Purling Oaks

Marauders!

I'm not even going to read my last post to see how long ago I posted.  The kefir experiment has been successful.  I found a source for grass-fed whole milk (pasturized) (at the Willy Street West Coop).  I've been using it to make kefir lately and it is good thing.  I think the studies telling people our guts are important to good health on to something.

The deer have found the bird feeders.

I switched out the nyjer seed feeder hanging about 2 feet from the house with the big feeder you see here a day or two after capturing this image of the marauders.  The birds are happier and so is the bird-feeding budget.  The deer----perhaps not so happy.

Today it is snowing.  Again.  The weather people are predicting 5 to 7 inches of snow by later tonight.  I hope to get out to visit Dr. E in CA soon.  I need a dose of nice weather.  I am waiting for a bowl of sourdough bread to rise and in a few hours DH will have yummy bread for the week.  I just make it, which is enjoyable; I don't eat it.  He's off work today and I'm glad he doesn't have to drive anywhere in this weather.  I know I've got to start thinking about the garden, however, the enthusiasm isn't there......yet.  I know longer days will come soon and I'll see the need for garden planning in earnest.

Now, off to the laundry room.......:D

 

All about the Food

Let's see if one post can hold a few week's worth of food photos......

 

Today:  Sourdough bread.  It is such a pretty loaf.  (says the maker)  I love it when they look pretty.  They all taste good but I'm most satisfied when they look nice, too.  Generally, the hand made ones are prettier than the bread machine loaves.  It's getting easier for me to make bread by hand now...which is something else I'm pleased about.  Two weeks ago, I was getting a bit, erm, overconfident and just flung some sourdough starter together with some flour and my other standard ingredients and did the single rise.....which fell.  (I didn't listen to the little voice that said the dough was too wet.)  But it did taste good.  I did not take a photo.  Today's bread is in the photo:  two rises -- some kneading for good measure before the first and some gentle coaxing before the second.

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Cake--probably made the day after the less than pretty loaf noted above.

It was yummy and the recipe is here.

 

Venison Pot Roast Pie

Made with stew meat and the standard pot roast veggies.  No recipe to share...I did kind of wing it by following a good chicken pot pie recipe.  Dan polished it off before the weekend was over.  It was tasty.  I'm still working on making gravy without a strainer......

 

Last night, we made shrimp tacos with avocado salsa.  The salsa was delicious and the avocados from the bit of salsa left over were still pretty to look at this afternoon.  I am certainly making that meal again.  Gottatellya, that salsa was really good.

Tonight's dinner will be salad, mini riblets on the grill and some sourdough garlic bread.  I'm contributing the salad and the garlic bread.  

I'm in awe at how the trees are responding to our abnormally warm weather--There's green in the tree canopy that wasn't there a few days ago.  The daffies are all blooming and the daylilies probably grew eight inches this week.  The crocii (?) came and went last week.  My work clothes need to shift to spring and summer but are stuck in the fall/winter mode to my dismay.  I must have relied on my black suit in DC when I needed to wear professional-business attire rather than business-casual attire in the warmer months.  Hmmm.  

I'm reading J.D. Robb's New York to Dallas and I'm on page 70 (in paperback).  I love Eve and Roarke.  I'm also reading Moonwalking with Einstein:  The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer.  I'm about mid-way through--(lunchtime reading on my Kindle).  I'm enjoying the author's description of his journey to improve his memory and hopefully I'll learn some techniques to improve my memory.   

Have an enjoyable, memorable week!

Some Saturday random

October all ready?!?  Where did the time go?  :D

Some Saturday randomness for you all since I clicked over to this compose page in an almost random manner.....

• I was the recipient of a flu shot Thursday, my first ever.  Thursday "day" was fine but that night and last evening were not so fun due to major muscle freeze on my left side, despite a massage on Friday.  I'm trying to keep it mobile today and I took some Advil so I'm crossing my fingers for better sleep tonight.
• I am happy to be home but I am missing being at Rhinebeck this weekend.  Last year was fun and I intend to make it to the festival next year, if at all possible.  I am really missing the people part.
• However, I'm missing Rhinebeck for a good reason.  My mom's family is celebrating Christmas early with our annual Lutefisk gathering Sunday.  No, I don't eat lutefisk but it is a family tradition to at least smell the stuff and I'm all for traditions.
• A monarch butterfly was waiting for me when I arrived at the DC apartment last Monday.
  
• A chrysalis had been hanging from the doorway of my basement apartment when I left ten days before but I just didn't register that a monarch would emerge from it.  (Thinking about other things, I imagine.)  So, excellent timing, Butterfly, to greet me before heading out on your journey.  
• Have I ever mentioned that I love this variety of butterfly?  That as a child, I made construction paper butterfly wings (in orange and black), had my mother pin the wings to the back of my shirt, and ran down the road imagining the beauty of wings sprouting from my body? I'm still smiling thinking about Monday's happy occurrence.
• The trees are far more bare today at home in Wisconsin than they were a week ago.  
• I had a nice week of (almost) stay-cation before returning to see my doorstep visitor.  
• I started a sourdough starter.  That sounds odd but I think you know what I mean.  Now we just have to keep using it and feeding it in hopes of it developing a nice tangy flavor....probably in six months or so I've read.
• I made a skirt and top without using a paper pattern that I felt confident enough about to wear to work.  (IPhone photo in the apartment hallway.)  Nothing fancy but I'm pleased with myself.  :D
  
• I walked home one night this week and was able to take this photo from the National Mall:  
  

Banana walnut yummmmmmmmmms

Banana walnut bread baked on Saturday night.  Very tasty.  Take my word for it since I've had three slices so far.......

The sock cuff has been showing some decent progress but no photos yet since I don't want to jinx it.  Maybe when I start sock number two is when I'll give you an interim photo report.

I'm looking forward to seeing two friends this week, even through our visits will be short.  See you soon, Charlynn and Annie!  Now, I have to get in the car and find my plane.  Have a lovely week everyone.

 

Recap

 

The bread is delicious.  Great crust.  Really great crust.  Okay, here is what I did a bit different/unique/this time from the White Bread with a Sponge Starter recipe in the Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition 

• raised the starter in the cold oven with a light bulb on.  (It is January in Wisconsin, folks!)  
• dumped the whole raised starter, about two cups, into the bread recipe rather than just one cup.  
• mixed the dough in the Kitchen-Aid with bread hook,
• probably added another cup of flour (because of the additional starter) to get dough with the right texture but not too dry.  Actually, it was wetter than a dough I would have kneaded on the counter.
• raised the bread dough in the refrigerator overnight.  I set it on the kitchen counter for an hour then into the cold oven with the light bulb on to bring the dough to room temperature.
• Baked the loaves at 450F for 38 minutes and added about a cup of water to another pan under the bread stone at the beginning of the bake time.

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I had several questions in the comments a while ago about why I walked out of the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert at the Verizon Center in DC.  I sat through the first half.  There was some music and a bit of a light show but most of it was what I consider preaching.  Preaching about being good to your fellow man and what ever else.  The vocals/preaching were not attractive and they droned on and I didn't get any thrill from any of the music.  In fact, I believe I dozed a bit.  It was blah.  I decided to cut my losses and leave at intermission.  I just expected to hear more music....well-performed music and vocals, considering the price of the ticket.  I don't mind if people preach but if they want me to pay them to do it, they darn well better disclose that before I buy the ticket.  I will not attend any more concerts by this group nor will I purchase any more of their music.  Yup, I am annoyed.
 

 

Anything down that well?

Let's see.   What to type?  I think it will have to be various and sundry topics.  I'm trying to reprime the blogging well.  Here goes.....

I'm waiting on the final rise for two loaves of bread made with a sponge starter as described in the New Joy of Cooking.  (Not the new New Joy, just the old New Joy.)  The bread rose the first time in the fridge overnight because I started the starter yesterday afternoon.  The type of starter and a slow rise usually result in a very tasty bread.  We'll see tonight if that's still so.

Wow, on the feeder there are several goldfinches that look almost olive today along with a few of the muted winter yellow.  

I've been grazing the Internet regarding growing hair long or longer.  One interesting hair-related item I found was that for some people, use of shampoos containing sulfates can result in an itchy scalp.  I believe it relates to the sebum on the scalp and clogging of pores but then again I may have that a bit off.  Anyway.....I found that I am one of those people.  I switched to a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner and my scalp is so much happier.  No wonder the dandruff shampoo was not working.  

Also hair-related, as I'm growing my hair, I have also decided (at least for now) to forgo the highlighting at the salon.  This holiday season I got a really good look at my gray hair.  I must say it has been a bit of a mental adjustment seeing the gray.  (Yes, that is an understatement.)  However, I am beginning to really like it.  I'm maybe ten to twenty percent gray.  Of course, the growing out of the highlighting may be challenging if I'm also trying to increase the length of my hair.  /sigh

There has been knitting.   This is an "old" photo; I've actually knit a few more inches on this sock but I'm too lazy to document it right now.  Maybe when I show you the bread, I'll give you a new view of the sock.  This is a restart of socks using yarn I won from Joan many moons ago.  I'm using magic loop on a US 1 addi turbo.  It is a nice thinner fabric.

There's also been spinning.  I met with the/my local spinning group again this past Monday.  It was really nice.  

I've been having dinner with my husband every night this week.  Work night dinners with my husband.  Nice.  

Happy Friday.  Be well.

Pizza!

For those of you that make bread with the Artisan Bread in Five recipe, I can attest that the basic or Master recipe makes a very nice pizza crust.  I'm going to list what I did so I'll be able to look it up again.  I hope a reader will get some benefit from this and maybe even offer me a suggestion or two for next time.  Because there will be a next time.  It got rave reviews from my husband and I thought it was pretty darn good, too.

I had a batch of dough in the refrigerator from last weekend when we had a nice yummy loaf, so I didn't have to mix a new batch.  I pulled out a small grapefruit size ball of dough.  This batch was a bit wetter, so as I "cloaked" the dough, I used a generous amount of flour.  I set the cloaked dough ball on an oiled pizza pan.  The dough rested for at least hour.  Then I used floured hands to press the dough out on the pan and it ended up looking like this:    

The dough rested probably 30 to 45 minutes and developed a few little bubbly patches but nothing big.  I heated the oven to 450 degrees and had my pizza stone in the oven getting hot.  (The pizza stayed on the pan so I used the stone just for heat retention.  I don't own a peel and I am pretty sure even if I owned one, the cooking gods wouldn't allow me to use it.*)  

I used one cup of homemade tomato and basil sauce from my end of summer stash in the freezer, a half cup of green pepper (small dice), and about 4 oz of shredded mozzarella.  We like pepperoni so that is the meat that typically graces our pizzas here at Chez Purling Oaks.  I set the pizza pan on top of the pizza stone and the pizza took about 25 minutes total to look like this:   

There are no decent photos of a cross-section but imagine a very thin focaccia or a thick pizza crust.  Very bread-like with small air pockets, cooked all the way through.  Next time, I may consider getting a little roller like Pampered Chef sells to try for a thinner crust, probably using less dough, and maybe cranking the oven up a bit higher.  That said, no, there wasn't any left over.  <g>

This was just my seat-of-the-pants way of making pizza from this dough.  If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments!!  

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I've recently switched my work schedule to 4/10, meaning I work 10 hour days for 4 days a week.  I've been working at least that lately, so why not get an extra day at home?  Yeah, it finally dawned on me.  This will be my first "bonus" Friday this coming week.

The Christmas tree is up and decorated as of this afternoon and the house is about as festive-looking as it will get.  I do enjoy a sparkly, colorful tree.  And it is just in time because the weather woman says we are supposed to get 2 inches after midnight and then Tuesday/Wednesday snow of about 8 to 9 inches is expected.  I guess I'll be coming home to white on Thursday!!  Definitely time to switch over to boots and the wool coat.

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*I have a running challenge with pizza.  It is really too embarrassing to describe my failures but one involves trying to transfer a pizza into an oven.  Key word = trying.  It is quite possible that I cried and stomped my feet that evening.  
 

Happy Sunday evening!!!

  

Halloween Saturday!

Happy Halloween!  I'm very fond of fall and pumpkin decorations as anyone who has looked at my stash of needle punch projects can testify.  I also happen to be owned by four cats, of which, (where's my grammar-checker?) three are black.  Well, that was random.  I guess this will be a random generated post today.

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In the theme of holiday gruesomeness, I've had some mysterious tiny cuts/wounds lately that bleed far more that I would have expected.  I suppose they are kind of like shaving cuts that continue to bleed but ewww.   I think I'll lay in a supply of Hello Kitty Band-Aids.  Because what great amount of blood wouldn't be stopped cold by the goodness of Hello Kitty!?  Am I right?  :D  I thought so.

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However, before the minor gruesomeness set in, I got a bonus visit with Stacey and her honey, Texas!  I was in Dallas for work and they made sure they were in Dallas, so we had a very fun Monday evening together.  There was excellent food, wine flights for tasting, dessert, fun and unexpected conversation (at least from Texas' perspective, I'm guessing), and the now obligatory texting while, um, well, feeling the effects of the wine and company.  I also was gifted with some early birthday presents from our Squish and Texas but I'm saving those for another post.  The mysterious Texas and our Squish make a very very cute couple. :D  Look, now I'm getting the squish.

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Speaking of texting, earlier this month I had a wonderful time in Taos, NM, with Carrie at the Wool Festival. I'm sure my memories of the festival are colored because we had two days of laughing, talking, eating, and shopping together there, but I do highly recommend going to the Festival.  The setting in Kit Carson Park is lovely, the vendors were numerous and friendly, eye candy was plentiful, the food was good, there was live music played throughout the day, and there was even a Ravelry tent set up where we could sit and knit in between shopping forays.  Yes, there was actual knitting!    

The Bug and Squeak (and their lovely Friday and Saturday babysitters) came along with Carrie.  They're delightful and just melted my heart.  Baby boy softness and scent are so delicious and Bug's hugs were so sweet.  Yes, I could just eat them both up.  We really have to work on that transporter beam because face time with friends is so good.  [ Carrie, I'll post a trivet photo soon.  Really.  :D  ]  Just look at this goodness....although I was a little afraid to touch the fleece in the bag after that look.  :D

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Taos is a beautiful although touristy place.  Wilson found, caught and released cutthroat trout north of Taos and says he would like to go back again next year.  

We also visited the Taos Pueblo.  We took the guided tour, enjoyed some fry bread, and purchased some fresh bread baked in the earthen ovens at the Pueblo like those in this photo.  

This post is long enough and I think TypePad is going to be a bit obnoxious with the placement of my photos, so I'll complete this will be a (not so) random finish.  I'm so fortunate to have Wilson and to have such good friends to share life with.  Happy last day of October!

Energy! Sun!

Wow.  I woke up this morning and found that my get up and go that was previously MIA was present and accounted for.  I don't know how long it will hang around so I'm taking full advantage of it.  I've dust-mopped and vacuumed the first floor, put in a load of laundry, started a new batch of artisan bread in five, and I'm about to post this entry.  *blink*  I think a lot of this energy must be from the sun streaming in the south windows and my anticipation of warmer temperatures (up to the mid-30s F, folks!!) this weekend.  Fuzzle is enjoying the sun, as well.

Another thing that makes me happy is my recent purchase.
Felted coiled coasters from Cheryl's etsy shop. My pretties! I love the colors and texture of them. They are almost too pretty to use, but I will use them. It is silly to have a lovely handcrafted item and not use/enjoy it daily. 

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This week, I've started an exploration of social networking.  I set up accounts at both Facebook and Twitter.  Interesting.  (visualize my Mr. Spock eyebrow)  I think Twitter will hold more of my interest, but time will tell.  It has been interesting following Neil Gaiman's tweets after he won the Newbery Award this week.  No small amount of controvery with that award this year.  Are you using a social networking site?  What do you think of them?  I'm Purlingoaks on Twitter and I use my "real name" on Facebook.

Happy Friday!