it shoves out all the worry of the last week ...

Sigh. I have never been good at not-thinking.

And no word on Anna's baby yet, either.