Archive for ‘October, 2015’

Fire and rain

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end… James Taylor

Finally, rain! Real rain as in not just mist or rain that lasts 2 minutes.

It was dark and off and on rainy on Thursday.

Friday, it rained all day.

It didn’t pour, it was a nice gentle, soaking rain. I felt like things were damp enough that I could have a fire in the woodstove.

So I did.

First fire of this Fall-Winter season.

And as it was Friday and we had our Friday work session early, i.e. my time was flexible for the rest of the day … I had my lunch in front of the fire.

Not everyone was as thrilled as me about the rain.

Especially Auggie.

Oh, dear … seriously sad face.

But on the bright side, there was a warm fire to curl up in front of…

… or to be silly in front of.

And then today… more rain.

“Maybe if I don’t look, it will go away”.

I was grateful for an excuse to avoid yard work.

I baked – perfect occupation for a dark and rainy day!

Sourdough crackers – this recipe uses starter that is unfed and to be discarded. One of the things I find difficult about the maintenance of the sourdough starter is the “throw away half and feed more” part of it – particularly the “throw away half” part. I saw this recipe and not only does it use a good amount of discard starter, but it makes great crackers – YEA!

Usually Thanksgiving creeps up on me and then it is only 4 weeks until Christmas and I feel like the holidays are over before I have had time to anticipate, prepare and enjoy. But, this year, I am ready. It feels holiday-like already.

I wanted something molasses-gingery.

The biscotti jar has been empty for a good while.

Gingerbread Currant Biscotti. They are pretty good. They are especially good dunked in hot, spiced apple cider.

Fire and rain.

Sourdough v1.0

First Sourdough loaf ala starter and bread recipe from Emma Christensen of The Kitchn.

I haven’t given much thought to sourdough, even as my artisanal bread baking self-education has progressed. (Progression outlined at the end of this post) But, on the tail of the The Kitchn Cure that was responsible for spurring me to install kitchen cabinet hardware, there was The Kitchn Baking School. I did not do the lessons, but I did follow the posts, the linked instructions and the comments. Last week was bread and end of the week was sourdough. I still wasn’t thinking I wanted to fool with starter, etc. but a blurb somewhere about the process bringing out flavor… I decided to give it a try.

The starter is made by combining flour and water and letting it sit at room temperature. Normal yeast and bacteria in the air combines with the bit of yeast that is naturally in flour (and the air) and the mix begins fermenting. The basic starter recipe is a daily feeding with the starter being ready for use by day 5. As the week progressed, I did further reading from other sources and found bakers vary on length of time and how much starter to discard daily – yes, you discard some and then feed on. One of my favorite sources: Della Fattoria Bread by Kathleen Weber, suggests 10 days and goes on to say that really 3-4 weeks is best to develop full flavor.

I started this first loaf at day 5 per the recipe instruction and how the starter looked and smelled and because patience is NOT one of my virtues.

Right out of the oven!

I did not carefully read the slashing instruction – for sourdough, you are to slash almost horizontally to give the finished loaf the characteristic “ledge”. I slashed the way I normally slash so my loaf looks like a normal boule. It doesn’t affect taste, but next time I will remember.

Inside, things look good…

…very good!

A nice crunchy crust, a soft crumb with good air holes and texture. The slices make good toast AND they are soft enough to make a great sandwich as well.

This morning: sourdough toast with lox, onion, capers, goat cheese and a scrambled egg. Friday started deliciously!

Rainy day games

Auggie usually has much cat business to be out and about taking care of. He comes in every so often meowing for my attention and a back scratch prior to getting some food. Then out again until about 3:00 p.m. when he comes in for a long nap.

But, Tuesday, it rained and apparently none of the toys in his toy bucket appealed…

But, my paperwork did…

And it is extra fun if you play with it upside down.

And it crackles more if bent.

Done.

Time for a bath.

Not too much damage.

Today, the sun came back out and all was fairly normal.

Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow…

Good stuff

It was a good weekend. The weather was picture-perfect Fall weather with sunny skies, cool temperatures and clear air. I made it nearly through my chore list … still half the yard to “pick-up sticks”, but the motorhome and garage are emptied of freezable stuff, the motorhome is winterized, the yard tools have changed places with the snow thrower in the garage and basically we progress toward being ready for Winter.

Saturday was Bear’s 11th birthday and we celebrated with many treats, extra walks and salmon for supper.

By 5:00 today (Sunday), after some food prep for the coming week, I was ready for a sit-down.

From my kitchen chair, the gold of the larch made a beautiful background through the window. The larch are at their peak and now dropping their golden needles. By next weekend, they might be mostly bare. I thought about that as I have been enjoying them through the window from my chair for the past week.

It is a short time from when the trees are pure gold, to when they are bare. Every year, I tell myself to be ready to enjoy them, to not miss a moment of their beauty. This year, even though we still need rain (or snow!), it has been sunshine and blue sky more often than not and the colors seem brighter than ever before.

I sat and enjoyed and counted myself so very fortunate in so many ways. I am so grateful for Bear and Auggie, for our warm and comfortable home, for a nice yard and woods to share with them, for good work I enjoy and the list goes on. I sat and basked in all of the good stuff as Sunday wound down.

Auggie was napping in the boy’s room – not a usual spot, but the heat is cranked up to 68F in that room…

… as my first try at a sourdough starter grows. This is Day 3 and things look good and bubbly and smell slightly sour.

Bear is in the bedroom, behind the bed. That room is a cool 60F and the floor is about 50F. I know the floor temperature because in a different corner is my “cold storage” of the remaining green tomatoes.

A small pizza is in the works for supper, then some reading and a cup of tea before ending the day and the week.

Good stuff.

Fall Light

The larch have turned gold.

It is cooler, blue sky, perfect weather for Bear, Auggie and me.

The larch seem to have their own Fall light – spectacular when the sun hits them.

And Auggie … in Fall Light.

Weekend Projects

Saturday started with sunshine…

… and a loaf of bread. This bread … it is a continuation of my pursuit of the perfect pumpernickel/dark rye. This one is very, very close. The flavor is perfect, the crust is crisp, the interior crumb just needs a bit more rise before baking. Still, it made a great Reuben, wonderful toast with butter and jam. Sliced very thin and toasted worked for lox, cream cheese and capers. (The beginning: Dark Rye)

After a trip to town, I spent the rest of the day snuggled up in bed with Bear and Auggie watching PBS Mystery … allergy stuff from the very dry woods got to me again and I gave up on the outside chores.

But, Sunday dawned cloudy, cool and with a wee bit of rain, so feeling much better I started on an Apple Crumb Pie.

A new pie crust recipe as well as a new filling recipe: Mel’s Apple Crumb Pie There is a link to the crust in the post and on the crust post a video tutorial. The video is so much fun as Mel’s 3 year old daughter assists – AND I learned a couple of pie crust tricks as well.

After getting the pie in the oven for a 60-90 minute bake, I decided to tackle the kitchen cupboard hardware. Both the knobs and pulls (see Hardware: Part 1 and Hardware: Part 1.5 ) arrived last Monday. I tried not to think about them and gradually decided on…

Knobs. And I was happy.

No second guessing, no more dithering – I liked the way they looked.

Done.

Knobs on doors, pulls on drawers.

And Pie!

It is a great pie: deep dish apple with a streusel topping.

The weekend projects went well.