One Way To Look At It...

 

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500,000 Hours Old

At some point today I will turn 500,000 hours old, per this website.  (Or 30,000,000 minutes old.  Or 1,800,000,000 seconds old.)  I'm guessing it will happen 3 hours and 40 minutes after the site says, since to go back to that date would be to go back to midnight and I was born at 8:20 pm, but splitting hairs here.  A couple years ago I turned 20,000 days old, and a few years before that I turned 50 years old, but I think this is about the last of the notable round numbers I will achieve in my lifetime.

Cable Update and Cheese Pennies

A couple hawks with a snack, across the street yesterday.

After finally getting cable TV canceled last month, no small feat, I changed my strategy a bit on Tuesday when I called to cancel cable internet.  I simply told them I was moving to Tokyo, which still didn't stop them from offering better deals or putting me on hold to delay me, but it did seem to go quicker this time.  I seemed to annoy them (again) that I would not end the call until they turned the internet off and I verified, but they had already proven their word could not be trusted.

Then, at the end of the call, he brought up one piece of equipment we supposedly still had - one of their modems.  I was pissed.  I told him it had been several years since we returned that modem, so long ago I couldn't remember what year or where I returned it.  He opened an inquiry and said it could take up to 72 hours.  Meanwhile, I looked up when we bought our first modem from Amazin' and it was March of 2014, so I would have returned their equipment by early April that year at the latest, over ten years ago.

Thankfully, later that night, I received an email that stated they have "completed your equipment research request in alignment with your expectations."  As far as I'm concerned, that better be the end of it.  Fuck Spectrum, I'll never be a customer of theirs again.

Meanwhile, I've continued to make cheese pennies every so often.  I'm finding it easiest to make multiple batches at once to have them available in the freezer.  I baked most of the last of a roll of mild cheddar cheese pennies yesterday, and today for the freezer I made bleu cheese (for the first time), parmesan, and sharp cheddar with cayenne cheese penny rolls.  (I've also made swiss cheese pennies before.)

Our first-place Brewers are playing the last-place Cubs this weekend.  It's always fun to beat the Cubs, especially this year.  Rain again last night and now too windy tonight for a fire, so I'm going to kick back and watch the game this afternoon and enjoy a quiet evening in.  Have a good weekend, everyone.

Baking and Fence

I made two rounds of baguettes last weekend, pizza dough, and an odd recipe for cool ranch corn bread.  The first round of baguettes were marred by the gold non-stick surface of the baking pan coming off onto the bottom of 2 of the 3 baguettes.  I've used this tray since the middle of last year with no issues, so not sure why it happened now.  I contacted the seller and they apologized and refunded my money, but now I have to get a new baguette baking tray and they all have a non-stick coating.  We were able to cut off the affected parts of the bottom of the baguettes and ate the tops.  The next day I made more and used the same tray, but with parchment paper.  Pizza dough is pretty easy, no matter the recipe, and went straight into the freezer for future dinners.

The cool ranch corn bread is another recipe from the vlogger that I got the peanut butter bread recipe.  Quick and simple, but nothing to really jump up and down about.  He said it tasted like a cool ranch Dorito, and I thought corn tortilla versus corn bread with that seasoning might work.  I'm glad I tried it but I won't make it again.

Last Wednesday I signed the papers and put down a deposit for the fence to be put in on the East side of the back yard.  At the time, he said they were scheduling about a month out, but on Friday I got a phone message saying our fence would be installed the next Thursday.  I don't think so.  We have a lot of work to do on the fence line before that can happen, and it won't be done by then.

On Sunday morning I took the chain saw to the lilac bush, which is now half the size, if not less.  The firewood I plan on dumping to the ground the day before the fence will get installed, then afterward put the rack where it will go and restack the wood.  Seems easier than moving and restacking the wood twice.  And we're going to have to dig up about 3 feet of the stump area all along the fence line to get a gradual decline to the neighbor's yard, to where the ground level should be if it had not been built up around the tree that was there.  Only then the fence can go in.

It's going to take a lot of work, but it will get done.  I got a start on it this afternoon only to find out the city drop off site is still on winter hours until April, which means they're open only during my work hours.  We can put the plant matter into the compost bin if needed, and hopefully we will find neighbors that need the dirt or else it will sit in the garage until I can get rid of it.  Another problem is the weather.  We'll be cold for the rest of the month with some snow expected.  I'm hoping to work on it a little at a time to save my back.

The fence company knows I don't want it installed this week, and we discussed the first week of April.  I probably won't get an exact date until it gets closer, but I will not let them install it until I'm satisfied we are ready.

All That, And Cheese Pennies

As the days grow longer and the temperatures are warmer I'm reminded of how I haven't really walked the neighborhood since starting my new job.  Winter temperatures and very active work days seemingly justified the break, but my wife has suggested we start walking again when it gets a bit warmer and I think we should, too.  We can enjoy watching the neighborhood wake up from winter and grow into summer, until it's too hot to walk outside, maybe.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but since commuting every day I'd been saving dashcam videos of egregious traffic violations/stupidity/arrogance.  I soon stopped bothering as it's become so common in these times that I see at least one and often several egregious things every day.  Running red lights, not stopping at stop signs, cutting people off in traffic with not even a blinker, stupid speeds, tailgating, or you name it.  This just seems to be the new normal.  Look both ways, folks.

I've not yet had a fire this spring, but I'm sure it will happen in the next few weeks.  There have been crocus coming up in the lawn for at least a week now.  (I always want to type 'krokus' because of the band!) The new neighbors really opened up the other side of their back yard for access to trim the black walnut trees, which look real good now.  It's been 3.5 years since we had the back fence replaced and we've considered putting a matching fence on that side ever since, and now's the time.  There will be much more on that coming soon.

Yesterday I perused King Arthur's website for a quick and easy recipe for something I could make with what was in the house and I came across this recipe for Cheese Pennies.  Today, I decided to make them as a distraction from the Badger game, which they were not favored and did lose.  It was interesting getting the dough to come together, but with a bit of water it got there.  Everything was pretty easy and was done in a short amount of time.  They taste like one of the name brand cheesy cracker snacks but have a home made texture.  I got 69 crackers and the recipe says about 80, so I may have sliced some a bit thick.  Overall, a fun experiment and a tasty, cheesy snack.  Good to try but not sure if I'll ever make it again.

And finally, before I forget to post these, I came across a recent PBS video of a show about Madison.  I found it interesting and noticed they did one about Dodgeville last year.  They're almost a half hour long, so only for the interested.  Links to the Madison and Dodgeville PBS videos are under those words.

I'm looking forward to spring, a big fence project, and more backyard privacy.  Among other things, of course.

February This-And-Thats

I've been feeling much better this week but for continuing sniffles, since being sick the prior two weeks.  It's just been going around as I've heard of several others being sick.  It's no fun, especially since I was barely sick for several years due to changes that came with the pandemic, like masks and working from home.  I'm around so much more people now than I have been in a long time.

New neighbors, late neighbor Dave's daughter and son-in-law, are still not moved in.  The house was supposed to be done December 15, they told me, and they had to be out of where they lived January 31, so not sure where they're living now.  At least they are getting $100 off the bill for every day past December 15, but I'm sure they'd rather it just get finished.  In the early days late in summer and fall there was work being done maybe one day a week. Now, for the last several weeks there's work being done weekdays, weekends, holidays, and sometimes late into the night.  Further exterior work will have to wait, they said, whether for weather or financial reasons I'm not sure.  We've been thinking of putting a fence on that side like our back fence, and they may want to remove theirs before then if they want the metal posts covered with wood on their side of it, like the fence in the back.  We'll talk to them again sometime after they finally move in, I'm sure.

The weather has been mild, kind of like March at the end of January/beginning of February and continuing.  Early last week we again had morning fog on several days, including freezing fog in areas.  Was like nothing I'd ever seen.  Driving through one of the little squalls is a almost a whiteout of tiny snowflakes, with everything getting frosted in white with them.  Otherwise, the snow has been melting so just a small mound here and there where it was deepest.  And we had thunderstorms the other night, including a few tornadoes just south of here - the first February tornadoes in Wisconsin in recorded history.  It feels like spring though the calendar says otherwise.  I guess we'll find out if February will start acting like winter again or not.  And anything could always happen in March.

I came across a website that provides (for free) background noises, and you can customize and combine to make one to your liking.  Noises Online is under those blue words, if interested.

The last time I made baguette I used bread flour instead of AP and proofed them in the couche.  I seemed to get bigger bubbles in the crumb but proofing them in a floured cloth makes the skin less flexible to expand when baking, thus they tend to split on me, so far.  But I like mixing it up and trying new techniques.  In fact, I'm even starting to reconsider getting a sourdough culture that I'll have to feed and keep alive in the fridge.  Ugh!  Anyway, they always are good bread no matter and I look forward to my next stab at it, probably next weekend.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday.  I do plan on watching the game, but only to try and catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift!  Just kidding.  I don't really care who wins, but I do like to see Patrick Mahomes whine so I may root for the 49ers.  Mostly, I just hope it's a good game - and that my number$ hit!

Halloween 2023 and First Snow

Happy post-Halloween, everyone.  It was mostly a quiet night around here, so thankfully I got only about a third of the candy we had last year.  We got just 9 trick-or-treaters this year, but were only one of 3 houses on the block that I noticed had their lights on.  The last two kids were growing mustaches and it was pretty cold so I shut it down about 7:00.  It barely got above freezing yesterday with occasional light snow flurries off and on all day for our first snow of the year, though it didn't stick.  

I carved a pumpkin again to display on the front steps last night, and today it is on the stump in back waiting to be ravaged by the squirrels and rabbits.  I have the trail camera aimed in that direction but I got a pretty good video of it getting eaten bit by bit last year.  The mummy in the windows was showing wear on the fold seams, and I was getting tired of it so this was the last year for that.  I also pulled out the mask with the moving mouth LED lights to wear again but that wasn't working right so is also in the trash now.

We had a good run, but I'm not sure I'll do so much next year.  It doesn't seem worth it for just a handful of kids so maybe just candy next year, and maybe the flickering flame light bulb again, too, since I have it just for this holiday.  Hope you had fun if you chose to celebrate.

Sunflower Seeds And #1 Neighborly

It was apparent by the mess outside the back door this morning that the sunflower had indeed gone to seed and those seeds had been discovered.  Squirrels had been getting at it this morning, while the cats watched diligently and silently from inside the porch and bedroom window, just feet away.  If I was going to harvest any seeds to plant next year the time seemed to be now.

Thankfully only a small part of the seeds had been pilfered so far, so I was able to get a good amount rubbed off into a small box.  They do seem a bit moist yet so I'll have to let them dry out before storing them until spring.  My mind starts to wander thinking about different places to plant them in spring, but no sense thinking about that as it is still about 7 months away yet before they'll be planted.

And while I'm thinking of it, I mowed the whole lawn today.  Only notable for the few times I've had to mow this year.  I believe it's only been: May, once; June, 1/2; July, 0; August, 1 1/2; September, once - today.  So I've mowed the whole lawn only 4 times and the back yard an additional 2 times through September this year.  Incredible, really, just absolutely incredible.

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In other news, Madison was fashionably ranked number one on yet another list.  This time it is for the Most Neighborly City in the US, 2023, after being ranked second last year by neighbor dot com.  Madison has consistently made these kind of lists and has often topped these kinds of lists in the last several years.  No matter where you live it's easy to take what is local for granted, but there are actually a lot of good things about this area.  I often seem to find more and more to take for granted around here.  More lately, I've been trying to make an effort to take more advantage of many local amenities, but there's always more that get missed.  We have a really good zoo in town that I haven't been to in years, and I feel bad about it every time I think of it, for example.

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Finally, it's the new fiscal year this weekend.  Normally not very notable but we're headed for another government shutdown at midnight due to the intellectual toddlers in Washington, and for the second straight year I have to work on a weekend.  Tomorrow afternoon I have to sign on for a few hours to get some end-of-fiscal-year work done and do some testing due to system updates for the fiscal year changeover, and I'm really not happy about it.  And since I work on government contracts but for a private company we will have business as usual if the government shuts down, but without funding it will be hectic catching up on payments once the in-fighting in the Senate and House gets resolved.

We all have to work together if we are to survive.  The way things are going now, we're doomed.

Gameday Baking

Kate made olive parmesan bread on Sunday morning.  It was a first try making it and it turned out very good.  She thawed the frozen white bread dough in the fridge overnight, then let it rise a bit more before cutting it into pieces, then mixing it with various sliced olives, shredded parmesan cheese and olive oil.  I suggested the square baking dish but next time I think she'll try it on a tray with parchment paper.

When I told my Mom some time ago that we were getting these loaves of frozen bread dough she reminded me of when I was young she'd make cinnamon rolls out of it.  I'm sure they were yummy so we may try that in the future.

Once Kate was done in the kitchen I began making baguette.  It was a couple hours before the Packer game at noon so I knew it would overlap but I can still hear the television from the kitchen.  And I often text with my Mom during the games so I texted her pics and kept her up with the process.  So, since I already have the pictures, I'll put that baguette process after the break with some narrative on the changes I made to my technique. 

100º Sunflower Baking

I'm not sure what the official numbers were, but I saw 100ºF actual temperature and 117ºF as the 'feels like' temperature on Wednesday.  It was over 90% humidity in the morning but was down to mid-40's at the hottest part of the day, which is still more than enough to be very palpable at that temperature.  It was our first 100 degree day since July 2012, in a worse drought that year.  Thursday was much the same, just a few degrees less.  Kate dug up an old pan to put out with water for the critters so we did that and I threw some peanuts on the stump area to help bring them in so I could put out the trail camera to see what happened.

This new trail camera shows the temperature on the pictures but not the video, which is disappointing.  I've searched through the settings a few times, but the option just isn't there.  The video below is clips with pictures here and there, all in timeline order, of that time of the week so you can take a moment to consider the temperature and time of day.  The water pan wasn't used a whole lot yet, but it was a new thing, too.

Other than that, last post was the sunflower at its peak.  I now have a bungee cord helping stabilize it as it appeared to be leaning more, and with the heat and heaviness of the bloom the top is looking a bit more droopy.  And if you look close, the small one does have an odd, small attempt at a bloom.

You can't tell, but yes, I've been watering.

I also did some baking today, trying a new recipe for the second time.  It's a very versatile French bread recipe and a full batch makes a lot of dough.  This batch I made into 4 burger buns with 4 pepperoni and cheese rolls below those, and hot dog buns and a baguette on the right.

Oh, I was off work for an appointment today, so I had the time.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

San Damiano

San Damiano has been a Friary on the shores of Lake Monona since the late 1800's until 2001 when it was bought by the City of Monona.  Young seminarians stayed here to pray, study and recreate while attending the University of Wisconsin.  It sits on about 10 acres including Indian burial mounds and what is probably the largest undeveloped lakefront left on the Madison lakes.  It's interesting to look into, but I'll just leave this link and this link for you to see for yourself, if you wish.

I've been trying to get us outside for lunch on Sundays, whether it be al fresco at a restaurant or take-out food in a park, preferably on the water but not required.  Sunday we stopped and got some sub sandwiches and headed to San Damiano, a place we've driven by thousands of times but hadn't yet visited since the city opened it as a park while they figure out exactly what they're going to do with the property.

It was overcast, and sprinkling very lightly when we arrived but not enough to spoil lunch and a short walk around.  Eventually the rain got heavier, so we went on our way with our day but we do want to go back when it's a little nicer out.

I hope they keep it much as it is.  It's a very nice oasis in the middle of the city.  More after the break.

Rain!

We finally had some beneficial rain yesterday, and a couple more good, shorter showers today.  

Yesterday it rained pretty good most of the day from before midday to later in the evening, officially 1.68 inches in Madison.  And right now the second of two good scattered rainshowers is finishing up.  I'm not sure how this will affect our drought status of D3 (Extreme Drought) yet, but I'm sure we still need much more.  The site linked under the blue words in the last sentence (and now in the right column) reminded me of 2012, when we were even drier so far in the year, to the 2018 floods and high lake levels, and here now in 2023 a drought again.  

The pendulum swings...

Smoke and Air Quality

Edit: Just noticed the Hazardous spelling :)

Tuesday morning our Air Quality Index number was 198, officially Unhealthy and bordering on Very Unhealthy.  This morning our air quality index number was 295, almost Hazardous  - per the Air Quality Index.

This is all smoke from some of about 500 current wildfires in Canada funneled down in circumstance of weather and winds.

According to the news, being outside here this whole 24 hour day today is the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes.  The haze is noticeable and the air a bit thicker and with a smell of smoke.  The only escape other than quick travel far, far away is staying indoors with the windows shut and the air conditioning on, which we started doing earlier today.

I've had my own issues with it as a former smoker, but everyone will notice to some degree or another.  I took half a day off today, not fully because of this but we were slow and it was noticeable to the point of distraction for me this morning.  I have the time to take and I deserve it, so I did.  But while I took a walk despite the air yesterday I won't be walking today.  The recommendation is everyone stay indoors and use an air purifier if you have one, but I'm sure most people are continuing as normal and doing what they need to do, inside or outside.  Life goes on, just with a new topic of conversation.

June This-And-Thats

I've a few things on my mind and I have a new keyboard to get used to so I need to do some typing to see if I still like full size keys, so here we go!

• New computers come with a keyboard but they are cheap ones with flat, "chiclet" keys and I can't stand those.  For the last few years I've had a keyboard with actual keys, about half size keys, but keys.  There's nothing wrong with that keyboard but it is filthy, as keyboards get over time, so I ordered a new one that has full size keys.  What size keys do you prefer?
• 
  The bird food we have now is good but has some large dried fruit and lots of peanuts, and sometimes those clog up the feeder so I've been going through it and removing those dried fruits and many of the peanuts.  Now, without the clogging, the birds have been emptying the feeder in just about 2 days.  Plenty of entertainment for the cats, for sure, but tiresome to keep going through the bird food and refilling so often.  My wife knows more about bird food so will get something different soon, but there's still a few pounds left.  The dried fruit and peanuts that I remove I've been putting on the stump around the gnome for the critters.  I put the trail camera there to watch and while there's a few entertaining videos they are all pink still, hard to watch so unusable.
• Because of that, I ordered a new trail camera, this one.  I spent a bit more hoping it's worth it, and it should be here anytime, actually, maybe by the time I'm done writing here.  Then a few hours later a new SD card is scheduled to arrive, as well.  I know BW bought the same trail camera as I had, and I hope she has better luck with it than I did.  And I'm hoping I like the new one better since it has been very interesting putting it in different areas and seeing what happens when we're not around.
• Early this afternoon I want to paint the front door, so if the trail camera and SD card arrive in time I was thinking of trying a time lapse.  The door is currently a dirty white, and so we picked out a shade of purple to add a little color.  If I don't do it today it will be at least 2 weeks until I can get it done because we're going to be hot so very likely will have the air conditioning on for much if not all of that time so the door will have to be closed.
• 
  Because I just touched upon the weather, since I last reported on it we've had some very cool days and some comfortable days recently, but just a very little rain.  And while there is a small chance of rain today I don't see it happening and there's no real chance for the next week or more.  We've officially moved from "dry" to "mild drought" again.
• So we've still been watering the gardens and sunflowers every day.  One sunflower has really taken off, the pair seem to be doing okay still, just younger.  And the other seems to have been struggling a bit, so I hope it makes it.  I feel I should take the cage off the bigger one but I'm afraid a critter will fell it with one bite.  Precedence was established long ago.
• I made baguette again yesterday, and my latest baking purchase was a UFO lame for making the cuts.  I hate it.  It doesn't work as well as a sharp serrated knife and seems very dangerous when loosening/tightening as one slip and your finger would slip into the razor blade.  I'll stick with the knife, see the difference in the picture here.

• 

  Top two serrated knife, bottom UFO lame.

  Someone also mentioned the state of our street recently and I noted how there are worse.  In fact, the next block over is much worse.  Well, there's been a surveyor in the neighborhood recently and little pink flags started appearing on the lot lines, see bird feeder picture.  I talked to him the other day, and the city is looking to update our street and that other street, and I'm sure the sewer under it while they're at it.  He surveys and creates a 3D model which then is used for the planning.  Our two streets create a horseshoe so it makes sense to do them both at one time, and likely next year, he said.  It won't be fun while it's happening but will sure be nice when they're done.  

I think I'll get used to this new keyboard, but work will be the real test.  Worst case, I clean up and reconnect the old one.  Now I have to go fill the bird feeder again, and the trail camera is late...

Snow Removal Time Lapse

I've been pretty frustrated with the trail camera recently, it seems to pick up only what is immediately in front of it and not all the time.  The critters eating the pumpkin worked out well, but several others I tried haven't.  I watched a couple videos on the subject so will have to keep in mind some hints, like not having something closer in the frame than where I want it to look, and I was reminded this trail camera has a time lapse option that I've never used.

I didn't consider using it for the snowfall the other day since we were only expecting a few inches and it started about 3 in the morning, but I did think about it when it came time to clearing that snow.  I didn't post the video earlier because I couldn't figure out how to blur the license plate when I pulled my wife's van into the driveway, but last night I sat down and edited the video to cut off before you can see it, slowed it down a bit, and added some free music in the background.  I know I made a similar video before, but it wasn't quite this much snow - at all.

I placed the trail camera on its little tripod on top of my car in the garage, sorry it's at an angle.  I also just brought it outside so don't believe the temperature - but do see it go down quickly as it acclimates.

You can see I wasn't trying to get it perfect, since I was expecting to have to do it again later.  And when I disappear out front I'm shoveling the walk to the front door, then knocking the snow off the heavily weighed-down arborvitae and clearing the snow off the van which was parked right in front of the house.  It would have been in the driveway to begin with if we knew we were getting this much, but it wasn't so I wanted to get it in the driveway before a snow plow came by.  It took several attempts of forward and reverse to get it back far enough (slightly uphill and through all that snow) to turn into the driveway, but I did it.

About 80% of it is melted already but we are expecting some more overnight as we sleep.  Not sure how much, but it will melt soon from the temperatures and the rain coming in the days ahead.  Out like a lamb, hopefully.

More Bread Stuff

Still cold and snowy, but at least it will get above freezing this coming week so everything should melt.  Until I have other things to write about, here's more of this.  At least it beats more writing about cold and snow.  Breadmaking has made these mundane winter days more bearable.

As stated last post, I made baguette again last weekend.  I think I did better shaping them the first time, though, and I need to work on dividing the dough evenly.  But this time I had the new cast iron pan for the boiling water on the low oven rack and before putting them in the oven I brushed the loaves with water.  I also cautiously baked them 10ºF lower than the recipe called for and I may have taken them out a bit early, but they are fully baked.  They remind me of the take-and-bake baguette we can get from the store, so can be warmed in the oven for several minutes to be like fresh baked.  I like the color a lot better and it tastes very good still, but I promise I will get better at this yet.

I also noticed my wife had put buns in our online grocery cart, so rather than buy those buns I baked some on Monday evening.  This is the recipe I used, and they turned out really very good.  Like the baguette, though, room for improvement.  First, I think I flattened them just a bit too much as they are a bit bigger around than I'd like, and while the recipe calls for brushing them with butter just before and just after baking, I think I'll just do it before baking next time.  The recipe also said you could divide into 6 and use the bun pan instead of the 8 shown here, but I'm sure they would have crested the rim and looked like muffins, like the cheesy burger buns I made earlier.  I think I will continue to use this recipe for when we want buns, and I may even try to shape them differently for brats and hot dogs when we need those.  Start to finish in less than three hours is pretty good, too.

We picked up that same grocery order mentioned above on Tuesday afternoon, so on Wednesday I made one of the store-bought frozen loaves of white bread dough.  If they had wheat I would have tried that, but this white bread is still really good.  Again, maybe a bit underdone, it is very soft, so I may be being too careful in not wanting things to get overdone now.  The directions called for an 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan and the one we have is pyrex, which may be why the sides and bottom were less done, but we also have 9.5 x 5 metal non-stick loaf pans and they may work better for this so I'll use one of those next time and we'll see.

More bread related purchases recently, a container for a loaf of bread to keep the sandwich bread protected and fresh, and a pastry mat that can be used as a work surface for bread dough.  I've also previously bought an 8" cast iron pan, bun pan, dough scrapers, and oven and food thermometers.  So, not including ingredients, I've spent just about 100 bucks on these items specifically related to my new breadmaking hobby.  Not too bad, actually, I expected more.  I wonder what I'll think I need next?  

This weekend I'll be making no bread, for a change.  At least I'm not planning on it.  We have baguette, buns and sandwich bread so my work is done for the moment.

Of course, with new buns made there is another double smash burger pic after the break!  ;)

And no, we don't have these quite as much as it may seem, but we had to test the new buns out!

My Breadmaking Beginnings

So much for moderation, I've been baking some kind of bread every weekend recently.  We had the last baguette out of the freezer with dinner last night and, being a bit more removed from making them, they actually are really good so I will be making them again next.  Baguette is the bread we normally bought more than any other bread.  This will be the first good bread I'll be making for a second time.

I started my breadmaking late last fall with a couple different, simple no-knead recipes.  Quick and easy seemed a good way to start.  This is the first recipe I tried, Peasant bread, but if I do it again I think I'll try this version from King Arthur Baking Company, where I got all the rest of my bread recipes ever since.  The second recipe  I made was also a no-knead, but crusty and baked in a Dutch oven.  Better than the first, but still kind of a gummy texture.  Not sure why, but I have no pictures of these.

Plain White Sandwich Bread

The next recipe I tried was called 'the easiest loaf of bread you'll ever make,' so, of course, I tried it.  It was good, but I wanted better.  It's the first picture on this post from earlier this month.  After that my sweet tooth got the better of me and I tried another no-knead, a brioche swirled with jam.  The second picture from that same post.  The sweetness and swirl of jam covered up any gumminess of the no-knead bread and this loaf did not last long.

After that, I veered away from regular bread again and made cornbread muffins.  We had all the ingredients and they turned out very good.  Again, no pictures taken, but they're just corn muffins.

Next recipe was for baguette, and turned out to be the best thing I'd made so far, and probably since.  You can read more about what I wrote about that here.  Having done it once now, I'm hoping to improve on that first attempt this weekend with both technique and having a proper pan for the boiling water.

Cheesy No Knead Burger Buns

So, let's see, that's up to 6 different breads I'd made so far.  And I'm not counting the pizza crust my wife and I made together.  I'll be trying different pizza crust recipes in the future, but that's a different category.  On with the breads.

Having enjoyed the baguette so much, my wife asked that I make a sandwich bread.  We had sandwich ingredients but didn't have any sandwich bread at the time, so basically I was asked to either make one or buy one.  Well, I had all-purpose and bread flour, and there's not as many recipes out there for white bread as there is for wheat bread, and many of them called for dry milk so my choices were limited.  I wound up trying this recipe and it was okay, maybe a bit more dense than I'd like, but good.  Picture number one on this post for the 7th made bread.  I want to try a different sandwich bread recipe next time but haven't found it yet.  I may end up buying wheat flour, and that would be good, too.

That same weekend I made a no-knead cheesy burger bun recipe that had caught my eye.  The recipe offered a choice of cheeses, powder or finely shredded, and I went with finely shredded parmesan.  Picture number 2 here, of the number 8 bread.  These were good buns and you couldn't really tell they were no-knead, but a lot of flavor.  They really rose more then I expected, too, up and over the bun pan to look like muffins.  We had them with my homemade smash burgers and it was a lot of flavors competing with each other, so while I know I will make buns again I will be trying a different recipe.

Pan de Cristal (Glass Bread)

Then another bread caught my attention that I wanted to try, Pan de Cristal, or glass bread.  It looked like a nice outer crust but had very large air bubbles inside that I found very interesting.  And the recipe was a bit of a surprise, it's a 100% hydration bread, 500g water to 500g bread flour.  I read up on it and watched the videos, but actually found it easy to make and, again, was surprised at how much it rose for me compared to the recipe pictures and video.  Too well done and it wasn't in the oven as long as it was called for, but I've ordered an oven thermometer to check that and will go more by what I see than what the recipes say in the future.  But this is a good, novel snack bread, maybe good as part of a charcuterie board or something but not for everyday.  Bread 9, last picture here.

And that'll be the last of counting them, I think.  I also think I'm kind of good at this breadmaking thing, so far anyway.  Eventually I expect I may tire of trying so many different things just for the sake of it, but I also expect I'll be making the good ones consistently.  

Bonus double smash burger pic after the break!

Snow and Hardly Workin'

After a deep freeze blast in December it's been a relatively mild January regarding snow and temperature, but also mostly lacking sun.  Last night we got our first bigger snow of the season.  I'm not sure the official total, but it left about 8-10 inches or more on the driveway and walks.  I'm sure the official total is lower, but unless you watch and catch it on the morning news it's hard to find, even with the internet.  (If anyone knows where to find this kind of local, recent-past information, I'd appreciate the tip.)  At least it was a lighter snow and easy to move, but the snow piles are established now.  We are in the depths of winter.  Temperature-wise it has been cold and will be frigid the next couple days, but otherwise look to return to seasonable and we might even get above freezing in a week or so.

It's January, what can you do?  Same thing different year, but at least the days are slowly getting longer now so soon it will be better. 

Aside from my gripes about the weather, here's a video to enjoy.  I came across this awhile ago and have watched it now and again for a smile, so such enjoyment justifies sharing here.  I worked construction when younger, and while not so much home construction, I still enjoy this.  This creator has other similarly entertaining videos, too.  An interesting type of animation, and a good sense of humor!

*Well, I tried to embed and it said video not available, and when I look at his channel it's not listed.  My link works still, so see it while you can here or his other stuff at the link above.

Drunk Angry Jesus

 

Well, it takes all kinds.  What there is of this story from last weekend is at this link.  This show is in town tonight at the Sylvee -  Anthrax and Black Label Society with Exodus.  While I'm very familiar with who all the bands are, I mostly know and would mainly be interested in the headliner, Anthrax, on their 40th anniversary tour.  During the summer of 2021 I bought a ticket and watched their livestream 40th anniversary show, which last year was released on DVD.  And here I see they're only playing 13 songs on this tour, but with 3 bands that have been around a long time they must be giving everyone a good amount of time, I hope.  Anyway, I thought about going to this show for a long time, but there's just not enough there for me to get me to go out through the snow and cold, crowds, parking queues and outrageously priced drinks.  I admit, it gets harder to do these things as I get older, but I'm still willing.  This show just wasn't it.

I love that picture.  Wish I knew the whole story.

Not Much, You? Just Links

Hello, there!  Hope your winter is starting off nicely.  It's been cold here, just above and below freezing as is normal, and not a lot of snow yet but you know it's coming.  Life goes on, just more indoors than outdoors recently, and likely for a while now.

It's been difficult to get myself out for walks with the temperatures right around freezing so I've been utilizing the treadmill more.  The coolness of the weather and basement has my right knee tightening up but I push through as I don't believe I'm causing any harm to it, just scar tissue reminding me that it's there.  I still have the feeling of slipping on a rug on ice when on it sometimes, but I find if I keep one hand in contact with a handle and look straight ahead or down at the display it is better.  I'm doing at least 15 minutes a day at a speed that is comfortable that day, but slowly increasing the time spent as I (hopefully) get more used to it.

I don't have much to say since last post, except work sucks and I may expand upon that one day, not soon.  But I have found some links I think others may find interesting, so here's that.

The first, with all that nuke talk from ol' Vlad, is called NUKEMAP.  I remember this or a similar sight from several years ago.  It is interesting to play with for a bit, and hope it remains just that - play.

The other is a more recent find, a game called STATTOGORIES.  There are lots of different this or that games you can play there; which google searches are more popular, which YouTube video has more views, or which song has more plays on Spotify, plus tons more options.  While I'm finding it interesting I'm also finding that I'm not that good at it.

I most recently came across ChatGPT, another AI site but about dialogue, instead of this artistic AI link I shared previously.  I've not had the time to try the chat one properly yet, but it looks like it can be very interesting.  Both of these require an account, but you can join easily with your google account.  Yes, google pretty much owns me and all my information; Blogger, Gmail, Youtube, and surely more.  I'm counting on this becoming detrimental, and this AI evolving to bite us humans in the ass, to come after my time has expired, I guess.  

After that, the apocalypse can happen at any time, as far as I'm concerned.  I just won't have the satisfaction of knowing exactly what broke that camel's back.  These days, there's too many candidates to predict.