Challah Bread

　　Yesterday, I had a first attempt at making challah (pronounced hallah) bread, a braided loaf that is eaten by Jews on the Sabbath. Though not Jewish myself, I thought it would be nice to make for Sunday. The idea was originally from a craving for "sweet bread", a kind of (what do you know) sweet bread that was common in Ukraine and Poland. I read that challah is sweet, and so found a recipe and had a crack at it.

　　Mmm, that bread was so good coming fresh out of the oven. Though not as sweet as I would have liked, it was soft and rich. Looked pretty too.

　　For next time, I will add in some sugar with the honey that was already present, and I will start making it at around noon so that I'm done before dinner... instead of starting right before dinner and being done at like, 11pm. The most time-consuming part was letting the bread rise. It was actually very simple (and fun!) to make.

　　Completely unrelated, but food-ish nonetheless, all you Americans coming from the grand old South will have experienced the religion of iced tea. (No, seriously.) My mom, being the wonderful southern lady that she is, makes iced tea over here, but she (and my sisters) like it sweetened. Although I appreciate her efforts, and her tea is delicious, I always feel like it would be just as wonderful (and carry less guilt) without sugar. So, I made my own unsweetened version today, using Lady Grey tea. Yummy. Stick a lemon in it, and it would be perfect.