So, I'm going to start writing in this blog again.  I haven't really been on a cooking kick lately, and I'm hoping that if I do write about when I cook, it will inspire me to cook more.  We'll see.

For now, I finally made bread for the first time since we moved to Portland.  I even ground the wheat in my shiny new wheat grinder.  I don't know how it tastes yet because it's still rising, but I'll let you know. . .

In the meantime, I'm ordering a fancy new dough paddle for my Bosch.  (Maybe if I spend enough money on a hobby, I will do it?)  

Not So Balls Out (Excuses, Excuses)

In response to Laura's post: I am also having trouble sleeping at night. After 8 hours of sleep in a 3 day period I finally took some of Mike's clonidine and went to be at 630 (1830, that is) and woke up at 0650 the next morning, thank goodness. So that made things a little better but now I am going all crazy obsesive about my house, cleaning out closets and things . No one wants to read about spot-cleaning my stairs. Mike even had to buy bread this morning, for the first time in over a month.

And the reason for this? We are going to Disneyland! And we have some house-sitters comming. God forbid they find out I am not a perfect housekeeper. Like it's a secret! So I am not balls out till we get back. But when I do get back I want to can tomatoes with you, Laura. And make a thousand quarts of applesauce. And start a sewing project. So see you all after we get back from the happiest place on earth!

Things could be going better...

Well, my jars of peppers sealed! We even had dinner made with one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. Pretty cool! Of course, we couldn't actually eat the dinner because it was WAY to spicy for us... and then I spent the entire night in bed wondering when I was going to die of botulism and whether or not botulism could pass through breastmilk. Sigh. I did stay away from Dr. Google though... so I don't actually know any of the symptoms of botulism. Aren't you all proud?

When the pepper lady comes to the farmers market next weekend, she will be bringing me several pounds of red jalapenos. I can hear you all now: "WHAT?!?! You are going to do that again? That four-day disaster? Again? Are you CRAZY?" Well... yup. I am going to do it again. But I have learned some things! It will be better this time! For starters, I am going to use red jalapeno peppers (the pepper lady says they are a little sweeter and less hot, which may make them edible for us!). Next, I am going to remove the seeds and stems from a few of them. This should make them less potent. Finally, I am not going to can them. Why not? Since you only use one or two at a time and they are preserved through drying, canning seems redundant.

I made this the other night - it was pretty good. I would recommend a few changes to the recipe though. Even though the tart pan is cool and fun to use, I think the crust would be better as crackers and the filling as a spread. Don't get me wrong, the tart was really, really good - just a little too much filling to crust.


So I was going to do a blog entry on sourdough. Really, I was. Megan called the other day for sourdough info and I was all set to blog away. I made more bread yesterday and took pictures and everything. But then, last night, as I was loading the bread into the fridge for its overnight stay, I dropped the loaves on the floor. Yeah, they were covered in plastic, but they still got a little... well... flat. And that is how they looked when they came out of the oven. Flat. I am sure they still taste fine. Ah well. In any case, KAF just blogged about sourdough. Check it out. I am guessing they didn't drop their loaves. If they did, they didn't admit to it. :)

Managed to make cheese this morning while Ava slept. I used whole milk and lemon juice. When it was all done I added chives from my garden. I hope it is good - I need a very clear cut success.

Hope you are both getting sleep...