Stampin Up for Archives

Been having fun stamping again. Here are my recent favorites for the archives before they get mailed off. I dropped the Melon Mambo card on the Smokey Slate ink pad just as I finished it. That was my favorite of the three in that series, too. My most favorite is the birthday card with the single flower punch, brad and linen thread in Old Olive and Season of Style DSP.

Flowering Flourishes in Smokey Slate, Daffodil Delight and Melon Mambo
Simply Sketched sentiments.

Simply Sketched sentiments. Old Olive with Season of Style DSP.

Simply Sketched  in Garden Green with hand-dyed ribbon.

Yarn Shop Stop

Anne wants to crochet a a cowl for me for Christmas, so yesterday I stopped at Bonnie's Spinning Wheel in St. Cloud  to pick out some yarn. What a pick-me-up! I found myself stroking silky skeins something akin to Mr. Whiffle's squeezing Charmin, as Dad put it. That had not been a part of my plans! Nor had I expected to be inspired to pick up my needles again, but that is my response after seeing Bonnie's myriad of perfectly knitted and sewn samples around the store. I simply must get those mittens done, and then hit that children's hat and the socks I have been planning for years. Then I need to go buy some of the warm-hued Baby Crofter yarns in girly colors to go with the Baby Crofter pattern book which I purchased about four years ago. The hats and ponchos will still fit my little granddaughters since the pattern sizes go from ages 0 - 7.

I finally settled on some pink/peach/tan variegated skeins of Mochi Plus by Crystal Palace. It will match my peach turtleneck perfectly. Not sure what else yet, but I had to make a choice among so many options! On the way out I also grabbed a clever pair of knitting needle covers for the double pointed needle set which I purchased for doing my socks. Besides protecting such delicate needles, they will keep my project together while it sits on my end-table.

To hand crafts! Bye bye!

Sourdough Bread

I did it! I made my own yeast-free sourdough starter, and baked my first sourdough recipes, Buttery Sourdough Buns and Rustic Sourdough Bread. Both recipes were from King Arthur Flour. They both had a very fine texture and flavor, and were very moist.  I decided to make four small loaves of bread instead of two larger ones to suit our needs better. My next adventure will be using the unfed starter to make cinnamon rolls.

Buttery Sourdough Buns

Rustic Sourdough Bread

 Here is my annotated version of the King Arthur Flour directions for sourdough. Our house is very cold, so I had to set the starter bowl into another bowl of hot water and then store them both in the microwave - not running, of course.  

Sourdough Starter

Day 1. Combine scant cup of whole wheat or rye flour with ½ cup lukewarm, non-chlorinated water. Cover loosely. Let sit for 24 hours in a warm place (70 degrees).

Day 2. Stir down the starter. Discard half or use for another purpose. To the remaining half add a scant cup of unbleached white flour and ½ cup water.

Days 3, 4 and 5 or until starter is working sufficiently. Twice a day, as close to 12 hours apart as possible, Stir down the starter. Remove a generous ½ cup of starter and discard or use for another purpose. Add a cup of flour and ½ cup of water to the remaining starter and stir well.

Using starter

When starter is doubling every 6-8 hours it is ready to use. Pour off all but ½ cup of starter. Feed the starter 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of water. Let rest for eight hours. Take out what you need for the recipe, no more than a cup, and store the remaining starter in a glass container in the refrigerator until you are ready to start feeding it again. Feed the refrigerated starter once a week with the cup of flour and ½ cup of water, leaving it out of the refrigerator for two hours to warm up and start working, then returning it to the refrigerator.

Using refrigerated starter

Remove from refrigerator. Pour off or stir in any liquid which is on top of the starter. For half a cup of starter, add a scant cup of four and ½ cup of lukewarm water. Mix until smooth. Cover loosely and let rest for 12 hours. Feed again every 12 hours until starter is doubling or tripling in 6-8 hours.

Here are the links to their original directions:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/05/creating-your-own-sourdough-starter-the-path-to-great-bread/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/08/maintaining-your-sourdough-starter-food-water-and-time/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/buttery-sourdough-buns-recipe

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/rustic-sourdough-bread-recipe

Two Cookbooks

This summer I purchased two new cookbooks.

The first was a garage sale find, Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette ( Broadway Books, New York, 1998). I am curious as to whether Brother Victor is a distant relative of St. Teresa of Avila, of course!  I have tried only one recipe from this book so far, Cream of Broccoli Soup. I did not like it. I was really disappointed in both the color and the flavor. The broccoli lost all of its green because it was in the pot for so long. I added a stick of butter to give it a bit more flavor, but I was still disappointed. I should have blended the soup just a tad longer before serving since the broccoli was a bit stringy in spite of peeling and chopping.  I am not a big fan of having to blend before serving, since it gets the blender and another pot dirty, making more clean-up work.

The second was Gourmet du Village Comfort Food by Linda McKenty, Ashley Tott and Mike Tott, Canada. I picked up this little gem at Crafts Direct for $2. They were selling it alongside several brightly colored single-serving casserole dishes which I was tempted to purchase, but I did not succumb. The recipes are single and double serving portions, perfect for the two of us. I have already made the Shepherd's Pie, the Coq au Vin, and the Chicken, Cheddar and Broccoli Frittata.. The Frittata took a bit of work to put together and required 20 minutes of waiting for breakfast while it baked, but it was good, and gave us a serving of vegetables to check off for the day. I could have drunk the leftover juice from the Coq au Vin. Hated to dump it since it was so good. I am anxious to try the lasagna, which uses a single lasagna noodle folded to make the layers. The recipe book calls for seasoning mixes which Gourmet du Village sells, but also includes instructions for measuring your own individual spices and seasonings. I appreciated that little courtesy. I look forward to making more recipes from this book in the future.