artisan bread

This is the main reason why I bought the aforementioned dutch oven. When I found out that a cast-iron dutch oven was the key to making artisan bread, that was the last straw. I had to get one.

If you've ever wondered how to make rustic bread with a thick, crunchy crust... this is how:

Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1 cup whole wheat flour (5 ounces)
¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 ½ teaspoons table salt
2 tablespoons honey
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored beer (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar

1. Whisk flours, yeast, and salt in large bowl. In a liquid measuring cup, combine water, beer, honey, and vinegar. Add to the dry ingredients. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
Note: I didn't use beer because I didn't have any (duh!) and going to the liquor store at 11:00 at night is not very safe where I live. So I substituted water for beer... but I don't recommend it. I think my loaf would have risen better if I had used it. And according to America's Test Kitchen, it gives the loaf a better flavor. If you're opposed to using beer, try adding a little more yeast and let me know if it works.

2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. (The shape of a skillet is perfect to keep the dough in a ball.) Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.


3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
Note: Accurate oven temperature is important! My oven's temperature is difficult to control, so the bottom of my bread got too dark. Get an oven thermometer if you don't already have one. It's very helpful.




******

Jon was totally impressed with this bread. (He's a total European-bread snob.) I think he may actually love me more.

joy!

I can officially say that my quality of life has been upgraded as of this weekend.

I've always wanted one of those big, heavy, cast-iron dutch ovens. America's Test Kitchen did some research as to which brands were the best. Le Creuset was on the "recommended" list of course, but at over $200 a pop I could never afford one. However.... ATK also recommended Mario Batali's brand. And it just happened to be on sale for $89. What a deal! And I totally trust ATK's recommendations.



My dutch oven came yesterday, and just in time for me to cook dinner for the missionaries. We had Neopolitan-style mac 'n cheese. It's definitely post-worthy, but I didn't get any pictures. I was too busy trying to figure out where we were going to eat, since I had just shampooed the living room carpet that morning and all my furniture was in the dining room.

But oh... cooking in my cast-iron dutch oven made me want to dance for joy! It's the perfect width and depth for anything, and it cooks so evenly.

I guess you know you're a grown-up when cookware makes you giddy.

where meat comes from

Josie said the funniest thing today.

We were at the Kennedy Park petting zoo and there were 3 different kinds (or breeds, I guess) of chickens. Josie pointed to the first one and said, "Dis?" Jon said, "It's a chicken."

She pointed at the second one, "Dis?"
Jon said, "it's another kind of chicken"

She pointed to the last one, "Dis?"
Jon said, "it's another kind of chicken"

Josie said, "Num num num!"

It's a good thing those birds were in a cage, or Josie might have tried to take a bite out of one.

we figured it out

I love the fourth of July.

It's probably my second favorite holiday (after Christmas) because there's no gifts to buy, no complicated parties or dinners or costumes to plan, it's in the warm summer season, and it has significant meaning. It's just good ol' fashioned fun.

Ever since the Jon and I moved to the SF bay, I've missed the fourth of July festivities in my home town. And the festivities here haven't really been as good as the ones I remember from my youth. But, I'm probably biased, too.



However, yesterday almost hit the mark. We went to Alameda for our first bay area 4th of July parade. It was our first because I have always been scared of what the traffic and crowds might be like. This is the big city, after all! But we got there early and had no trouble. The parade was okay... it had the usual old cars, dance troups and high school bands. But it had a few things my home town doesn't. Like, a Dionysian club, anti-war hippies, and an African American cowboy association.

I thought this rastifarian cowboy was cool:



Josie enjoyed it so much, she kept running out into the street. (We still need to talk about street crossing safety.) She tripped once and did a faceplant. Now she has a nice red welt on her forehead to match her skinned knee.




Jon forgot his sun hat and stole Josie's. She won't wear it anyway.


I got a much-needed pedicure in the afternoon. I decided to go bold and got my toes painted a very dark "Midnight Blue", just to be a little patriotic. I really like the color, actually.

We had BBQ pork tenderloin for dinner with cous cous, grilled corn on the cob and zucchini. Mmmmm....

Later, we took the BART to Oakland and walked to Jack London square to see the fireworks. I don't know why we never took BART before. It was so nice that we didn't have to find parking and fight traffic.

This was Josie's first fireworks display. Her initial reaction was awe, but she got tired of it after a few minutes and just wanted to run around. Typical toddler attention span...



There was a little boy about her age who wanted Jon to spin him around. Too funny.

So, we finally figured out how to have a traditional 4th of July celebration in the bay area without getting lost or stuck in traffic. And it only took 7 years!

crazy week

I just realized that last week was a bit surreal. So many sad, fun, and unexpected things happened.

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Billy Mays died. Deaths always seem to come in three's, but this time I was actually familiar with all three of these celebrities. That's a first for me.

But the worst one for me was the passing of the Hagen family dog, Tommy. He had to be put down on Friday. We don't know exactly how old he was because we got him from the pound. But he was at least 16. That's about 100 in dog years! He was such a sweet little guy. So mellow and loving. I will miss seeing him when I visit my mom.



Jon took a last minute trip down to Yuma, Arizona... in a car with no air conditioning.... in June!! He must be a masochist. I offered him my car because it has AC, but he took his car instead. He thinks his car is more comfortable to sit in for long road trips.

If you know Jon very well, then you'll know why he would choose comfort over temperature. Jon is the kind of guy who can't have enough pillows at night. I think he has 3 right now. But whenever we go to Wal-mart, he always says, "Honey, don't you think we should get some more pillows?" If he were still a bachelor, I'm sure he would have a king size bed with a dozen pillows.

He got to see our cute nephew, Calvin. I'm so jealous! Isn't he adorable?



It's hard to believe that this, fair-skinned, blonde-haired, blue-eyed child belongs to the dark-haired, dark-skinned guy on the right.


What was even more surprising about Jon's trip was his visit with my missionary brother, Alec. El Centro is along the road to Yuma, so Jon got the address from my mom and decided drop by and see if Alec was home. He wasn't... but Jon found him bicycling with his companion down the street. He drove up behind them and pulled out in front of them to cut them off. Alec said, "That crazy guy..." and upon realization of who was in the car, he exclaimed, "is my BROTHER-IN-LAW!!" I wish I could have seen his face at that moment.



Alec gave Jon the grand tour of the missionary residence.







Jon treated them to slurpies at 7-Eleven. Alec looks so happy to be in a car, driving to the 7-Eleven for a slurpie. I don't blame him. It's 115 degrees down there!



I spent my Saturday with Tagen. Her visit was a pleasant surprise... especially since Jon was still traveling and Josie and I were feeling lonely. We went to Half Moon Bay, had a picnic lunch, made sand castles, and talked about life. Her strength in the face of adversity never ceases to amaze me. I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the beach, darn it. But I think we'll be going back as a family soon. Josie had so much fun. So much, in fact, that she threw another tantrum as we were leaving. I'm starting to sense a pattern here...

abnormal

***WARNING***
I want to apologize in advance for this post rant. It has nothing to do with anything. I just need to get it out of my brain and put it somewhere else.



I like to watch 20/20 on the ABC network every Friday. Last week's newscast was entitled "New Normal" and was all about the lifestyle changes people have made in the current economy. The more I think about the episode, the more I am offended by it. You can watch a clip of it here.

Basically, the show implied that up until the economic crash, being normal meant having a big house, new car, credit cards, eating at restaurants, and taking fancy vacations. They interviewed couples who have been forced to trade those things for renting an apartment, driving a dented used car, and cooking dinner at home. HORRIFIC!!!! isn't it?

So.... I guess I've been an abnormal loser for most of my life, then. Is that what you're trying to say, ABC network? Because I was smart and didn't buy a home that I couldn't afford, and because I've NEVER owned a shiny new car, and because I've always cooked 95% of the food that my family eats, that makes me some kind of Druid??? Wow, thank you for enlightening me! I guess I never realized that being normal before 2005 meant living on credit cards and having a gardener.

I'm just glad that I'm normal now. Now I'm totally cool because I buy my daughter's clothes at Thriftown. Teen Vogue magazine said so! They have an article in their August issue entitled "Recessionistas". And it's all about finding good deals on fashion at discount and consignment stores. Dang! I was doing something cool before it was cool! I've always wanted to do that.

Hey ABC, why don't you interview some of us "cool-before-it-was-cool" people? Don't we deserve some attention?

Can I get an A-MEN??

zoo

We went to the zoo last Friday. Josie is finally old enough to appreciate the animals and the carousel.

"Appreciate" is putting it lightly. She cried, writhed and screamed, "NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!!" when the ride was over. Now I am an official member of the Embarrassed-Parent-with-Tantrum-Crazed-Child club. Ugh....



The first animals we looked at were the giraffes. They were eating lunch when we got there, and Josie said, "Num, num, num!" when she saw them. I guess she can relate to the giraffes because they both love to eat leaves. Seriously. It all started when I showed Josie that we could eat the lettuce in our garden. She would pick the leaves herself and eat them. Now the lettuce has been replaced with tomatoes, but that doesn't stop her from eating the tomato leaves. Oh well. At least she's getting some extra fiber.

Anywho, when we tried to move on to the next exhibit, Josie freaked out again! But she soon learned that there was more than one animal exhibit at the zoo.... and we weren't leaving altogether. And then everything was OK in her world.

It was fun for Josie to see the elephants. Especially since she's obsessed with Dumbo.


Jon bought her some plastic zoo animal toys the very next day. I think they are her favorite toys right now.

my obsession - in progress

As I mentioned before, I really want Josie to have her own play kitchen. And I don't want one of those cheapy-looking plastic ones from Fisher-Price. (I mean no offense to anyone who owns one! I'm just a play-kitchen-snob.) If this is something that's going to be sitting within eyesight in our home, I want it too look stylish. Unfortunately, I learned through my internet shopping research that wooden play kitchens are PRICEY. The cheapest ones that I've seen are over $200, and that's before shipping!

So, I decided to build one on my own. But not really build one.... more like, find the right stuff and put it together. After getting some inspiration here and here, (and at about a million other sites) this is what I've come up with:


I found a couple of plywood storage boxes at Michael's that were damaged, so the clerk gave me a discount. I paid about $34 for both of them. One of them is going to become the sink, the other one the stove. I found a stainless steel bowl and a faucet for a whopping $3 at a salvage yard. Then I spent about $20 at Home Depot on extra wood, knobs, and hardware.


I don't own a jigsaw, so I had to figure out how to cut a hole for the sink without one. I drilled about 100 holes in a circle just big enough to allow the metal bowl to sit in it and have a little lip to cover the rough edges. I used a small electric saw to cut through the drill holes and finally punch out the wood piece.


I "glued" the bowl into the box with some silicon sealant and attached the faucet with a bolt. The boxes are only about 15 inches high, so I added legs to make them taller, and added a shelf on the inside. Construction is almost complete for the sink. My next step is to attach a piece of wood for the "backsplash".

I'll post pictures of the stove when it's more complete.

I just found out today that Ikea is finally coming out with their own version of a play kitchen for sale in the United States. I guess I jinxed myself in my last post on this subject. Oh well. I think mine will still be more cost-effective. Plus, I think it will be cuter. I've got some great ideas swimming around in my brain for the painted finish.