The Cottage Smallholder


stumbling self sufficiency in a small space

Toast

Photo: A slice of toast waiting in the wings

Photo: A slice of toast waiting in the wings

It would be hard to give up garlic, thyme and red wine. I’d find it impossible to give up toast, that great old standby.

Fresh bread toast is best, crisp yet melting in the middle. But a stale curling crust can be reborn into palatable munchiness with the aid of a toaster or grill.

We are a ‘toast in the morning’ household. Toast topped with thinly shaved cheese, Black Knight  marmalade, Marmite, Honey or often just buttered and eaten quickly. Nibbled voraciously in between morning duties. Have a shower, then a chomp. Feed the chickens, chomp. Feed the dogs, chomp chomp. The dogs love it too. A small portion of crust is doled out to each and carried back to their baskets to savour.

Sometimes I take an extra slice to work for the perfect mid morning snack. Cold buttered toast seems to transmogrify into a totally different sort of munch two hours later. Crunchy and chewy, it goes down well with a cup of sweet Thermos tea and an interesting view from Jalopy’s front seat

There’s variety in our toast. It could be white, brown, granary, French or even soda bread. Homemade or shop bought the first question is always.
“How will it toast?”

Real comfort food. High in carbohydrates, toast can sooth frazzled nerves and is always willing to understudy for the complex supper that you are just too tired to cook. When I’m laid up in bed toast is the first thing that I long for when I start to feel better.

Along with bacon and freshly ground coffee, toast has my taste buds relaxing in anticipation of the first warm buttery bite.

Our old friend David used to live in a house that was haunted by the scent of toast. He’d wake in the night and smell warm toast wafting under his duvet. Drawn down to the kitchen, imagining the children were guzzling a midnight toast feast, he’d find the room in darkness and the toaster stone cold.

That ghostly toast smell would have slowly driven me mad.


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16 Comments

  1. Mmmm I’m eating stew and dumplings as I read this & could still manage some nice hot buttered toast. You’ve obviously fired our imaginations and taste buds Fiona.

    A by the way for S.O.L. – I’ve always found dark paint just swallows up light and it takes gallons to make a difference (maybe a slight exaggeration), but if I want to lighten a colour I always start with the light & add the dark till I get the colour I want.

  2. kate (uk)

    Well, I think we can safely say that all the adverts for perfume, gorgeous silk undies and chocolates are way off the mark- we’d all be happy with hot buttered toast for Christmas!

  3. Wonderful page on Toast! If I were ill I know my husband would live on toast. It’s the epitomy of a comfort food. I can just imagine the Minpins finely tuned noses heading towards your kitchen for their treat! x

  4. Toasted caraway seed bread… and I promise I won’t come back again today on the subject of toast, but some things just have to be said!

  5. dear s.o.l…going from toast to bathroom paint..you could add a small ammount of white paint to the dulux spice until you get the colour you want…using a jar to mix it in..

  6. hmmm bread, hhhhmmmmm toast. Yum. I dont eat before I come to work, toast is made for me and sliced in half and put in a box for me. So when 0830 comes around I can get up from my desk make a hot drink and eat my toast.

    It has to be butter. Lemon curd is delicious. Or even at the weekend tomatoes on toast. divine. I agree this is toast p@rn at its best.

    Love the post, Fiona. P.s. still the bathroom paint ? I have had paint mixed dulux spice 3 it should have been it has come out a very deep chocolate colour, and on the horrid artex it looks like chocolate frosting on a cake. ??? Can I just add, a dark cream colour to the bathroom paint? Will that make it lighter?

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