Coming soooooon!

It is Day 4 of new sourdough attempt, and Day 1 of first quilt endeavor! Stay tuned for pictures when things are finished!

Failure

It was Thomas Edison that said, “I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work.”

I have discovered one way in particular that does not make good sourdough bread. I tried, but I came up with something decent, although too heavy and not very sourdoughy. (Still made a good PBJ sandwich for lunch today though!) It is sort of vaguely sour, but mostly just tastes like white bread.

It looks pretty, at least. 

Some found it amusing that I had to stand on a steppy stool in order to get enough leverage to knead the dough properly:

So instead of posting a whole blog on how NOT to do it, I'm going to just try again this week and then post it when it DOES work. Good thing we have Plan B and Plan C for this Tasty Tuesday!

I also made some yummy spinach dip to go with my (notsourdough) bread, and it turned out just perfectly. I guess that's what happens when you use an idiotproof recipe on the back of a Knorrs Vegetable seasoning packet.

10oz package of spinach
16oz package of sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise (I used less than a cup)
Knorrs Vegetable Packet
That’s all.
Mix thoroughly and dip whatever you want in it, because anything will be good. Especially crusty bread right out of the oven. Even if it isn’t sourdoughy.

then

Om nom.


While the bread was cooking, I took inspiration from this blog (sent to me from this sister) (who just arrived here in Minnesota to visit me! yay!) and tried roasting a garlic clove. I happened to have all the ingredients (a clove of garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper)

All you do is chop off the head so you can see all the brains.

Drizzle olive oil into the cracks, and salt and pepper the whole darn thing. I really enjoy having a pepper grinder with different levels of coarseness! I had the grinder a whole year before I discovered that it was something I could control, and I think it’s the coolest.

Wrap in foil and roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until it’s tender and spreadable ish.

It was good. It wasn’t amazing. I coulda put more salt and pepper on it, was the general consensus. I think it would be best if I had something like pasta to put it in, instead of just eating it on bread – that would make it more useful.

Anyway, it was interesting and fun, and I had some taste testers that gave me very valuable feedback!

Like this:

.

"Imperfection is beauty, 

madness is genius,

 and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."

— Marilyn Monroe

Happy Fat Babies in Hats Day!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Go Packers! woooo.


P.S. I'm just letting you know now that this week's Tasty Tuesday is a threefer, and it will be EPIC.

more music!

I have another new music to share with you!
I heard about this group, Tennis, on the radio. It's a husband and wife duo from Denver, and their EP "Cape Dory" was written during an 8 month long sailing trip around the East Coast! Apparently they started out this adventure with "With $1,600 and a knowledge of the seas that came entirely from “The Annapolis Book of Seamanship” and DVDs." (You can read a full NY Times article about them here)

Anyway, I love that they did the trip, and I love that they wrote a concept album about it, and I love the sounds that they made. And you should too!





(I was only gonna post one video just to give you a taste, but I have to give a shout out to my dear hometown:)


What do you think? Yay or Nay? Like the whole retro thing they do?

TT: Do you like... bread?

Ok. I'll freely admit that I have stolen this recipe from my sister, who posted it on her blog within the last couple weeks. So, I apologize to those of you who read both our blogs, you're gonna get a little bit of a repeat recipe - but I am low on money and ingredients, so my Tasty Tuesday this week is not that exciting. I have a plan for next week though, and it will be amazing and delicious! (not to mention this saturday marks day #10 of Limoncello, so I will be sure to post some results and taste tests from that!)

Let me preface this by saying that this is the greatest loaf of bread that I have ever made in my life... I have tried a handful of white bread recipes over the last few months, and what I've realized is that I lack patience and warmth (just with bread, right?). I'm pretty sure my past bread failures are due to not letting the dough rise long enough, or not being in a warm enough place (who would guess, being cold in Minnesota? what?) (P.S. Today Red Wing is only 4 degrees warmer than the North Pole!). Anyway, here you go. It turned out beautifully.

White Bread
Ingredients:
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1.5-2 cups warm water (100-115F)
2 tsp granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt
a bit of softened butter, or vegetable oil

In a small bowl, mix half a cup warm water with the sugar, and add the yeast. Stir well and then let it proof for a few minutes! While it is sitting, you can get everything else ready.
Mix the salt and the flour, and put some of the water in there. Like a cup. Then mix the yeasty water in there, and then add enough warm water to make kneadable dough.

+

Knead until elastic, form into a ball. Rub another bowl with butter or oil and put the dough in there, turning the ball until its covered. (Keeps it from drying out)

Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour or so, until it has doubled in size!

Once it has risen, punch the dough down, dump it on the counter, and knead for a couple minutes. Put it in a bread pan or a cookie sheet (depending on how shaped you want it to be) and let rise again, another 45 minutes or so. While this is happening, you can preheat the oven to 350. Bake for 30 minutes or so - my oven is a little finicky and I usually end up sticking it in for more like 40 minutes. If the loaf is brown, though, and sounds hollow when tapped, its done. 

Enjoy a few slices with butter and honey, fresh out of the oven, and then the next day make a sandwich out of it, take it to school, and brag to all your friends that you made it yourself! At least, that's what I did. 

Music Monday!

I've been listening to a few new musics lately, and I want to share. My musical horizons have expanded so much, since moving up here. This is quite a different musical environment from Nashville, and of course meeting new people will automatically introduce you to different things.

First I discovered Mumford & Sons, by accident. They've been around a while - they're from the UK, but actually were discovered in the states a couple years ago, in Minneapolis. When they came through here with Cadillac Sky, I wanted to see them, because Cadillac Sky is very near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to see them regardless of who they were touring with. (Fortunately due to my super awesome connections within  c sky, Lauren and I were able to attend the sold out show, for free!)
Anyway, this is my favorite by them. White Blank Page.



Around the same time that I discovered the greatness of Mumford & Sons, I was also realizing that I was several years behind everyone else on the Regina Spektor bandwagon. A few years ago, everyone in the world was in love with her, which of course made me sniff disdainfully and write her off. But, as a wise person  so gracefully once pointed out to me, "things don't become popular by sucking." I apologize to her for taking so long to realize that I enjoy her a lot.

An artist I really like lately is Ida Maria. She is Norwegian, and shes got this great, gritty, rock-y voice, and she does such fun catchy things. Here is one for you:

Another group I haven't listened to a whole lot yet, but there are a few songs I really love: Beirut. They are American, from New Mexico, and they have this really wonderful sound with some accordion and brass. (and you all know how very much I love accordions) this song is a favorite, so beautiful and melancholy.

One last share, and this is for you classical geeks out there like me. Danny introduced this to me, and I think this is fantastic! It kind of speaks for itself. History of Western Classical Music stuffed into about 9 minutes of acapella glory.



That's all for now. Hope you've enjoyed!

Also, Happy FBIHD! :)