I've decided not to be intimidated by baking any more. So these are some of the things that I have been thinking while learning to make brioche:

1. My life is so much richer now than it was just 18 months ago. I am surrounded by smart, generous and hilarious friends. This feels like the best years of our lives - you know, but not quite to the plural yet.

2. Brioche is rich too. It figures that my first attempt at bread making would be with something full of butter and eggs.

3. My favorite ingredients are milk, butter, eggs and flour. I think you can make a lot of magic with those four things. Even more possibilities with sugar. And yeast. And chocolate for my husband. If you were to look at our grocery store receipts for any length of time, most of our food budget goes to these. And beer (for the waffles, of course).

4. I like to watch bread bake in the oven. It is better than most reality tv. It has the added benefit of smelling better than reality tv as well.

5. Brioche promises to be one of the most inspiring food stuffs in my kitchen. I'm thinking of french toast (it cannot possibly be as blah as the soggy white bread stuff), croque madame and croque monsieur (my favorite couple) possibly with some collard greens instead of ham, leek bread pudding, just plain with butter. And then there are all of the variations on brioche. Lori added boozy cherries and that was mighty nice indeed. Dave said vanilla was a nice addition. And now my mind is bursting with sweet brioche experiments. Oh. Chocolate.

6. I wonder how home baked breads will change my kids' lives. That might be jumping the gun because first, they have to agree to eat them.

7. I picked the greatest teacher for this project.

8. I'm going to need to work out.