Slow down to speed up

I have a new job, so things will slow down while I get accustomed to the change.

Upside!!! My anniversary/new gig happened on the same day. So my combined gift was an iPhone!! Yippy ki-yay, M-Fer! That's how I'm writing this.

Possible new feature..... Twitter.

Bread baking has taught me, en 3

I usually have an almost OCD need to write down every little thing that I do or just remember what I should be doing (Doesn't mean it will get done, but at least I'll remember it! ). Write this down, I'll explain later...

I don't use a breadmaker, at the moment, so that each little process can be poked, proded, examined, and recorded for your reading pleasure. This particular experiment was supposed to return enough dough for two loaves - one loaf to bake, one loaf to freeze for later baking.

Convenience was the name of that experiment. What was not convenient was that while doubling the recipe for my starter, I was also making small changes to the recipe. What resulted was me staring at a starter the next morning for about ten minutes hoping that the proof bubbles would spell out the exact amounts I'd used. When that didn't happen (go figure), flour was tossed in until something vaguely resembling dough was formed. The bread tasted fine, but since it wasn't a double of my (adjusted) recipe just a new recipe entirely, the experiment was a bust.

I have since learned and turned out a pretty decent double recipe, and am in the process of finishing that experiment. It turned out 2 loaves and some rolls... o.O ... hmmm... uhm... Well, I doubled the amounts anyway... the loaves were too big to begin with... Neptune told me to make the rolls... gee, look at the time. When I have pictures I'll post that up.

Bread Baking Has Taught Me: Remember, remember the amounts that you measure.

Solution(s):

1. Write that shit down. Write that shit down. If you have to re-write the recipe with the new measurements before you start... do it. It sucks to sit there wondering if you just added the 1st teaspoon or 4th teaspoon and not remembering if the first 4 ingredients you already added were doubled or if you were going by the book.

Japanese ingenuity creates best theatrical food fight ever...

I love the theatre. I haven't been since my dad was given year passes to the Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier in Chicago. (Awesome art direction. We stayed behind after the shows and talked to the producer. Nothing like theatre.)

I also love food fights. I haven't had one since I discovered that I am the one who has to scrub the walls afterward.

This little clip is the best of both worlds with no cleanup required, belly laughs standard.



Next time you watch Kill Bill, imagine all the blood, bullets, knives, and Uma Thurman connected to the hands of a bunch of people in black leotards. Oh yeah, just consider it, Tarantino, for future films.

I went SHOPPING!!!

The Folly of a Baker

Beyond the signs forewarning an inevitable demise, a beautiful wretch lies waiting. The wretch bathes in sweet extracts, clothes itself in sale signs, and all its wares shine with the beauty of high polished steel and copper.

I can be strong, you say, I can walk past as this beautiful wretch as I do the others. And to prove my strength, I shall barter with this wasted bog of a creature, and come away... empty handed.

Folly.

Folly it is to barter with the beautiful wretch. To step within into the light of its polished wares and breathe in the heady scent of functionality and grace.

Folly to examine even the meanest stone set forth on its table. For to touch one is buy three. And to buy three is to come back thrice more.

Folly.

For it waits, serenely, without so much as a beckon, the beautiful wretch calls aloud. The silent call spins a web around both the shining wares and the hapless fool who dares to barter within the wretches confines. Your strength!, I say to you, is nothing more than an illusion to the powerfully seductive reality of the stone, shining copper.

... Folly.

We went to one of our favorite places to shop for cooking supplies, and as always, I grabbed everything as I walked through the sections. Each little item has already been cataloged in my mind, but I still walk through it as though, if by seeing it again, will mean it will magically appear in my kitchen back home. Do I really need a $250 copper saute pan? Hell, no! But it would look damn good whenever it was brought out and fondled seductively.

I bought the best working sifter of. my. life. so that my cakes are no longer lumpy (possibly the nastiest thing to find in a cake is a little ball of flour). Mikey bought himself a little French press, which is cute as a button and makes a damn good cup of coffee. It makes it espresso style, so now I have to go back and buy those adorable little espresso cups! Hurray for beautiful wretches, their shining wares, snaring webs of commerce!

SNL: Smells Like Dinner Time!

The clip gave me an awful feeling in my gut. Something akin to finding a beak in your omelet.

Or a dirty diaper in your slow cooker....

Vanilla snobbery dipped in vodka

I'm crazy into DIY, but not this crazy. As long as my vanilla is an extract made from Madagascar beans, sugar, water, and alcohol only, and is produced by a 100% wind powered facility donating a portion of the proceeds to the vanilla community, I am happy. I'm just not that crazy!

For the first 3 people who can name my vanilla, I'll send a batch of the chocolate-chip mint chocolate cookies. This is provided I don't fuck up the contest by posting a picture with the vanilla bottle! (I'll give until January 1st, 2010.)

Mmmmm... Madagascar vanilla extract....

Comic: Whole Wheat BDSM #6