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Friday, October 10, 2008

First Results from new "sour dough starter"

All looks fairly successful, but since this was whole wheat the loaves were tasty but somewhat dense in texture.

I added white flour to the next "feedings" of the starter and switched to a white sour dough starter. The results were much better and I baked the loaves longer than these -- almost twice as long -- half at 450 degrees and half at 400 degrees.

I used the left over bread to make croutons for the "chef style" salad we usually have at least once per week.

I now have a "resting" starter in the refrigerator awaiting it's next feeding.

On another front -- it felt cold today until about mid-afternoon -- tonight is the football game -- hope it is not too cold . . . looking forward to those bleachers though.

And the week goes on . . .
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Opening . . .

The incredibly beautiful fall is here. The leaves on our Liquid Ambers are starting to turn to a variety of colors. The temperature is in the high 80's and the breeze feels good -- not hot enough to kick the a/c on, but close.

Working on finding the person or persons who brought our family to this country absorbs a great deal of my time. But there are many other activities that use up my time as well.

Today, we took our dog to the veterinarian for "teeth cleaning". He's home now and very much more subdued than when we brought him in earlier this morning. I expect he will pick up energy as the evening goes on.

I continue to read the manuals for various tech upgrades -- e.g. Windows Vista -- which I really am enjoying. The other manual is for the DSLR that replaces our point and shoot digital camera.

Another activity that has intrigued me lately is making sour dough starter. It took me about ten days and our kitchen looked like a small science lab but I have a successful starter now -- we used it to make some delicious sour dough pancakes and two loaves of sour dough bread (one better than the other).

Also another ongoing activity is drying the numerous tomatoes from our garden -- which have been plenty this season. Also a few peppers and some other herbs. The dryer has worked overtime but it is so nice. At this moment we are drying two kinds of apples -- Granny Smith & Gala, one is tart and the other oh-so-sweet . . . I seem to eat almost all the production as it comes out of a twelve hour process.

After the daytime activities are completed, it's time for relaxing. Last night we watched the debate -- or the "town meeting" as it was termed. We also caught up on "Dancing With The Stars" and were glad to see that no one was eliminated last night due to the unfortunate accident of Misty May. We tend to enjoy reality type shows -- including "Survivor", "Amazing Race" and "American Idol". We also like "Wheel of Fortune" and of course "Jeopardy".

We record everything almost on a DVR and then can watch the programs at our convenience -- especially shows like "Leno" and "Jimmy Kimmel" which we then watch during maybe our luncheon time -- you can tell probably that we are retired . . .

This week we will attend the homecoming game in Healdsburg on Friday evening -- we will use our stadium seats to support us on the bleachers and hopefully take some good photos.

That's the week at-a-glance from HHH . . .