Yeah, I know that I could have tried to attract wild yeast swirling around in the air and coax them into a friendly, flour and water living environment. But I didn’t. I ordered a starter from the Baker’s Catalogue.
I fed it.
I’m ready.
This is how you know someone is serious about bread baking, because according to the instructions included with it, my starter requires more attention than some of the pets I’ve owned.
Despite the fact that this may not be the prettiest waffle, I rather like the way it turned out to be almost circular. I will, however, practice filling my waffle iron.
Last time I posted about making waffles for breakfast, I based my recipe on one from America’s Test Kitchen, where I was assured by the testers that a thicker waffle batter produced waffles far superior to normal waffle batter. Unfortunately, America’s Test Kitchen does not always provide the justification for their decisions. This was the case here and I was left wondering why a thin batter wouldn’t make good waffles.
I pulled out the ol’ waffle iron, mixed up some plain waffles, with milk instead of buttermilk, and slapped the batter on the grill. The resulting waffles were crispy and light. Clearly, ATK is missing out here, even though I did let their paranoia goad me into adding a bit of yogurt to slightly thicken up the batter. The added benefit is that to make these, there is no need to separate your eggs and beat them. There was nothing special about these waffles other than that they are good and perfect for everyday dining.
Peanut butter cookies are good. Very good, as a matter of fact. Though I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches almost every single day that I took a bag lunch to school (K-12), I did not often have peanut butter cookies. Thinking about the reasons why this may have been, it occurs to me that perhaps the fact that we had peanut butter in the house did not mean that we had extra peanut butter in the house; we had peanut butter because we used it to make my sandwiches. One day, it occured to me that there were possibilities other than sandwiches. I set about to make peanut butter cookies.
I have no idea how old I was at the time, but things went smoothly until I had the balls of dough laid out on the baking sheets. Then disaster struck. “Disaster”, I should say. I knew that I was supposed to mark the cookies with a fork. I got the fork and began pressing crosses in the tops. Unfortunately, the fork stuck like crazy and my cookies got uglier and uglier as I became more and more frustrated. I was probably 9 and, yes, ugly cookies are a disaster at that age. I assume that I went ahead and baked the cookies anyway, though after that I always shied away from making peanut butter cookies.
I think that when I was in college a friend told me that all I had to do was wet the fork with water to keep it from sticking. Shocking, I know.
I am proud to report that I am no longer wary of baking up a batch of peanut butter cookies.
A while ago I posted about making soft pretzels and posted the recipe. I didn’t take any photos that time, so when I made a batch up today I snapped a few shots.
They are super easy and very tasty. I ate a few and froze the rest. Reheated pretzels aren’t as good as fresh ones if you use the microwave, but as far as I am concerned, some pretzels are better than none. The better way to reheat them is to defrost them in the microwave on low heat, then pop them into a 350F oven for about 5 minutes.
If you need to buy a cake for a man’s 24nd birthday, do not buy a Spongebob Squarepants birthday cake. There is something fundamentally odd about doing so - particularly when the birthday boy in question isn’t a fan of the cartoon and there is no “inside joke” about the cartoon that would give you a good reason for using it as a cake theme.
If you are picking up such a cake as a favor to a relative (who did not tell you what the cake was going to look like in advance), it is best to lie about the age of the recipient when conversing with the cake decorators in the bakery if the subject comes up.
If you have already said “There must be some mistake - this cake is for a 24 year old guy!” to the bakers, do not reveal your real name and try to leave quickly before their laughter reaches you.
I received a wonderful package from the UPS guy today, courtesy of Dr. Biggles and my meatloaf. Now I have something to keep me going on my journey into the midwest. Yep, I’m flying out to Indiana to visit some family for the long weekend. I probably won’t post while I’m going, but I’m sure I’ll have lots to share upon my return.
