Pigeon in a Hole and English Muffin Loaf

I finally have something exciting to report – something out of the ordinary that has given me a breather from the much ordinary life that I have had to put up with in these past few months.

A fully grown, rather round pigeon in all its wild flapping and squaking glory was discovered in a hole in my house. The said location of this discovery has an exhaust fan on the one end and a mosquito wire mesh on the other end. And this marvellous pigeon seemed to have materialized out of nowhere in the long cylindrical hole between the exhaust and the wire mesh!!! Imagine you woke up one fine day and found you were in a cage that has no opening!!! Obviously the pigeon was very traumatized. We managed to get the pigeon out by taking down the exhaust fan – it was more than glad to be escorted out of our apartment.

Not wanting to subject my readers to the sight of pigeon poop on my bathroom walls, I skipped taking a photograph of the scene. I honestly have no clue how the pigeon managed to get in such an improbable place – and I am not kidding. I do have some theories though.

How did the pigeon find itself inside the sealed hole?

1. The pigeon is a novice magician. It was practising the “apparate” trick from the magic in Harry Potter series. It forgot all magic as soon as it realized that it was inside what seemed like a cage with no opening.
2. The pigeon is a superhero that can turn into melted state at a whim. It melted its way through the wire mesh into the hole. Unfortunately its not in complete control of its powers especially when its under pressure.
3. Its actually a phoenix disguised as a pigeon. Thanks to the wind, the ashes of its previous birth ended up in the hole.
4. I have my own innovative theory, that is sure to beat the socks off your silly ones! Hmpf.

Which one do you support? Let me know through your comments.

(PS: WordPress Polls is not working right now, Hmpf. Can’t set up a real poll, which would have been fun.)

Getting back to talking about food, the real reason I sat to blog today was because I am compelled to post for the Recipe Marathon everyday till the end of this month.

This English Muffin Recipe has been adapted from Arundathi’s version (which in turn has been adapted from Bellini Valli at More than Burnt Toast). I have hiked up the moisture content a little bit by using less flour than her recipe and added raisins and cinnamon.

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour – 1 1/2 cups
• Whole Wheat Atta – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 cup
• Water – 1/4 cup
• Raisins – 1/2 cup
• Yeast – 2 tsp
• Sugar – 2 tsp
• Salt – 1 tsp
• Cinnamon (powdered) – 1/2 tsp
• Baking Soda – 1/8 tsp
• Oil or Butter for greasing tin

Method

1. Warm the water. You should be able to dip your finger in the water. Dissolve the honey. Add active dry yeast and let it stand for 5-10 minutes until yeast frothes. Dissolve yeast.
2. Combine milk and salt. Heat over a low flame until milk is lukewarm.
3. Combine the All Purpose flour, Whole wheat atta, baking soda, raisins and cinnamon and add this to the milk and mix well until smooth.
4. Grease a loaf pan. Transfer dough to loaf pan, cover and let it rise for 45 minutes to an hour.
5. Bake at 200 C for 25 minutes. Cool before cutting into slices. Serve slices with butter slathered on one side.

Check my fellow recipe marathoners:

DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii
Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Raaga, Lakshmi Venkatesh, Sripriya, Viji, , Kamalika,Pavani

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