Saturday night was the long awaited, usually annual, traditional clothing swap. It’s an excuse for all us girls to get together and be girly, but at the same time, to do some serious spring closet cleaning, and I mean serious. Some of the ladies at Saturday’s gathering hadn’t been to one before, and it was…
Faking it
My sourdough experiments have left me massively frustrated and quite discouraged. Despite having had my starter do the bubbly-foamy dance that one time, it just hasn’t reacted the way recipes indicate it should every time I’ve fed it since. They say it’s supposed to foam up nearly double its size within about an hour of…
Nature in the city
The other night I was out walking Zeus and heard the most unusual sound (please, have a listen!). It was about 11 p.m. so I knew it had to be some kind of night jar or owl, but it sounded like no other kind of owl I’d heard before. It was kind of faint, but…
Seed inventory
I really have to stop now. NO MORE SEEDS. This weekend I need to get the seedlings started and I have no idea where I’ll be putting them all. I have a terrific southern facing bay window but only a tiny table in front of it. Perhaps I’ll have to temporarily pull out the 6…
An uncanny likeness
This weekend I got to spend lots and lots of time with my nephew Magnus, who is growing like a weed! He’s 6 months old now and really got some personality. The Stratford Garden Festival was fun but it was WAY too busy. It was wall-to-wall people and that is just not enjoyable. It was…
Dreaming of greener days to come
There’s been just enough sunshine in the last few days to raise my hopes that spring really is just around the corner. That and the bulbs that are still trying to push up through the frozen ground at the front of the house. The next few days are supposed to be unseasonably warm (yay!) and…
Master of flakiness
As the high from achieving sourdough starter success quickly deflates like the airless loaf of dough I’m currently baking in hopes that something miraculous will happen in the oven, I figure I might as well celebrate success of a different kind. I believe I have mastered my fear of pie crusts! I just had to…
Sourdough starter SUCCESS!
It’s alive!!! It’s really alive!!! I’ve finally had some success creating a healthy sourdough starter. It’s only my second attempt, too. I used the recipe and time frame suggested by Eric of Breadtopia, which he credits to Peter Reinhart – someone who I really need to start reading more of, because apparently he is the…
Sourdough FAIL
I’ve been thinking about trying out making sourdough for some time. I learned to bake bread when I was just a kid, as one of a number of 4-H clubs I belonged to in my “tweens”. Other ones I remember participating in included cooking and, for some mega personal embarrassment: pigs! That’s right folks, I…
Blissful beats, courtesy of Thievery Corporation
Last night a few friends and I got together and had a fabulous dinner of butternut squash ravioli that I made and froze earlier this week (recipe to come). Then we put on our dancin’ shoes (winter boots actually, given the crazy snowfall) and headed to the Koolhaus for the much-anticipated Thievery show. Anyone that…