They all sound AMAZING! Bring on the salad :)
(Photo via NY Times)
For those of you that (like me) don't really know what that means, let me tell you. While you are sedated and numbed up they put a tiny camera in a tube DOWN YOUR THROAT and all the way INTO YOUR STOMACH! Yikes!! Reportedly this doesn't hurt and you really don't remember anything afterward. Did I mention that I have to SWALLOW A CAMERA!!
Ok, ok, now I am being a weenie. Honestly, I think other than the unknown of what this will feel like (supposedly not uncomfortable) I think I am most scared of is the needles part.
Uuuugh. I get squirmy just thinking about it.
I suppose that unless I want to try this without sedation (no thanks) I'm going to have to get over it and be brave.
Anyway, think happy thoughts for me that they find the cause of all this and it's easily fixable. Oh yeah, and that I don't gag all over myself or have a total freak out. Eeeeeeeee..........
Leave me some love. Please?
(photo courtesy bredgur)
There have been lots of blossoms on the butternut squash plants in the garden. I'm a little worried though as instead of forming little nubs where the squash will develop once the flowers shrivel, I can only see that the blossom and the branch for about two inches down the stalk are brown and dry. Not sure what happened??
The herbs have grown so much that they're looking bushy and really needing to be pruned back. I will definitely miss them this winter. So will the bumble bees who LOVE the lavender and basil blossoms.
Finally, while this idea may be out of the realm of DIY for most of us, I still thought it was a great idea worth mentioning. Featured on the ReadyMade blog, Jocko Weyland and the folks at Macro Sea are making urban pools out of dumpsters! They've been hosting Friday Pool Parties in the Brooklyn neighborhood where this one is located. Reusing and bringing the community together --doesn't get much better than that!
"When I was young, I placed my baby teeth under my pillow and when i woke up I'd find a shiny new quarter. But whatever happened to those little teeth? Where did they go? Would I ever see them again?
Many years later, a little tooth was standing at my door. It looked familiar. Its name was ickle. Welcome home, my milk toof!"
It was looking pretty puffy by then, so I decided to go ahead and divide it up into loaves. The loaves sat in a makeshift couche (one of my kitchen towels) to keep them seperate during the final raising.
To get the crispy crust I was looking for I had to add steam to the oven. I did this by pouring hot water into a preheated pan on the top rack as I added the dough to the bottom rack. I also misted the walls of the oven every thirty seconds for the first two minutes of baking.
The recipe made enough dough for two small loaves and two buns. Since I don't have a baking stone or even a huge pan I decided to bake them individually. The recipe called for a bake time of approximately 22 minutes, but I had to bake each for closer to thirty to get the caramel colored crust I was looking for.
The loaves looked great. I didn't take a photo of the inside this time, though, because I was a little disappointed with how mine turned out. Ciabatta is known for it's light crumb filled with tons of big air pockets. Mine was sadly missing those big holes. The only thing I can figure out is that the house was a little cooler today, and the recipe called for a final stretching ( but no folding) of the dough as it was going into the couche. I think that last stretch probably flattened any air holes that might have formed.
Despite that, the bread tastes great, and looks nice. I'm still going to chalk this one up to success since the buns played an important role in tonight's dinner.
Next up: Cinnamon Rolls