blog love

I just found some entertainment via the New York Times Dining and Wine blog.



The author buys meals at various fast food restaurants and turns them into something else entirely! I won't be trying any of the recipes because they pretty much gross me out completely but they sure are fun to look at!

A Book a Week

One of my goals in 2010 is to read a book per week. I know I will struggle with this a few times over the course of the year, but it should be mostly easy. When you break down the average 200-300 page book, it's only an average of 40-ish pages per day.

Thanks to some good reading buddies and Costco, I have a pretty big stack waiting for when I finish the current book.

I can guarantee I won't be reviewing each book I read but I will try to highlight the ones that I really like. Check out my reading list on the sidebar!

One of my new favorites

Lovely, just lovely.



(found on Pacing the Panic Room)

Bunting Flags

I usually love winter and snow but lately, I have been really lusting for summer. Maybe it's because our weather seems so in-between to me. Cold but not snowy or just warm enough that it spits rain instead.

I have some really cute fabric from the Stitching Post in Sisters that I got over the holiday break and I'm looking for something cute to make. Here's what I'm thinking:

(image links to source)

The last one is made with vintage newspapers which could be really fun too! I think these will bring a little summer to the world right now. We shall see what I come up with....

Resolutions

I have quite the list of resolutions. Actually, let's call them "life changes," you know, like menopause. Here goes:

• Animal protein only 2 times per week, thus making it possible to purchase the highest quality local meat, poultry and seafood. This does not count eggs. We already buy our eggs from a local market down the street from my work that has their own chickens
• Bake fresh bread once per week. This might be hard to abide during the summer months.
• Use the FREE gym at my work at least twice per week. Other days will be long walks with the dog and hikes.
• Drink more wine, less beer. This one is gonna be tough.
• Spend 10 minutes per day cleaning an area of the house so I don't get frustrated and pissy when it's a big huge job.
• Save money! $25 per paycheck goes to a savings account that is not connected to my checking account.
• Be more focused at work...especially with projects. I tend to flutter around when I have something giant to do and break my concentration. I could get things done a lot faster if I was doing one task instead of six at a time.
• Take more pictures, edit them, organize them and take full advantage of my AsukaBook employee benefits.
• Keep up with this blog.
  

Every post is better with a picture so I will include one in every post, whether it pertains or not! For today, I will share this epic print that Geof got me for Christmas from Berkeley Illustration. My new best friend:

Find him here. Their shop is so freaking awesome! I also really like their Llama, the Painted Turtle and the T-Rex.

Fresh Bread continued...

As mentioned on the previous post, I tried out "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day." We made 2 boules last night and 2 today. Yesterday's was a little too dense...I'm not sure I let it rise enough. Today's was perfect!
I probably won't make more for a few days. I want to experiment with aging the dough and how the flavor and rising ability change. This week I plan to get some different types of flour and DEFINITELY some cornmeal. Up until now, I have been using dry grits on the bottom to keep it from sticking. Not terrible, but definitely not ideal.

New Year, Fresh Bread

I didn't forget about my blog, I just kept not getting around to it. Here I am, over a year since my last post. Poor Obama, doing his best and getting blamed for everything.

Now, to the point. I've been inspired to come back to my blog by my friend Courtney, who just started up her own new foodie blog, Eyeate (LOVE it!). I'll definitely be talking about food (like today) but not exclusively. I'll share what inspires me, what we're doing and probably (and unfortunately for you) lots of pathetic pictures of my tortured dog. I'm also in the market for a new title. "Peanut Butter and Jam Out" seemed cute and clever to me in 2006 when I originally wrote my first entry. It's since been deleted due to sheer ridiculousness.

For today, I'd like to share my start into making homemade bread. Geof got me this book for Christmas:
It basically teaches you to make a starter but the catch is that the starter lasts for 2 weeks (!) and doesn't need anything added after the initial batch is made. It makes a LOT. Enough for about 6 loaves so I might need to share some with friends until I figure out the right ratios for just the two of us without going into full carbo-load. I also only had unbleached, all-purpose flour on-hand, which is OK, but I'm excited to experiment with different types of flour. Tonight, all I have to do is get a chunk out of the fridge, let it rest for an hour and stick it in the oven. The best part is, that's all I have to do ANYTIME I want to make a loaf! I'm psyched to get started on it and hope I can stick with it, since we usually spend about $5 on a Village Baker or DiLusso loaf every week and would buy it more often if we could.

Stay tuned to see how the first loaf turns out!