Some time ago someone asked me how to clean a cat’s feet.
I said “Cat feet are self-cleaning. They clean themselves on laundry (clean) or counter tops (also clean).”
This is cat feet cleaned on a fresh, clean flannel sheet.
Yep – the sheet did a great job of cleaning cat feet!
“My feets are all clean!”
“What !??!”
About as soon as I wrote about how nice the snow has been…it warmed up, the snow fell off the trees and brought a lot of branches, needles and sticks down with it.
It got very ugly.
And then it started snowing.
But it was still above freezing.
So, a heavy, wet snow.
Not much fun.
Auggie stayed in and used one of the chairs as his jungle gym.
Bear made his pillow nest and had a nap.
Eventually, we all needed some air so out we went.
Still snowing.
The snow was the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Not the best snow for throwing with the snow thrower. Fortunately, my neighbor came to my rescue for the end of the drive (plow pile up) and around my mailbox.
But the day after, it cooled down and the next day the snow was dry enough to clear with the thrower.
As soon as I got things cleaned up…
It snowed again.
I’ve written about making crackers and about making sourdough crackers.
Homemade crackers are so good and so much fun to make.
Just before Christmas, I saw this recipe and gave it a go … with my own modifications. (my recipe at the end of this post).
In addition to a new recipe, I’ve been using a pasta roller to roll the dough versus rolling by hand. The benefit is that the dough is rolled evenly and bakes evenly. If you have a pasta roller with the typical 0-9 settings, I roll to 4 for “saltine” thickness or 5 for very thin, “potato chip” crispy thickness.
…the assembly line.
I start with a golf ball sized piece of dough at setting 0.
After the roll at zero, I flour and proceed. I flour again between 3 and 4.
This is rolling at setting 3.
I score the dough with a pastry cutter. It does not really cut and does not harm the silpat. Then brush with a wee bit of olive oil and sprinkle some coarse Celtic salt.
After baking, the oblongs break apart at the score lines…
…and we have crackers!
My adaptation of this recipe: above photo is below recipe doubled.
Cracker mix:
75 grams Semolina flour
228 grams All Purpose White Flour (I use Wheat Montana)
1 T nutritional yeast (optional, but adds a bit of subtle “cheese” flavor and some extra nutrition)
Lemon pepper & rosemary (approx. 1 tsp lemon pepper and 2 tsp rosemary ground together) ***
2-3 T olive oil plus another T for rising
1/4 tsp sea salt (fine ground)
1 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup warm-hot water
Topping:
olive oil
coarse ground sea salt
more flour for rolling
Mix all cracker mix ingredients in medium-large bowl. Knead briefly until dough is smooth – it will be sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 6 hours minimum … I’ve kept it refrigerated for 48 hours with no problem. (put some olive oil in bowl and spread with hands – add dough and turn dough so it is coated with olive oil)
Remove dough from refrigerator 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 375F. When ready to bake, briefly knead dough – it will “collapse”. Prepare baking pan with a silpat liner.
Pinch off golf ball sized pieces of dough and roll in pasta roller to 4 (saltine thickness) or 5 (thin “potato chip” thickness”). Flour dough between settings as needed.
Place dough on silpat. Score dough with pastry cutter to desired size or leave unscored and break rustically after baking.
Bake for 9-14 minutes – time will vary depending on thickness and your oven. Make a small batch(es) until you know how long for your conditions. Crackers go from done to burned quickly so you need to watch carefully and test with your oven and your rolling thickness.
Transfer lightly browned crackers to cooling rack for several minutes and then break apart along score lines. Cool completely before storing in airtight containers.
I’ve kept these for 7 days and they were fine. I’m guessing they will go longer, but ???
***you can use any combo of spices/herbs that sounds good to you. Another favorite of mine is fennel and thyme. I grind them with together (mortar and pestle) and eyeball the amount depending on how much flour mix I’m making.
This morning we were under a low, gray inversion.
But, by afternoon – Sunshine!
In the woods: Sun and Snow
We’ve had very nice snow on the ground for three weeks…AND it has stayed below freezing. I snowshoe around the woods 2 or 3 times a day. Auggie and Bear come along – Bear ventures off to see who else has walked through the woods. Auggie stays mostly with me on my snowshoe path.
And sometimes we just enjoy Beardog point: Bear, Auggie, me and the chairs.
It is the perfect amount and the perfect temperature for enjoying the snow.
Beds.
Dog and Cat beds. (see Musical Beds)
We progress.
Auggie in a box…
A box full of packing material.
The box lives on the top shelf, above the washer and dryer.
Earlier, in 2015, there was an issue with the folding doors that enclose the washer and dryer – that live just left in the entry way of my little house. After some dithering on my part, about fixing/replacing, I had the bright idea to use a “curtain” solution. I’m pretty happy with it! It works much better than the bi-fold doors. I like the appearance. And bonus – the rod AND the curtains fit the front of Wild Thing for added insulation/light blocking when we are on the road.
The change from bi-fold doors to rod and curtain did not affect Auggie nor Bear.
But recently, Auggie decided to explore and has now taken to using the upper most shelf above the washer/dryer – which is now always accessible via the curtain modification – as his own hidey-hole/cat cave.
The Entry View.
Meanwhile, Bear has a new “bed” also. He likes the cool/cold floor at the foot of the bed, but I was concerned about his aging bones on the wood floor… so the new “bed” is a memory foam pad. He took to it immediately and can put his head on the cool floor, with his body on the foam. And getting up now entails no scabbling on the slippery floor.
Beds: sorted!