taz_39 | Entries tagged with breaducation

The busiest weekend I've had in a while. But it's for a good cause!

I wanted to make soft pretzels and caramels for my coworkers.
Pretzels, because I've been wanting to make them anyway, and caramels, because I've made them before and everyone really seems to enjoy them. I've even had a few people ask to buy a batch! But I don't have the time or the equipment to make more than a single batch at a time, unfortunately.

I made one batch of caramels Tuesday night to get a head start.
Here's a little video sequence of how that goes. Since this is Instagram you have to click on the little arrows to the right of each video to see the next video in sequence.

https://instagram.com/p/CT2I_1-ADa_

It starts with sugar, water, a tablespoon of corn syrup, and a little lemon juice in a saucepan. The lemon juice helps to keep sugar crystals small or something, idk. Then you just put that on medium high, do NOT stir it, and watch it until it starts to turn a nice amber color. People like their caramel at varying degrees of darkness, and I lean more dark; if you like yours lighter you can stop the caramelization process when your sugar looks the color of pale honey.

Anyway, Once it's the color you want you carefully pour in the cream, and from this point on you've got to stir continuously to avoid burning and crystalizing and scalding and all that. As water boils off from the sugar mixture, the temperature increases above the boiling point. This time I was trying for 264.

Once my candy thermometer reached 264, I took the caramel immediately off the heat and poured it into a large bowl. Then I added a little butter, vanilla paste, and sea salt. Mixed it all in and poured it in a nice foil tray to cool. Tadaaaaa.

The decorative salt tends to melt down here in FL, I assume because it's so stinkin humid. It was nice to get a picture where you could see it just this once (taken on Wednesday, after the caramel had cooled in the fridge overnight). The touring company manager saw this photo and said, "We've got to get you a hotel room with a kitchen!"

On Wednesday morning I got up earlier than usual because there was just so much to do. I ate a quick breakfast and immediately made a second batch of caramels. While they were cooling I cleaned up, then mixed up a batch of pretzel dough. Once it was kneaded and resting I made a double recipe of the same dough. That batch went straight into the fridge where it will stay overnight to develop flavor, but mostly just to save me time on Thursday.

Also, I can't do three batches of pretzels at once because the fridge isn't big enough.
Also, if I mess up the first batch I've got two more tries with the other two batches of dough.
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Here is the very first loaf of whole wheat bread that I ever made.

And here is a loaf of whole wheat bread that I made tonight....using THE SAME RECIPE.

(Here's that recipe if you're interested: https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/simple-whole-wheat-bread/)

I owe Jameson big, giant hugs for getting me started on this bread-baking journey!

For my birthday, he gifted me Bonnie O'Hara's Bread Baking for Beginners, a VERY good food scale, and a rustic bread kit including a banneton proofing basket and scorer.

Here is a list of all the bread types I've made since receiving this book:

Rustic white boule

Wheat boule

Baguette

Ciabatta

Lemon fougasse

Focaccia

Oatmeal bread

White loaf

Wheat loaf/rolls

English muffins

Challah

Chocolate babka

Brioche

Orange blossom brioche

Black pepper parmesan boule

Cinnamon rolls

Irish soda bread

Bagels

Pretzel rolls

Bagels

Pizza dough

Rye

Japanese matcha milk bread

Tangzhong whole wheat

Not all of these breads are in the recipe book that Jameson got me.
But it was his encouragement, and the wonderfully helpful instructions in that book, that gave me the confidence to branch out and attempt to make so many things.

It's been an amazing journey, more fun and therapeutic than I could have imagined.

In a few weeks I'll have to stop baking bread for quite a long time.
This is probably the Number Two thing I'm going to miss the most while on tour (Number One, of course, being my Jameson.)
But you know what's nice? I'll get to visit bakeries, and try the amazing breads that OTHER people make!

:)

And when I get back from tour, I'll get to learn how to make SOURDOUGH!

Every time I stop to think about what I need to do before the end of the month, the list seems overwhelming.
But then when I REALLY think about it, it's not. It's just a LONG list, of a lot of things, that actually don't take that much time or effort.

I tried to do some of those things this weekend and found that I was trying too early.

Hair appointment: a week too early for booking.
Car detailing appointment: at least a week too early too.
Covid rapid test for the day before I leave: FAR too early, I can only book that a few days in advance.

So I tried to take a step back and focus on what I can do NOW.

Like use up some of what's in the fridge and freezer.
I bought this weird "sourdough yeast" a while back and wanted to give it a try.
"No more finicky starters!" it claimed boldly. "Simply add to your favorite bread recipe!"

Well, ok. I chose an easy no-knead recipe and gave it a shot, following the recipe exactly and adding the yeast as instructed.
What I got was a wet blob of dough that was insanely unmanageable, followed shortly by a flat dense loaf of bread that was gummy inside and somehow completely flavorless (I am 100% certain that I added salt, sugar, and walnut oil). It was not even remotely close to sourdough in texture or flavor. And the yeast was still perfectly fresh, the dough rose just like it was supposed to. I have no idea why it turned out so badly, other than maybe it was just a bad recipe in general?

Eh, whatever. I was disappointed, but the nice thing about messing up bread is you've really only lost the time.
The ingredients usually amount to like $2 worth of stuff going in the trash.

After that I decided to finally attack my basil bush, poor thing.

The amount of basil on that plant was amazing. Bananas for scale.

Deconstructing that took probably 30 minutes, but I finally ended up with a big bowl of fresh leaves.
I didn't have enough pine nuts so subbed in some toasted sunflower seeds, and that was a really nice flavor.
Add to that some garlic and olive oil and lemon juice and parm, and I had a big giant jar of pesto which will live in the freezer until I can address it after this tour.

Next I spent 45 minutes completing anti-harrassment training for my new employer.
Then I allowed myself the luxury of looking up some of the hotels we'll be staying in on tour.

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Here is a summary of what I did this weekend (two days, Wednesday and Thursday):

- Made no-knead bread (epic fail)
- Cut down my basil plant
- Made pesto
- Made dinner on Wednesday
- Went grocery shopping
- Ran the dishwasher
- Vacuumed
- Took the recycling out
- Took the trash out
- Completed anti-harassment training
- Went to steno class
- Practiced steno (x2, once each day)
- Practiced trombone (x2, once each day)
- Emailed show ticket information to family
- Researched hair appointments
- Researched car detaling locations and appointments
- Researched rapid covid test availability and appointments
- Researched tour hotels
- Made Japanese milk bread
- Meal prep for the week
- Tried to book practice rooms (epic fail)
- Emptied the large planter, washed and stored it
- Swept and weeded some of the pool patio
- Cleaned the shower
- Prepped lunch and work clothing

...I think that's it.

Gosh, I'm such a lazy entitled millennial! Spent the whole day staring at my phone making TikToks!

This week I got some more information from Troika Entertainment, the production company running the tour.

They sent us a date and time for a personnel Zoom meeting.
They informed us that we'll get a lot of info from an internal website, which will contain contact info, travel info, updates, etc.
Very much looking forward to that, so I don't have to pester people with questions.
And we've started booking our flights into Buffalo, and have been given the hotel info.
It looks like our hotel will be easy walking distance to the theatre, which is excellent.

In general, I think that most parts of this type of touring will be straightforward.
The things that concern me the most are laundry, transportation details/transporting our luggage details, and what taxes will be like at the end of the tour. But at some point I'll find the answers to all of those things.

I'm still kind of suprised that this is happening. What with covid, and my own withdrawal from the arts during covid, it hasn't seemed real. Ever since receiving the email inviting me to be a part of this tour, a part of me has been laughing with disbelief. Like, this is a dream, right? This is some cruel trick my mind is playing on me.

But my flight is booked. And we're having a meeting next week. And I've resigned from my job.

So this is actually happening. Hopefully that sinks all the way in before I actually get there!

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Some random nature from the past few days.

I saw something moving in the grass near my workplace, and when I went to investigate, found this adorable gopher tortoise chomping on some grass!

Of course as soon as I got close he scurried away. I followed and got to see his cute scaly butt blocking the entrance to his burrow.

Finally getting some visitors to my pollinator garden! I think everything is just blooming and growing at different rates this year, so the butterflies have not been around as often. But it's still the same two species frequenting my garden, the pipevine and the spicebush.

This pipevine was stunning. His wings were shining in the morning light. It amazes me how metallic they look, and the beautiful shades of blue and purple that are subtle and prominent in his wings.

Then there was this very old, tattered, faded spicebush. In many ways, this butterfly is even more beautiful. You can see that she has been through a lot, yet she was still energetic, dive-bombing the pipevine to compete for the best nectar. I was so happy to get such good footage of both butterflies, but this particular butterfly seemed very special indeed.

This next one is not nature, but I had wanted to share it and forgot.

Here is a picture of one of the first whole wheat loaves I made.
You can see how it's more dense near the bottom, with larger air bubbles near the top.
It was also kind of dry and crumbly (though perfectly edible).

Now here is the whole wheat that I made last week.
Very similar recipe, the main difference being using the tangzhong method.
You can see how much tighter the crumb is, how much more uniform.

I'm just very happy to have evidence that my loaves are improving! Very cool.

Well it seems the cat is dangling halfway out of the bag.

Friday at work the call floor manager---not my boss, my boss's boss---came over "just to say hi". Uh huh.

After a while of small talk he finally said, "So I heard something from A---- at the Tampa location..."

Of course with that said I knew right away what this was about.
Several months ago I was asked to interview for an HR Assistant position in Tampa. This was well before I had been asked to go on tour, so I said sure, I'll apply if you think it's a good fit. I applied, and a few weeks later got the tour offer. Then a few days after that they set up an interview date.

At the time of the interview I had a temporary, incomplete tour contract, and that was it. So I went ahead with the interview because I didn't know how things would turn out. Probably a week after the interview I had the final tour contract, and the week after that came the I-9 and other paperwork. At that point I knew I would not be taking the job in Tampa.

I forget the exact date, but a few weeks ago the Tampa interviewer called to offer me the job. And of course I declined it. But they weren't expecting that at all. Up until this point they had assumed that if it was offered, I would take it. So they had called the Orlando offices to let them know they'd be poaching me down to Tampa.

So when I declined, it was (I assume) surprising, although the interviewer hid it well. They did ask if there were any reason, and I felt that they deserved an explanation after I had applied and interviewed quite seriously. So I told them. I'm not a good liar, and this employer has treated me well, I do not want to lie to them. She understood, we thanked each other, and hung up. And I knew that this would get around, one way or another. It was only a matter of when.

I guess the two locations don't talk to each other all that much...there's really no need, they have separate payroll systems and HR processing. If I wanted to work in Tampa I'd have to fill out all-new employment paperwork, that's how separate the locations are. So it's not really surprising that they're finally talking about this just now. Maybe they have a conference call once a month, and it finally came up: "Hey, whatever happened with you guys taking Megan down to Tampa for that HR position?"

However it went down I'll never know, but today my boss's boss said, "So I heard something from A---- at the Tampa location. She says you're thinking of leaving us?"

I sighed and said, "Well, yes. It's not quite finalized yet." (white lie, but I AM kind of waiting for a travel itinerary)

He said, "Ok. Sorry, I know you probably didn't want me to know that yet."

"Oh, I don't mind," I said. "I was going to let you know in the next two weeks."

"Oh!" He seemed surprised at that. "Well, yeah, it doesn't change anything. Please know that this won't change how you're treated, or anything like that. We just really want to know--"

"You'll get a month's notice," I said. "Nothing is happening until October."

This seemed to be a huge relief for him. People ghost out of that place all the time, so maybe he thought I was planning to just not show up one day or something. But I'm not that kind of person. And hey, now they've technically got an extra two weeks of notice! Lucky them.

So yeah, there it is.

I'll still wait the two weeks for an official anouncement on my social and stuff.

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After work I went to the Toyota dealership because my car was screaming "MAINTENANCE REQUIRED", but it turned out it needed nothing at all. Next time I'm just going to call and ask them to check their system to see if it needs something. But it was a good thing because now rather than sitting at the dealership all day I could get some stuff done.

Jameson was at a gig so I had dinner on my own, and visited Sprouts because they sell flour in bulk and I only needed a small amount of wheat. Then fought traffic home where I vacuumed, and practiced both steno and trombone. I wanted to take a steno test, but felt my focus was not good enough.

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I didn't sleep well Tuesday night.
Kept dreaming about trying to make the TinyMod work with CaseCAT.
Probably because I was in a chat discussing the issue right up until I went to bed.

Anyway, despite what my subconscious brain thinks, it's not the end of the world if I can't get it to work with CaseCAT.

I got up and had breakfast, messaging the TInyMod creator to let him know I'm available for walkthroughs if he has time today.
Then I did a little research on pretzel recipes...most of what I could find was in American measurements, a pain in the ass but I at least looked up a cup-to-weight flour equivalent before launching into making them.

It's a fairly simple dough of warm water, yeast, sugar, flour, melted butter, and salt.

Came together very nicely...because I've been working with so much enriched dough I forgot what it's like to have a nice non-sticky ball of regular dough to knead. It's so smooth and easy to work with! I made a few small changes to the recipe: reduced the salt by 1/2tsp and added 1.5tsp sugar (there was no sugar in the original recipe), added two tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, and used walnut oil to knead the dough instead of flour. I'm also going to use an egg wash. I'm obsessed with shiny bread.

Here's the lovely dough ball after rising for an hour.
That's the other nice thing about pretzels, they only take like an hour to rise.

While the dough was rising I cleaned up the kitchen and washed our sheets, ate lunch, and thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. It turned out not to matter what I wanted to do, because what happened was the TinyMod creator got onto a Discord chat with me and wanted to have me wipe the software on my machine, and replace it with something else to see if that would get it working in CaseCAT.

I was all for it, but first had to finish these pretzel buns!

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Thursday morning, made breakfast and got started on the wheat bread dough.

I used the AP flour that I got from Pennsylvania, grown and milled there.
I used red wheat flour, but also subbed in some white wheat flour just to use it up.

In the vein of making this a "Pennsylvania loaf", I also used dark buckwheat honey from Draper's, an apiary in the middle of nowhere PA. And instead of the plain oil called for in the recipe, I decided to try out the walnut oil that I got for my next challah loaf. I also tried adding some "dough enhancers", vital wheat gluten and a small amount of vinegar. Both of these are supposed to help the shelf life and enhance the texture of the finished bread.

After letting the yeast come alive in some warm water, I mixed everything together. The walnut oil is already making this dough smell incredibly fragrant. Here's the dough after mixing and resting to let the flour absorb the water.

Here's the dough post-kneading. I use flour for half the knead time, then switch to oil in order to retain moisture.

Then the dough had to rest and rise for 90 minutes, during which time I cleaned up, ate breakfast, and got some trombone practice in.
Before and after rising.

Then I shaped the dough, which I forgot to take pictures of and anyway my hands were messy. I flattened it out and then rolled it up into a log and then a loaf shape, basically, and put it in a loaf pan where it went to rise for another hour or so.

Then I gave it an egg wash. I noticed a lot of larger bubbles on the surface, so either I let it overproof a little or I shouldn't have proofed it in the microwave as it might have been too hot and the yeast too active. Anyway it turned out all right, just the egg wash was kinda runny and made a weird "lip" around the edge of the bread cap. Kinda looks like a mushroom, or the head of one of those rounded screws.

The crumb is good, and it's definitely more moist than other loaves I've made. The flavor was very nice, slightly nutty and sweet with the hearty flavor of the whole wheat flour.

This was a variation on the "Kindergarten Honey Wheat" recipe in my bread lesson book. I think next time I'd like to try someone else's recipe, maybe King Arthur's, specifically for sandwich wheat bread. But this was fun, it was good to see that I can make so many changes and still come out with a really delicious loaf of bread :)

Once the bread was done I drove out to Whole Paycheck to get our steaks, fancy cheese, etc.
The drive was terrible because the tourists are back, so there were accidents everywhere and a six-car pileup at the I-drive exit. Idiots. I left around 2:15-2:30 and didn't get home until 4pm. Waste of my day. But this time at least it's worth it, so I can make lovely steaks for us tomorrow!

I came home to find this waiting for me on the doorstep:

https://instagram.com/p/CRpP40ZnHeV

This little tableau was playing out between a sphinx moth and a black racer snake. I didn't realize until later that I'd probably interrupted the snake's hunting. Sorry little brother.

Two packages had arrived for me while I was gone, one of which was a viral TikTok thing, an articulated color-changing 3D-printed slug!
The left pic is when the slug is warm (pink) and the right is when it's cold (purple).

The person who makes these normally makes soaps to sell out of their home, but printed a few of these for fun and ended up going viral over them. So now they have thousands of orders, and are probably having trouble keeping up! Can you imagine what that must be like? I can't! I had to wait almost three months for this believe it or not.

Yes, it's just a stupid gimmick toy, billed as an ASMR or fidget toy for adults.
I bought it with the intention of bringing it to work, and to share with Jameson. Just for fun, kind of like the stupid "raw egg" stress balls I bought us a while ago. Sometimes little things help you get through the day. My office is VERY cold because of all the computers, so I thought it would be fun to see the slug turn purple indoors and pink when I go for my walks at lunch. It's also nice to play with and makes a fun noise from all the parts sliding over each other. Anyway. Articulated slug. I enjoy it.

We ordered pizza for dinner and I made wings in the air fryer. Watched an episode of Cobra Kai, then I went to finish practicing trombone while Jameson had a D&D session with his friends. When tromboning was done I switched to steno practice, then it was chill time. It's really nice to have a whole day off tomorrow too.

Tuesday morning. I woke up only slightly early to work on the challah bread.
Here it is after having risen in the fridge.

I guess it was too early for my tired brain, because I ended up sleepily braiding the dough incorrectly :/
It was supposed to be a four-strand braid, but somehow ended up looking like a three-strand because I got the pattern wrong.

Still, it doesn't look BAD.
After braiding I put it in the dryer with a mug of boiling water to proof.
No wet towel or plastic wrap to cover it, I just brushed it with egg wash every 40 minutes.
Here's the complete loaf:

It looks like a lobster tail! Lol.
Yes, my shaping leaves something to be desired. But considering that I've never braided bread before, and considering that this is my first attempt at challah, I think it turned out pretty good!

I'm especially pleased with the crumb. It's very soft and has a really nice texture. I'm not sure if that's because of alternating flour and oil while working with the dough, but whatever happened it turned out beautifully.

There are a few things that I'd like to change when I make this again (in a few weeks because I REALLY want to get this right):

- I'll braid it correctly, for one thing.
- I'll roll out the dough a little bit to help pop more of the large air bubbles, because as you can see the surface was pocked with them.
- I'll use a different type of oil. This recipe called for vegetable oil, and while that's "OK", the bread turned out more bland than I kind of expect a challah to be. Someone has recommended walnut oil, so I'd like to try that.
- I'll try to improve the shaping, but hopefully that will go along with braiding it correctly.

All in all, I thought this was going to be a fail, and it actually came together very well.
If all I need to work on is shaping/minor visual and flavor improvements, that is really not too shabby. Yay!

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Having made the brioche dough the night before, I felt comfortable sleeping in.
I got up around 9:30 and had breakfast. It was a little blustery due to Elsa passing through, but otherwise the weather was just normal Florida weather.

I started assembling the chocolate filling after Jameson got up and while sipping my hot coffee.
It was cream, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and butter.
I also added some instant coffee to help enhance the flavor of the chocolate (because I watch too much Food Network and they're always saying to add coffee to chocolate), but I added a little too much. Someone online had suggested between 2-4 teaspoons, and I went with two. But when I stop to consider that 1 tsp coffee makes about one cup, one would have been enough. It's not ruined, but now I can taste the coffee in there so it's become a chocolate coffee babka. Whuuuups.

When the filling was made I let it cool in the fridge, and rolled the brioche dough out on the counter. I tried to get it as thin as I could, but more practice is needed with that. Also the fudge ended up being a LOT of fudge, and it was pretty thick, so I found getting lots of swirls to be a little difficult. Oh well, it's a first try.

When the filling had been spread I rolled up my dough and chilled it for a minute, then cut the roll in half lengthwise and twisted the two halves together, cramming them into a bread pan. It looks nice...I wonder how it will turn out!

Then it was into the microwave with a hot mug of water to proof, while I ran to Target for La Croix and batteries and something for dinner tonight. I've never been deeply into seltzer water, but sometimes I get that craving for fizzy drinks. The nice thing about La Croix is, they don't add acid to it, so it doesn't hurt my stomach.

Back home we had lunch, then Jameson got to work on the Christmas production music he's doing for a friend while I kind of lazed around, feeling rather unmotivated. I did make two doctors' appointments, one for my PCP and one for the OBGYN, just because I'm due for regular exams. When the bread was ready I threw it in the oven, then forgot to put on the egg wash so pulled it out, then saw that the chocolate was running everywhere so opened the oven again to put a pan under the loaf in case of leaks. So now the bread probably has to bake for like 10 minutes longer, sigh.

While it was baking I wrote some letters to friends and family, and listened to some music related to Stuff and Things.
Finally the babka was done:

Looks pretty good! It was good that I thought to shove a sheet tray under the pan because chocolate leaked EVERYWHERE. Maybe next time, a different recipe for the filling so it won't go all over. Still, some babkas are like that, it's just your personal preference. This one looked great and tastes great too. I'm very happy with it.

I cut up half the loaf to bring to my coworkers (shhh don't tell, we're not supposed to be sharing food re: covid) and bagged the rest, then went into steno class. I still suck but felt glad that I'd practiced, I was at least able to keep up.

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I woke up around 8am on Wednesday, and immediately began stripping the bed of sheets.
Then I brought my backpack and suitcase to the living room, near the couch where I'd be sleeping that night.

After breakfast mom started the laundry while I gathered more of my things into the living room and loaded my steno machine into the car, then we drove to Agape to drop off freshly washed dish towels and some can openers (homeless people need can openers pretty often) and pick up a few things about to expire that Kayle's family could help finish off when they visit (Cheerios, stuff like that).

At the grocery we picked out a lot of food for them for the week, mostly healthy stuff but a few special treats. Just like how I requested a peanut butter whoopie pie, Kayle always asks for Country Maid doughnuts, which you can only get in PA (since 1894 supposedly). We found them along with a few other goodies, then headed home to stock the fridge and eat lunch.

Then dad came home from work early, because he and I were driving to Philly to pick up Kayle, her husband, and her two children from the airport. Before leaving we tried to assemble some of the baby furniture and the new carseat; doing this had me flustered and irritated in a matter of minutes. I've assembled loads of two-person IKEA furniture items all by myself, but baby furniture is a whole 'nother category. A lot of it does not make ergonomic sense during assembly because assemblage has much, much more to do with safety for the baby. Which is understandable, but also NOT understandable to the logical parts of one's brain.

I stomped off to pick up hoagies for us for dinner, and when I returned it was time to go.
Dad and I spent the two hour drive chatting about this and that, he wanted to talk politics but I was pretty standoffish and kept shutting him down with curt or noncommital responses. Sadly my dad, in typical "old white guy" fashion, loves to complain about all sorts of things without presenting a single solution or taking any action himself. I love my dad, but this behavior annoys the crap out of me, from anyone. Today I tolerated him whinging about the state of New Jersey building a big statue of George Floyd, and when he got to the part in the conversation where there are social cues for me to agree or disagree with him, I responded with, "As a resident of PA, did your tax dollars go toward this statue?" and "Do you know when the proposal for the statue was presented, and who showed up to oppose it?" and of course he either can't answer that or has to back up and admit that, truly, New Jersey spending it's money on a statue has zero effect on his life. Nor is/was he willing or able to do anything to prevent said statue from being built. If he had gone to the hearing himself and petitioned against it, and sold his house and poured all of his life savings and time and effort into stopping that statue from being built, the results would have been exactly the same.

So why b*tch about it?
Why have any opinion on it at all?
I see this type of aimless negativity in a lot of my older friends, and it drives me NUTS.
My dad will never stop, though, so at least I do listen and try to express that I respect his views. That's truly all I can do when he gets into this negative, curmudgeonly complaining mode. God, I hope I'm not like that when I get old. Plain old nonpolitical vanilla whining will hopefully be good enough for me.

Our other discussions were pleasant, though, and passed the time nicely. We talked about work and nature and family and philosophical things. I do enjoy and treasure talking with my dad, when it's a TALK and not just him complaining about things that do not affect him whatsoever.

Finally we got to the airport, and it happened to be right on time as Kayle's flight was just landing.
We only waited about ten minutes before we saw them walking toward the van with their luggage.
Getting everyone settled took a little time, and then Drexel had to be fed, but soon enough we were off!
Another two hours in the car! And poor Kayle and Skylar had been up since 4am, UGH. I could see how tired they were.

But we ate our hoagies and had a good long conversation about how everyone is doing. I actually felt like I hogged the conversation with stuff about my life, but the thing is that Kayle's husband can't talk about his work (government stuff) and Kayle's not currently working, my dad needed a break since he'd spent the last two hours talking to me, so once we chatted up their current life events I spent a good part of the trip describing how much my work has changed, relating what Jameson's up to, and going on and on about bread again. Everyone loves those bread pictures, I wish more people got to eat it with me!

We got home just as the kids were starting to complain, and there were enthusiastic greetings all around.
Elliotte has gotten so big! Here is my mom holding her shortly after we arrived.

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On Saturday I woke up "late", 8:30am. This is way earlier than I used to wake up before I started working at CapTel.
But since I'm going to bed before midnight every night it's damn luxurious.
I have REM sleep, and dreams I can remember. Forgot what that was like!
I can focus on tasks and think more than a few hours into the future. Wowzers!
Wish I could keep this level of sleep. But I can't. What a shame.

After a light breakfast of nonfat, high-protein Greek yogurt and an apple (trying to counteract the China Buffet madness) my parents went out to run errands and I got to work on the second missed steno class. It took longer than I wanted because I also kept getting distracted with responding to emails and social media, but at some point I buckled down and finished the class. I'm doing a terrible job and it's embarrassing, but I'm trying real hard not to get defensive here about it. I don't need to explain myself.

After steno I cleaned up and drove over to Kate's house to visit with my sisters and brother, and new baby nephew.
When I arrived everyone was awake and just hanging out. Kate and her husband had been able to get some sleep because the baby "only" got up every three hours. But it was obvious that they're both still exhausted (and will be, forever) so we didn't do anything but chill and get caught up on each others' lives.

Jonah (my brother) has been working in some kind of grocery/analytics marketing for a while now. He likes it well enough. HIs girlfriend is doing well.
Raven (my sister) is looking pretty good, although like I said before she's been stressed lately. She and I both have a lot of work to do that this visit is kind of interfering with. But it is worth it. It's just work. I know it's worth it, and I hope she realizes that too.
Kate (the one who had the baby) is good but tired and learning all kinds of stuff I'm sure. Mostly I just tried to be supportive and be there, and not make her feel like she had to entertain or host us.
Deklan (the baby) seems just fine. Hungry, sleepy, cranky, poopy. Baby stuff.

We ate Beyond burgers together outside, and being a big fan of The Natures I poked around and admired all the plants, even the weeds.
Driving into my hometown, I noticed something that I've never noticed before.

Milkweed.
LOADS OF IT.

Perhaps there has always been a ton of milkweed in my hometown, and I just never knew.
Because monarchs are not common here, and milkweed was not a part of my education, and...I never knew.
But now that I've lived in Florida, and raised monarchs myself...they were like becons along the road, jumping out at me. I felt my eyes widening as I saw huge milkweed plants lining the highways and side streets, popping up at the base of every telephone pole, even growing up from a crack in the sidewalk at a gas station as I approached home. I couldn't believe it.

The most common milkweeds in Florida are swamp milkweed and tropical milkweed, both are small and have small narrow leaves, and are difficult to find growing wild because caterpillars eat them before they can spread.
What I am seeing in my hometown is common milkweed, which can grow as tall as me and has huge abundant leaves and big bunches of flowers.
After joining a Raising Monarchs group on facebook, I discovered that milkweed has been difficult to propegate in Florida because the caterpillars frequently eat the plants even before they can be brought to market. There's even a facebook group called Milkweed Express where people from northeastern and western states ship common milkweed and/or leaves to people raising monarchs in the southeast and in California.

Why is it that the MOST milkweed grows where the monarchs DON'T live??

I was going somewhere with this:
I WANT TO STEAL THE MILKWEED.

At first I was planning to pull over on the highway shoulder and dig up a few plants. This is of course illegal or at least ill-advised.
But then when I was driving to Kate's house in the middle of nowhere, I continued to see milkweed growing along the road and in the fields.
Sure enough, when I poked around in Kate's expansive yard, I found lots of big patches of milkweed. I asked Kate if I could have some. She looked at me like I was nuts. Of course I could have some! It's everywhere and it's a nuisance. Please take it.
Here is some of the milkweed in Kate's yard. Some of these plants are taller than me.

I will revisit Kate again and bring a pot and a spade, and pick out two milkweed plants to steal!
One big one, and one seedling. We'll see if they survive the trip, and then we'll see if they survive a Florida summer. I'll keep them in the pot and in partial shade, and care for them as best I can, and when the weather cools I'll try to plant them in the yard. If they die before I get to all that, hopefully one of them will make a seed pod so I can try to propegate them myself.

All of this may come to nothing. But it's fun to try!

After we ate people started falling asleep, which is a good thing, so I quietly snuck out and drove home with a promise to visit again soon.
Back home my parents were doing yardwork, but a big thunderstorm forced them to take a break. We chatted a bit, then I ate dinner and did more steno, then we settled down for the night.

Continuing my train of crazy-person thought (do I actually get MORE crazy when I've had a decent sleep?)
In a few weeks I'll be making a sourdough starter so that I can learn to make sourdough bread.
Traditionally, sourdough starters are named. I've looked up lots of cool and cornball names online.
Dr. Dough-Little!
Herculyeast!
Reading Raindough!
Bread Pitt!

Lots of funny ideas. But Jameson insists that I call mine "Dough-Malley"! (because my last name is O'Malley for those who don't know).
It makes me roll my eyes, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better/more unique.

So then I was thinking, what can I do with this starter to make it special? To make it unique among starters?
Today it hit me.
A starter is a living thing. You've got to feed it.
Starters eat any kind of grain flour.
I thought, why not feed "Dough-Malley" with grain from my own hometown?
I found a mill nearby that grows and mills wheat and rye grown right here in Central PA.
Even better, it's an easy short detour on my way back down to Florida!

In addition, I'll be stopping at my Aunt's house in North Carolina. While NC isn't "home", it's the home of my heart. I went to school there and lived there for about two years, and that time is a big part of who I am as a person. It's the only other place in the world that I truly think of as "home".
Right down the street from my Aunt's house is a local bakery that grows and mills its own heirloom rye and sells the flour. If possible, I'll also pick up a bag of that and use both flours to feed my starter.

And that's how "Dough-Malley" will be born! A starter made with combined flours from my two very special home states.
What do you think? Stupid, or cool?

A work-filled weekend for both of us.
More work for Jameson than me.

Thursday is opening night for Encore's production of Head Over Heels, and Jameson is the Music Director.
Every night he comes home with horror stories about the sound and lighting techs that the theatre provides (at like $20 per hour), who are apparently incredibly unhelpful and incompetent. I believe it. The number of times I've been part of a rehearsal which was held up because the sound guys were fiddling with stuff mid-rehearsal, or the lights were in the wrong spot at the wrong time, I absolutely believe it. Rehearsals are frequently (though not always) more about wrangling tech than working on the show itself.

That aside, it sounds like rehearsals have been going well. From what I've seen online the costumes are VERY quality, and the choreography is pretty complex. I'm really, really excited to see the show on Saturday! And it goes without saying, I'm very proud of Jameson for rocking such an important role and bringing everyone together to put on Encore's first major production since the pandemic began. I hope they sell loads of tickets. I hope everyone enjoys the show, including the performers.

Meanwhile, though, Jameson has run-throughs all week so I'll barely see him.

On Wednesday I got up earlier than I would like in order to begin Bread-Palooza.
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Feels like a song on repeat, getting tiresome.

Sleep <--> Work <--> Eat <--> Sleep

My sister (the middle one, not the one who's pregnant now) sent a lovely pic of her little boy, Drexel.
Dude, wasn't he just born?? How is he already so big??

King Arthur Flour left a very kind comment regarding my English muffins, for which I'd used their recipe and then posted photos on social.
I'm amazed that big corporations still do that kind of stuff, randomly commenting like that.
And it made me feel first good, then a little bad because I'm probably going to switch to a more traditional recipe for the next batch :p
Gotta get them nooks and crannies!

But before I attempt that again, Jameson's dad is coming to visit for a few days. I had already planned to make brioche cinnamon rolls (next in my lesson book), but in addition thought it would be nice if I could make a bread for his sandwiches too. So I texted to ask what he'd prefer.

"Anything but sourdough," I said, because I haven't gotten that far in my book yet.

"Ok," he said. "How about ciabatta?"

Aah, crud. I haven't gotten that far yet, either. Real ciabatta requires a biga, which is the Italian term for a preferment.
As much as I'd like to make a true ciabatta, first of all I haven't learned how, secondly even if I had I won't have enough time to develop a preferment AND make the cinnamon rolls AND cook dinner AND clean for Jameson's dad's visit AND work AND do steno and all that.

I was able to find a recipe that only makes six ciabatta rolls and does not require a preferment (although it does have an overnight rise which should give nice flavor). We will see if I'm able to pull it off.

On Friday work was work, on Saturday work was work. Jameson and I both got haircuts on Saturday, him to look nice for opening night of his production in a few days, me to look nice for my family and get the long hair off my neck for the brutal Florida summer. It rained both Friday and Saturday in the late afternoon, which is standard daily weather for Florida in the summer. I'm grateful for it, it's less time fretting over my plants because I know for the most part they're getting watered.

Saturday night we watched The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Jameson probably hates me when we watch scary movies together. He adores them. I just cannot take them seriously at all. Maybe the reason I find myself involuntarily rolling my eyes at is because I used to work in a haunted house, and got to observe peoples' reactions to myself (a rotting maggoty corpse) and other types of scares. Usually the reactions were to scream and hide one's face, or cover one's ears, or sit down on the floor, or run, or try to hit and then pull yourself back saying, "sorry, sorry!"

I don't do any of those things. It's not that I'm not scared, sometimes I am deep down.
But it's WAY deep down, on a primal level.
And the scenarios, and creatures, and horrors that live in my mind are just way, way scarier than any movie or haunted house.

So the movie was good, if you're into that sort of thing.
I might internally mock horror movies, but they're still fun.

Sunday, workworkwork. I stopped at Trader Joe's even though it's quite out of my way, traffic is lighter on Sunday and I was hellbent on getting some premade meatballs so I won't have to actually cook this weekend. If I'm going to resort to premade food, I want it to be the highest possible quality with the lowest possible salt content for Jameson, so it HAD to be TJ's this time (Whole Paycheck still has high sodium in way too many of their frozen foods).

I want to make those...wtf are they...not Swedish meatballs, but similar to them.
Sweet-and-sour meatballs? BBQ meatballs? Tangy meatballs?

Church potluck meatballs.
Listen, if you're American, you know what I mean. Those Meatballs.

I want to make them, with corn on the cob and some store-bought potato salad and/or cole slaw and/or watermelon.
So the only "cooking" will be me tossing the precooked meatballs into a crock pot with sauce, and boiling the corn on the stove for like 10 minutes. I will need all the time I can get for cleaning everything, weeding, baking, packing to go see my family, steno. And hopefully even some actual rest. I don't wanna cook.

Yes, it's finally that time! On June 14th I will be driving up the coast from Florida to PA to visit my family.
I am starting to really look forward to it. The drive, while long, will feel good because the car is my happy place and long drives drench me in a happy nostalgia of my time in the circus, and the time before that when I drove cross-country all by myself, twice. The freedom of driving long distances is a wonderful thing.

Staying in a hotel will be a nice post-covid, vaccinated treat. I may even stop at one of those roadside stands, with the billboards screaming "PECANS! FRESH PEACHES! BABY ALLIGATORS!" leading up to every exit south of the Mason-Dixon. Lord knows I'm going to hoard NEPA Amish-country stuff to bring back south; may as well bring some south north while I'm at it.

I was supposed to stop in NC to visit with my Aunt, which I'll still do, but we have less time than I'd hoped because she's a teacher and she's working HARD lately. I would love to sweep her away to a two week magical getaway somewhere, anywhere that would take her mind off stuff. But until that happens, we'll both have to settle for dinner after she gets out of school. And then I'll hit the road again, arriving in PA hopefully the next day in the afternoon.

Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself because I've actually got something to look forward to besides bread.

Monday was Extra Coffee Day, in which I treat myself to a Wawa coffee in addition to my usual morning cup.
Work was work, nothing to report.

I ate dinner in the car on the way home because Jameson had rehearsal and I had class. Got home surprisingly earlier than 5:30 and had just enough time to measure out the flour, salt, yeast, and water for the ciabatta dough, and mix it all together, before class started. Class was ok, I did my best and did notice that I'm getting more stuff now and having fewer instances of dropped content. Just gotta keep plugging away, I guess.

After class I put the dough in the fridge, supposedly it can stay there for up to 3 days but I'll probably be making it on Wednesday morning or afternoon. The cinnamon rolls will get made Thursday morning. Jameson's dad is arriving Thursday around midnight, so both breads will be 1-2 days old by the time he gets them, but it can't be helped if I have to work on Friday. I'm not making both breads on Thursday, I have a life to live.

When the dough was done I vacuumed, dusted, showered, ran the dishwasher. What an exciting evening.

Tuesday, WFH day, and Citrix did not crash thank God.

And I woke up to the news that MY SISTER HAD HER BABY!!!!!

Sometime around 5am, little Declan was born, about 1.5 weeks early.
Little booger, he couldn't wait for family to come!!

It's fitting, though. My middle sister Kayle had the whole family there when her daughter was born, and that's the kind of person she is...she'd WANT to be cooed and fussed over and enjoying the social interaction that can come with such a major life event. Kate, though, is quiet and reserved, and prefers to do things on her own. So it is not surprising to me that her baby was born at a quiet time, with the least possible family presence, at an unexpected time. It just seems right.

I spent my day exclaiming over photos while trying not to ask too many questions or pester, knowing that if the baby came out at 5am nobody had gotten any sleep, and now that he was here no one was GOING to get any sleep. Now the pressure is off for our family visit, it's just Family Visit + New Baby instead of Oh My God She Could Go Into Labor At Any Time Family Visit.

Work was fine, I practiced steno in between and was very distracted by thinking of my new nephew and how nice it will be to see everyone.
After work Jameson went to rehearsal and I hit the grocery, getting the rest of the stuff for meatballs and replenishing some baking supplies. I threw the meatballs in right when I got home because Jameson won't be around for dinner tomorrow, and if it's just me I don't care if anything is "fresh from the oven", I'd rather have the food cooked and on hand for whenever. I didn't boil the corn, however, because that IS better fresh.

Then I fertilized the banana plants, had a little internal cry over my passion vine which is definitely dying this time, and weeded the pool deck before allowing myself an actual evening, to myself. I watched anime and planned my trip and booked hotels. I visualized making the cinnamon roll dough tomorrow, and wondered at the bubbly, gooey-looking ciabatta dough resting in the fridge. I read a little, and listened to nature sounds, and felt glad that I myself don't have kids.

It was really, really nice.

Aah, the weekend.

I got up earlier than I wanted to, but that's what happens when you have bread to bake.

Honestly, as tired as I am, and as much as I always need the sleep, having a few hours of quiet in the early morning is almost just as good to have. The house is still cool, the hot Florida sun hasn't yet broken through the haze of humidity, and I can see what I need to see with just ambient outdoor light. I prepare my mise en place, taking my time, each ingredient on the scale and into a small dish or measuring cup while the kettle heats on the stove. I add the yeast to a bowl of warm water or milk and honey so it can wake and bloom, and I pour myself fresh hot coffee so I can wake and bloom, too. I add the dry ingredients and mix the dough by hand, feeling when the lumps are gone and the dough is smooth and sticky.

And after that is usually when I start f*cking things up. Lol.

But seriously, it's really nice, to take my time and just enjoy the process.
To have just a few hours where I'm not supposed to be at work, or rushing to finish chores so I can practice steno.
To drink my coffee slowly from a mug, instead of gulping it between potholes on the way to work.

So if I'm such a terrible person for wanting that time to myself--for demanding it each week--then I guess I'm a terrible person.
I guess the Peanut Gallery can tisk away about how I choose to spend my time for a few hours each week. I'll probably never understand why it should matter to anyone else, or how me baking bread once a week warrants commentary at all. And I'll probably still get upset and defensive from time to time. But I'm still going to have time to myself like this. Because to some extent, I'm a Person, and I'm allowed.

Anyway, I had intended to make another brioche using an online recipe, but I overworked the dough and ended up having to throw it out. So instead I simply moved to the next recipe in my book, which is "Orange Blossom Brioche". It's the same brioche recipe as last week but with orange zest, orange blossom water, and wildflower honey instead of sugar. I hadn't wanted to make this loaf because I didn't think it would be a flavor I'd like. But we live in Florida, so really, how could I skip the ORANGE bread?

I made it exactly as instructed, with one very small deviation: I added just a little vanilla in place of a little of the orange water (which was optional anyway).

About the orange water, it wasn't available in any stores near me, so I had ordered it on Amazon around 5am, and it arrived that same evening around 5pm. Isn't technology amazing? Also, is Amazon hoarding orange water? Lol.

I first mixed the milk, honey, yeast, and eggs to let the yeast activate for a few minutes. Then I added the vanilla, orange water, and softened butter, whisking it until the butter was broken into smaller chunks. I poured the flour on top, and the salt and orange zest on top of that, then mixed it all together by hand. It rested for 30 minutes while I ate breakfast, then I kneaded it on the floured countertop for about 10 minutes at which point it was still sticky, but more firm and stretchy. Brioche dough is always stickier than regular dough due to all the sugar and butter.

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And it's the weekend. For me anyway.

Woke up late Wednesday, which was nice. For once I wasn't making bread so didn't have to be up by 9 to ensure it'd be done before steno class at 5:30. Had some nice coffee and breakfast and did a little gardening. The passion fruits are starting to drop from the vine, and I'm collecting them and waiting for them to finish ripening.

I've cut some of the smaller ones open and they're empty. Kinda suspected that might be the case when some of the fruits never got any bigger. I just hope the larger ones have some pulp. If not, I'll probably just buy some at the store and make a thing with them. It's been really dry so far this summer and, not being a farmer, I'm really unclear about how much water and when to apply nutrients and such. So if they're ALL empty, well, I'm failing at everything this month so why not one more thing.

In the pollinator garden, I finally got to work moving sand from one part of the swampy area to the part where my plants are. My plants are on a slope, and this makes erosion and water run-off a problem. But this isn't my property and I'm not supposed to be gardening here, so I try not to get too crazy. I moved several buckets until I felt it was as good as it was going to get (it'll never be level without some serious excavation), then put down a layer of topsoil that I hope will help retain moisture and provide more nutrients. While I was out there I planted the Joe Pye weed as it's gotten fairly big, and should probably get used to its permanent home. Assuming it doesn't die in this dry hot weather lately.

The milkweed is coming back really well from being eaten, I'm especially impressed with the giant milkweed. Can't wait to see it really fill out.

In the afternoon I went to the dentist, about 45 minutes away because I became a patient there while we lived closer to downtown. Dude is a really good dentist so I've hesitated to go somewhere else. Got some extra-fluoride toothpaste this time because lately I've had more sensitivity on one side.

On the way home I got groceries, but forgot saurkraut and will have to go back again tomorrow.
I measured the ingredients for "MaryAnn's Slow Rye", a recipe from a facebook bread group I'm in. It's a NY deli-style rye that has an overnight rise and calls for a "bread sponge", which is kind of like a preferment I guess. These are techniques and grain types that I'm unfamiliar with, so I'm pretty nervous about it. But for some reason the idea of making my own rye for reuben sandwiches has been swirling in my brain, so this week I'm going to deviate from my lesson book (gasp) and try this recipe on my own. At least I should be able to make the bread first thing in the morning, so if it sucks I'll have time to go buy real rye before dinner.

Steno class was ok, I could have done better but I wasn't terrible.
Afterward I started the bread sponge which was easy enough, then mixed the dough, which was a little weird and sticky but seemed to turn out ok (rye flour just happens to be stickier than AP flour). I'm super torn about leaving the dough to rise at room temperature as instructed, because "room temperature" here is between 75-80 degrees and if I get a six hour rise I'll have to punch this stupid dough down at 4:30 in the morning. argh.

After some stressed indecision I decided to put the dough in the fridge for a few hours before bed, then take it out to sit on the counter for the rest of the night. Maybe it'll keep colder a bit longer and delay the rise. At least I can check on it when I get up to pee?

I DID check on it when I got up to pee around 4am, and it seemed to be rising steadily but slowly. As long as it wasn't overflowing the bowl, that's all I really cared about. Thinking about it disrupted my sleep, though, so I was up at 7:30 to go look at it. It seemed to have doubled in size to me, so I scooped it onto the counter and flattened it, adding the caraway seeds and folding them in one, two, three times. The dough was a little stiff after three folds so I let it sit for 15 minutes, then came back and finished shaping it, setting it on a greased sheet tray with some cornmeal on the bottom. There it did it's final rise for about two hours while I made and ate breakfast and did some small chores. It seemed to me like it had doubled, so after a quick egg wash and scoring into the oven it went.

Apparently I put it in too early, though, because it split along the side of the loaf and also had some dense spots inside. This happens when you "underproof" bread, or don't allow enough time for the yeast to aerate and/or don't have a good gluten structure. Fortunately I did have a good structure, it's just that I put it in the oven too early. Still need to work on being patient I guess.

Here's where it split on the side.

The crumb. you can see the dense parts near the corner and bottom.

Right when I took the bread out of the oven, Jameson had some free time, so we decided to hit the gym.
This is my first actual workout since December 2019. Isn't that insane??
I took it easy, just doing 30 minutes on the elliptical at level one. Hopefully I can go one more time this week before the weekend, and then go each weekend day. Three days a week is ideal for me right now. It felt good to work up a sweat, even though I still hate exercising lol. Once I get going, it feels good.

Back home I was still irritated about the results of my bake, so I went to the store for sauerkraut and to look at the mass-produced rye bread because I didn't want to serve Jameson some dense crappy bread that I had messed up. But I was somewhat surprised to see that the half-loaves of rye sold in the Publix bakery had many of the same features as my bread...they weren't blown out the side, but they had a more dense crumb near the bottom. Even the prepackaged Arnold's brand really didn't look all that different from what I made. It's been a while since I had rye, so I guess my expectations were incorrect for how it's supposed to turn out. So then I said screw it, we're eating mine tonight.

Back home I sliced up the bread and set aside the best-looking slices for our sandwiches. Then I threw together the ingredients for my favorite granola as I haven't made any in a while, got that going, and pre-made my breakfast eggs and overnight oats with yogurt for the week. I also marinated some thin-sliced chicken breast and cooked it in the grill pan, figuring it'll go well with the rye for lunches. Good nutrition is 99% of the reason I was able to stay healthy during the pandemic, and I will ride that train for as long as I can afford to.

At some point during the day someone posted this in one of my circus-related facebook groups:

So this is actually happening. They're actually going to restart Ringling.

But, it's crushing. Because according to my friend who works in wardrobe on Feld shows, it'll probably be a small show, similar to the size of their Marvel Live production. No chance of a live band. I doubt they'd have animals either. This gentleman they've hired seems to have some experience with Cirque du Soleil.

Jameson thinks they're going to make a "kid-Cirque", in other words a more kid-centric version of what Cirque has already put out there. I think he's probably right; I just don't see what else could possibly be done that would be a) not what Ringling was, b) not what Cirque is, or c) not already being done in other small circuses. I reached out to the new Director just to introduce myself and express interest in what Feld's got planned, and he responded very kindly, but I do not expect more than that. Outside of being a musician I have a few administrative and creative skills that I could apply, but I very much doubt there will be anything for me on this new show. I just don't have the specific skills sets that they are likely to be looking for. This makes me incredibly sad, but there's nothing I can do about it but wait and see what will happen.

Anyway, around dinnertime I made the reubens for us. It really did feel special to use my very own homemade bread, and that cheered me up a bit. I layered each slice with homemade thousand island dressing, sauerkraut, thinly-sliced low sodium turkey, and shredded Swiss cheese. I cracked some fresh pepper into the sauerkraut and added a little fresh dill, then onto the grill pan they went. They turned out delicious, the bread crisped up so nicely and I honestly would never have known the bread wasn't storebought if I hadn't made it myself. Served with celery and carrot sticks and dip, and watermelon cubes. Kind of a lunch-ish dinner.

After cleaning up from that I packed my lunch and got things ready for work, then practiced steno while Jameson did his final D&D session with his friends for a while. With his show coming up, he won't have time to play again until after June or maybe even until after the summer.

I cut open three more passion fruits. All empty.
I think they are all just empty. Sad, and disappointing. There wasn't enough water. I screwed it up.

Well...this week, Jameson has more rehearsals so I'll be on my own most nights.
On Sunday I have my little charity concert.
Somewhere in there I hope to make time for the gym.
Other than that it's more of the same. Work, steno, eat, sleep. Wonder what I ought to be doing instead of this treadmill-like life path I'm on.

Hooray for the weekend.

I woke up feeling stressed again. It's a feeling like I'm not doing enough, and/or like I have too much to do.
In this annoyed mood I got started on the brown sugar spice oatmeal bread.

Everything went fine until it was time to incorporate the cooked oats, cinnamon and sugar. The dough was too tight for these ingredients to incorporate properly, so I ended up with a big mess of ropey dough and oats just everywhere. Irritated, I dumped it in my rising bowl and left it alone for 90 minutes, during which time I went to get a car wash, vacuumed the car, and visited our gym to see what their policies are on mask-wearing, cleaning, etc. Our gym is big with high ceilings and lots of floor space, so I think what they're doing is acceptable (masks optional, everyone gets their own cleaning bottle and towel, they clean extra and use UV lights on stuff, reduced class sizes, etc). I'll probably wait until after my family visit in June, but after that it's back to the gym, twice a week minimum.

After that I stopped at Lowe's for cowpea seeds since it's getting too hot for much else to grow, then came home to throw them in the dirt and check on the bread. The dough was a lot more loose, having risen a bit, so I worked the rest of the oats and brown sugar in and it went a little better. I left the dough to rise for the remainder of the time, not sure if having interrupted the rise will affect the finished loaf.

After lunch I dumped the dough out to shape it and it's very wet, a lot of extra moisture from those oats. Somehow I manhandled it into a loaf pan where it rose for another hour or so. During that time Jameson played virtual games with his friends, and I tried to relax with some stupid youtube videos, listening to the thunder outside and hoping it would rain (in Florida, thunder does NOT always mean it's going to rain.)

It did rain, and the rain was wonderful and sorely needed.

My bread was a disaster. It partially deflated, and when I cut it open it was heavy and still too wet inside.

I'd thought I did everything "right" except for incorporating the oats poorly, so figured they hadn't distributed well and had caused pockets of density.
What ACTUALLY happened, as I found out from author Bonnie O'Hara herself, is that I measured the oats DRY.
Reading her descriptive paragraph (which I had done but without, like, actually THINKING about what I was reading), she explains that this bread came about in an attempt to use up PRE-COOKED oatmeal that she had made for her family for the week. In other words, the oats need to be weighted AFTER cooking.

*headdesk*

I'm sure this seems obvious, but to me it was not so obvious while reading the instructions (before having my morning coffee I should note).

The other thing is how difficult it was to incorporate the oats as a separate thing from the main dough.
After doing some research online, it seems that most "leftover oatmeal bread" recipes have you include the oats in the initial dough-mixing process. My plan now is to weigh the COOKED oats, add them along with all of the other dough ingredients, and then add the brown sugar and cinnamon during the kneading process. Hopefully that'll solve that problem.

After that disappointment I had steno class, which went as well as it could. Then I made the cooked oats so they'll be ready for tomorrow, and chilled for a few hours while Jameson played the new Resident Evil game.

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Welp. Here I am MAY the FOURTH. Be with you. I guess.

I'm not a Star Wars "fan", but enjoyed the movies. I even liked the "new" movies, though they get a lot of popular criticism for JarJar and other factors. That doesn't change that there's beautiful cinematography, and an OK storyline. And an absolutely bangin' soundtrack, which is actually what I love about the series.

Anyway, I woke up earlier than usual on a day that I wouldn't normally have off, all to get my second covid shot.
I had prepared to the best of my ability: did all of my weekly chores, stocked some bland foods in case I have nausea again, planned to only cook dinner tonight and none of the other nights, and warned my steno teacher that I may not be there Wednesday night if I start experiencing symptoms. Last time it hit me in the middle of the night on Wednesday, but this time I'm getting the shot several hours earlier and also, who can predict what one's body will do? It could lay me out today instead of Thursday (which would actually be more convenient). We'll just have to wait and see.

But in the meantime I had a nice breakfast and felt nervous for a bit, and then got dressed and drove 30 minutes to the clinic.
It was a lot more chaotic than when I got the first shot, but still, fairly organized and everyone was polite and helpful. The poor nurse trying to administer my shot couldn't get my account to pull up for some reason and had to enlist help, which increased my anxiety a great deal (I have a strong fight-or-flight response to shots and waiting/allowing time for psyching myself out does NOT help) but I tried to think about her struggles instead of my fear, and of my sister who has had multiple surgeries, and my other sister who has had two children. I can at least take one shot. Even if I have a panic attack, even if I pass out, those are both only temporary reactions that will come and go, nothing life-threatening and no reason not to get vaccinated. Such is what I tell myself as I'm sitting there sweating and trying not to freak out.

Finally she got my stuff figured out and gave me the shot. I was relieved and sat quietly for the 15 minutes, then shot right out the door because the clock was now ticking for when symptoms would begin. And might I add, I'm very pleased that this is the second shot I've gotten in a row without getting faint or having a panic attack. Awesome! Take that, stupid brain!

I stopped at Target on the way home for a refill of the VERY effective shower spray that lookfar introduced me to, then went straight home where I immediately got to work on this week's bread: Kindergarten Honey Wheat!

This can be made as loaves or as rolls, I decided to try rolls in order to practice separating dough and shaping it.
The reason the author calls it "kindergarten" bread is because this is the dough she gave her kindergarten class to play with and then bake. If a bunch of snotty little kids can make it, so can I, right?

Right! I was very pleased with how these turned out. The dough was a 50/50 AP flour/wheat flour split, with a beautiful egg wash. The rolls came out soft and light (as light as red wheat flour gets anyway) and slightly sweet, downright delicious. I couldn't help but think about my first attempt at wheat bread by comparison; it was edible, but it was a BRICK. Looking at these rolls, I can see that I've learned a lot, and that was very satisfying.

As the dough for those was rising and proofing and all of that, I scooted out into the garden in the 93 degree heat to rescue my milkweed. I've had this potted milkweed out there for like two weeks, and it's dying because it's drying out in the pots. We've had very little rain and a lot of my plants are suffering. I had bought topsoil to try and fight off erosion, but feeling tired and not ready to move mountains of soil I decided to just get the milkweed in the ground for now and worry about laying down the new dirt later. Everyone got planted and watered.

I harvested our first large tomato, it looks really nice!

I want to make caprese sandwiches with it because the basil is finally starting to come up too. Man, what is it about basil that looks just so FRESH and GOOD.

My dill "tree" on the other hand, is getting ready to bolt (bloom flowers, drop seeds and die). This is the best I've ever gotten dill to grow so I'm sad, but also looking forward to attempting to grow from seed in the fall when it's cooler.

Most everything else is just existing for now, I got a few more jalapenos, the passion fruits aren't ready yet, the strawberries are not producing, the lemon tree is pissed at life and I don't blame it, it's damn hot out.

( Read more... )

On Friday I did get to work from home, they called someone else in.

But unfortunately, I found out that for the next two weeks I will not get to work from home because someone in the training department is out. Ages and ages ago (ok a few months), I volunteered to be a "hybrid" supervisor/trainer, and was taught how to lead the training classes. So I'll be coming onsite to do that for a few days.

You know, now that it's been months and I've absolutely forgotten how to do it.

Whatever, I'm basically a substitute teacher. There will be other people around to ask for help, and I'll do my best. And if my best isn't good enough, frankly I'm almost, ALMOST to the point of throwing this supervisor nonsense out the window and just becoming a straight-up captionist again. The only thing stopping me is the extra $4 per hour, which I'd have to make up somewhere else.

Sometimes I miss the simplicity, and lack of responsibility, that came with being a captionist.

It was nice to work from home as a supervisor too, even if only two days a week. I could snack while working, stretch outside, spend some time in the sun on my breaks. I could start small chores during breaks (I'm talking starting a load of laundry which takes 2 minutes tops, nothing drastic but it does save time). I'm sad to have to be onsite for the next two weeks, but considering we've only had work from home back for a few weeks it's just as well.

During my first break I released the three butterflies--Zipper, Towelie, and Underleaf as I guess I'll call her--without ceremony. I asked Jameson if he wanted to release one but he declined, having work to do and having experienced it already. The first two took off right away, flapping awkwardly into some nearby trees where they could be safe. The last one was a little slow, she'd been sitting on the fruit plate so perhaps she was full of yummy snacks. She sat on my hand for a moment, flexing her wings, so I took a picture. She's very beautiful after all.

After just a few minutes she was ready, and flew away.
Only one chrysalis left. Then my role in this saga is complete.

I went back to work, and when it was lunchtime I ate with Jameson then went back outside to check on the plants like I always do once per day. I didn't see any of the butterflies when I came out, but when I got close to the property fence one appeared from somewhere and got really close, hovering just a few feet in front of me. I stuck out my hand and it made as if to land, but changed it's mind and flew off.

Now I'm not very sentimental, and I really hate being anthropomorphic as it's not fair to the animal. But this is twice now that one of the butterflies I've released has popped out of the woods and come close specificially when I came outside. Ruling out any magical Disney princess BS, I wonder if perhaps they have a scent memory, or some instinct generated while in captivity that says "safe" when processing me. Can butterflies remember things? Do they have scent memory?

Anyway, it was nice to see them still hanging around, although I hope they will travel far in their short lives.

( Read more... )

Weekeeeeeeeend

Had some nice coffee, got this week's bread started (a raisin walnut loaf) and went outside to check on the garden things.

So in my last post (yesterday) my chrysalides looked like this:

And this is how they were Wednesday morning:

AAAAAAAAH!!! They're ready!

I tried not to freak out and went about my day as usual, but checked on them frequently to see if I could catch the emergence when it happened (it's called "eclosing", but that word is weird so I'm not much using it). I got the bread on its 3-hour rise, then went out to the garden to plant my milkweed and finish checking on stuffs. The bananas really are getting bigger!

Look at the weird flower bud of the black sapote.

A recent storm ripped out part of the screen in our lanai, so the creatures can get in.
My boyfriend came out to check out the chrysalides and found a banded sphinx moth in a corner of the pool deck!

I fished her out with the pool net and took her to a shady tree, where I hope she'll be more comfortable.

I planted three milkweed and the roselle plant in the pollinator garden. Hopefully no one else will lay eggs for a while so the milkweed can recover from being eaten. After finishing that project I wanted to wash my hands and prepare to interact with the bread again. As I was walking past the butterfly enclosure, I saw that one of the black chrysalides was cracking open!!

( Read more... )

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taz_39

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goofball on a train

(adventures of a touring musician)

Entries tagged with breaducation

DoughMalley's

All The Breads

The Never-Ending Checklist

A Normal-Day Post

Random Nature

Frantic Rest

Being a Pretzel

Thursday Weekend '21

Bread and Early Prep

Never Enough Bread

The Baby Typhoon

"Vacation" Snippet 2

Let Me Have My Vacation

That Escalated Quickly (wait for it)

Buns in the Oven

Empty Fruits

I Did Nothing

Going Full Vax

Let's Suck at Everything but Bread

Fly Away Home