What is not to like? Bread and accordion music . . .
christmas time, 2014
Here is a little bit messy view from the end of the island.
a wee bit o’ baking
Well, it’s been over four years since I have added any new material to this space. What have I been doing? Most recently, I have been baking bread. Here is a photo of my latest loaf, soon to be joined by two more tomorrow morning. I am experimenting with timing. Today I mixed it up and did the bulk ferment, shaped the loaves, and put them in the refrigerator at 10pm. Â I expect that the flavor will be more complex and acidic. Guess I will have to wait until morning to find out!
27 years ago today . . .
Christmas Day 2010
once in a blue moon
Tonight there will be a blue moon, meaning a second full moon within a month’s time. Since it is also New Year’s Eve, some friends and I took a little woodland hike during the afternoon, instead of this evening when we’ll all be toasty warm by the firesides with our families.
My knowledge of local flora is woefully inadequate, so I will just call this what we’ve always called this type of plant: a foxtail.
Here’s a close view of a little stream we encountered. (The water is so clear and and still, you might miss it!)
inner sanctum
I’ve cleaned up, organized, and rearranged my office. Bill says the picture makes the room look crowded, but it doesn’t feel that way in real life.
artisan bread
Wow! This is from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. There is no kneading involved. You simply mix up a rather wet mixture, then let it rise (covered) for a couple of hours. Then the bread can be baked or it can stay in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you are hungry for a loaf of bread, you get it out of the fridge and hack off a grapefruit-sized chunk with a serrated knife. Let me just say that this bread is from the end of the 14 days–it was incredible!
thanksgiving portraits
thanksgiving prep
Our Thanksgiving meal this year featured much food from the family garden: sweet potatoes, potatoes, brussels sprouts, butternut squash, rosemary. Let’s not forget the pickled eggs, courtesy of mom’s chickens.
