"Sisters Under The Skin"

My goodness.....whew..... I'm elated, excited, exuberanted, and exhausted.  I was VERY productive today.  Didn't intend to be quite so productive, but... one thing led to another and... so forth.  It started with the homemade sandwich bread and the cranberry bread that was supposed to be raisin bread, however, I didn't have any raisins, but I did have dried cranberries, and I thought the switch would be a better choice anyway... and it was!  WOW!!!!!  Now THAT'S bread!!!!  AMAZING!!!!  I hope to NEVER buy bread again, but hope to always have a homemade loaf on hand.  It wasn't that hard, it did take all day, but there were long spurts of rising time in between.  I was watching the bread episode of one of  Julia's earlier shows and as I was waiting for the bread to rise, I watched another episode which was "Queen Of Sheba Cake"... so I made that cake while the bread was doing it's first rising... then I saw another episode that was on vegetables and all 4 recipes looked quite easy and tasty, then I saw the episode of "Sisters Under The Skin" (Coq Au Vin-Stewed Chicken in Red Wine Sauce and Chicken Fricassee-Stewed Chicken in White Wine Sauce)... so I dashed off to the store to gather ingredients.  By the time Joe got home for dinner, I had made both Coq Au Vin and Chicken Fricassee (because in her episode Julia suggested when you are learning this technique you should do both at once to see how both chickens are cooked in the same method, yet with completely different flavor profiles), I also made braised carrots, french green beans, a loaf of sandwich bread, 2 loafs of cranberry bread, and a chocolate cake.  All were beautiful plated up... bright colors in the green beans and carrots... sauces were perfect texture and thickness, both chickens were 'fall off the bone' tender... but the breads and the cake are the bombdiggity and absolutely wonderful!  I truly think Julia would be sooooo proud of my enthusiasm and efforts, as well as, my results.  I think I even managed to impress my husband, which is really hard to do because he has been used to my cooking since the day we said "I do" and has seen/tasted the difference in my cooking skills ever since I started attending MCI (Mid-West Culinary Institute), so... impressing him is definitely a measurement of success.  

It was a really, really, really good day!!!!  What fun!!!!  Lots of pots, pans and dishes messed up!  I forget that Julia had a staff to wash up after her after all her cooking performances!  LOL  And as always....the more I cook the more I want to cook.  It is a pure addiction!  I'm sitting here typing this and noticing that I smell like butter and thinking I can tackle french bread tomorrow and while I'm waiting for it to rise, I saw an episode on braised lettuces and steamed artichokes that look like lots of fun to do.  I think I'll have the '3 Ladies' for dinner tomorrow; Steak Diane, Potatoes Anna and for dessert, Crepes Suzette!