| back to work |
[20 Aug 2009|08:44pm] |
The dough doesn't care what is going on in my life. It doesn't care that the energy comes from heartbreak. It is indifferent to my sleeplessness, my complete lack of appetite. It doesn't offer consoling words, or judge me for my emotional roller coaster moments. It doesn't sense the hole in my world. It doesn't offer awkward conversation, or heartfelt sympathy.
It is demanding, requires attention, respect. I have to watch it carefully, applying the same deft technique it requires on happier days. It is also boring as hell, repetitive in a way that only doing something for 8 hours a day every day for over a year can be. There is a sameness, a sense of the ordinary, the unspecial, the regular.
It is a blessing.
How do I grieve? This is how.
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| crying over you |
[14 Aug 2009|08:07am] |
I realize that this is the first time in my life I live somewhere where I go to the Dunkin Donuts store finder, enter my zipcode and a search radius of 15 miles and come back with 0 results found.
0 results.
Now, there are some terrific independent doughnut places 'round here, but I am a New England Girl. I am supposed to have my doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts, preferably with a fine cup of coffee. A regular coffee regular, as Lenny Brisco would say.
I suppose this is adulthood.
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| really nice out today |
[17 May 2009|03:27pm] |
good thing my car died so I could walk home from the market and take this picture, eh?
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| Ok, so it took a while |
[01 Mar 2009|09:42am] |
But at least eventually I got this recipe up
Cheese Bread.
3.5 c all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 pkg active dry yeast
1.25 c milk
1 T sugar
.5 t salt
1 T + 2 T butter (yes, I know this makes 3 T, but you use them separately, so nyeh)
about 2 c shredded cheddar
1. combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. In a small saucepan, heat 1T butter and milk to about 130 degreees. If you stick your finger in the milk, it should be definitely hot, but not burning. The butter doesn't have to be completely melted.
3. Mix milk with dry and stir until dough is stretchy and forms a ragged ball, about 5 minutes
4. Turn on to a floured board and knead until smooth and satiny. The dough will be warm and it really is amazing how nice this is to knead. If it becomes sticky, dust with a little more flour. Let dough rest for 10 minutes, covered.
5. Shape dough into a ball, place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise, 30 minutes. It doesn't have to double in size, but it will get noticeably larger.
6. Preheat oven to 400. Melt remaining butter. Cut dough in half. Leave half in the bowl, covered. Cut the other half into 8 roughly equal sized pieces. Coat each piece with butter and then form into a single layer on a 8" loaf pan. top with half the cheese. Repeat with remaining dough, topping with remaining cheese.
7. Bake, uncovered at 400 degrees until well browned, about 25-30 minutes. If the cheese seems to be getting too dark, you can cover lightly with foil, but I've never had to do this. Remove from oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before tuning on to a rack to cool.
Try not to eat this all at once.
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| Old friends |
[11 Jan 2009|08:46am] |
This is not the best bread recipe I now own. It's not even my favorite bread recipe, although it is pretty high up there on the list. When I made this loaf, I couldn't even remember the last time I had made it. Part of the reason I don't make it is I can see, there on the recipe card, all the things that are wrong with the recipe. It's really not a balanced bread at all. I could make it better. I know I could make it better.
But if I did that, it wouldn't be cheese bread.
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| jolly |
[25 Dec 2008|11:25am] |
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| Snowed In |
[23 Dec 2008|06:41pm] |
This picture was taken standing in the road because I couldn't walk on the sidewalk. So, needless to say, the plow system here is not exactly as it was back east. (By back east, I mean the places with snow, not Georgia). They don't salt. They don't sand. As far as I can tell, they wait for the thaw. No matter how long that wait may be. A few of the bigger roads have seen some clearing, so the people with four wheel drive and chains are driving around talking on their cell phones. I've been walking to work. I am really, really glad that we live close enough to walk.
What's amazing, astounding, and makes me love this place is that we've still been busy at the bakery. No, it's not even remotely as busy as it should be. Sure, it's neighborhood folk, walking in. But they are leaving their house and meeting friends. Stocking up for the holidays on the affordable luxuries of fresh bread and pastries, yes, but hanging around to have coffee, gossip, connect - as much with us as with each other. Even the overly tense moments (inevitable with the stir crazy when we don't make something we would normally have due to sheer lack of resources. Not likely even the grocery stores have gotten any restocking trucks in.) have been washed away relatively quickly.
I haven't lived in a community for a really long time. Couple this with meeting my neighbors at the complex holiday party (lots of us showed up because well, we've been snow bound and it wasn't far to walk) and I'm starting to get attached to this place.
Becoming home.
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| For the record... |
[29 Nov 2008|07:15pm] |
|
endangered turkey is very tasty. Turning it into madras turkey now...
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| On my turkey... |
[24 Nov 2008|09:53pm] |
From the wiki on the breed, "Despite its relative popularity as a heritage breed, it is still listed as "watch" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, entailing that there are fewer than 5,000 breeding birds in the States. The Bourbon Red is also included in Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste, a catalog of heritage American foods in danger of extinction."
I am EATING an ENDANGERED TURKEY for thanksgiving.
How exciting is THAT?
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| I gots my turkey |
[23 Nov 2008|03:39pm] |
Good crowd at the market, and I spent less time in line getting the bird than I would have at the store.
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| I know, I know |
[16 Nov 2008|10:32pm] |
it is not food.
But I do other things besides cook and eat you know. Sometimes.
Also this camera is pretty awesome, man.
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| Christmas came early! |
[08 Nov 2008|08:37am] |
I got a new camera, one for my very own, so I no longer have to be in perpetual borrow mode when I take pictures. I even posted a picture on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) texture which is, if not a first, rare for me.
I'm going to play with my toy all weekend long, except when I'm doing stuff.
You have no idea how excited I am. Really.
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adoxograph's journal
