Too Many Hobbies, Too Little Time

Christmas Quiche

2009-12-20T20:38:00.005-05:00

It's been a tradition for the last 14 years or so that I make a quiche for Christmas breakfast. Usually, I make the classic Quiche Lorraine with bacon and swiss, but I've been known to throw in a curveball every now and then with a quick quiche (using Bisquick in the filling) or a hash brown quiche. This year, Kara has specifically requested Lorraine, but since we've got a lot of ham left from a few days ago I figured I'd also make a ham and cheese quiche too.

Here are the recipes I plan to use, both culled from AllRecipes.com, one of my favorite idea spots.

Quiche Lorraine

Ingredients

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
12 slices bacon
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/3 cup minced onion
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups light cream
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white sugar
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Place bacon in a large skillet, and fry over medium-high heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then chop coarsely. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion into pastry shell.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, sugar and cayenne pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Allow quiche to sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Ham and Cheese Quiche

Ingredients

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup half-and-half
3 eggs
2 slices Swiss cheese
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup canned mushrooms
1 (4.5 ounce) can ham, flaked
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Beat together flour, salt, half-and-half and eggs in a medium bowl.

Place Swiss cheese flat in the pie crust. Arrange spinach evenly over Swiss cheese, then cover with mushrooms. Pour the flour and egg mixture over mushrooms. Cover with flaked ham and top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven 45 to 55 minutes, until surface is golden brown.

Baked Bacon

2009-12-12T12:28:00.001-05:00

I love bacon; I mean, who in their right mind doesn't? But it's such a mess to cook! There's avoiding hot popping grease, cleaning up splatters, smoking oil, and the burnt-on bits left in the pan.... The remedy? Baked bacon.

Blasphemy, you say? No, it's bliss. Here's why: no popping messes, no cooking in batches, no flipping, no scrubbing pans afterwards, no muss, no fuss. Oh, and all the bacon is done at the same time!

Baked Bacon

Ingredients
1 lb of bacon

Directions
Place a rack on a large cookie sheet (do not attempt this with a "rimless" cookie sheet unless you want a horrible mess in your oven! Bacon grease will spill out all over everywhere! If you don't have a rack, use aluminum foil that has been crinkled and then mostly smoothed out. If you don't crinkle the foil you'll have sticking issues. Even if you do have racks, you might want to put foil under the rack (between the rack and the sheet, not between the rack and the bacon) to prevent grease from burning onto the pan.

Lay out your bacon on the rack in a single layer. I had to use two sheets and two racks to fit one pound of bacon. Slide the bacon into a cool oven.

Set the oven to 400F and cook bacon for 17-20 minutes. Check for doneness--you might go as long as 25 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon and the speed at which your oven heats up. Be careful not to overcook; there's a fine line between crispy bacon and dried hunks of meat-that-was-formerly-bacon.

Mrs. Hobbs' Banana Pudding

2009-11-23T14:19:00.002-05:00

You might not have strong feelings either way about banana pudding, and normally I wouldn't have strong opinions on it either; however, today I was forced to come to grips with a new way of thinking. This banana pudding, as some of my elite friends might say, r0x0rz. The sour cream in the mix might sound surprising, but it adds a texture and tang that boxed pudding along can't touch.

Mrs. Hobbs' Banana Pudding

Ingredients
3-3.4oz boxes Jello French Vanilla Instant Pudding mix
1-16oz tub Kraft Cool Whip
2-12oz boxes Keebler Vanilla Wafers
1-8oz tub Breakstone's Sour Cream
6 to 9 bananas
3- cups 2% milk

Directions
Mix instant pudding and milk until well blended. Add Cool Whip and sour cream, mix thoroughly. Cover bottom of four quart casserole dish with pudding mixture. Add a layer of vanilla wafers, and a layer of banana slices. Repeat the layers and top with crushed vanilla wafers.

Chill and serve.

Best when prepared one day and served the next.

"Surprise" Cookies

2009-10-31T19:42:00.005-04:00

These cookies are a huge hit every time I make them! Fillings I have used:

The Teeny-mini candy bars (Snickers work really well!)
Rolos
Peanut Butter Cups
Mint Kisses
Mini Hershey bars (not as easy, since these are larger than, say, Snickers)

"Surprise" Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pkg. snickers minis

1. Combine butter, pb, & sugars on low until fluffy.
2. Slowly add eggs & vanilla until combined. Then mix in flour, salt & soda.
3. Cover & chill 2-3 hours. (If you're in a rush, it won't kill you to make them right away.)
4. Unwrap minis.
5. Remove dough, divide into 1 T. pieces & flatten.
6. Place mini on dough.
7. Form ball around mini.
8. Place on greased cookie sheet & bake @ 350° for 10-12 min.
9. Let cool on rack or wax paper.

The Cape Skinner

2009-09-07T18:27:00.005-04:00

Last year, I was given two identical knife kits by a fellow Scouter. They are comprised of a through-tang blade, a guard, a pommel, and a block for the handle. For months they sat on my workbench as kits, but a few months ago I was inspired to start on one.

I decided to make it ergonomic, which involved a lot of trial-and-error sanding with my Dremel--pretty much the whole thing was done with my Dremel using sanding drums or engravers.

A great big thank you goes out to John Sharp, who donated the leather, rivets, tools, and expertise for making the sheath.

This knife will be given to the Scout who completes the most Merit Badges between now and February. I hope it inspires them to work hard!

I just may be a little bit crazy

2009-09-07T09:09:00.003-04:00

In addition to working lots of hours at my "real job," being Scoutmaster, Den Leader, Father of three, Husband of one, Crossfit junkie, and having more hobbies than you can shake a stick at, I have decided to add one more thing to the mix: The Paleo Challenge.

My gym is having a one month challenge (starting today) to stick to the Paleo Diet: Meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar. Kara and I are going to try it for a month and see how it goes--she'll be diligent about blogging it and I won't, but I will keep an "analog" journal.

Anyone who knows me will probably be gaping in amazement right now. One month without bread? Yeah. I know. But I'm only half doing this for me--if I bake fresh bread, it'll make it that much more difficult for Kara to keep to her goal. So we're doing this as a team, and it'll be great. :)

What's for breakfast?

Thick-cut deli meat (maybe cajun roast beef today)

Strawberries and grapes

Dry-roasted almonds

Pork Tenderloin

2009-08-09T22:38:00.004-04:00

I've made pork tenderloin a few times now, and they've been pretty good for the most part. But tonight, I made a pork tenderloin that put all my previous efforts to shame! It was flavorful, but not overpowering. It was simple, and not too terribly time-consuming. I based it off a recipe I found at http://www.foodnetworkfans.com/forum/pork-recipes/3449-balsamic-olive-oil-pork-tenderloin.html...

Balsamic and Olive Oil Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

Reduction:

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

3 tsp honey

1 medium plum, diced

1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin

4 T balsamic vinegar

4 T olive oil

2 t minced garlic (6-8 whole cloves, smashed)

2 t kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

8-10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Directions

Make the balsamic reduction ahead of time, because it takes about 30 mins to reduce. Place 1/4 c balsamic vinegar, honey, and plum in a small sauce pan over med-low heat. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, for about 30 mins. Remove from heat. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Preheat oven to 400F. Remove fat and silverskin from tenderloin.

Place tenderloin in a glass roasting pan, drizzle 4 T balsamic vinegar over the top of the loin, and rub into the meat. Pour 4 T olive oil over the loin and rub into the meat. Sprinkle garlic, salt, pepper, and basil evenly over the loin.

Bake uncovered for about 35-40 mins for medium rare to medium. Cover loosely with foil and let rest on a cutting board for about 5-8 mins then slice into 1/2 inch medallions. Place medallions on a serving plate/dish and drizzle the reduction over the meat.

Amish Friendship Bread - Feeding Techniques

2009-05-08T06:39:00.006-04:00

A friend asked me to publish my personal take on AFB feeding techniques, so I thought I'd share them here too.

Standard AFB Feeding Procedure

Day 1: This is the date on the bag. You don't need to do anything this day other than put the bag in a place of moderate room temp. and where you'll notice it tomorrow and succeeding days.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: “Feed” it. Add to the bag 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, then mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: Baking Day.

Pour contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl. Add & mix:
1 ½ c flour
1 ½ c sugar
1 ½ c milk

Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 c each into 4 one-gallon Ziploc bags. Keep a yeast starter for yourself (if you choose) and give the other 3 bags along with copies of this recipe to friends. Write today's date on each bag so your friends will know what to designate as Day 1.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

To the remaining yeast mixture in the bowl, add the following:
2 c flour (sifted is optional)
1 lrge box instant vanilla pudding
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 c oil
½ c milk
1 c sugar
½ tsp vanilla

Grease or oil 2 large loaf pans. Mix an additional ½ c sugar and 1 ½ tsp cinnamon in its own bowl, and use half of it to dust the greased pan. Pour the batter evenly into 2 pans and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top. Bake 1 hour.

Allow the loaves to cool (about 10 min) until they loosen easily from the pans.

If you make the bread earlier or later than the days listed, just be sure you “feed” it every so often.

Alternate AFB Feeding Procedure
The feeding cycle for AFB can be lengthened or shortened to suit your schedule. You could have one feeding cycle at 7 days, and the next at 14 days without any ill effects—the starter is very resilient.

Also, if you've run out of friends willing to try AFB, you don't have to waste ingredients by overfeeding; you can reduce the feed so you have double what you need on the last day instead of 5x what you need.

Day 1: This is the date on the bag. You don't need to do anything this day other than put the bag in a place of moderate room temp. and where you'll notice it tomorrow and succeeding days.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: “Feed” it. Add to the bag 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, then mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Mush the bag.
Day 7: Baking Day.

Separate out 1 c of starter and bake with it, THEN add the following to the bag and mix:
1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c milk

By baking with the starter before feeding it, you'll get a bit stronger sourdough flavor, but the sweetness of the recipe will counterpoint the sourness to make a great flavor.

Ding Dong Cobbler

2009-05-04T19:49:00.002-04:00

My son wanted to have a birthday party this year, and the theme we came up with was...camping. And Spongebob. So we're having a Spongebob pinata, plus a sleepover in the backyard complete with tents.

I found the perfect recipe for a camping-themed birthday cake for a 7 year-old: Ding Dong Cobbler. This recipe comes from The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook, a veritable treasure trove of outdoor cooking genius!

Ding Dong Cobbler
Requires a 12" dutch oven, a large mixing bowl, and a mixing spoon. You may also want to line the DO with heavy duty foil.

Ingredients
2 (18 1/2 oz) boxes Betty Crocker yellow cake mix
6 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups water
1 (21-ounce) can cherry pie filling
12 Hostess Ding Dongs
1 single-serving packet instant hot chocolate mix
20 large marshmallows
3 Tbsp butter

Options: You can substitute chocolate cake mix for the yellow, Twinkies for the Ding Dongs, and apples or peaches for the cherries.

Directions
Open can of pie filling and unwrap Ding Dongs to save necessary time in a later step.

Pour both packages of cake mix into a large bowl. Combine with eggs, vegetable oil, and water. Pour can of pie filling into bottom of oven. Then, pour half of the cake batter over the filling. Place 6 Ding Dongs on cake batter, spacing them evenly. Sprinkle half of the hot chocolate mix over the Ding Dongs. Pour remaining cake batter into oven. Place remaining 6 Ding Dongs on cake batter.

Set marshmallows on top of batter and Ding Dongs. Sprinkle remaining hot chocolate mix over marshmallows. Cover marshmallows with small pieces of butter, to promote browning.

Bake using 8 coals arranged in a ring under the oven and 17 coals on the lid. Cake will be ready to serve when browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (Or, bake at 350* F in a conventional oven.)

Whole Wheat Pancakes

2009-05-03T13:25:00.001-04:00

This recipe calls for either all-purpose white flour or whole wheat flour. My family happens to have a lot of hard red wheat in storage and a wheat grinder, so I started making these with freshly-ground whole wheat. After a few weeks of making these on Saturday mornings, I think I've got this recipe down to an art. I usually quadruple the recipe and freeze the leftovers, four to a bag. My two boys love to eat them for breakfast during the week.

This recipe is adapted from the Betty Crocker's 40th Edition cookbook.

Ingredients
(Single batch)
1 egg
1 c all-purpose or whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk
1 T granulated or packed brown sugar (I use brown sugar)
2 T vegetable oil
3 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla

(Quadruple batch)
4 eggs
4 c all-purpose or whole wheat flour
3 c milk
4 T granulated or packed brown sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
4 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 T vanilla

Directions
Separate eggs. Beat whites to stiff peaks and set aside. Combine remaining ingredients and mix just until blended--overmixing will cause tough pancakes--the mix will be lumpy. Add 1/3 of the whites to the batter and fold in. Add another 1/3 and fold in. Add the remaining 1/3 and fold in. (Adding the whites in 3 batches works well to ensure even distribution of the whites without over-folding, which would defeat the purpose of whipping the whites.) Let the batter rest for at least 5 minutes while the griddle heats.

Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat or to 375 degrees. (I use an electric skillet.) When a drop of water dances on the griddle, you're ready to cook. (At this point, I sparingly apply cooking spray to the griddle, but butter or margarine would work, too.) Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the griddle. Cook until the pancakes just start to dry at the edges--if the top is dry, you've cooked it too long. Turn and cook other sides until golden brown.

Cake Balls

2009-04-19T12:38:00.008-04:00

I can't remember the site where I first saw these done, but I do distinctly remember seeing them on Bakerella as cakepops. They're small and sweet, perfect for a party or a reception; they're infinitely customizable; and they're easy to make. Here's the basic recipe:

1 13" x 9" cake (made from scratch or from a box)

1 can frosting (or about 2 cups if made from scratch)

1 package chocolate bark coating (if you use regular chocolate, like melted Hershey bars, they will not turn out as well)

1 Tbsp oil or shortening

Make cake according to instructions, cool, then crumble into very fine crumbs in a large bowl. Mix in frosting. Shape into walnut-sized balls, then cool in the freezer for at least an hour--two would be better. Melt the chocolate coating and add oil/shortening, dip cake balls, cool for 15 minutes.

Not rocket science.

The beauty is in the variations. Try some of the following:

red velvet cake mix, cream cheese frosting, milk chocolate bark
devil's food cake mix, vanilla frosting, milk chocolate bark
strawberry cake mix, vanilla frosting, white chocolate bark
German chocolate cake mix, pecan coconut frosting, milk chocolate bark
chocolate cake mix, vanilla frosting plus peppermint extract, dark chocolate bark
chocolate cake mix, chocolate frosting, Andes mints

Tips:

A lot of good tips can be found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cake-Balls/Detail.aspx.
Omit oil or shortening, if desired.
Some of the cake crumbs will get into the bark, so if you're using white chocolate bark, you may want to thin the coating with 2 Tbsp or so for a first coat, then redip in fresh chocolate.
To make cake ball cones, lightly coat the inside of a cake cone with chocolate bark. Cool. Lightly press crumb/frosting mixture into the cone. Dip cake into coating, swirling to coat throughly. Hold cone upside-down for a few seconds to drain, then cool upright. Warning: These are very rich!
Some prefer using one-half can of frosting for a more "cakey" ball. Be sure to freeze them until very firm before dipping.

Poached Pears

2009-03-28T19:33:00.003-04:00

My wife went grocery shopping today right after her workout, which is good and bad. It's good because she got a lot of great food, and bad...for our budget. To make a long story short, as I looked over our comestible wealth, I spied a cluster of pears. I recalled having seen an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown poached pears, but he poached them in a bottle of wine. My family and I neither cook with nor otherwise consume alcohol, making AB's recipe a no-go. Virtually every other recipe I found also poached pears in wine, with one exception of a rather vague recipe I found at cooks.com. I have tweaked the directions a bit to clarify the process.

The pears turned out delicious, by the way!

Poached Pears

Prep
Peel and core pears from blossom end leaving stems intact. Using the smallest spoon you can find may help.

Ingredients
6 ripe Bartlett, Anjou, or Bosc pears
4 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks

Directions
In a pan wide enough to hold all 6 pears, combine water, orange juice and sugar. Bring to boil. Add pears; poach gently 10-15 minutes or until tender. Remove pears and reserve 1/2 cup liquid.

Beat butter with powdered sugar until light. Blend in reserved liquid. Cook and stir over low heat 8-10 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks. Temper yolks by adding a few tablespoons of the sauce to the eggs while stirring constantly. Add a few more tablespoons of sauce to the eggs, still stirring constantly. Add the egg mixture into the remaining sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes until thick. Serve warm or cold over pears.

Dad's Casserole

2009-03-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

I remember my dad making this casserole (or something similar) when I was a boy, and I've made it myself a number of times for my family. It's a simple recipe that we usually have all the ingredients for, so it's great for end-of-the-week-no-groceries-left-what-can-I-make-for-dinner nights.

Now, I don't usually measure these ingredients--it's a "shoot from the hip" kind of recipe--but I'll give you the basic idea:

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef
Seasonings to taste
3 cups mashed potatoes
1 10oz can corn, drained
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar

Directions
Brown the ground beef and season to taste. I usually go with a subtle Italian flavor since that's what my family likes. A little "Italian Seasoning" mix, some garlic, and a little salt and pepper.

In a large casserole, mix the ground beef and 1 cup of the mashed potatoes. This step makes it easier to scoop out the meat in one piece and not have it crumble. Top with the corn. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese over the corn. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until the casserole is warmed through and the cheese is melted.

Astle's Tortillas

2009-03-08T14:00:00.000-04:00

Whenever I make Mexican food, I make up a batch of Melissa Astle's world-famous tortillas. Little Mike calls them "yum yum bread." And she is correct when she claims that they are way better than store-bought!

I have used flour ranging from 100% white to 100% freshly-ground whole wheat in this recipe with good results. I always use butter-flavored Crisco.

I weigh each tortilla at 2 oz (plus or minus .1 oz), for consistency in size. I roll using either a traditional or a French rolling pin, and a silicone baking mat.

I cook two to three at a time using an electric griddle set at 375F, and store them in a heavy plastic tortilla warmer until its time to eat.

http://melissaastle.blogspot.com/2008/05/tortilla-tutorial.html

Dutch Oven Jambalaya

2009-03-08T09:30:00.003-04:00

When the Scouts were planning the campout this weekend, I offered to cook one meal. They picked dinner, so I flipped through my copy of The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook and settled on "Two-Can Jambalaya." I had never made jambalaya before, but I strongly suspected that the Scouts would like it. And I was right--it was a hit!

The recipe says that it serves 6-8 people, and we had 11 people, so I used three cans of everything, which turned out to be just a bit too much. But everyone ate until they were full and there were still leftovers, so I guess that's good.

Two-Can Jambalaya
Prep
About all you can do beforehand is to cube the sausage.

Ingredients
2 cans (10-ounce each) tomatoes
2 cans (10 1/2-ounce each) condensed French onion soup
2 cans (10 1/2-ounce each) concentrated beef consomme
2 cans (about 1 pound) white rice (measure using empty soup can)
2 cans (about 1 pound) kielbasa sausage (measure using empty soup can)
1/2 cup (1 standard stick) butter, cut into cubes

Directions
Combine all ingredients in Dutch oven. Bake using 8 coals under the oven and 17 coals on the lid. Cook for about 1 hour or until rice is tender, refreshing coals as required to maintain heat.

Netted Rope Hammock - Making Progress

2009-03-02T12:29:00.008-05:00

After making a hundred or so feet of rope out of plastic grocery bags, I wondered to myself what I would do with it. A few ideas came to mind: use it for knot and lashing practice with the Scouts or make a coiled-rope rug were two of the most notable. But then I wondered if I could use it to make a rope hammock.

After a bit of web research, I found that there are two main ways of making a rope hammock--basically a net that you lay in. The first way is to have multiple pairs of cords running the width of the hammock, then knotting alternating pairs of cords to form the mesh. This seemed to be an easier concept, and perhaps easier to execute; however, very few of the hammocks I saw were knotted this way and I wondered why, if it seemed so easy.

The second way is to use one continuous cord (or several shorter cords knotted together) and...sew...the hammock. (The PDF I used to learn this technique can be found at the new URL of http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/files/2009/04/technique4.pdf.)

This is the way I chose to go for a few reasons. First, it would be a challenge to learn a new knotting technique. Second, it seemed like a nifty skill to have. I can see it now...

Friend: "Here we are on our week long camping trip and I forgot my net! I wish I knew someone who could make a fishing net."
Me: "Have no fear! I can whip one up in no time at all. I just need to strip the inner bark fibers of that tree over there, twist them in to rope, and it'll be done in a jiffy!"

So here are a few pics of the hammock in progress. I figure I need about 30-40 more Meijer bags to get the job done. (So get shopping, Kara!) ;) Why am I insisting on using only Meijer bags? It's probably an OCD thing, but I don't want to have brown bags mixed in with the white ones. Or black Wal-Mart lettering mixed in with the red and white Meijer lettering. So it's purely cosmetic. However, if I had my way, I'd use 100% Target bags. They're larger (so I could use fewer), and they're a bit more rubbery than the regular plasticky grocery bags (so they'll be a bit more flexible, I think).

I doubt that this will be the world's most comfortable hammock, but that's not really why I'm making it. I'm making it to see if it can be done. And I really do think that it'll be able to hold me--but I'm testing it out with my 9 year-old first, just in case.

Cub Scout Pretzels

2009-02-14T07:44:00.003-05:00

This week, we made pretzels in Cub Scouts. And anyone who knows me is probably thinking right now, "I bet Brig just watched an episode of Good Eats on pretzels." And anyone thinking that would be right.

Overall, it went really well. The pretzels browned nicely. They were chewy and soft in the middle and firmer on the outside. The Cubs were able to form their own pretzels, which was fun for them. But...they stuck to the waxed paper that I put on the cookie sheet. And not just a little sticking either. So don't forget to grease your sheet pan.

NOTE: Don't skip the baking soda bath. It helps to make the outsides soft and brown when cooked.

Here's the recipe:

Alton Brown's Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt (You may be able to find this at your local store. Don't use table salt or rock salt. We used Kosher salt due to a lack of pretzel salt, and it worked okay.)

Directions
Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Making Rope from Plastic Bags

2009-02-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

For my first video tutorial, I demonstrate how to make rope out of plastic grocery bags.

Hawaiian Sandwiches

2009-02-03T19:05:00.003-05:00

This afternoon, a friend asked for ideas on making a can of tuna taste good. I'm probably too late, but I thought I'd share a quick, easy recipe we use tuna for: Hawaiian Sandwiches. Credit for this one goes to my wife and her family, although our family has adopted it heartily. Sometimes though, my boys just eat the cheese on top and leave the rest.

Hawaiian Sandwiches
Ingredients
5 oz can tuna
approx 1/2 c mayo
approx 1 Tbsp mustard
8-10 slices bread
20 oz (approx) can pineapple slices
8-10 slices cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat the broiler to 500F.

In a small bowl, mix the tuna, mayo, and mustard. Place bread slices on a baking sheet. Spread the tuna mixture on 8 to 10 slices of bread. Place one slice of pineapple on each slice of bread, cover with one slice of cheese.

Put sandwiches under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5 minutes.

Cooking Bread in the Outdoors

2009-02-01T17:28:00.007-05:00

Daniel Edwards asked me about my Sourdough AFB: "Do you know how to do this in a Dutch oven? I need to make some of this at a big scouting event (out in the wilderness), and so naturally, we don't have any conventional ovens out there to use..." Unfortunately, he didn't leave an email address in response, so I've put my reply in a new post.

You could do AFB in a dutch oven, but it would take at least two weeks of prepwork just to make the starter. Plus, if you're going to have dough rising overnight anyway I recommend making No-knead Pseudo Sourdough. It has a nice thick crust and a great, but subtle, sourdough taste without the hassle of starters. At the bottom of the linked post, it has directions for outdoor cooking in a dutch oven.

Edit: You could also check Mark's blog for an actual sourdough recipe cooked in a dutch oven.

OR

I recently acquired The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook, and it has a fantastic recipe for "Hungry Hunter's Basic Bread." I've made it several times in the last month or two in both a 12" and a 10" dutch oven in my conventional oven. Here's the recipe, although I highly recommend getting the book:

Hunter's Bread

Prep

If you're going to make this outdoors, I recommend mixing all the dry ingredients into a gallon-size zip-top bag while still at home. Don't forget to bring about two cup's worth of extra flour for kneading, or just in case the dough is too wet.

Note: Ingredient list is for a 12" DO)
Ingredients
8 cups all-purpose flour (6 cups for 10" DO)
3 tsp salt (2 tsp for 10")
5 tsp rapid-rise yeast (or two packets) (3 1/2 tsp for 10")
2 cups water, 120 to 130 deg. F (it's pretty darn hot!)

Directions
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water. Stir until too stiff to mix, then knead by hand for 10 minutes. When finished, the dough should be soft and a bit sticky. Add small amounts of flour while kneading to adjust if the dough is too sticky.

Form dough into a smooth-skinned ball and place in a greased 12-inch dutch oven. It is important that the dutch oven isn't cold. Preheat, if required, but only enough to take the chill out of the metal. Turn dough over so the entire dough ball becomes oiled. Cover the oven and place two coals on lid near the edge.

Let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 45-60 minutes depending on ambient temperature and wind conditions. During this time, keep the oven warm but not hot. The dough ball should fill the oven. Once the dough ball has risen, gently press it down to de-gas it. Remove the dough and carefully reform it into a smooth ball.

Return the dough ball to the warm oven, replace the lid, and replace the two coals with fresh coals. Allow the dough to rise again to about twice its bulk--about 30-45 minutes. It should now fill the oven nearly to the lid. Don't be tempted to add coals to hurry the process.

Once the dough has nearly reached the lid, place 11 fresh coals under the oven in a ring, just inside the edge of the base. Place 21 briquettes on the lid in a ring along the outer edge. Place two more coals in the middle of the lid near the handle. (For a 10" DO, use 9 under, 19 over + 2 in the middle.) Once you can smell the bread, it is almost finished baking. It should take about 35-45 minutes. Take a peek at 35 minutes to see if the top is browned.

Once the bread reaches an internal temperature of 185F it is finished; however, the top may not be as brown as you like. To brown the top, add up to 6 coals to the lid and bake another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the bread and allow to cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes.

Slice and serve with copious amounts of butter.

This loaf was baked in a 12" dutch oven.

Store-bought Skookies

2009-01-20T15:08:00.003-05:00

If I haven't said it about myself at some point or other, then it's no doubt been said about me: I've never met a dessert I didn't like...until now.

It started a week or so before Christmas when I was wandering through my local Sportman's Warehouse looking for presents for my family. I picked up some camping utensils for my kids, and was walking through the cast iron aisle when I fell in love. I spotted a boxed skookie set! I figured the best way to get myself some new cast iron was to disguise it as a present for Kara so I picked it up, playing it from the skookie angle, because I know how she loves skookies. The set included two skookie pans, two skillet potholder things, a recipe booklet, and some just-add-water-and-oil double fudge brownie mix. Score!

Last night, I finally got around to making my first batch of skookies in the new pans. I mixed up the prepackaged mix using the 3/4 cup of water and 3/4 cup of oil that it recommended. The instructions said to pour the mixture into a greased 9x13" pan...which confused me a wee bit since it came with a pair of skookie pans! I divided it between the two pans and hoped they wouldn't overflow. (For a little overflow insurance, I put a 9x13 on the rack two positions below the skookie pans. I knew that it'd affect the cooking of the skookies to have that pan there, but figured that however it affected them would be small potatoes compared to how Kara would affect me if I managed to spill skookie dough onto the floor of the oven.)

After the allotted time (25 min), I checked the skookies and decided they needed another 4 or 5 minutes, probably due to the sheet pan below them. At 30 minutes, they appeared done...but were a rather odd consistency. They were spongy, had a slightly rubbery feel, and were pockmarked--just like the texture that I associate with microwave brownies. They didn't taste much better. They were bland and cakey, and even that squeeze of caramel topping I drizzled on couldn't save them. (Okay, it was two squeezes. So sue me.)

Yes, I have finally met a dessert I didn't like.

If I had this particular recipe to do again--which is highly unlikely since it was rather nasty and I have much better recipes for skookies--I would switch out the oil for 1/2 cup of applesauce, and add one chopped chocolate bar.

I do recommend the skookie pan set, but if you dare to try the prepackaged brownie mix it comes with, take my advice: tinker with it.

Disclaimer: There are probably other prepackaged skookie mixes out there that are much better. I don't know, since I haven't tried any others. If you find one though, let me know!

One Gallon's Worth!

2009-01-06T10:46:00.002-05:00

On January 6th, I gave blood! I've been a mostly-regular donor for years, but it has really helped my track record that my company sponsors quarterly blood drives. So, with my double-red cell donation, I reached one gallon's worth of blood donated since I've lived in Kentucky! (Actually, I suspect that I've achieved several pints more than that, and that they credited the "missing" pints to my evil twin.)

I Watch A Lot of Movies, I Guess

2008-12-31T16:25:00.003-05:00

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. I've marked the ones I've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog/Facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, changing the header adding your number. I've seen 153 of the films listed (plus many more that aren't--remember Blademaster, Kev?). Do you have more of a life than I?

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club (I read the book)
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total:9

(x) The Princess Bride
( ) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 14

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 16

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 23

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(x) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
(x) Robots
Total so far: 30

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
(x) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
Total so far: 37

(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving x-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 44

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 49

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 56

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 63

(x) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Boss's Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 70

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 80

(x) x-Men
(x) x-2
(x) x-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
(x) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 93

( ) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(x) The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
(x) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 98

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 104

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devil's Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History x
( ) Three
Total so Far: 106

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 110

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 115

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 116

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 122

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
( ) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal

Total 135

16 "interesting" things about me

2008-12-30T18:38:00.002-05:00

I was tagged by an...I was going to say "old High School friend," which would only be 3/4 correct since we're not old...by a friend I met back in High School to post 16 "interesting" things about myself. The only problem is, I'm not so sure I'm a great judge of what's interesting. So with that in mind, here are 16 things that you may or may not find interesting about me:

1. I played Gonzorgo, the pirate with the parrot, in the musical Babes in Toyland at a children's theater in PA shortly after High School. I loved it, and I still have the parrot. (You can see it on my Facebook profile pic.)

2. I love to camp. I love, love love to camp. But between chronically cold toes and an inability to sleep through loud noises (e.g. crickets chirping, trucks barreling down the adjacent highway, Scouts making flatulent noises and giggling about it) I almost never actually get to sleep when camping. Even when I bring ear plugs, I just can't sleep for more than a half-hour or so at a time.

3. I really enjoy working with Cub Scouts, moreso than I ever thought. I'm the leader for a group of Tiger Cubs (1st graders) and I always have a lot of fun.

4. When sufficiently motivated, I can be highly organized. There was a winter backpacking trip two years ago that I spent months organizing. I had map routes, GPS waypoints, 3 potential campsites depending on how far we got the first night...you name it, I had a plan for it.

5. I coordinated an auction/fundraiser for two of my dear friends who were very much in love, so that they could meet one another face to face. We raised over $1000 dollars (enough to get him to Europe and both of them back) among a small group of friends--in large part due to the selfless monetary and material donations of a bunch of Internet friends who had mostly never met each other. We've lost a few from our circle, and gained one or two, but I think there'll always be that special bond between all of us who worked together on that common goal.

(There was also a highly charged "feline" bailout that just about did a few of us in!)

And now I'm waxing all nostalgic. *Ahem* On with the boring stuff. I mean, interesting stuff.

6. Since the last time I got meme tagged, I taught myself the harmonica.

7. (Geez! Not even halfway there yet?) I'm rather ADD. There was this one time in school, where my teacher...what was his name? Oh! That reminds me! I need to get a new name tag at work soon. Wait. What was I saying?

8. An unfortunate skateboarding accident shortly before I turned 16 put a rather dramatic end to my pole vaulting career. That really had me down for a while. Heh.

9. I never reached Eagle Scout. Some of you who know me might be shocked to hear that, but that was the time when my father was very sick and I think my parents had bigger things on their mind than motivating me to advance in Scouts.

10. Nobody I know can tie a greater variety of knots than I can AND name their uses. Bowline, two half hitches, square knot, sheepshank, prussik...you name it. Rob Wilson may come close.

11. (Am I still really working on this list?) I can wiggle my ears, flare my nostrils, and wiggle my eyebrows all at the same time.

12. Dessert is my favorite food group. Breakfast is my second favorite. Dessert is also my third.

13. If I were independently wealthy, I'd probably devote a lot more time to volunteering in Scouting, and I'd also probably build wooden things (like Adirondack chairs and such). Anyone care to make donations to the "Brig Needs To Get Rich" fund? Maybe I'll hold a telethon.

14. My wife is an exact, prefect complement of me. She doesn't mind taking care of many of the things I despise doing (finances!), while I take of the things where he confidence is lacking (fixing things, like cars and computers!). I provide many of the project ideas, and the enthusiasm to get them started, while she provides the endurance to finish them up.

BC <3>15. With my recent purchase of a convertible--and what a joy it is to drive!--I think I've ticked off every major thing on my list of "things I want to do before I die."

Scuba dive? Check.
Drive a motorcycle? Check.
Own a convertible? Check.
Skydive? Check.
Bungee jump? Check.
Snow ski? Check.
Sing in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City (home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)? Check. (And at a General Conference, no less!)
Sing at Disney World? Check.
Get married to the woman of my dreams? Check.
Get a Master's Degree? Check. (MSCIS from UoP Online)

I guess the last few I have to wait on: see my sons achieve Eagle Scout, and see them off on missions for the church.

16. I am a rather decent shot at rifle, shotgun, and archery, especially for someone who doesn't shoot regularly. (Mostly just at summer camp.)

Well there they are, my 16 things. Now I tag the following 16 people to go through the same laborious exercise I went through! (Isn't that like when a mother wishes that her son has kids just like him when he's a dad?)

Robb G.
Brooke W.
Grant P.
Lulu (who didn't complete my previous tagging!)
Katrina H.
Liz H.
Sheldon C.
Kim W.
Shauna E.
Sarey-Loo Who
Shani E.
Chris "Pete" P.
Julene C.
Marianne K.
Melanie M.
Linda W.

Chicken Milano

2008-12-29T20:43:00.003-05:00

I stumbled across this recipe somewhere, and my family is glad that I did. We all love it! This is a relatively quick recipe, but it requires some pretty complex multitasking because you've got to cook pretty much everything at the same time, because one part of the recipe relies on another. So try it, but you might want to have two of you the first time you try it.

Chicken Milano
Prep
If you are using frozen chicken breasts, thaw them thoroughly and butterfly them so they'll cook more quickly. I also like to have everything chopped, measured, and ready to go before I start cooking because it can get a bit hectic.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chicken broth, divided
1 cup heavy cream
2 chicken breasts, butterflied
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
8 oz. dry fettuccine pasta

Directions
In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter; add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and 3/4 cup of the chicken broth; increase to medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender. Add the cream and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer over medium heat until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

While the sauce is simmering, lightly coat the chicken with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, then sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. In a large skillet (not non-stick!) over medium heat, saute the chicken. Cook chicken thoroughly, about 4 minutes per side or until meat is no longer pink inside. Transfer to a board; cover and keep warm. Discard the fat from the skillet.

In the same skillet, over medium heat, bring 1/4 cup chicken broth to a boil stirring the pan juices. Reduce slightly and add to the cream sauce; stir in basil and adjust seasonings to taste.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain, transfer to a bowl, and toss with 3 to 4 tablespoons of the sauce.

Cut each chicken breast into 2 to 3 diagonal slices. Reheat the sauce gently if needed. Transfer the pasta to serving plates; top with chicken and coat with the cream sauce; serve.

Spence's Scarf

2008-12-26T16:11:00.003-05:00

For some silly reason, I mentioned to Spence a month or so ago that I'd make him a scarf. And any comment stated to a 6 year old, even a passing idea, is as good as a promise. That night, he rummaged through my yarn bag and came up with a skein of bright red yarn that he wanted for a scarf. And he wanted me to start on it right away.

I have made a few hats on my hoop loom, and a tube scarf too. This time, I figured I'd mix things up a bit and make a flat-panel scarf using knits and purls, but on my hoop loom. Isela Phelps has some great instructional videos on "needleless knitting" with a hoop loom at http://www.decoraccentsinc.com/Loom_Knitting_Videos_s/14.htm. I followed her instructions and used the garter stitch for the first 8-ish rows, then switched to the stockinette stitch for the rest of the scarf, then closed with the garter stitch for the last 8-ish rows. What I didn't do was a border of three stitches of the garter stitch on each side of each row, which would have prevented the scarf edges from rolling. Oh well. You live and you learn, right?

So slowly but surely, I worked on the scarf over the holiday break, and hit the right length just as I ran out of yarn. I might consider making another scarf this way, but if I do I'll certainly take her advice about the garter stitch borders. One of these days though, I'd like to try my hand at making some woolen socks.

Crafting + Camping = DIY Gear

2008-12-26T15:52:00.004-05:00

I've wanted a certain non-essential piece of camping gear for a while now: a sleeping bag liner. You can buy them for as little as $30, or for as much as you have cash to spend. They usually come in cotton, fleece, silk (or "silky" material), each one being good depending on what you want to do with it. I wanted something to keep the inside of my bag clean (liners are more washable than sleeping bags), to add a bit of warmth to my bag, and to have a lightweight bag for summer camping.

Shortly before Christmas, I found fleece blankets on sale for about $3.50 each. I don't know how much a comparable amount of fleece fabric would cost, but that seemed a pretty fair deal to me. So I picked up two. And I also picked up a 36" double-zip zipper.

I had a design in mind similar to this one, which I referred to for inspiration. Instead of sewing straight across the feet, I sewed a circle onto the feet to make a nice, big foot box, because I have big feet and they don't like being too crowded when I sleep.

All in all, it was pretty simple sewing except for the zipper. We may have a zipper foot around here somewhere, which would have made things much easier, but I was too lazy to go hunting for it. Still, I have had zero experience with zippers, and they're not the easiest things to navigate, as I understand it. But the zipper zips, which is what I was going for. We'll see how it holds up to regular use.

Christmas Songs

2008-12-21T13:11:00.002-05:00

I sing. I've been singing for a very long time, in many different choirs at many different times. I love to sing, but I haven't done much singing for the last few years--I've been pretty busy with other things.

Last year, I sang O Holy Night at my Christmas church service. It was very well received, so I figured I'd repeat my performance again this year. When I told my mother what I'd be singing, she said, "Oh, I'd love to hear that!" When I figured out that my camera has a voice-only recording feature, I thought that I'd try to capture the performance for her. It's not a great recording, but it's better than nothing.

Listen

Cauliflower Update

2008-12-17T14:21:00.002-05:00

UPDATE

In response to my request for assistance with my Cauliflower and Cheese dilemma, my dear old mother spilled the beans:

Apparently, my dad would make a simple white sauce (butter, flour, and milk) and then melt in chunks of cheddar. Next time I make this, I'll try draining the cauliflower well after steaming it, and using a cheesy white sauce. Stand by for the results!

Cauliflower Experts Needed!

2008-12-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

One of my holiday must-haves is cauliflower with cheese sauce. I remember my dad making it when I was young, but he passed away many years ago before I was instructed in the art of the cauliflower cheese sauce. I can steam a head of cauliflower--that's not the tough part. I can melt Velveeta and add a little milk to thin it--not too tough either. But whenever I make a Velveeta-based cheese sauce...alas, its charm is fleeting. For after a few minutes, the water trapped in the cauliflower from the steaming process thins the cheese sauce to a milk-like consistency. Eww.

So what am I doing wrong? Is there a special way to prepare the cauliflower? A special recipe for cheese sauce? A proven method for bringing the two together without the cheese getting thick and developing that nasty skin while still in the serving dish? If there are any cauliflower Jedis who read this blog, or if either of my readers (*grin*) know of such a person, please enlighten me.

Candy Canes

2008-12-15T06:25:00.004-05:00

For years, I had taken the manufacture of candy canes for granted...until I met the girl who would be my wife. See, her family has a tradition of making candy during the holidays, which includes that most perplexing of sugary oddities: the candy cane. And the most perplexing of questions surrounding the candy cane--for me at least--was "how do they make the stripe?"

That first holiday that we were together--no, it must have been the second--I was let in on the family secret. Yes, I was ushered in by cousin Michael to the manufacture of candy canes. I think it's a fun recipe, and doesn't take a whole lot of special or expensive ingredients, so give it a shot! You might have a new family tradition of your own!

And here's the family secret, made not so secret:

Candy Canes
Warning: You do not want to even attempt this recipe without at least four non-child people. It involves handling hot things with quasi-bare hands, so it might be good for them to not be whiny either.

Ingredients
6 cups granulated sugar
3 cups cold water
2 Tbsp white Karo syrup or honey
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
flavoring as desired
food coloring

Directions
Mix ingredients (except cream of tartar, flavoring, and food coloring) in a 6 to 7 quart deep saucepan. After sugar is dissolved, do not stir. Bring to a rolling boil and wash down the crystals, (Brig's note: You can also clamp on the lid for at least 3 minutes, since evaporation and condensation will help wash the sugar crystals down the sides too,) then add the cream of tartar. Boil rapidly until it reaches the hard crack stage.

Pour most of it quickly onto a greased dripper or marble slab. Pour the rest into a small metal dish. DO NOT MOVE THE MIXTURE UNTIL PARTLY COOL. Turn the edges in (Brig's note: We use a clean metal putty knife dedicated to candy canes for this) and add the flavoring (2 teaspoons for the marble slab, 1 teaspoon in the small dish). Also, add food coloring to the small dish. Pull the candy in the large dripper until creamy, then form into a ball. (Brig's note: This is just like pulling taffy. You may want to grease up your hands lightly with butter to prevent the hot mixture from sticking to your hands)

Wrap the colored stripe from the small bowl around the middle of the ball. Stretch and roll, twisting to form the traditional stripe on the stick. If it tends to stick to the surface, use a very small amount of flour. Cut into several lengths as necessary. When the desired diameter is achieved, cut and form into canes. If it gets too cold to work, put on a wooden breadboard in a warm oven to soften.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

It's worse than that...he's dead, Jim!

2008-12-09T13:59:00.002-05:00

I had a lot to do right before the Thanksgiving holiday, especially concerning planning for my family's trip to Syracuse. So much to do, in fact, that I forgot to do one important thing: refrigerate my AFB starter. So when I got back...and I'm so ashamed to say it...I found my starter had shuffled off this mortal coil. It's pushing up daisies. It's bereft of life. It freakin' snuffed it.*

Rest in peace, Amish Friendship Bread Starter. Maybe I'll start up another some day...but not today.

*Originally a reference to a dead parrot, courtesy of Monty Python.

Lions and Tigers and Chairs! Oh my!

2008-12-08T12:34:00.002-05:00

Okay, so there aren't any lions or tigers, but I have been working on chairs lately. Way back in 2000, Kara and I received a dining room set from a family member who was going to upgrade. The chairs were gucked up with that nasty black waxy stuff that gets on chairs after they rach a certain age...you know that stuff? The finish was peeling off the table, too. It was a pretty decent set, it was just old.

Well Kara and I spent weeks stripping down all the chairs (chemical stripper, not sandpaper), and restaining and polyurethaning them--4 chairs, 2 arm chairs, a table, and 2 leaves. As it turned out, they were made from solid walnut and looked great after all our efforts. But time has passed and table's finish is chipped in places and the chairs have gotten rather rickety and squeaky. We got an estimate on repairing the chairs at just over $100 per chair; however, we're too cheap for that.

I took one of the armchairs where both arms had fallen off, and knocked the thing completely apart. It was held together with dowel pins, but they'd worked themselves so loose that it didn't take much work with a mallet to get them apart. Once they were apart, I drilled pocket screw holes with a new Kreg Pocket Hole Jig (this has nothing to do with dancing in my pants pockets!) that I purchased for this very purpose. I figured that replacing the dowels would be good, but pocket screws would make these chairs bombproof. On the arms, I ended up using epoxy to fill in the voids and redrilling holes for dowels.

I also bought new foam for the cushions. The fabric was washed thoroughly (in the washing machine) and restapled to the seat form, then screwed back onto the newly glued-and-screwed chair. Voila! Like-new chairs for a few bucks each!

So far, I've done 5 out of 6 chairs which is what we need right now with Mike deciding recently that he'd like to sit at the table in a "regular" chair too. The last one...well...as soon as I get over this cold, I may tackle it.

The most intricate part of the chair rebuilds was rebuilding spindles. Over time, some of the spindles that go from the front legs to the back legs were broken, and I couldn't imagine a way to buy a replacement. So I made them. If I had a lathe, I would have turned exact duplicates of the originals. But I don't. I do have a spokeshave though, which I made with my brother in law Tom a few years back, and that'd do in a pinch. I bought a 3/4" poplar dowel from my local Lowe's, and shaved the dowel down just like I was whittling. And I'd say I did a pretty fine job, if'n I do say so m'self!

Unfortunately, I was only able to weasel one new tool out of this job; the Kreg Pocket Hole Jig. But that's better than nothing, right? Plus, I saved us a few hundred dollars over fixing or replacing these chairs.

Almost Pumpkin Pie

2008-11-27T08:26:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year again...that dreaded time of year where everyone goes on and on about pumpkin pie. How they love pumpkin pie. How they adore pumpkin pie. Well I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, and I know that at least one other person on this earth is with me on this: Kara. So up until a few years ago, pumpkin comestibles were conspicuously absent from our Thanksgiving spread.

Then, one year, a coworker brought in a recipe his wife made called "Almost Pumpkin Pie." Essentially, it's a pumpkin dump cake. And I love, love, loved it. I was singing its praises to Kara when I got home that evening, but she was skeptical. Then I made some. Now she's hooked. In fact, it's our new Thanksgiving tradition. Here's the recipe:

Almost Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
1 can (16oz) pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1 1/2 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 box (18.5 oz) yellow cake mix
2 sticks butter, melted
chopped walnuts (optional but highly recommended)

Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine pumpkin, eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a bowl; mix well. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle the dry cake evenly over the pumpkin mixture. Drizzle the butter on top and sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for 50 minutes. Serve chilled with whipped cream.

From the A Slice of Kentucky cookbook.

The Knitster

2008-11-25T11:11:00.004-05:00

You may have caught my award winning* post referring to knitting hats; those hats were knit on hoop looms, which I consider to be like the training wheels of knitting. Now don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with training wheels. In fact, they are a godsend for people who need them! And when it comes to knitting...well...it can seem rather overwhelming to get started so training wheels can be a good thing. But there comes a point where the adventurous and/or determined souls need to ride on their own two knitting needles, so to speak.

Shortly before Mike was born (about 2 years ago), I resolved to knit him booties and a hat. I hadn't ever knitted with needles before, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. In fact, I was going to jump right to knitting with five needles. In the round. So I found a sock pattern and had a go. They turned out not so bad, although Mike had such big feet when he was born that they only barely fit him. The hat was a bit more complex; it had three colors of yarn, and several different stitch patterns, but with the practice I obtained on the socks, the hatwork wasn't as rough.

I was still knitting the hat while Kara was in labor and finished just before Mike was born. Unfortunately, the hat was way too large for Mike even with as big of a head as he had. So it waited for him to get a bigger head. Just last week--two years after I made his hat--I saw the hat in the closet and tried it on Mike. Yay! It finally fits! Maybe I'll work on sizing my next knitting project better.

*Post did not actually win any awards.

Ramen Chicken Dinner

2008-11-15T16:51:00.002-05:00

At 4:00 this afternoon, Kara turned to me and asked, "So, what are you making for dinner?" Since she had just been grocery shopping that afternoon, there were plenty of options to choose from; however, I was tired. Glancing behind her into the open pantry, I saw a case of chicken Ramen and was inspired. A quick Google search later and I found a recipe that turned out rather well. I took some liberties with the recipe I found here, and ended up with the following recipe. I thought it was rather tasty, and not bad for half an hour's work.

Ramen Chicken Dinner

Ingredients
3 packages (3 ounces each) chicken ramen noodles
2 1/2 c frozen peas and carrots
2 c frozen broccoli
1 1/2 c water

1 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips or cubes
2 Tbsp canola oil

1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c canola oil
3 Ramen seasoning packs
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp chile powder

Directions
Set aside seasoning packet from the noodles. In a 2-qt. microwave-safe dish, combine the noodles, frozen vegetables, celery, peas and water. Cover and microwave on high for 8-10 minutes or until noodles and vegetables are tender, stirring once.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, oil, contents of seasoning packets, sugar and chile powder. Set sauce aside.

Drizzle 2 Tbsp of oil into a frying pan placed over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook 5-10 minutes or until done. In the last 2 minutes of cooking, add about 3 Tbsp sauce. When done, stir chicken into noodle mixture.

Pour remaining sauce over chicken mixture. Microwave, uncovered, on high 45 seconds longer or until heated through.

Best Amish Friendship Bread Ever!

2008-11-12T21:15:00.003-05:00

When I was looking for AFB pizza dough, I stumbled upon a post on My Sister's Kitchen. And although it didn't have an actual recipe for AFB pizza dough--plenty of request for it, but no responses--it did have some pretty good recipes for AFB. One recipe stood out to me because it seemed extraordinairily well though out. So I tried it tonight and WOW! This recipe buries all other AFB recipes. It was light, fluffy, and oh so delicious. Thanks a million, James!

James' Amish Friendship Bread
Ingredients
spray oil (PAM or similar)
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

2 eggs
1 c. lowfat vanilla yogurt (I used sour cream due to my lack of yogurt)
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 c. lowfat milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 c. AFB starter

2 tbsp. coarse sugar (I used the leftover cinnamon sugar)

Preheat the oven to 325F. Spray bottoms and sides of two loaf pans with oil. Mix 1/4 c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon and use to coat insides of pans, saving any excess.

In a large bowl, briefly beat two eggs. Add remaining wet ingredients (except starter) and stir until uniform. In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Dump dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix just until moistened (as with pancake batter, some lumps may remain). Fold in 1 c. starter.

Divide batter between loaf pans and sprinkle top of each loaf uniformly with 1 tbsp. of coarse sugar. Bake 45 min. or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out mostly clean with just a few crumbs.

Let loaves cool in pans 15 minutes or so, then remove to finish cooling on a rack. Slice and enjoy! It’s extra good with a bit of butter or spread, especially while still a bit warm.

Amish Friendship...Pizza?

2008-11-09T20:41:00.006-05:00

Hi. My name is Brig, and I'm an Amish Friendship Dough addict.

Last night, Kara said that she'd like to make pizza for lunch/dinner today. I volunteered to make the dough with AFB starter. She wasn't entirely convinced that it would taste pizza-ish, so she asked me to make some pizza crust out of my Pseudo-Sourdough, too. (I think she's just chicken.)

Unfortunately, finding a recipe for Amish Friendship Bread pizza dough is next to impossible. I scoured the web and found...nothing. Several people asking for such a thing, but nobody posting it. I found recipes for every possible variation of AFB using whole wheat, wheat germ, oatmeal, and arrowroot powder, but nothing on pizza. So I asked myself: WWMGD? (What Would MacGuyver Do?)

I found this site, which describes several methods for creating pizza dough, and adapted one for AFB use. Did it work? I should say so! The dough wasn't as sweet as it is in breads, and wasn't as elastic as I'd expect pizza dough to be--it required some serious time with the rolling pin, but it made for a tasty pizza.

Amish Friendship Bread Pizza Dough

Prep

You're going to need Amish Friendship Bread starter for this, so add 1 1/2 cups each of milk, flour (self-rising is optional), and granulated sugar a day or two before making this dough. The earlier you prep the starter the better the results (read: flavor) will be.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c Amish Friendship Bread starter

1/2 c warm water

3 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp olive oil (plus a few Tbsps for coating dough)

Directions

If you're using a mixer, use a dough hook. Combine flour and salt, then add wet ingredients and mix on low until the dough begins to clump around the hook. Dough should be smooth and slightly elastic.

Coat the dough with a thin layer of olive oil and place in a large bowl also coated with a thin layer of olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 12-18 hours in a warm place.

Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Then, working on a floured surface, roll out to approximately 10-inch circles. Add toppings and bake at 500F for about 7 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden.

To get a great, golden crust, I used a 12" dutch oven lid--turned upside-down--in the oven in place of a pizza stone.

Amish Friendship...Pancakes?

2008-11-09T09:22:00.003-05:00

Yes, you read that right. This morning, I made pancakes with AFB starter.

Amish Friendship Pancakes
Prep
I recommend that you add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk to your starter at least 24 hours prior to making these pancakes, but 2-3 days prior would be better. If you make the additions just before making the pancakes, then you're effectively diluting the yeast. Yeah, you can do it, but they won't have that little bit of tartness that gives them character.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp oil
2 cups Amish batter
1/2 cup milk (plus/minus 1/4 cup)
1 egg

Directions
Combine first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Combine last 4 ingredients in smaller bowl. Add ingredients of smaller bowl to ingredients of large bowl and mix until blended. Let batter rest 5-10 minutes. Cook as you would with regular pancake batter.

I've Got Amish Friendship Bread Starter--Now What?

2008-11-03T12:05:00.003-05:00

If you are one of the fortunate few who have received an Amish Friendship Bread starter from me or from anyone else, you're probably thinking, "Now what?"

day 1:
Set it on the counter and watch the bubbles.
Note: DO NOT REFRIGERATE this starter. If you do, the little microbes will go to sleep and not make those nice gas bubbles and you'll have flatbread, which is a whole different recipe. Ha ha.

days 2-5:
Mush the bag a little and let out the air.

day 6:
Add 1 cup self-rising flour*, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Mush the bag a little and let out the air.

days 7-9:
Mush the bag a little and let out the air.

day 10:
Add 1 cup self-rising flour*, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. You've now got just over 4 cups worth of starter. You could:

Make 4 bread recipes, each of which calls for about a cup of starter and each makes about 2-3 loaves OR
Make 3 bread recipes and have one cup left over that you can use as a starter for next week OR
Make 2 bread recipes, have one cup left over that you can use as a starter for next week, and give one starter to a friend OR
Make 1 bread recipe, have one cup left over that you can use as a starter for next week, and give one starter to 2 friends OR

You could reduce the day 6 and/or day 10 additions to 1/2 cup each and have less starter on day 10. I personally find it hard to find time to bake every 10 days, so I shifted day 6 to day 3 or 4, and bake every 7th day. It seems to work fine.

*I use homemade self-rising flour because the recipe I received said to use it. It's just 1 c all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt. I don't suppose you have to use self-rising, which some purists may consider cheating, but I figure if you've got it you might as well give your bread every advantage you can.

Now, you'll be wanting recipes. You can Google Amish Friendship Bread Recipe, or you could look up the recipes I've used for Chocolate Bread, Banana Bread, and Plain Sourdough.

Mini Surprise Cookies

2008-11-03T10:07:00.002-05:00

Last year, I made a variation of a Snickers Surprise recipe for a church gathering. I was rewarded with oohs and ahhs, and a smattering of questioning on my methods. They're basically miniature candy bars (the "fun" size) rolled into cookie dough and baked. It makes the candy a bit softer, and is a simple way to add a boost to plain old cookie dough. I especially like to use mint chocolate Hershey minis. Yum!

Mini Surprise Cookies

Ingredients
16 Tbsp (2 sticks) softened butter or margarine
1 c creamy peanut butter -- There's a time and a place for chunky peanut butter, and this is neither the time nor the place!
1 c light brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 pkg mini candy bars:
Snickers/Milky Way "larger" size, or Milk Chocolate Hershey "smaller" size work fine. Cut Twix in half and lay halves side-by-side.

Directions
In an electric mixer, combine butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on low until fluffy. Slowly add eggs and vanilla until combined. Slowly add flour, salt, and baking soda. Cover and chill dough for 2-3 hours.

Unwrap minis. Remove dough.

Scoop out one Tablespoon-size ball, adding slightly more for larger minis. (Is that like "jumbo shrimp?") Flatten ball, then form around mini making sure that a good seal is achieved. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack or waxed paper. Makes about 4 dozen.

Envy, With Side Order Of Pettiness

2008-11-02T20:50:00.005-05:00

I bought a new car recently--a nice one. I had been driving the same 1996 bare-bones Saturn SL1 pretty much since we got it in 1997; we got a used Chrysler minivan 6 years ago as the "family car" since we were finding it harder and harder to all fit in the Saturn.

Now this was not a snap decision...Kara and I had been planning it for years. We have kept our credit good--almost to the 800s--have been contributing to Roths and IRAs, and still managed to sock away funds for when the Saturn finally gave out. (And although it didn't actually "give out," it got to the point where it needed new tires, a new e-brake lever, and some rust repairs, all of which totalled more than the blue book value of the car, a whopping $300.) And I had one primary criterion: it must be a convertible. Why? Because.

I have always wanted a convertible. It has been my dream ever since I first got my license--and before--to have a convertible. Yes, I've heard that some leak. Yes, I know that they can be easy to break in to. Yes, I've heard that they can be noisy. But I still wanted one. Haven't you ever wanted something that you know may not really be practical, but wanted it anyway? Real bad? You get my point.

The problem is that my wife is all about the practical. And we've got 3 kids. So those sporty little 2-seaters like a Saturn Sky weren't really even on the table. Okay, so a 4-person convertible: It pretty much had to be a Ford, a Chrysler, a Toyota, a Volvo, or a BMW. The Ford Mustangs leak horribly, and are not super reliable. The Chrysler Sebring suffers much the same problems as the Ford. The Toyota Solara, Volvo C70, and BMW 135i all seemed decent enough; however, the BMW is way out of our price range, and the Solara has a softtop, which is easily broken into and is terribly expensive to repair. And it leaks. In general.

The Volvo was out of our price range too, until we found the perfect deal. We found a silver 2008 (bought originally in October 2007) hardtop, 4-seater convertible with about 10,000 miles on it. Leather seats, good sound system...the works. We worked some negotiation magic--okay, it was Kara, not "we"--and managed to get it to just barely outside our desired price range, but well within our means. After all, we had been planning this for some time, remember...

So the happy couple takes home their new car. Brig is happy because Kara likes tha car, and he gets a way sweet convertible that's safe and gadgety. Kara is happy because Brig is happy, we can afford it, it doesn't have the problem-prone softtop, and it's safe. We're all happy! Then, we start telling people about it.

On the whole, most of my friends have been very excited and happy for me! But a few people have turned...rather catty if I dare say so. Why can't they just be happy for me? No, I didn't just get a raise. No, I'm not made of money, I just keep very careful track of what I have! (Um, Kara keeps careful track. I attempt to keep careful track.) No, I didn't get a Volvo because I only buy fancy-schmancy European cars.

I'm trying not to flaunt it, and I'm really trying not to make anyone feel bad or anything, but I'm happy. One of my lifelong ambitions has been reached and I'm really, genuinely happy. Be happy for me, okay? Or at least, take some age-old advice and "if you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all."

Homemade Marshmallows

2008-10-28T18:35:00.004-04:00

So this last week, my hero Alton Brown made marshmallows from scratch. I didn't know that such a thing could be done, but not only did he do it, but he explained in painstaking detail how it could be done by me in my own kitchen! I figured that if things went horribly wrong that I'd be out about $.50 in materials tops, so I figured I'd give it a try.

How did they turn out? In a word: Heavenly. Fluffy, white, and heavenly.

Here's the recipe from the Good Eats episode I saw:

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Directions
Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.

In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.

Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.

When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks...(if they last that long!)

125 Pushups - Week 1

2008-10-27T22:08:00.001-04:00

Last week was the first week of my new goal: 125 consecutive push ups in one set. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I used week 4's workout from hundredpushups.com thinking that it would be a good place to start from.

I had assumed, since I made it through week 6 of the workout, that week 4 would be relatively easy--boy was I wrong! I must have forgotten to eat my Wheaties all of last week, because that workout kicked my butt! Granted, on 2 of the 3 days, I was working to find my new max bench press weight which may have contributed to my overall feeling of butt-kickedness...but man! I'm (once again!) not looking forward to week 2 (which equals week 5 of the hundredpushups.com routine).

I figure that in perhaps 4 weeks I cann hit my goal of 125 by doing week 4, 5, and 6, then repeating week 6. We'll see how it goes!

Halloween Costumes

2008-10-25T22:01:00.004-04:00

Kara told me in no uncertain terms that this year, costuming the boys was my job. Mike would be a pumpkin (again). The other two were in my hands.

Spence wanted to be "an Army Guy." Okay, I can do that. J wanted to be a chicken. "A chicken?" I asked. "Yes," he said. "Definitely a chicken." Great.

So I took Spence out shopping and found camo pants, a camo jacket and an olive drab t-shirt. I found some insignia at an Army surplus store and tacked it onto the jacket. One of my buddies from work loaned me his Army cap and duffel--the duffel made a great goody bag for Spence to put his stuff in at the Trunk or Treat!

J's costume was a bit tougher. Last year, he was a crow. (I readily acknowledge that there are things I do to mess up my kids--just because I'm their parent. I want to make it clear that this bird fetish is not my fault, nor is it from my side of the family.) I made black construction paper "feathers" and stitched them onto a black sweatshirt. Sounds like a neat idea, but they tore off at the lightest touch, so I knew that I'd need to use real feathers if I was going to use feathers at all; however, I couldn't find a bag of plain white feathers! I found a couple of long, white, quill-type feathers for $1.99 each...and that wasn't happening for this costume. No Halloween store in the Greater Metropolitan Lexington area sells a child-sized chicken costume--plenty of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Power Ranger costumes. Not so much with the livestock. So it was DIY or not at all.

I knew we could reuse the orange tights from last year's crow costume...but I needed a white ensemble for him to wear. I found a long-sleeved white shirt at Wal-Mart, but no white short-type things for the lower body. Then it hit me: whitey tighties! Yes, I had him wear clean white underwear on the outside of his costume. I cut then spray adhesed several layers of thin felt together to make the tail, then stitched it to the underwear to attach it.

Lower Legs: Check.
Upper Legs: Check.
Torso: Check.
Head: TBD.
Beak: TBD.

Then I remembered that we had some white flannel sheets that came in a drawstring bag. Perfect! I put the bag on his head with the opening facing forward and the drawstrings at his chin. I pinned the back to roughly fit his head, stitched it on the sewing machine, then trimmed and fine tuned it until it fit him well. While we were at Wal-Mart getting the shirt, I eyed a pair of little stretchy red gloves that I knew would be a fantastic comb for the top of his head. (I initially planned on using red felt, but I couldn't pass the gloves up when I saw them.) I cut up a soft plastic folder to fit inside the glove (for stiffness) and sewed the glove to the hood.

For the beak, I cut an orange plastic folder into triangles, spray adhesed them together (same adhesive I used to make the tail), punched a few holes for elastic, and trimmed them to fit his face. He complained a bit that the lower part of the beak was uncomfortable since it was digging into his lip, so I attached a small piece of leftover felt to help cushion the beak where it touched his face. Since he really wanted to have a two-part beak that moved when he opened his mouth, I made a smaller beak to go on his chin.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Will Nothing Help The Burning Stuff??

2008-10-25T21:23:00.006-04:00

My church held its annual Trunk or Treat tonight--the parents park in the church parking lot and kids go from trunk to trunk and get treats instead of from house to house. (We'll go house to house Trick or Treating on Halloween, too!) One unique thing added this year was a chili cook-off/dinner. And I can't resist a good chili cook-off.

I have a standby chili recipe that I've used for a few years now that really does the trick. It's usually pretty hot, but not habanero hot; it's more of a delayed, three-seconds-after-the-bite-you-feel-the-tingle kind of heat. I stumbled across Dixie Johnson's recipe when I lived in Denver and have made it about 4 times since then; I've never made it strictly according to the recipe because I'm not willing to special order the precise spices called for. However, I readily substitute ingredients and I fiddle with the amounts of some of the spices as the mood strikes me. (I never substitute Sazon Goya--it gives its own pretty unique flavor. Find it in the Mexican aisle at your local grocer.) Here's how it goes:

Dixie's Championship Recipe Chili

Recipe
Gray 3 pounds of cubed beef chuck tender (or chili grind) in 1 TBSP Crisco (I used 5 lbs of chopped stew meat, from which I trimmed the fat and cut into smaller cubes.)

Add:

1 Can - 8 oz Hunt's Tomato Sauce
1/2 Can - 14-1/2 oz can Swanson Chicken Broth
1/2 tsp - Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp - Wylers Chicken Instant Bouillon
1 tbsp - Pendery's Fort Worth Light Chili Powder
2 - Serrano Pepper (seeded) (I used 3 jalepenos)
1 Can - 14-1/2 oz Swanson Beef Broth
1-1/2 tbsp - Onion Powder
2 tsp - Wyler Beef Instant Bouillon
1 tsp - Pendery's Cumin

Bring to a boil and cook for about 1 hour (depends on whether you are using cubed or ground meat). Remove the peppers and add the following:

3/4 tsp - Pendery's White Pepper
1 Packet - Sazon Goya
1/4 tsp - Salt
3 tbsp - Gunpowder Foods Texas Red Chili Powder
1 tsp - Garlic Powder
1 tbsp - Pendery's Cumin
2 tbsp - Pendery's Fort Worth Light Chili Powder

Adjust liquid with remainder of chicken broth or water. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Add the following:

1/4 tsp - Brown Sugar
1 tbsp - Pendery's Fort Worth Light Chili Powder
1/4 tsp - Gunpowder Foods Hot Stuff
1 tsp - Pendery's Cumin

Reduce heat and simmer/cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Adjust chili final taste for salt and front and back heat.

I didn't win anything, but was told by a couple of people that it was good and that it was a "jump out and grab ya" hot.

Now, the family that sat at the table with us had a young girl (Wendy) who happened to procure a large bowl of my chili. I warned her dad that it was hot, but he said that she really wanted it and that if she didn't finish it that he'd gladly finish it for her. So I watched her take a bite, chew, and swallow.

...

...

Then it hit.

She grabbed her water glass and took a big drink. Apparently, that didn't do much to calm her fiery tongue because she exclaimed, "Will nothing help the burning stuff?" Her dad and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

(Just to clarify, we were laughing at her exclamation, not her pain and sorrow. Besides, it wasn't all that hot.)

Six Random Facts About Me

2008-10-23T21:31:00.003-04:00

I've had my first ever meme tag! M at Random Misfires tagged me to give six random facts about myself:

The Rules
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself (but since she did three, that must mean that this one's flexible!).
4. Tag six people at the end of your post (same deal as #3).
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

The Facts
1. I am addicted to my Palm Pilot (currently a Palm TX). Without it, I couldn't tell you what day today is, what I'm doing tomorrow.... Heck, I probably couldn't even tell you when my birthday is! But with it, I can tell you the phone number, address, email, etc. of pretty much anyone I've met in the last 10 years.
2. I love fixing things, especially really broken things. The brokener the better, since if I don't fix it, it can't get any more broken. :) I fix laptops, dining room chairs, cars, vans, PCs, trampolines, you name it.
3. I can do 100 push ups in a row.
4. I know how to lash--not the kind with a whip. I can tie logs together and make a tower or a bridge or a flagpole or whatever.
5. I shattered my right kneecap while rock climbing in Phoenix, AZ. I had reconstructive surgery on New Years Eve, 1997. Then I cracked it again (while it was healing) about 6 weeks later so they had to re-reconstruct it. The pins, screws, and wire came out in August of '98. If I don't keep it moving it tends to stiffen up, so long car rides can get rather uncomfortable for me.
6. I have always wanted to play an instrument--the clarinet, piano, guitar, flute, and harmonica to name a few--but I don't have the patience or the stick-to-it-iveness to ever be more than a novice.

The Peeps
1. Kara
2. Rob
3. Julene
4. Shauna
5. Lulu

Y'all have been tagged. Git to it.

More Backyard Photography

2008-10-23T06:39:00.003-04:00

We had a few ripe tomatoes out back, so I thought I'd see if I could make an interesting shot of them...

...and of our measly basil.

And while I was walking on the lawn, there was a swarm of little hopping bugs flitting around me. This was one of them.

Amish Friendship Bread - Chocolate Bread Recipe

2008-10-20T16:22:00.006-04:00

If you are *ahem* "lucky" enough to have an Amish Friendship Bread starter, you can make a yummy chocolate bread with it. This is only a slight variation from the recipe included with the chain letter.

Prep
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients
Bread
1 cup friendship bread (sourdough) starter
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 large box instant chocolate pudding
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more, if desired)

Crust
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Recipe
In a large bowl, add bread ingredients. Stir until well mixed. Dough will be very soft and sticky.

In a small bowl, combine crust ingredients. Grease bottom and sides of 2 large loaf pans. Dust the sides and bottom of each pan; reserve remaining crust mixture.

Divide batter evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle remaining crust mixture over the top. Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a tootpick comes out clean. Cool until bread loosens from the pan easily. Turn out onto a serving dish.

Amish Friendship Bread - Banana Bread

2008-10-20T16:22:00.005-04:00

This is a banana bread that uses the Amish Friendship Bread starter. This is only a slight variation from the recipe included with the chain letter.

Prep
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients
1 cup friendship bread (sourdough) starter
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 large ripe bananas, smashed
1 large box instant banana pudding (optional)

Recipe
In a large bowl, add all ingredients. Stir until well mixed. Dough will be very soft and sticky.

Divide batter evenly into the 2 pans and bake for 60-75 minutes, or until a tootpick comes out clean. Cool until bread loosens from the pan easily. Turn out onto a serving dish.

Amish Friendship Bread - Plain Old Sourdough Bread

2008-10-20T16:21:00.003-04:00

This is another variation on the Amish Friendship Bread, using one cup of the starter.

This recipe calls for bread flour, which has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour. You can use AP, but your bread won't be quite as good.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup starter
6 cups bread flour

Recipe
Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Oil bottom and sides of a large bowl and put dough in. Let stand overnight at room temperature.

In the morning, punch dough down 4-5 times and divide into 3 equal balls. Knead each ball 8-10 times; use additional flour to keep dough from sticking. Place dough into 3 greased and floured loaf pans. Brush tops with oil and cover loosely with oiled foil. Let rise at room temperature for 4 - 8 hours.

If dough has not risen sufficiently, put a small pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven, heat oven to 200 degrees, then turn off the oven. Put dough on the top rack for 1-2 hours or until dough has risen.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. While it is baking, and after the top has lightly browned, you may cover the bread with foil to slow further browning.

Amish Friendship Bread

2008-10-20T16:20:00.003-04:00

Many of you have either received or know someone who has received "Amish Friendship Bread." I think that this is a horrible misnomer; it should be called "Chain-letter Obligation Bread." I doubt its origins have anything to do with the Amish aside from they fact that they also use sourdough to make bread. And a true friend would bring over the bread AFTER it had been cooked, not while it's still a lump of bubbly goo.

Nomenclature aside, I received a bag of this sourdough starter from my next door neighbor 11 days ago. When I received the starter, I had no idea how much work it would be! Roberta from my work--the one I built the fence with--had mentioned that she never liked dealing with "friendship bread" unless it was during the Christmas holiday, and now I know why.

Days 1-5 are easy: just mush the bag and release some of the gas if the bag gets too big.
Day 6 is not too bad: Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar, and milk, then mush the bag.
Days 7-9 are easy too: mush the bag some more and release gas so the bag doesn't pop.
Day 10 is a different story altogether.

You feed the starter some more flour, sugar, and milk, and mix it up some more. No big deal.

Then, you split the starter into four 1-cup batches. Put one in a bag and care for it for 10 more days for your next batch of bread. ("If you don't save one batch," the chain letter cautions, "you'll have to wait until you receive another starter from a friend, as the Amish are the only ones who know how to create a starter." Not true at all; you can make a new starter with about 2 cups of water, 2 cups of flour, and a week of time. Just Google "Sourdough Starter.") Put another starter in a bag for a "friend." Use the remaining two cups of starter to make your bread.

Not having made this kind of bread before, I figured I'd try it out myself before subjecting a friend to a potentially bad recipe, so I had three cups worth of starter to work from. Little did I know that each recipe delivers 2 to 3 loaves of bread.

So I got to work on the first cup of starter using the recipe in the chain letter, but I committed the #1 worst mistake when baking with a new recipe: I didn't read the whole recipe through before I started. When I got to the very end, I saw that this bread recipe calls for 1 large box of...instant vanilla pudding? Huh?

I scrounged in the cupboards for the pudding mix that I knew I didn't have, and after a fewe minutes came up with one small box of sugar-free chocolate instant pudding mix. Well, it would have to do. So I added it and a 3/4 full bag of chocolate chips I found in another cupboard, and hoped for the best. Into the oven went the first two loaves.

For the second batch, I used two smashed bananas in place of the pudding. It went just fine.

For the third batch, I didn't have any pudding or bananas left, and all I had was a scant 1/2 cup of oil, if I used up the rest of both my vegetable oil and olive oil. (Time to go shopping.) So I found a recipe online for plain old sourdough that is started with this kind of starter. This morning, I punched down the dough and divided it into 3 loaves...and it didn't look good. The dough was thick and sticky, and did not look at all like it was going to end well. I left them to rise while I went to work.

When I got home, the three lumps were exactly the same size I left them. Oh well. Two out of three ain't bad.

Hammock Camping - Minor Setback

2008-10-20T16:00:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately, my hammock ingenuity was too good to last. This last weekend, I set up my hammock between two trees that were about 10 feet apart. That left a lot of slack in the hammock, which is good because you're supposed to lay in them slantwise (this kind, at least). The problem is, that I'm 6'4". Most things just aren't built for my height, including hammocks. So when conditions are IDEAL, I just barely fit slantwise in the hammock. This weekend, conditions weren't ideal.

I unknowingly tied one end of the hammock about 6 inches higher than the other end, which meant that when I layed slantwise about 10 inches of my legs and feet were hanging off the hammock. :( Not exactly comfortable.

The difference between this time and last time was that last time, I set my tripods at exactly the length of the hammock, and tied the hammock tight. Since the tripods were only 5-ish feet off the ground, I needed to have the hammock tight so that my hindparts wouldn't drag on the ground...

It's seeming like every hammock setup is different, so I get to learn something new each time. This time, I learned to either pick trees spaced a little further out or tie both ends at the same height. Last time, I learned that you shouldn't pitch your hammock within a half-mile of train tracks unless you've got really good ear plugs. (I'm a light sleeper.)

100 Pushups - Back to Week 4

2008-10-20T13:00:00.001-04:00

After I hit my 100 consecutive push ups two weeks ago, I don't think I did a single push up--until today. I was feeling pretty blah again (post-goal letdown?) and needed a new goal. So the new goal is to start from week 4 and go through to week 6, then do 125 push ups without resting.

So today's set was 21, 25, 21, 21, > 32. When I first went through week 4, I was barely able to get the max. Today, I maxed at 45. (The sets have changed a bit since my first time on week 4, but the level of effort is about the same.)

I was curious about what these last few months of push ups had done to my benchpress ability. About 6 months ago, when I was working out with a couple of guys at work (Pete and Will) during lunch, we would bench 2-3 times per week. My max was about 185 on a good day. Today, I ate 185 for lunch and hit 205 with only the barest of help from my spotter, but that was after doing 145 push ups in about 5 minutes. So I'd say that fresh, I could certainly get 205. A 10% bench press improvement? Yeah, I'll take that.

Oh, and now I can officially say that I can bench press more than I weigh.

I May Not Be Entirely Right (In The Head)

2008-10-16T21:56:00.004-04:00

This weekend, I'm going camping with the Boy Scouts. We had planned this trip for September, and things just kept popping up to put it off later and later...and this is about the latest we could possibly get away with doing it. We're going water skiing. In October. The middle of October.

Now I may not be the brightest bulb, but I know that 65 degree air temp plus 72 degree water temp plus me equals one Brigsicle. Am I going to risk it in order to ski? I'd like to think I will...but I'll have to wait to see how cold that water actually feels. I may just spend a lot of time fishing instead. It'll be chilly enough just sleeping...but getting up early on Saturday morning to get in frigid water, just to be either dragged through the frigid water if I can't get up on the skis, or sprayed with frigid water if I can...

On the bright side, the Scouts picked some good-sounding meals: Mac and Cheese (from semi-scratch), apple crisp, omelets-in-a-bag, and rolls-in-an-orange are some of the ones I'm looking forward to (I'll post the recipes for the ones that turn out okay). But for some reason, they kept on trying to have hot dogs for a meal. What's the deal with that?? Don't they know that the stuff that's in hot dogs will kill you?

Hmm...

So will hypothermia.

Hammock Ingenuity

2008-10-14T08:11:00.005-04:00

Okay, I'll admit it. I have a rather high opinion of my cleverness, it's true. I don't quite live up to the old Scout Camp Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan verse, "Oh we're not a bit stuck up about the clever things we do / Most everybody likes us and you hope you like us too." I apologize to those of you who have to bear through my detailed explanations of intricate details that mean nothing to you *coughKaracough* but smile through it anyways. I've been trying to reign it in...

...but I really think I outdid myself on this one.

Camping with the Cub Scouts two weeks ago, I brought a hammock and planned on sleeping in it overnight. I find it to be much more comfortable to sleep in a hammock than to sleep on the ground, but maybe that's just me. But when when we got to the camp, I found that we were camping in the middle of a field. I don't know about you, but I often find it difficult to keep a hammock suspended when it is attached to nothing but grass. ;)

Luckily, I take the Boy Scout motto to heart: Be Prepared. I brought along several lengths of rope and 6 "Scout Staves," a.k.a. thick broom handles that Scouts can use for lashing practice. With three on each side, I tied each set into a tripod (using a tripod lashing, of course!), then strung over each tripod a rope I had tied an eye splice into. Why an eye splice? Because I had previously hooked climbing carabiners into my hammock ropes so that I didn't have to actually tie a rope into my hammock every time I use it. I just hook the carabiner into the eye splice and then tie spliced rope to an anchor.

Aah, the anchor. I relied on my Pioneering Merit Badge work from eons ago to anchor the hammock in the same manner in which you would anchor a monkey bridge.

You drive a stake and attach the main weight-bearing line to it, then you drive another stake close behind it and attach the top of stake 1 to the bottom of stake 2. This prevents stake 1 from pulling out of the ground due to the tension leveraging it out.

To top things off, I added a tarp suspended from the tripods. This prevented my sleeping bag from getting wet with dew overnight--and a dewy bag is a cold bag. Oh, and I laid my sleeping pad (Thermarest Z-Rest) in my hammock but underneath my sleeping bag. That helped keep my bottom side warm through the night, and also seemed to help make things even more comfortable. The icing on the cake would have been if the earplugs I wore would have muffled the sound of the trains clacking by every half hour, all night long.

My anchors worked all night long, and kept my butt off the ground for the whole night...once I made a slight modification to the staves. See, broom handles are smooth; they're supposed to be smooth. Their smoothness helps your hand to slide up and down the handle while you sweep, and prevents splinters and blisters. Their smoothness also helps ropes to slide down the handle when weight is put on them. I had to get out my hatchet and chop a channel near the top of the staves, and lash inside that channel. Once I did that, the sliding terminated and the sleeping commenced.

I'm planning on hammock camping this weekend with the Boy Scouts, too. We'll see how it goes.

A Little Macro Photography At The Farm

2008-10-13T21:55:00.003-04:00

Here are a few shots I took of the rose bushes when we were out at the farm this weekend:

And two shots of goats, and one of a fowl little creature:

Apple Dumplings

2008-10-13T13:51:00.004-04:00

While we were at the farm this weekend, we bought a small bag of Gala apples. I was plotting their cullinary demise from the moment I laid eyes on them. The first batch succumbed to my recipe for Apple Dumplings. I was going to make an apple coffeecake too, but I don't think I have enough apples. No swooning girls for me, I guess. I know, it's so sad.

Apple Dumplings

Prep
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel and core 6 apples--I used Gala apples.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 cups water

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening (I used butter-flavored Crisco)
1/2 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup apple cider)

6 small apples, peeled and cored
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions
For syrup, in a saucepan combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 2 cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Cut in shortening till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once; stir just till all is moistened. Form into a ball. On a floured surface roll out into an 18 x 12 inch rectangle; cut into six 6-inch squares. Place an apple in the center of each square. Sprinkle apple generously with a mixture of 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg; dot with additional butter. Moisten edges of dough; fold corners to center atop apple. Pinch the edges together.

Place in a 13x2x9 inch baking dish. Pour syrup over dumplings. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or until apples are tender.

Happy Birthday Mike!

2008-10-13T13:34:00.007-04:00

It's little Mike's birthday today. He's 2. My how the time has flown. After his favorite dinner of spaghetti--actually, his favorite part is the meat in the sauce--he had his birthday cupcake. He was much more interested on the candle than on the chocolate cupcake.

Down On The Farm

2008-10-13T13:33:00.007-04:00

On Saturday, we went to a nearby farm with another family. This farm is set up specifically for kids, with a hay ride, play areas, a petting zoo, a corn maze, and other fun stuff so we thought it would be fun to get out for a while.

Overall, it was pretty fun. Mike's reactions to some of the animals and baby animals was fantastic. He was so excited!

The older boys really got a kick out of this suspended pipe that they could crawl through.

And while we were there, we picked up some apple cider (my favorite!) and a few pumpkins. The two older boys kept grabbing HUGE pumkins and asking "Is this one okay?"
I'd tell them that the one they picked out was "Dad-sized" and to pick another.
"Is this one okay?"
"No, that's Dad-sized, too."
I finally aligned their expectations with reality and we left with two large, orange pumpkins.

The instant we got into the van they started asking, "Can we carve these when we get home?"
"No, that'll be a job for later. Mom and Dad are tired."

The instant we got into the house, they started asking, "Can we carve the pumkins now?"
"No, we'll do that later."
"Tomorrow?"
Sigh. "Monday. We'll carve them Monday evening for Family Night."
Guess what I'll be doing tonight.

100 Pushups - I DID IT!

2008-10-09T07:39:00.004-04:00

I started a *ahem* 6 week program on June 22nd, with the goal of doing 100 consecutive push ups. In the subsequent 3 1/2 months, I had a brief hiatus and ended up redoing several of the weeks several times. I wanted to do things right, and just wasn't hitting the max sets so I kept repeating that week until I either hit the maxes or got really close.

But this morning, I did it. I hit 100 consecutive push ups! And you know what, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The week 6 really helped build up the requisite strength and endurance to get through the trial. The mental strength was a bit more difficult to come by, but I'll say that looking at the blogs of some of the people who were also working the program, and the difficulties they had along the path to their hundred really helped me to know that I wasn't alone. The encouragement of you, my friends, and my wife, were also instrumental in the mental preparation to make this happen. So thank you, all.

So what's next?

I figure I'll take the rest of the week off, then next week I'll start on week 4 again. I'll go to week 5, then 6, then try another hundred. Something like that. Something to maintain this strength and--okay, I'll say it--I really like what this program has done for my physique and I want to keep that. And being on the back half of my 30's now, I think that feeling good about the way I look is a good thing.

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 3

2008-10-03T17:01:00.003-04:00

Today was the final day of the final week in the program. The sets were ridiculously high: 26, 26, 32, 32, 26, 26, 22, 22, > 60, with a total of 272 push ups! With a rest of 1:30 to 1:45 in between sets, I hit every single one, including the max set!

I amazed even myself, and that's no small feat!

The Cubmobile

2008-10-02T16:10:00.005-04:00

Holy Speeding Cub Scouts, Batman!

One of the long-lost traditions in Cub Scouting is the construction and use of a Cubmobile. What's a Cubmobile? Why, it's good, clean, Cub Scout-powered fun on wheels, that's what it is!

There are several different styles of Cubmobile, and in fact, you can really make it however you want to as long as you meet the minimum specifications:

Limited steering radius (for stability in turns)
Brakes (usually a drag brake)
Seat belt (you know, for kids!)
Hard rubber wheels (the inflatable kind were not recommended for some reason or another)
A handle at the back (to push with or pull from? Not sure on this one...)
Every driver wears a helmet (that's a no brainer)

We followed some easy-looking plans we found on the web. I purchased some wheels (those were half the cost right there!), a 2x4, and some bolts, washers, screws, and nuts. I had a bit of plywood laying around, and some scrap 1x2; the majority of the seat cushion was a donation of an outdoor seat cushion, to which I added some plastic grocery bags for added bulk and the leg of one of my old pairs of khakis as a covering. To augment the stopping power, I cut a 6" section out of an old bicycle tire and stapled it to the bottom of the brake lever.

I had about 2" of blue paint left over in the bottom of the can from when we made the Electric Current sailboat with the Boy Scouts two summers ago; I had to break through the crust that formed on the top in order to get to the paint, which was so thick that I had to add some water in order to make it usable. The orange paint was a donation from one of the parents, and the black and white paint I had just laying around.

Yeah, I know. It seems like I've got a lot of stuff "just laying around" at my house, but that's what enables me to do these kinds of projects!

I wanted the Cubs (and remember, these are first graders,) to have the chance to take part in the building of this thing, so I brought the parts and some tools to a Den meeting. Before the meeting though, I cut all the parts to size, predrilled all holes, and preassembled the cart in order to ensure that it would go together smoothly. So yes, I built the Cubmobile, then took it apart so that the Cubs could build it. And at the risk of giving away the ending too soon, I took it apart again in order to paint it, then put it all back together again.

After we assembled it at the Den meeting, we gave it a test ride out on one of the side streets in the neighborhood. Here are a few safety rules that I learned that seemed like common sense, but apparently aren't common sense to Tiger Cubs:

Don't stand in front of the Cubmobile, especially while it's moving.
Only one person on the Cubmobile at a time.
If it looks like you're going to run into the curb or a tree or a car, turn the Cubmobile away from that object.
If you're pushing the Cubmobile, don't push so fast that you lose your footing and fall.
Don't taunt the Cubmobile.

Okay, that last one I borrowed from SNL's Happy Fun Ball disclaimer, but you certainly shouldn't taunt the driver of the Cubmobile because "the Cub Scout gives goodwill."

Oh, and those rules made me think of one other thing: pushbars. The Cubs were pushing the Cubmobile from the rear axle, which had them hunched over almost touching the ground, and made it pretty tough for them. So J and I took a trip to Lowe's with a vague idea of what I wanted, and a determination to do it cheaply.

We looked at PVC, but I thought it would be too flimsy and breakable. We looked at plumbing black pipe and at copper pipe, but both would be too expensive. Then we looked at electrical conduit, which would have been perfect but it didn't have the right kinds of connectors to do what I was envisioning in my head...so I changed my vision. I had in my mind a T-style handle, with the bottom of the T anchored to the Cubmobile and the arms of the T angled out for easy pushing. Instead, I settled for two upside-down Ls, using two-eared conduit straps to anchor them to the Cubmobile. The problem with that was that the conduit started to twist in the brackets, which I corrected by drilling through the strap and the conduit and putting a screw through the strap and conduit and into the wood.

There's another whole post that I should make on the Tiger Cub insignia that I painted on...that was quite a feat in itself, and I daresay it took longer than putting the Cubmobile together in the first place.

A movie of the Cubmobile in action:

Hammock Camping

2008-10-01T15:57:00.003-04:00

Two weekends ago, I went camping with the Boy Scouts to a local farm in order to work on some of the advancement requirements for the younger Scouts--it's a regularly scheduled, semi-annual campout that we call the "Baden Powell" campout, named after the Father of Scouting.

I knew that there would be a large number of Scouts together--larger than what I normally camp with since there were several L.D.S. Troops meeting together--and I also suspected that they'd be noisy at the time that I wanted to sleep. And stupid me, I forgot to bring earplugs. So noise, added to the fact that it would be a relatively warm night, equalled hammock camping in my mind--hammock camping in trees a few hundred feet away from the bulk of the campers.

Being a farm, there weren't very many trees around, and the trees that were around were either on the (barbed wire) fence line or 30' apart. Neither of those two situations are conducive to hammock camping. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one with the hammock idea.

One of the other Scoutmasters apparently frequents a few Yahoo lists: ultralight backpacking and hammock camping. Interestingly, these two groups are rather complementary since with a hammock and a light tarp or poncho, you can effectively leave your tent at home when camping...if you have something to tie your hammock to. He apparently thought ahead, knowing the tree situation on this farm, and brought galvanized fenceposts.

When he set up his campsite, he drove 8 fenceposts into the ground in a pyramid shape, then had his handful of Scouts and leaders set up their hammocks by tying them to the posts. Each post had at least two hammocks tied to it. I must admit, it seemed rather ingenious...until I was invited to join them for the night.

When I gently rolled into my hammock at around 10:30, I saw that it worked like a dream. When the two leaders from that Troop gently rolled into their hammocks, all three of us were unceremoniously dumped on the ground. The post that we were tied to bent right where it entered the ground. Aww nuts!

Fortunately, one of their leaders had a handful of those mini ratcheting comealongs--those pulleys with webbing that you use to tie down loads. He backed his truck around, looped one hook around his trailer hitch, the other end around the post, and ed it tight. It worked like a charm...for about 30 seconds. A post on the other side started to sag then, too. *sigh*

So we pulled out another comealong and another vehicle and anchored that post too. And while we were at it, we anchored the third post that was holding leaders on it to a trailer.

By then, it was almost 11:30 and we were tired. Fortunately, all the rest of the posts held. Unfortunately, any time someone rolled over, got into a hammock, or left a hammock that night, everyone bounced a bit. And since I'm such a light sleeper, it was a rather sleepless night. Oh, and the fact that we were about 300 yards from a major freeway--remember that forgotten earplugs thing?--didn't help my attempts at sleep either.

But overall, it was a good campout. I think I'm going to try to hammock camp this weekend at my Cub Campout too. With earplugs. Maybe double earplugs.

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 2

2008-10-01T15:57:00.002-04:00

I'll admit that I was feeling a bit down on Monday at not being able to hit the recommended max reps in my last set. But I've been thinking on that a bit and came to realize that it is rather silly of me to lament not being able to reach 210 push ups in 5 sets, and instead only reaching 200 push ups in 5 sets. I know, it's rather silly when viewed in that light isn't it?

Today's sets were lower in volume but higher in reps: 22, 22, 30, 30, 24, 24, 18, 18, > 57, for a total of 245 push ups. It was tough, that's for sure, but on my last set I reached 60. That's 60 push ups after having done 188 push ups--I call that a pretty fair job! In fact, I have some confidence that I can reach that hundred in two weeks when I give it a shot!

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 1 (take two!)

2008-09-29T12:38:00.002-04:00

Last week's version of week 6 was...not great. It was rather depressing, actually. Day 1 was rough, and instead of maxing at 55, I maxed at 45. Granted, that was after doing 100 push ups in only two sets, with one minute between sets, then doing 65 more in two more sets. But I can be disheartened because I didn't live up to some imaginary standard set by someone I don't know, which wasn't really meant for me but for some superhuman idealized person, can't I? After all, this is America.

This week is starting just as poorly. After today's set, I felt like I'd been dragged Indiana Jones-style behind a car for a few miles of gravel road. Day 2 might be a bit better though; even though it has more sets, the reps are fewer. We'll see.

And congrats to Scott, who got off his butt today at lunch and joined me at the gym. Good on ya, mate!

100 Pushups - Week 6

2008-09-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

I must admit, week 6 intimidated me just a wee bit.

DAY 1
45
55
35
30
> 55

DAY 2
22
22
30
30
24
24
18
18
> 60

DAY 3
26
26
32
32
26
26
22
22
> 60

You're kidding, right?

Well I did day 1 on Tuesday and got all of the sets with a max of 45. I did day 2 on Thursday and got all the sets with a max of 45. On Saturday, I took the boys to a Lowe's Build and Grow (we made fire trucks), worked for 3 hours at the church directing parking for a football game next to the church as a fundraiser for the youth, cooked dinner, then helped clean the house. By the time I got any time, I was way too tired to even do one set of 26, let alone 9 sets. Sunday came and I was on the move from 6am to 9:45pm--isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest? Between choir, church, a baptism after church, and a Scout planning meeting, I was bushed and never did get in day 3's sets.

This week, I'm doing week 6 again. Next week I'll do week 5, then the Wednesday (or so) of the following week I'm going to try the hundred, ready or not.

Purple Vestments

2008-09-29T10:17:00.002-04:00

After talking with my family and my Bishop, and lots of prayer and thought, we decided to allow J to attend the Episcopalian boys' choir--at least until the end of the year when church schedules get all skeewompus. And yesterday was the first time he sang at a Service.

At rehearsal on Friday, the choir came down to into the cathedral and practiced what they'd be doing during the service. It was pretty overwhelming for me to watch, and I'd even done it before! I couldn't imagine how dizzy he must have been from all the things to keep in mind! Erich, the choirmaster, did give him and the other probationers (new boys) a break though. He said that during the procession that they should focus on walking, not singing. After a few times in a procession, he'd have them add in singing.

After rehearsal on Friday, J got new purple vestments (choir robes) and a ruff (a frilly thing worn around the neck) to wear during the service, and a blue blazer and grey slacks to wear to and from church. Erich showed J that some of the other boys wear a white...I'm not sure what it's called, but it's a waist-length shirt-thing worn over the vestment, and some boys wear medals so indicate their progress in the choir curriculum. I took that as my chance to put things in perspective.

I told him that since new choristers wear purple vestments without the white, that everyone in the congregation would know that he is new, so they wouldn't expect him to do things perfectly. If he messed up a little, it woul be okay, since he's still learning and everyone else would know that too. That took a lot of the pressure off him, and I'm glad.

Saturday night, I didn't get much sleep and neither did he.

Bright and early on Sunday morning we dressed, him in his uniform, me in a suit, and headed off to choir. The worst part of choir for me is navigating the unfamiliar one-way streets of downtown Lexington, but I managed to find the designated parking lot without too much difficulty. He practiced for about 40 minutes, then I went down to sit in the congregation while he put on his vestments and prepped.

The service was...different...from an L.D.S. service. I knew it would be different, and I already had some experience in how different it was, but I was still reeling a bit, trying to follow along. How did I ever do it as a boy?? And apart from the confession and absolution, and the recitation of the Nicene Creed--both admirable things, but not a part of our faith in the manner in which they are performed in the Episcopal church--the service was good, and uplifting. We also discussed beforehand that he receives the Sacrament at our church, and would not be taking the Communion at choir.

So afterwards, while driving to 3 more hours of church, at our church, I asked him what he thought of his first Service. He said he thought it was "neat" and "good" and that it went well. He admitted that he was a bit nervous, but repeated my own words back to me that it was okay if he messed up a little since everyone couls see by his purple robes that he was still learning. :) It's nice to know that they do listen sometimes.

One funny thing happened in the exit procession: J was walking along while looking around, and right when he got next to me he sneezed a great big sneeze. I had to chuckle.

Camp Cooking Success!

2008-09-22T17:30:00.002-04:00

At the campout with the Boy Scouts this last weekend, I knew I'd have trouble getting some of the older Scouts there, since it was targeted at advancements that they'd already passed off; but I wanted them to a) review their knowledge and b) get the opportunity to serve other Scouts by teaching what they know. So I bribed them.

One of the younger Scouts needed to cook in order to pass off requirements, but I told them that I'd make a good dessert. I made The Best Dump Cake Ever, with cherry pie filling, chocolate cake mix, Dr. Pepper, butter, and chopped walnuts. It was pretty tight, as those boys say it.

I also made 40 refrigerator biscuits in a 10" dutch oven. To be honest, the biscuits were just as popular as the cake. Admittedly, it's hard to go wrong with the biscuits, but I thought the cake was much better.

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 3

2008-09-22T16:38:00.002-04:00

Adios week 5! Hola week 6!

Due to hectic schedules that included choir practice, a campout, Scout meetings, and general exhaustion, (this whole weekend was an exhaustion test!) I wasn't able to do my day 3 sets on Friday or Saturday. So Sunday night at 9:30, I got back from my last meeting and knew I had do try.

20, 20, 24, 24, 22, 22, 20, > 50

You want me to max at over 50 push ups after doing... I tally numbers in my head...twice...and come up with different numbers each time...and get a calculator...152 push ups? Surely you can't be serious! (I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.)

But I did. I got every rep of every set, then maxed at 51. So long, week 5! (At last!)

I don't know whether it was because I waited until Sunday, or that I took the week off before this, or whether Steve Speirs' modifications to the program really did the trick. Whatever it was, I'm glad and proud.

This entry was written on my new Palm Keyboard

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 2

2008-09-18T14:54:00.005-04:00

Somewhere between Monday and Wednesday, Steven Speirs switched things up on me--and I think that's a good thing. I'm not sure why, but he took a look at how the sets and reps were distributed and with some advice from push up experts (I had no idea there were such people...) he revised the plan a bit. From what I've seen so far, it's a change for the good.

Yesterday's sets totalled 185 push ups in 6 sets, and I got through every single one. Since I only wrote down the reps in each set and not the rest time in between each, I guessed that it would be about 30-45 seconds, but I took a full minute of rest. I think I've gotten to the point where I know how my body will react to a given set of sets, so I'm giving myself a bit of slack on rest times. It worked pretty well for me yesterday, since I was just barely able to get to the max reps (45) on the last set.

I can do this!

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 1 (lost count)

2008-09-15T20:19:00.000-04:00

Okay, this may be my third time through week 5--or is it my fourth?--and I think things went rather well. Admittedly, I took roughly double the suggested time in between sets, but that's allowed since it says that you can take more if you want it. But I figured that I'd need to do that if I was going to get even close to the number of reps in each set.

So the sets were 40, 32, 30, 25, and max > 40. And I got each one,even the max set! I didn't go over 40, since I figured I'd need to be conservative if I wanted to get my full sets on Wednesday.

I know I've said it before on week 5 and failed, but I can do this!

New Keyboard

2008-09-15T19:48:00.001-04:00

I just got a new gadgety thing in today's post: a wireless keyboard for my Palm TX! It's not quite what I expected--I mean, who really considers IR to be "wireless networking" nowadays anyway? IR is so 5 years ago.

Anyhow, I think it's working swell for what it is, and including shipping, it only cost me $20, so that's pretty nice. Plus, it seems to be a whole lot faster than the newest Grafiti handwriting recognition system that comes on Palms nowadays. They've "dumbed down" the original Grafiti since the days of the Palm III. I really liked the Grafiti on my Palm V. This TX...it just seems like a step backward. Plus, even though the processor speed is faster than on my older Palms, the Grafiti seems to lag much more than they ever did.

Well, mayhap this new pocket-sized keyboard will be good. I'm, once again, cautiously optimistic.

Halloween Costumes

2008-09-15T09:26:00.002-04:00

For the most part, there are clear divisions of responsibility in my household. Spencer cleans out the silverware from the dishwasher, J cleans out the plate and cup racks. I support the family, Kara pays the bills. I take the boys to Scouts and make sure they're progressing, Kara goes to Parent/Teacher conferences and makes them do their homework. I put up the holiday decorations, and I take down the holiday decorations. And I do the costumes for halloween too, or the boys would be math students for Halloween or something cheesy like that.

I asked the two talking boys what they wanted to be for Halloween. (Mike doesn't have a choice; he's going to be a pumpkin again.) J wants to be a chicken. Spence wants to be an "Army Guy." I assume that means a soldier of some sort. It would be fun to make him a Captain, allowing him to be another "Captain Cook."

I've already got ideas mulling around in my cranium for J. Spence might be a bit more difficult, but I think I'll be able to work it out okay.

Anyone know where I can get 5 lbs of yellow feathers?

100 Pushups - Week ?? Exhaustion Test

2008-09-15T09:17:00.002-04:00

Sometimes good intentions fall short of proper implementation. Last week, I had intended to stick to week 2's sets. I didn't. I did day 1 on Tuesday and either forgot or blew off days 2 and 3. In fact, it was after 10 pm yesterday when I remembered that I was going to do an exhaustion test at the end of my "week off."

65

I maxed last night at 65 push ups! I guess a week of rest really did me some good! So I'll start up again in earnest today on week 5 again--I figured it would be a good idea to run week 5 again since I never really finished it well either time I did it. I am, as I'm so fond of saying, "cautiously optimistic" about actually being able to achieve my goal! I don't think it'll come by the end of next week, but I'd say that by Thanksgiving I should be able to get my 100.

Another Day on the Lake

2008-09-13T11:13:00.010-04:00

I had a long week at work this week...a lot of tasks got pushed my way that I wasn't particularly thrilled to see. I'm probably the best one to do them, but that's small consolation. So when I got home on Friday, I just wanted to do something fun. I asked Spence if he wanted to come with me to the lake and maybe try out the collapsible kayak with me. Unfortunately, that sent J into a tizzy because he wanted to come too, but I knew that there wouldn't be enough room for me and J together in that kayak.

Then it hit me: we have an inflatable raft! I'd blown it up once, but never used it on an actual lake before. I supposed that if ever there were a time to use it, then was...now. Or however that goes.

We got to the lake, and started paddling out. I used the single oar that came with the kayak, hoping that less water would get into the kayak, which was how it actually worked; however, it was a bit more difficult to steer since I had to switch sides often or use the J-stroke, which saps some of the power of the stroke in order to keep the craft moving straight forward.

Here are a few pics of the kayak assembled:

...and a few pics of happy boaters:
J did an excellent job for his first time rowing!

And Spence had a lot of fun, too.

100 Pushups - Week Off / Week 2

2008-09-10T20:50:00.003-04:00

This week, I'm taking it easy. I'm doing the week 2 push ups sets:

12, 12, 9, 7, > 10
16, 13, 11, 11, >15
15, 15, 12, 12, >15

I'm not going to max at more than 25--Monday, I took an easy max at 20. I'm hoping to just give myself a break and recoup. Heaven knows that I'm doing enough in Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, work, and home this week to more than make up for a lax week at the gym!

I figure I'll do a max set this weekend and post that. Aside from that, I think it's safe to assume that I'm going to hit all the sets just fine this week.

Cofeecake so good that it makes the girls swoon!

2008-09-10T16:19:00.005-04:00

One of the fellas at work brought in a whole grocery bag full of granny smith apples on Monday; apparently, his mother has an apple tree and she "asked" him to pick them and bring them in to his friends. (We know how moms "tell" by "asking," don't we?) He jokingly asked us who was going to take them home and make a pie. Well, I didn't know that I was up to making a pie, but I figured I could make something so I took the whole lot.

I decided on an apple coffeecake. Simple. Delicious. Elegant.

I had plenty of apples to work with, so I doubled the recipe and made two 8x8s and one 9x13--I kept one of the 8x8s at home for the fam.

When I got to work, I unobtrusively left the coffeecakes in the break room with a note stating "Apple Coffeecake," so people would know what they were. I told a few of the folks in my room that they were there, and that was about it with the pomp. Somehow, though, people found out that there was coffeecake and that I made it...and that it rocked their world. I had no fewer than 10 people go out of their way to come tell me it was great. Several of them must have asked around to find out who made it. One woman came to my desk all flustered and asked, "Did I hear that you made that coffeecake?"

"Yeah."

"That was so good! Probably the best I've ever had! Will you marry me?"

"Uh...I'm already married, you know..."

"That's okay, maybe you can just cook for me then."

Laura, you made my week.

So here's the recipe:

Any-Fruit Coffeecake

Prep
I used granny smith apples this time, cored and cut into 8ths or 12ths depending on their size. But I've also used frozen mixed berries, peaches, raspberries, and pretty much any other fruit I could get my hands on. The filling is also great on pancakes and waffles.

Alter or omit the spices (cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg are the ones I usually play with) depending on what will work with the fruit you are using.

Ingredients
Filling
4 cups chopped apples, apricots, peaches, pineapple, or whole blueberries
1 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 cup butter or margarine
2 slightly beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
In a saucepan combine the fruit and water. Simmer, covered, about 5 minutes or till fruit is tender. (If you start with frozen fruit, plan on it taking longer.) Stir in lemon juice. Mix the 1 1/4 cups sugar and cornstarch; stri into fruit mixture. Cook and stir till thick and bubbly. Cool.

In a mixing bowl stir together the 3 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and mace. Cut in the 1 cup butter or margarine till mixture resembles fine crumbs. Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, mixing till blended. Spread half of the batter in one greased 13x9x2-inch or two 8x8x2-inch baking pans.

Spread the cooled fruit mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter in small spoonfuls over the fruit mixture, spreading out as much as possible. Combine the 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in the 1/4 cup butter or margarine till mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle nut mixture over batter in pan. Bake at 350F for 45 to 50 minutes for a 9x13 pan or 40 to 45 minutes for two 8x8 pans, or until cake is done. Cool.

Recipe obtained from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Boys Choir

2008-09-07T20:43:00.003-04:00

Waaaay back when I was but a wee lad--third grade if I recall correctly, or maybe fourth--my best friend's dad was the choirmaster at the First Presbyterian church. Being vocally inclined myself, Billy Evans, my friend, asked me to join him. I sang with them for...oh, about a year until my extracurricular schedule caused a conflict with their choir time.

Mr. Evans, obviously seeing that I had something to offer, recommended that I consider another local choir so I auditioned at St. Luke's, an Episcopal choir for men and boys. I was accepted, and thus began my professional singing career. It's true! I was paid about $8 a month, again if I recall correctly...it was a long time ago. Richard Webster was (and still is!) the choirmaster there, and did an amazing job conducting and teaching us boy sopranos.

I remember that my L.D.S. church services were in the afternoons when I started at St. Luke's, so I could go to choir on Sunday mornings and sing, and still be able to go to my church in the afternoons. Then, at the end of the calendar year, my family switched wards (congregations) in order to keep meeting in the afternoons so that I could sing in the mornings. As a result, I met my best friend Rob in that afternoon church. :) I also gained an...eye-opening view of other religions. I would come home and ask my parents why St. Luke's used incense and we didn't. Why did they have processions, and genuflections, and about a hundred other things that we didn't? It helped me to grow firmer in my faith by helping me to not take things for granted in my own religion.

The only reason I'm writing about this now is that my son, J, received a special invitation from his school choir teacher stating that he might like to try out for the choir at Christ Church Cathedral, also an Episcopalian boy's choir. I must admit that I'm of two minds about it.

On the one hand, I see what a positive experience it was for me, and how I grew musically, socially, and spiritually. On the other hand, I don't know that I'm ready or willing to alter my L.D.S. church attendance to provide this opportunity for my son. Heck, this all might be a moot point anyway since he doesn't even audition until next Monday. But I must admit that I'm not sure what to do if he is accepted.

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 3 (Fail)

2008-09-07T20:32:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm pretty well convinced that I need to take it easy for a week. Today's sets (which I did on Friday) were 18, 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, and max > 40, with 30 seconds between. I got the first 7 without too terribly much difficulty--don't get me wrong, though. They were tough, just not super tough. It was the max set that was...not all there.

Here's a hint to any of you who are either on this hundred push ups program, or thinking about starting it up: Don't do your sets while watching a comedy on TV. I happened to be watching the last episode of season 1 of Arrested Development while working out on Friday night. As it turns out, I was at number 20 on my max set when a particularly obscure and hilarious joke unfolded and I fell to the ground, laughing and aching. I don't think I could have gotten more than about 25 total, but I'm going to blame it on the TV instead of my pudding-like triceps.

So next week, I'm going back to the comparatively easy week 2. I'm hoping that it'll be enough to keep me in the game, so to speak, but not so much that I can't take this next week to recover from hitting the push ups so hard for the last 4 weeks or so. Then I'll do an exhaustion test at the end of the week and see where I'm at and take it from there.

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 2 (sort of again?)

2008-09-03T11:41:00.002-04:00

Well, I suppose it's not technically the second time through for W5 D2 since I didn't do it right the first time through. The sets were 20, 20, 18, 18, 15, 15, 14, max > 40 with 45 second intervals. I ended up doing 1 minute intervals because it was easier to set my watch to a minute.

Up until the max set, I was doing okay--it was a serious effort to get through the second 18 and the two 15s, but the 14 wasn't bad. But that max set...ohhh. I hit 25 and collapsed.

I wonder if I am experiencing a phenomenon that Kara described as relating to marathons. If you run, say, a 3 hour marathon, chances are it's going to hurt. But if you run an 8 hour marathon, it's probably going to hurt for longer just because of the duration of the pounding your body receives. Well that's not a very scientific explanation or analysis on my part, but I wonder if I'm...overtraining? By repeating several of the weeks, have I been overworking my shoulders, triceps, pecs, and hit a point of diminishing returns?

I know that the first few weeks/months of a diet that it isn't uncommon to see large losses that, as the weeks and months go on, taper off. So I shouldn't be discouraged that I'm not making the leaps forward in strength over the last two weeks that I saw in the first four or so. But I just don't seem to be fitting into the mold of the program and wonder if it's a fault with me or a fault with the program. I'd like to assume it's the program, but I doubt that it can shoulder the whole blame. Or even half. Maybe a third. Either way, it looks like I've still got a long road ahead of me. *sigh*

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 1 (again)

2008-09-02T21:19:00.002-04:00

I did day 1 on Monday at lunch time--I figured I might be too tired at the end of the day if I postponed it. (See I can learn!) The sets were 40, 32, 30, 25, max > 40 with 60 seconds in between sets. And I came pretty darn close, but *ahem* not as close as last week. I mean this week, last time. This second go round with week 5 day 1 went worse than the first go round.

Last time, I was able to get all the sets and maxed at 30. This time, I got all the sets but maxed at 25. *sigh* That seems a bit backward to me. I guess we'll see how day 2 goes.

I might be doing week 5 again. Again.

DIY Folding Kayak

2008-09-02T18:03:00.007-04:00

Last year, my Boy Scout Troop built a sailboat--a Puddleduck Racer, in fact. They did a rather magnificent job of it too, if I do say so myself. It even floated!

A few months after we finished the Electric Current (that's the aforementioned boat...), one of my Scout's grandparents mentioned that many years ago, her son built a kayak and had long since abandoned it at their house. If I wanted it, I could have it, she said. Why not?

So I went over and picked up this thing, not quite sure what to expect. Even still, I wasn't expecting a flattened thing with a canvas strip down the middle. Huh? I ended up not using it at all--or even really assembling it--until yesterday.

Since I had the day off, and since it was a nice hot day, and since I was in a cleaning mood, I figured I'd check this thing out and see if it floated still or whether I ought to send it to Davy Jones' Locker. I grabbed J, the kayak, and its homemade paddle and set off for a nearby lake.

Once I got it to the shore, I had a bit of a hard time muscling the supports into the kayak. Two very kind chaps arrived and offered help--really, I just think they were so curious that they wanted to see this thing up close and in action! The three of us figured it out together and got it assembled. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about trusting this who-knows-how-old do-it-yourself boat to float, but it held just fine just resting in the water by itself.

So then I pushed down on it a bit with the paddle, not sure whether the canvas would and sink the whole thing. It held. So I ever so gingerly sat in it, still right next to the shore. By some miracle, it still held! I pushed off from the shore and paddled around the shallows for a minute or two, and when I saw that it wasn't going to collapse from my weight, I got a bit more brave and took it out into the lake proper. I tooled around on that little kayak for about 20 minutes and found no discernible leaks! There was a bit of water inside the kayak, but I'm willing to wager that 99% of it was from drips off the paddle!

Curious about its construction, I scoured the web and found a few sites with instructions:

http://diyfiles.com/kayak.html has decent instructions, but the images are small and won't "blow up."
http://foldingkayaks.org/kayak.doc is much more detailed, and I'd recommend a look.
http://www.vhcbsa.org/camping/kayak.pdf is probably the best of the instruction options and is geared towards Boy Scouts making them.

I just might put one of these (or perhaps a small coracle) together for J so that we can tool around on the lake together. After I finish fixing all the kitchen chairs, of course.

Best Dump Cake Ever!

2008-09-01T18:27:00.006-04:00

Tonight, I made Apricot Chicken Divine, so I thought I'd do a dutch oven dessert to keep in the theme. I picked up a few ingredients for a dump cake while I was at the store today, and with a few shoot-from-the-hip embellishments, a masterpiece was born!

Cherry Dump Cake Especial
I made this in a 12" dutch oven in my kitchen oven. Make it outdoors if you wish...it'll still be great.

Ingredients
2 21 oz. cans cherry pie filling
1 18.25 oz box yellow cake mix
4 Tbsp butter or margarine, cut into 1/2 to 1/3 Tbsp pats
8 Tbsp (4 oz) cream cheese, cut into 1/2 to 1/3 Tbsp pats
About 10 oz. Dr. Pepper (Yes, use Dr. Pepper. It has cherry overtones that really complement the cherry pie filling! Some other soda would be okay...I guess, but wouldn't make this especial.)

Directions
Preheat either your oven or your dutch oven to 350 degrees F.

I use foil when I make dump cake. You are free to foil or not, whichever direction your conscience carries you. From there, dump in the 2 cans of pie filling and smooth out with a spoon. Dump on the cake mix and smooth out with a spoon. Sprinkle on the butter and cream cheese evenly over the top. Drizzle the Dr. Pepper evenly over the top and mix the soda into the cake mix gently with a fork.

Bake, covered, for 45 - 60 minutes. (Okay, so I just let it bake then took it out when it smelled done. I told you I was from the hip.)

Next time, I might add the full cube of cream cheese (all 8 oz.), but besides that, I wouldn't change a thing.

Kara's Foible

2008-08-31T08:53:00.003-04:00

Kara mentioned a social faux pas the other day. Here are some pics from that trip to the farm:

Raven Run Nature Photos

2008-08-31T08:34:00.006-04:00

I mentioned a Saturday hike in a previous post. We hiked about 2 2/3 miles at just over 2 miles per hour on average. Here are some photos from that hike:

On the way back, as we walked through the grassland, the boys ended up with passengers on their shirts. They thought that was pretty neat. :)

I Want My Baby Back...

2008-08-31T08:12:00.004-04:00

I used to be scared of ribs. No, not ribs in general, and no, not run away crying calling for mama scared either. I used to be scared of cooking ribs. I know it's silly, but it's true.

My sister has this recipe for dreamy, melt in your mouth, fall of the bones ribs with a sauce that explodes with flavor in your mouth. No pressure, right?

My wife picked up some pork ribs a few weeks ago at the store, which I grilled as slowly as I could. They were...meh. They had decent flavor, and they were moist, but they were tough. I was a bit discouraged.

So when I saw a Good Eats on pork ribs, I figured that with AB's help I could do it. Kara picked up some more ribs yesterday and I followed the recipe as best as I could. Those ribs were dreamy, melt in your mouth, fall off the bones ribs--but the sauce needs work. See, I grilled them instead of cooking them in the oven. Technically, I braised them, since I wrapped them in foil and cooked them with some liquid, but the temperature control on the grill was a bit problematic. I had the grill on the lowest setting, but it kept creeping up towards 300 instead of the 250 I wanted.

The result of the slightly higher temps meant slightly faster cook time, but I didn't take that entirely into account so the liquid at the bottom of my foil pack burned, meaning that I couldn't make sauce from it. *sigh* Still, the ribs had great taste without it! It was just a bit more...intense. I'm so close to great ribs! Next time will be better. :)

By the way, this rub is to die for!

Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients
2 whole slabs baby back ribs

Dry Rub:
8 tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 Tbsp kosher salt (if you use regular salt, use less! But why wouldn't you use Kosher??)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp jalepeno seasoning
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 tsp rubbed thyme
1/2 tsp onion powder

Braising Liquid:
1 cup white wine (I used broth in its place, but forgot that broth is much more salty than wine would be...gotta figure out a good substitute.)
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp honey
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Instructions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees

In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Place each slab of baby back ribs on a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, shiny side down. Sprinkle each side generously with the dry rub. Pat the dry rub into the meat. Refrigerate the ribs for a minimum of 1 hour. In a microwavable container, combine all ingredients for the braising liquid. Microwave on high for 1 minute.

Place the ribs on a baking sheet. Open one end of the foil on each slab and pour half of the braising liquid into each foil packet. Tilt the baking sheet in order to equally distribute the braising liquid. Braise the ribs in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer the braising liquid into a medium saucepot. Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce by half or until of a thick syrup consistency. Brush the glaze onto the ribs. Place under the broiler just until the glaze caramelizes lightly. Slice each slab into 2 rib bone portions. Place the remaining hot glaze into a bowl and toss the rib portions in the glaze.

*This recipe makes several batches of dry rub. If more rub is needed, it can be extended by any amount, as long as the ratio of 8:3:1:1 remains the same.

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 3

2008-08-31T07:57:00.002-04:00

I really need to stick to my schedule in these last weeks. I went out to eat on Friday with some friends at work and therefore didn't do push ups at lunch as I usually do. I thought it would be okay if I pushed them back (Heh. Pun intended.) to Friday night after the kids went to bed. For several reasons, including my faulty memory, that didn't happen.

Then, I thought I might do them Saturday morning but I took the older two boys on a hike instead. Saturday night at 9:45pm I remembered that I still hadn't done week 5 day 3's push ups and that week 5 was rapidly drawing to a close. *sigh* So I did them. It was sloppy, and painful, and ugly. I'd had a long day and was not feeling especially peppy to start with. The set sounded innocent enough, but was pretty brutal.

The set for day 3 is 18, 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, max > 40 with only 30 seconds between sets. Sets 1-4 weren't too bad, but the 14s were really hard. The 12 I was able to bash my way through, but I had nothing left for the max set; I hit 20 and gave up partly because I knew I'd be doing this week again and partly due to sheer exhaustion. It was a rather disappointing week for pushing up for me. But I kept at it, and I will continue to keep at it.

I'm a Reading Ninja!

2008-08-28T21:10:00.003-04:00

I'm a reading ninja. It's true. I read an awful lot, much of which is aloud. I read a book to Mike before I put him to bed. I read the Scriptures to J and Spence, then read to each of them before I put them to bed. Most nights, I read a book to Kara before I put her to bed! (I don't usually read out loud to myself, though. That'd be kinda kooky.)

Books I've read to my family:

Mike
Where the Wild Things Are
Various fables and nursery rhymes, e.g. The Three Bears
He picks his own books, so I never know what's next

Spence
Books 1-13 (we're halfway through 13!) of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Stuart Little
James and the Giant Peach
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (Oh! Those Vermicious Knids!)
Next is the Harry Potter series

J
All of the Harry Potter series
All of the Chronicles of Narnia (Some were really deep to read with a 7-year-old!)
Banner in the Sky
Ender's Game
Next is the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings series

Kara
All of the Harry Potter series
Books 1-11 of A Series of Unfortunate Events (halfway through book 11)

I've personally read these in the last few years:
Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse Dune

New Spring
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams

Wizard's First Rule
Stone of Tears
Blood of the Fold
Temple of the Winds
Soul of the Fire
Faith of the Fallen
The Pillars of Creation
Naked Empire
Chainfire

Have Space Suit--Will Travel
Methuselah's Children
Starship Troopers
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

A Princess of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Warlord of Mars
Thuvia, Maid of Mars
The Chessmen of Mars

Frankenstein
Dracula

And there are a few of Bradbury's short stories I read, too.

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 2

2008-08-27T16:05:00.002-04:00

I'm an idiot.

I did all 5 of today's sets just fine: 20, 18, 15, 14, max > 40. In fact, I maxed at 45! However, I misremembered one thing: today everything changes. The rest time drops to 45 seconds instead of increasing to 90, and sets 1-3 get repeated. So today's sets were supposed to be 20, 20, 18, 18, 15, 15, 14, max > 40. That's a whole different story.

Oh well. I guess since I'll be doing this week again I'll just do it right next time around. Friday will be pretty tough, though: 18, 18, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, max > 40. I guess if it were easy, it wouldn't be very fun to do...everyone likes a challenge now and then, right? And I wouldn't really go back to weeks 1 or 2--they'd be too easy now. But don't think that'll stop me from moaning about how hard future workouts sound. :)

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 1

2008-08-26T20:01:00.002-04:00

Monday's set was tough, as predicted. I knew it would be tough, so I gave myself 2 minutes in between sets instead of the recommended 1 minute. Still, I think I did pretty well all considering. The sets were 40, 32, 30, 25, max > 40. I got 40, 32, 30, and 25, but maxed at 30 on the last set. I don't know how the rest of the week will go, but if it goes as rough as today's, then I will definitely redo the week. *sigh* Still, I suppose I should feel pretty good that I was able to do any push ups on that max set after doing the previous 127...

I suppose I should be amazed at my progress, but with this program billed as a "6 week" program, I'm feeling a bit inadequate having to repeat every week (except week 1). I guess you do what it takes to reach your goal...and I know I can't really compare myself to a bunch of people on the 'net I don't even know...but it's still hard.

I'm not giving up, though. I can do this.

Grilled Salmon

2008-08-24T21:07:00.004-04:00

I've been grilling a lot lately, mostly due to the excellent new grill Kara got me for Father's Day. It's a Weber Q 320, and it makes grilling so easy a caveman could do it, or something like that. The cast-iron grill leaves the most beautiful grill marks, it's easy to regulate the temperature, there's an outer burner and a center burner that allow for excellent heat management... She did a splendid job on the selection.

So I asked Kara a few months ago to pick up some fish for dinner. Before we had the grill, I would have pan-seared it, ala Alton Brown. After hearing how fish is so tricky to grill (because it likes to stick to the grill, due to its low fat content, I'd imagine) I was a bit nervous to try it, but with as flawlessly as my grill had performed, I figured I'd give it a shot.

First, I hit the salmon with a shot of non-stick spray. (AB recommends adding a bit of oil when cooking meats in order to promote browning and to help prevent sticking.) I sprinkled the fish with some kosher salt and ground on some pepper, then flipped and sprayed, salted, and peppered it, too. I slapped it on the grill, waited about 5 minutes, flipped it, waited another 5-7 minutes, and pulled it onto a rack to rest for a minute or two. My family loved it. I did the same thing tonight.

My kids always ask for seconds when I grill salmon, and sometimes ask for thirds. I gave J an approximately 8 oz piece for starters tonight and he wolfed it down in record time, then asked for more. In fact, he asked for more fish before he asked for more Kool-aid! And Spence wasn't far behind him. Mike was in a green bean mood, though, so he wouldn't even touch the salmon. Oh well. Two out of three kids ain't bad.

100 Pushups - Week 4 Exhaustion Test & Musings

2008-08-24T18:10:00.005-04:00

I was planning on doing my exhaustion test tonight after I put the boys to bed, but sometimes my Sabbath "day of rest" is anything but...and I figured I'd need to be at least somewhat rested to come anywhere close to 50 push ups. So this morning, after breakfast, I went up to my room to get some privacy, and started psyching myself up.

Since both of my older boys were already awake and downstairs, I figured they'd be asking questions, running around, bickering with each other, etc., and that I'd have to stop halfway through my set and separate them. Not exactly an environment conducive to concentration. There was only one unforeseen problem: the carpet in my bedroom is a bit less worn that the carpet in my living room, and is a bit more slippery. So when I was "resting" between push ups (forming an upside-down U with my hindparts in the air), my hands were sliding away from my feet and apart from each other. Again, not exactly an environment conducive to concentration.

I maxed at 55 push ups today, and I think I might have had another 5 to 7 in me somewhere, had I been able to concentrate better. Either way, I still think Monday is going to...how shall I say it? "Whip my hud?" That's probably sufficient.

On a separate but related note, I've been reading some of my fellow hundred push ups challengers and have felt rather inadequate. There are men (and women!) who have been maxing at 50-60 push ups every day since week 2. Meanwhile, I've been barely eeking out the minimum maximum. It's been rather disheartening, to say the least. Then, I read Steve Speirs' blog and started feeling a bit better about myself.

You might expect that the guy who runs the hundredpushups.com website would be a push up God...but (and no offense to you if you read this, mate) he's just a regular guy like me. He has had to repeat a week, he maxes out at around the recommended max, and he struggles with the sets sometimes. Steve, you may not know me from Adam, but I've got to thank you. You've helped me realize that this program is attainable for us humans.

Kara's Blog

2008-08-23T18:03:00.003-04:00

Shameless plug here:

My sweet, adorable wife, Kara, has just started a blog, http://reallygoodatmath.blogspot.com/. Several of the readers of this blog have asked me if she has one, and the answer was no. Your prayers have been answered...or something like that.

No go and comment on her blog please, and make her feel like someone out there is reading it. She really is a rather amusing writer, so it certainly won't be a chore or anything.

100 Pushups - Week 4 Day 3

2008-08-22T22:01:00.004-04:00

Okay, I was really, really nervous about how I would do today. The sets were 30, 22, 22, 20, max > 29, with 120 seconds between sets. I had already done 223 push ups this week, and spent the afternoon outside, in the heat, playing with my family at a friend's farm, not resting. Oh, and unlike my experience with previous weeks, I was sore going into today's sets.

But I did it. I got every single push up--and then some. With only 2 minutes between sets, I maxed at 35 push ups today after having completed 94! Somehow, I forgot that those extra 30 seconds between sets (30 seconds more than day 2's sets) makes all the difference. I'll have to remember that for next week.

Speaking of next week...

I thought I was scared of today's sets. Next week has me quaking in my proverbial moon boots. *cough*Rob*cough* Day 1's sets are 40, 32, 30, 25, max > 40. Are you joking? But before I get to week 4, I still need to do my exhaustion test this weekend. My goal is to get 50 push ups, which is more than double where I started (I got 21 push ups on my pretest...I've come a long way!), but I don't think it's unreasonable. Okay, it's unreasonable, but I still think I might be able to squeak out half a hundred. We'll see.

100 Pushups - Week 4 Day 2

2008-08-20T12:29:00.004-04:00

Tough set today. 27, 21, 21, 18, max > 25. I was hurting at the 18 set and wasn't sure I'd be able to make the max set, but I pulled through and got all 112 today. Friday's set just plain scares me: 30, 22, 22, 20, max > 29? In my dreams. Still, I'm going to go for it. I'm really curious as to how my exhaustion test will go this weekend.

I am getting a lot of positive support from the guys at the gym. They're asking me questions about the program and how I'm doing--it's kinda nice.

No-knead Pseudo-Sourdough Rehash

2008-08-20T12:24:00.011-04:00

I made mention of this recipe once before but I thought I'd rehash it because:

It just may be my favorite bread ever! It's got a nice chewy crust, and just a hint of the sourdough flavor without the harshness sourdough sometimes gives. Oh, and there's no sourdough starter to maintain either!
The first mention was a pretty popular landing place on my blog, so I thought I'd give it some spotlight time.
It is so super easy that everyone should try it at least once.
I've got pics for most of the steps now.
FAVRIT. BREAD. EVAR.

When I make this bread, I do it in a regular 10" dutch oven, usually in my oven. (I don't always have the patience to wait for the coals, then to feed them while it's cooking.) I suppose you could do this on a sheet pan or in a large casserole dish, but IMHO, everyone should have a dutch oven. :) Heck, it might be worth it to get one just for this recipe!

So how does this recipe work with no kneading and 1/4 tsp of yeast? Time. In order to have a good risen bread you need gluten. One way to develop the gluten is to knead and knead and knead. Another way is to let the bread rise for a long time. This bread uses the latter method obviously, and as far as I'm concerned, takes a lot of the guesswork out of breadmaking. You don't need to worry if it has been kneaded enough, or if there's enough flour in it, or if it has risen long enough. This is almost "Bread for Dummies." Try it. You might like it. And if you do try it, let me know how it goes.

No-knead Pseudo-Sourdough

Ingredients
17 1/2 ounces* bread flour, plus extra for shaping
1/4 teaspoon active-dry yeast
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
12 ounces filtered water
2 tablespoons cornmeal

*Why is the flour measured by weight? Primarily, because that's what Alton Brown does, and this is his recipe. But why does he measure flour by weight? Because, he alleges, flour is easily compactable and your 4 cups of flour may weigh significantly more or less than my 4 cups of flour, leading to there being either too much or too little flour in the recipe. I picked up a dinky little kitchen scale at Wal-Mart for about $4, which does the trick; however, I wouldn't mind it at all if someone were to buy me a nice kitchen scale for Christmas... hint hint

Recipe
Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Add the water and stir until combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (do not use a towel or your bread will dry out, develop a skin, and get yucky!) and allow to sit at room temperature for 19 hours.

After 19 hours, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. (You may want to sprinkle the dough lightly with flour if it gets too sticky to work with.) Punch down the dough and turn it over onto itself a couple of times. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rest 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, shape dough into a ball. Coat hands with flour if needed to prevent sticking.

Sprinkle the tea towel with half of the cornmeal and lay the dough on top of it, with the seam side down. Sprinkle the top of the dough with the other half of the cornmeal and cover with the towel. Allow to rise for another 2 to 3 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

Oven baking:
While the dough is rising the second time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place a 5-quart Dutch oven in the oven while it preheats. Once the dough is ready, carefully transfer it to the preheated Dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes or until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Outdoor coals:
Heat charcoal in a chimney starter until ash covers all of the coals. Place 20 to 24 coals on a Dutch oven table. Set a 5-quart Dutch oven on top of this rack and allow to preheat during the last 30 minutes of the second rise. Carefully transfer the dough to the Dutch oven and cover with the lid. Place 20 coals on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until the bread reaches an internal temperature of 210 to 212 degrees F. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving

New 100 Pushups Shirt!

2008-08-19T16:38:00.001-04:00

Me wearing my new "I'm doing the hundred" shirt!

100 Pushups - Week 4 Day 1

2008-08-18T11:55:00.005-04:00

Finally! Week 4! The sets for today were 27, 20, 20, 17, max > 27, with 1 minute in between.

I have come to the conclusion that push ups, like life in general, are harder on Mondays. This one measly stinkin' minute between sets almost did me in today. As it was, I was struggling to get the 17 set in so I gave myself 2 minutes before the max set. I just barely made that max set, and I mean by the skin of my teeth. But 27 is 27, right? And they were *cough* mostly *cough* good form push ups.

For any of y'all who are keeping track, today's total number of push ups was 111, which is also a palindrome. Friday's total will be 129! Yeesh!

I ordered a shirt from the hundredpushups.com store the other day, and wore it to the gym for the first time today. I intentionally got a medium so that it would fit snug, but not too tightly. :) One of the guys that works out at the same time I do--I see him around quite a bit--said that I was "looking big." He made my week. Although, now that I think of it, he very well may have said that I was looking "fig," as in seedy and rather purple. I hope it was the former. But after doing today's sets, I probably was rather purplish. *sigh*

Birthday Cake

2008-08-17T09:40:00.008-04:00

In the September 2008 issue of Bon Appetit, I found the most delicious-sounding cake recipe! It's called Chocolate Cake with Fleur de Sel Caramel Filling, and...just wow. Now, my cake didn't turn out picture perfect--in fact, I'm afraid it'll break the camera if I try to get a photo!--but I tasted all of the ingredients separately and they were really darn good. Together, the combination of all three is heavenly! The caramel has a hint of salty-sweet tartness. The cake is moist and rich. The ganache...how can you go wrong with chocolate and cream? I used Ghirardeli chocolate, so that might have helped.

Oh, and this cake has over 3 cups of heavy cream, so it's got to be good!

Caramel Filling
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Large pinch Fleur de Sel (a type of sea salt--I used Kosher)

Directions
Stir sugar, 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup in deep medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium; cover pan and cook 4 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to high. Boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, occasionally brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush, about 6 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Whisk in butter, then sour cream, lemon juice, and a pinch of fleur de sel. Cool Completely.

Can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

Ganache Filling and Frosting
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 cups heavy cream

Directions
Place chocolate in a large bowl. Bring cream to simmer in a medium saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate. Let soften 1 minute. Whisk until chocolate is smooth. Cool, then cover and chill overnight.

Ganache can be made up to 3 days ahead. Keep chilled. Bring to room temperature before using.

Brig's note: I never chilled my ganache, but I did let it cool to room temperature. Maybe that's why it decided to slide so much...

Cake
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup hot water
1 1/4 cup almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped

Directions
Position rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-inch diameter cake pans with 2-inch high sides. (I realized after I put the mix in my regular 9" pans that it would spectacularly overflow during cooking so I transferred the batter to 10" pans. I don't recommend that approach.) Line bottom of each with parchment paper; butter paper and dust pan with flour. (Also an important step!)
Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add milk, eggs, melted butter, and water. Using electric mixer, beat at low speed until blended. Increase speed and beat 2 minutes. Beat until blended (batter will be thin). Divide batter between pans (about 3 cups each).
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 32 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks about 10 minutes. Cut around cakes; turn out onto racks. Peel off parchment and cool completely.
Using long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 layer on platter; spread with 1/2 cup room-temperature ganache. Spoon 3/4 cup ganache into pastry bag fitted with 1/4-inch plain round tip. (I ended up using a dremel to cut off, then file down, one of my existing tips that I knew I wouldn't use much.) Pipe ring of ganache around the edge of layer. Spread 1/4 cup room-temperature caramel filling evenly inside ring. Sprinkle caramel with large pinch of fleur de sel, then 1 tablespoon almonds. Top with second cake layer, ganache, ganache ring, caramel filling, fleur de sel, and almonds. Repeat with third cake layer. Top with fourth cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining ganache over top and sides of cake. Press remaining almonds onto sides.

Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and chill. Let cake stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

Too Many Hobbies, Too Little Time

Christmas Quiche

Baked Bacon

Mrs. Hobbs' Banana Pudding

"Surprise" Cookies

The Cape Skinner

I *just* may be a little bit crazy

Pork Tenderloin

Amish Friendship Bread - Feeding Techniques

Ding Dong Cobbler

Whole Wheat Pancakes

Cake Balls

Poached Pears

Dad's Casserole

Astle's Tortillas

Dutch Oven Jambalaya

Netted Rope Hammock - Making Progress

Cub Scout Pretzels

Making Rope from Plastic Bags

Hawaiian Sandwiches

Cooking Bread in the Outdoors

Store-bought Skookies

One Gallon's Worth!

I Watch A Lot of Movies, I Guess

16 "interesting" things about me

Chicken Milano

Spence's Scarf

Crafting + Camping = DIY Gear

Christmas Songs

Cauliflower Update

Cauliflower Experts Needed!

Candy Canes

It's worse than that...he's dead, Jim!

Lions and Tigers and Chairs! Oh my!

Almost Pumpkin Pie

The Knitster

Ramen Chicken Dinner

Best Amish Friendship Bread Ever!

Amish Friendship...Pizza?

Amish Friendship...Pancakes?

I've Got Amish Friendship Bread Starter--Now What?

Mini Surprise Cookies

Envy, With Side Order Of Pettiness

Homemade Marshmallows

125 Pushups - Week 1

Halloween Costumes

Will Nothing Help The Burning Stuff??

Six Random Facts About Me

More Backyard Photography

Amish Friendship Bread - Chocolate Bread Recipe

Amish Friendship Bread - Banana Bread

Amish Friendship Bread - Plain Old Sourdough Bread

Amish Friendship Bread

Hammock Camping - Minor Setback

100 Pushups - Back to Week 4

I May Not Be Entirely Right (In The Head)

Hammock Ingenuity

A Little Macro Photography At The Farm

Apple Dumplings

Happy Birthday Mike!

Down On The Farm

100 Pushups - I DID IT!

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 3

The Cubmobile

Hammock Camping

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 2

100 Pushups - Week 6 Day 1 (take two!)

100 Pushups - Week 6

Purple Vestments

Camp Cooking Success!

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 3

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 2

100 Pushups - Week 5 Day 1 (lost count)

New Keyboard

Halloween Costumes

100 Pushups - Week ?? Exhaustion Test

Another Day on the Lake

100 Pushups - Week Off / Week 2

Cofeecake so good that it makes the girls swoon!

Boys Choir

I just may be a little bit crazy