Check out my fancy-pants lunch!

I had to try another recipe out of the Artisan Bread book. I went for the Onion and Rosemary Focaccia (p. 150). This used the same dough I already made and stored in the fridge but took a couple minutes longer because it has an additional step to saute the onions. Since I already had a pan dirty, I went ahead and sauteed some mushrooms and extra onions to top my salad (of greens from the garden, yum!). It also made a second additional dirty dish because it is baked on a cookie sheet greased with olive oil. But it was still easy and very tasty. It probably took less time than making myself a nacho sampler (Chuck fans, anyone?), which was my original plan for lunch.

I love savory flavors so I like this bread even better than the regular boule. The crust doesn't brown as much but is plenty crispy and I like the cracked pepper on top. Definitely one we will eat again!
(Below: dough before baking, lunch inspired by fancy bread)

(I ate three pieces that size for my lunch, not just that little piece on my plate!)

Artisan Bread: First Five Minute Day

I was inspired to try the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method by a couple of people, including C.Beth and House on Hill Road. (Some of these ladies have been doing the Artisan book for a while and have moved on to the newest book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, in case you want to check out what all they've been doing.)

Here's my first loaf!

And for my report:

The book calls for some semi-specialty equipment. Nothing too exotic, but I had to make do with what I had, which involved very minor variations (which were helpfully given in the book). First, they specify not to use bleached flour because the dough will be too wet; I'll buy some unbleached but for now I only had bleached. I wanted to start right away so I just went about 1/8c heavier on the flour (based on the advice in the book for too-wet dough). Second, I didn't have a pizza peel (that long handled, pizza-sized wooden spatula that they use for pizza ovens. Is this something people usually have on hand at home?? ) so I used a cutting board and extra cornmeal. Worked fine. I'm not really seeing myself purchasing a pizza peel. Last, I didn't have a baking stone, but I did have a stone dish which was large enough that I could bake a free-form loaf in the center of it. The sides got in the way when I transferred the loaf but not much. If I find I continue this regularly I might buy a baking stone - I've been wanting one anyway. I did have a large storage container with a lid (I used my popcorn bowl) and a good serrated knife already. I think if you don't have all the equipment they recommend it's still worth trying.

I was really curious about that "five minutes". Seems like it could be rather underestimated, but no - I really did have active involvement for five minutes, or even less. This was the most basic recipe so I'm sure some of the variations take longer, but this was super-fast. This book gets full points for keeping its promises on that front!

I also wondered about cleanup. If cooking takes five minutes but cleanup takes twenty, I'm probably not going to do it every day. Well, cleanup was a cinch. They say you can mix the dough in a mixer or food processor but I say it would not be worth the trouble. It took only a couple of minutes to mix it with a wooden spoon in the bowl I was using for storage so my cleanup on mixing day was a grand total of ONE wooden spoon (what? please tell me you don't wash a measuring spoon after you use it for salt). On baking day, I've got the serrated knife to wash and a dusty cutting board (which I'll be dusting off and using to chop veggies for dinner). That's it. The baking stone is something that you season rather than wash with soap and anyway, it just has a little flour and cornmeal on it. That's a really easy cleanup.

And now to the real heart of the matter: YUM. YUM. YUM. It came out just like it was supposed to! Isn't that exciting? The crust is crispy, the inside is soft with just the "custard crumb" character they describe in the book. It's a very simple flavor (there isn't even any oil in the dough) but still really good. The raw dough tasted overly salty but the finished bread is just like a table bread at a nice restaurant. James said, "Wow, that looks like it came from the store!" Zack, Sammy and I (James is sick, poor guy!) ate the entire loaf at dinner.

As far as barriers to doing this regularly, I can only see one: the need to think ahead. You only have to be involved for five minutes, but you need to pull the dough out to rest at least two hours before you want to cut it. Sometimes I just don't get started that early. I'll keep you posted as I continue!

(Below, top to bottom: resting dough, after slashing and right before baking, after baking)

December Daily: Finished in February

One project I tried out this past year was a December Daily Album. The idea is to do a daily journal of a photo and/or story each day of December in order to capture the flow of everyday life during a magical time of the year. It's an incentive to capture the everyday and to stop and enjoy what's happening now during a time that can be buried under a flurry of busyness.

What does it say that it's finally finished on the fourth day of February?

To be fair, it has been almost finished (just lacking two days) since my scrapbooking retreat and I was just waiting on a few photos from friends, a program from my husband and a photo I forgot to print.

People do all sorts of fabulous things with this idea, some more elaborate than others. I chose a mini-book (the pages are about six inches tall), which is in some ways easier than a full size book. I could plan just a little something, no pressure. I could tuck some memorabilia into the pages with a single punch. On the other hand, when I take a bunch of pictures it's hard to narrow down to one; fitting in a few photos on a small page can be difficult. I made all the little pages plus the little journaling cards (space to write, with the date) in the fall before the holiday craziness started so that did make it easier.

I really like how it turned out. It's a fun little book that I now have sitting with another mini-book in a large pottery bowl on my sofa so that anybody can pick it up and flip through it. I did have some mixed feelings about this project, though. I realized after I got started that people usually do this by printing out single prints daily from their home printer so that they can really do it daily. I don't like the look of home prints so I was picking up a few prints at a time at the photo shop at my local Costco (well at least that was convenient - I am there ridiculously often). This meant that I could think about it daily but not actually do it daily, which seemed a little backwards. Later, it was hard to finish it when I've mentally moved on from December.

It is fun looking at it now, though so although I don't know if I'll do this again, I do like the final product.

Artisan Bread in Progress

I'm trying a new bread thing! I had seen a few people post about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and was curious, so I requested it at the library. I picked it up today and look what is started!

The idea is that you make up a big batch of dough for the fridge and then each day you can hack off a chunck and bake it. The dough is much more wet than traditional dough so it keeps well and you don't have to knead it. The five minutes is actual hands-on time, so we'll see how it goes. I'll report on the results!

Scrapbooking

(I have been trying all week to make this item to share! Real life keeps getting in the way with the recording of life. Sheesh!)

In addition to the retreat, a while ago (I think last summer) some of the scrapbooking blogs and websites were taking turns posting layouts that addressed the topic "Why I Scrapbook". (I can't seem to find what was inspiring me then, but I did find a gallery of layouts on the subject at Write.Click.Scrapbook.) After being on such a good scrapbooking roll, I've been thinking about why I love it so. It's a little funny that I'm so into scrapbooking, though I should have seen it coming. After all, I hoarded paint chips from Home Depot as a child just because I love bits of colored paper!

But when I started scrapbooking, I really just wanted to make a baby book for Zack. I specifically did not want to get "into" scrapbooking, as it sounded like a time and money sink. I also though it was a rather laborious way of doing the simple job of showing someone a few photos.

But as I started actually doing it, I fell in love with it. All the prettiness doesreally helps. Who can resist the beautiful colors and textures, the brads and tags, the velvet flourish paper, oh my! I definitely enjoy the artistic aspect of the hobby. But the real heart of it is in the story. As I've talked about before, I love story. This is a way to capture the stories that really make the pictures meaningful. It records the history of the moment - the traditions, the events and the everyday life that are so quickly forgotten.

Really, it's the same reason that I like blogging. The story of life is captured best in the bits of everyday stuff, the stuff I won't remember this time next year unless I write it down. And the connections possible when we share those bits are what is so compelling to me about reading blogs. So, yeah, scrapbooking is more involved than sliding photos into an album (and sometimes I do that too) but it is richer in story and sharing too, and that's worth so much to me.

The image above is a "digital layout", meaning I made it all on the computer using Photoshop Elements. More on that soon!

Scrapbooking Retreat

I'm pretty hyped up on creative topics right now, particularly scrapbooking, which is why I'm happy to be writing about creative stuff the next few posts! I just got back from a two-night scrapbooking retreat and ooooooh was it fabulous!

What does one do at a scrapbooking retreat? A friend asked me if there were activities. Yep, there sure are: there's scrapbooking. In between the scrapbooking? Um, we did pause to eat regularly and sleep briefly. But that's about it, which is the best thing about the retreat: you can just keep working and working. You can leave your stuff set up when you go to bed and come back to it without packing up in between. Is the opposite of that constant feeling I have as a mom, "I can't form a complete thought!" Instead, I could actually focus on a project, work on something without interruption and have a lot of pleasant mental space to be creative!

Notice those great girls I got to hang with? They were really fun. We packed up all our STUFF, filling up the space in the minivan even with the backseat folded down. Two years ago when we went we didn't have near as much paraphanalia as many of the other attendees, but this year we were right up there. Can you get a good sense of the room from the pictures? It was FULL of scrapbooking EVERYTHING!

Having dedicated an entire weekend to scrapbooking has me thinking about what is so satisfying to me about this hobby. Some of it is the fun company, as you can see. More on the other motivations tomorrow!

Firstfruits

The lettuce is finally ready to thin! And lucky me, I get to eat the thinnings. So tender and delicious!

I think the sprouting has been really slow this year, probably because we had the garden locked down the whole time we were gone on our Christmas trip, since temperatures were very cold here. Now James has sown a second crop too, so as this batch matures, the others should start sprouting. It's a short season before it is hot here, so I'm going to enjoy every leaf!

Cook's Confession

I am addicted to Ramen Noodles. As a somewhat foodie type, I guess I'm not supposed to... but I don't care, I really love them. I have Ramen for lunch (or dinner if James is working late) multiple times a week. I crave them (hm, should that worry me?).

Now, I do fix 'em up - more or less depending on how energetic I'm feeling. I start with the Lime Shrimp flavor, add the juice of half a lime, dried parsley, lots of paprika, a few dashes of cayenne pepper, some turmeric, a small dallop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chopped scallions. Just to class up the joint, you know?

New Toys

Ah, what retrospective of December photos would be complete without one of the baby of the family loving his new toys?

Ok! As much as I enjoyed looking back over December's pictures, I'm on to creative-type topics next week. Whoo hoo!

Pima Canyon

Isn't this a gorgeous canyon? These photos are by my hubby and father, so I haven't seen it myself, but I was impressed with just how BIG the country is. On the last day of our Christmas trip, Dad and James decided to hike a 12.3 mile loop in the mountains just outside Tucson.

The starting point point and ending point didn't quite make a full circle, and they didn't want to leave a vehicle there all day, so the plan was for my mom to drive them to one side then come pick them up at the end of the day on the other side. The hike had a lot of elevation change, taking them up into the mountains, across a saddle and back down; when they chose which side to start at, they chose the uphill side, knowing there would be plenty of up and down to complete the hike. Also, since the days were short, they knew they needed to start early and keep moving to make it back by dark.

When my mom dropped them off at the trailhead, there were a few law enforcement people around but they didn't realize until after she was gone that the trail was closed due to a tracking operation they had going. Dad and James quickly realized that they weren't going to get on the trail anytime soon, so my mom went back and picked them up and took them to the other end of the route. It was a later start than they intended but off they went.

By the time they were close to the saddle, it was already 3pm. The last little bit before the saddle was the most elevation change and the route down the other side was unfamiliar to both of them. They had started from the opposite end from what they intended, making the elevations even more challenging. So... they turned around. They had to almost-jog to make it down before dark and it took the last bit of the light to get back to the trailhead. It was over 11 miles - still a great hike!

The pictures are so beautiful that it makes me want to go too. We're thinking about a hiking challenge to have all of the family that feels up to it make the 12.3 mile loop next Christmas. Considering there were 13 of us (yes, all staying in my sister's house) this year, we could really have a fun hiking contingent next year!

Check out that stance

I love this picture. It really makes me smile to see my nephew with his feet planted in this wide-legged stance and his baggy bottom jeans. That boy is all boy! The light sabers were courtesy of my parents and, as you can imagine, the boys were obsessed with them - thank goodness those particular toys will be residing in Tucson! And the weather! We see why all the snowbirds love Yuma. It was really sunny, pleasantly cool and beautiful.

Southern Arizona Transportation Museum

When we were in Tucson we visited the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum. This is a really small museum but it is fun for little and medium ones. Zack liked the telephone style recorded information on all the displays and Sammy liked the train table at the entrance. We all loved the huge engine outside! This is in the downtown historic area and we also walked around a little looking at some nearby historic hotels. I recommend it for a light outing. And, with the beautiful weather, I wish I'd gotten some really great shots of the kids in front of these green doors!

The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends

I've been looking back through the mini-album I made journaling our days in December and now I want to share some of my favorite pics. I'll post on a few more throughout this week and hopefully get to show some pics of my album too.

It was apparently important that Zack's Froggy got the best seat, looking out the window into the blinding sun.

You see our choice of roadtrip beverages is Sonic drinks.

There was no sight sweeter than Sammy finally asleep.

And yes, I did do some light scrapbooking on my lap in the car. What? It was a long time!

Carlsbad Caverns

(click on the image to see it full-size!)

We decided to add a couple of days to the beginning of our Christmas trip in order to visit Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico. It was very beautiful and a lot of fun, though I think it will be better for us when our kids are older. The formations were so impressive and we loved seeing them, but in case you are planning a trip, let me just make a couple of notes in case it's of help to someone.

If you do the full walk, which is really worth doing after going all that way, it is two and a half miles. It's really very steep. There were these signs warning you that it was steep as we walked it but I guess I didn't take it very seriously! It was fine for James and I (with sensible shoes), but it was enough to make us tired afterward. Zack walked all of it but I was coaxing and bribing by the end to stave off whining: "there are snacks up here, should we walk on and see about a snack?"

We figured Sammy would love riding in the backpack with Daddy, but for some reason he did NOT. It's true he was sick, and also that because of being sick or in a hotel, he didn't sleep well the night before, but he was VERY cranky about being in the backpack. Maybe it was just too similar to being in a carseat. Whatever the cause, he wanted to be down and walking. We tried that, but it was totally impossible. The guardrails were above his eyeline so they weren't much of a deterrent. Instead, many of the precious and sensitive rock formation were at his eye level and well within reach (yikes). The dropoffs were right at the edge of the path and steep in many places. There was just no way a 21-month-old could walk it, even just long enough to tire and want to ride.

Also, we thought we could ply Sammy with snacks, forgetting that no snacks at all were allowed in the caverns (duh). And we forgot his pacifier. That was just a dumb move on our part. He cried a LOT. I spent many a switchback running along side James, holding Sammy's hand in the backpack and trying to sing to him in the lowest possible voice.

Which brings me to another point. You aren't supposed to speak above a whisper level in the cavern because everything echoes and sound carries. I can barely keep Zack from shouting everything he says, much less get him to keep his voice to a whisper (sometimes I notice my own volume and think me must take after his mom in this respect). And explaining to Sammy that he needed to keep his crying to a whisper? Well, you can guess how successful we were with that!

In the end, I gave Sammy my wrap and to hold like a lovey and he fell asleep, Zack was a trooper, and we got to see everything. One thing I loved was that because of the winter season the crowd was extremely light. We didn't get to see the bats, but there wasn't any guano smell and there weren't any crowds. There were many times when we were totally alone, not able to see or hear anyone in either direction.

Also, we rented some self-guided tour audio units that gave interesting details about more than forty stations along the route. There was a kid version and an adult version; we got one of each. They were both fun and Zack liked punching in the numbers and hearing the ongoing "story" of the cave. I recommend taking advantage of that feature when you go!

p.s. Don't forget a sweatshirt!