baby brother's birthday & brown bread

The baby brother is now (legally) an adult. Zachary turned 18 Friday. It just so happened that he had a two hour delay from school so Dad, J and I took him out to breakfast. 

Last night, Saturday, we had a big ol' chocolate cake with candles for him and earlier that day they also had an ice cream cake.  [At this point I think you are seeing food-celebration correlation in the Telschow tribe.]

I can't believe he is eighteen.  It seems like yesterday and a billion years ago when he was born.  I am so grateful to have had these past few years to get to know my littlest (tallest) brother.  I respect and admire him so much for all of his courage, hard work, and stubbornness.  He never ceases to surprise me in his wisdom and maturity.

 Eighteen candles.

Another delicious [vegan] chocolate cake.  It was triple layer this time.

It made for an excellent Sunday morning tea treat.

Speaking of delicious:

After years of delicious white breads, Dad has finally perfected a whole wheat bread.  

He did a trial run early this week and trouble shot that into this new version.

Using his sourdough starter he added, sprouted whole wheat, whole wheat, yeast and some wheat germ in a crock with water into a nice wet consistency.  He let is set.  After it was deemed done I believe he added more flour until it reached a plasticine consistency and also some olive oil, oregano, salt and something additional I have overlooked.   Then he baked it into long loaves.  In the first baking he realized it wouldn't rise the same as other bread and so he made the loaves thinner and longer to accommodate.

I quite enjoyed it toasted with a little cashew butter and honey.

It was also part of my Sunday morning tea.  Along with my green smoothie and gunpowder green tea.

I know the brothers aren't as keen on this bread as the usual but I quite prefer the "brown bread" and enjoy the nutty flavor and chewier, heavy texture.