Cheesy Peppery Mint Bread

Today is Friday. Friday reminds me of my stay in Bangalore and my service days in IBM. Friday used to wear a special look in our office. Many people including bosses worked from home on Fridays and we lesser mortals taking the full advantage of the opportunity sought to enjoy the day trying to spend maximum time in conversation with minimum heed paid to deadlines. By 5 o'clock in the evening, more than half of our bay would be empty with few poor souls still flicking the keyboards, busy in wrapping up the work as hurriedly as possible.

 

After office hour was over, the jubilation in the air over the weekend was palpable. Food courts in high rise malls and restaurants would be chock a block with young professionals enraptured in the orgy of Friday frolic. For me and my hubby, Friday night was the time to spend some cozy moments in a restaurant or indulging ourselves in some late night movies, either at home or in a theatre. Many a time, we would hop into our favourite Bengali chain of restaurants like Bhajahari Manna and Bangaliyana catering to our palate for Bengali delicacies. Friday holds an awesome charm to all the people involved in 9-5 job with two days a week as holidays.

 

Friday, however, didn't have such special appeal to me when we were in Kolkata, the reason being, I had to work half day on Saturday. Here in Perrysburg, every day seems like Friday for my husband's office is at stone's throw away distance from our home and he visits me for lunch and returns home by 5 p.m. After over 4 years of our marital life, this is the most peaceful period we are enjoying with each other. Touchwood!!

These Cheesy Peppery Mint Breads pictured below made their way to our dinner table last Friday night and we relished it with a bowl of soup. Just dip the bread once in the soup before allowing it to melt into your mouth. Ah bliss!!
 

Ingredients:                                                Cooking time: 1 hour ü  2 cups of all-purpose flour ü  2 eggs ü  1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese ü  1/2 cup buttermilk ü  1/2 cup yogurt, beaten ü  1 1/2 tsp black pepper ü  1 tsp dried mint leaves ü  1 tsp salt ü  1 tsp baking powder ü  1/2 tsp baking soda ü  1/2 cup butter Method: 1) In a mixing bowl, using an electric beater beat together eggs, butter, buttermilk, yogurt and cheddar cheese to a smooth mixture. 2) In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, dried mint leaves and black pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the flour and fold in until well incorporated. 3) Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 180 C. Grease a loaf pan with butter and flour. Spread the mixture across the pan evenly and bake for 35-40 minutes till a toothpick inserted at the centre comes out clean. 4) Cool down the bread at least for 15 minutes before you remove it from the pan. 5) Cut into slices and serve hot with a bowl of soup. I had it with Spinach Cauliflower soup.