November 20, 2014

It's not about the nail.

OK this video has nothing much to do with anything on my blog but I just thought it was so true and so funny, I had to post it. If you've ever read "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", you'll know what I mean.

November 19, 2014

29 years ago today, I gave birth to my second daughter.  I've always thought that mothers are the ones who should get gifts on the birthdays. I can't believe I have kids that old. 

Today I went out for a run after work. It's everything I can do to get myself to exercise after work, especially when it's cold out. I just want to come home, put on my jammies, and curl up on the couch. And that's what I did Tuesday, instead of running. I was cranky yesterday.

However, maybe it was good that I took the extra day because I had a great run on well rested legs. While I ran, I was listening to Blackie and the Rodeo Kings on my ipod and totally lost track of the time. I was planning to run 4/1 but I ran for 10 minutes before I realized I hadn't taken a walk break, so I only took 3 one-minute walk breaks for my entire run and felt fine! Plus, I ran a full 5 k instead of 30 minutes.  What a slow 5 k it was though. 40 minutes. Ah well. My endurance is improving and that's what counts.

I'm still taking my vitamins daily but I'm don't try very hard to remember to do my physio every morning and evening. My reminder app is getting frustrated with me.

Photo credit to http://crankygirl.info

I haven't lost any weight yet either. Erik's in fucking Costa Rica for 2 1/2 weeks so I eat what I want, when I want, instead of making proper meals and following a healthy eating plan.  The good news, I don't drink when he's not around so I've cut back on those weekend booze calories and I don't make fancy, calorie-filled meals so that's a calorie cut back too.

I hate that's he's off vacationing on a sandy beach and I'm stuck here in the cold, going to work, doing all the housework, looking after the pets etc.  It sucks and it makes me cranky.  However, I don't actually want to be down on the beach in Costa Rica right now - it's supposed to be Fall and I love the end of Fall/beginning of Winter.  I just want him home with me so we can do all of our usual stuff together.  If I were to head off somewhere warm, it would be in February when I'm sick of winter and snow.

OK enough bitching. Time to go feed my starter....

November 18, 2014

Sourdough Starter Part 3

Sunday, Nov. 16, 4 pm -  1 cm rise

I'm getting excited about this batch of starter. I have a feeling it's going to work this time. There's lots of bubbling going on and it's starting to rise a little within 6-12 hours after each feeding. It is even starting to smell "yeasty".

I've been following the instructions on a couple different websites (The Fresh Loaf and FoodTravelThought) and so I have varied what I've done a few times, but the starter is definitely bubbling and rising.

Last night it had risen about 1 cm (see photo) from the day before so I stirred it down, kept 100 grams, and fed it fresh rye flour and warm water.  This morning, it had risen 1 cm again so I decided to start feeding it twice a day - morning and evening.  By the time I got home from work, it had risen again, so I decided to set up two jars this time, one fed with dark rye flour and one fed with unbleached white flour.

I was reading about the 100% hydration method on the Fresh Loaf site, which means you add equal parts of flour and water by weight (not volume). Because I'm using dark rye flour and because it's very dry here, I have to use less flour so it's about 100/80 water/flour. That site recommends using 1:2:2 (starter:flour:water) which was different than the 1:1:1 that I was doing before. Anyway, tonight I thought I'd try it that way instead. I had quite a bit of starter to I split it into two jars and still had to throw some away.

Jar 1 - 50 grams starter, 100 grams warm water, 80 grams dark rye flour (this was still too thick in my opinion so I may use less flour tomorrow).

Jar 2 - 50 grams starter, 100 grams warm water, 80 grams unbleached white flour. (This was runnier than the rye flour batch. I think it seems better, but it'll be interesting to see which one works better.)

So now I'm curious to see what happens.  They should be showing some bubbling before I go to bed, and for sure by morning.  My goal is for the starter to double in size before I try making bread with it.

Below are the two jars right after feeding. You can see how thick the rye flour one it on the right.  There are air pockets and the top isn't level.  The white flour on the left poured in to the jar easier.  I'm not sure if one is better than the other though.  Some people even make a super thick starter that is more like dough. We'll see I guess.

Enriched White Flour (left) and Dark Rye Flour (right)

Book Club

So last month I joined a book club.

I've always been a reader. When I was a kid, I would often devour a novel in a day. I remember riding my bike to piano lessons each week and stopping at the library on my way home to exchange 5 "chapter books" for 5 new ones. I would get immersed into a book and not be able to put it down until I had finished it. I pity people who aren't able to do that. There is nothing more amazing, than shutting out the rest of the world and being drawn into a good story.

But somewhere in the last 20 years - well about as long as I've been teaching full time - I've stopped reading for pleasure.  Oh I still read a lot - but most are non-fiction books related to work, travel, triathlon etc.  I usually manage to read a couple of novels every summer, but during the rest of the school year, it just isn't happening. I can think of a million reasons why I didn't read during the school year - too busy with my kids, too busy with work, too tired, too much TV replaced by too much internet - but gradually those reasons just turned into habit.

So I thought about it and I wondered why I don't seem to be able to carve out any quality reading time now.  I don't have little kids at home any more, my work life is more streamlined, and all I really need to do is turn off the screens an hour a day and read. For pleasure. Just do it.

So right around the time that I was thinking this - or maybe I thought it out loud and someone heard me - a friend/work colleague suggested we start up a book club.  We'll meet once a week and drink wine and eat treats, and maybe talk about the book we've agreed to read. I've never been a part of a book club but the idea has always intrigued me and I thought this would be the ideal way to give me the kick start I need to get back to reading for pleasure. Immediately a dozen people from my school jumped on the idea and our first meeting was scheduled for November.

The first book we read was All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  We met last week and had a great time discussing the book, and eating and drinking....  I loved it.  And I loved powering through a good novel.  At our meeting, we set the dates for the next six months or so, and each person chose a book and signed up to host that month. 

Although I am a techie through and through, and I have a dozen books on my ipad, I love having a real book in my hands, and I decided that I wanted to actually own every book we read in this group, so when I got home, I immediately ordered all of the books from Amazon (although I picked up one from a local book store).

Here's a list of what we are going to read before the end of June.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbury
Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

I am so excited that today I spent at least an hour updating my Goodreads account and creating new shelves.  If you want to be friends on Goodreads, feel free to add me. I'm Kelownagurl of course!

Read on!