Cauldron Bake and Cauldron Bubble

I have long harbored the desire to get the sourdough thing right. Last month, amongst other objectives, I decided to put fermented dough back on the list. Luckily, I managed to get SO interested in this project since he's much better growing things than I am. About three weeks ago, we got going with a batch of starter and unlike my prior attempts, we did not end up with a big bowl of badly smelling glue. Instead, as of yesterday, we have this:












As soon as we could, we baked up a couple of test loaves and they were good, but our socks weren't knocked off. SO likes to make pizza and I suggested that he use the starter in his pizza dough.

And, a star was born!!!










SO has been producing some awesome pizzas with the sourdough crust. It is indescribably delicious! Saturday night, we put together a BBQ Chicken Pizza:

Another smashing success!!!









But, of course, I am never one to leave well enough alone. The existing starter, named Glenville, now has some competition brewing:


This is San Fran -- which came from a box of starter I ordered that is supposed to be real San Francisco sourdough starter. We'll see. SO already had to give San Fran a boost of honey to get her going. Right now, they are both living in the kitchen, but I wouldn't say it's peaceful co-existence. They have to be separated by several feet at all times so they don't inbreed.

Do you think SO would kill me if I ordered a box of Alaskan sourdough starter too?

Spin-O-Rama!!!

I have been a bad, bad blogger! I've been doing stuff and taking pictures and not blogging. Like everyone else, I sometimes get a little behind. But, this evening, the snow if falling like crazy and the good thing about that is, I am getting a little caught up.

So, what the heck have I been doing??? Spinning art yarn. Or, rather learning how to spin art yarn more competently. And, I am getting better although the pictures that follow don't necessarily reveal that.

First, we have a brown single that I plyed with a otherwise useless sock yarn remenant:













Now, this doesn't look like much but I took the picture anyway. It's a very difficult technique involving mohair. If I could execute the technique better you would be oohing and ahhing...at least I would.











And, here we have a combination of techniques involving some crazy carding and then another very difficult technique that I actually got the hang of by the time I was done spinning what I had prepared.











Finally, here are some of the results of the other spinners from my class. As you can see, some of these gals are pretty talented...I am envious!!!









Ok, now go back to watching tv or reading Facebook...

Now Presenting: Miss Scarlet!!!

Isn't she beautiful?

She's one of the animals we met over the holidays when we went to a large alpaca farm.

And, because we formed a personal relationship, I bought some of her fleece.











And, before washing, her fleece looked like this:













Now, onto washing...in Dawn dish soap, of course!


So, so dirty. The first round of rinsing was literally mud. It was a labor of love to get the water to rinse clean.











It gleams!!! The farmer told me, "you can never dye something the color that this is naturally." He is so right. It is like a shiny blue-black and ultra-soft. By tomorrow, it will be dry and ready for my class this weekend. Yay!!!

Weekend Wrap Up: Peanut Butter Cup Bars and Childhood Toys

Sheesh, busy weekend. I need a day off from my weekend before I go back to work, but ah...that's not gonna happen.

Sunday we smoked a pork roast which turned out rather nicely and to finish off the meal, SO whipped up a batch of peanut butter cup bars:

Really yummy and although we had a recipe, there was some improvisation on some of the ingredients. I suspect this will not be the last we've seen of the peanut butter cup bars.









Saturday, we drove to see my grandfather who is preparing to move and trying to lighten his load of what has to be moved or sold. I brought back a number of things that were mine that he'd been storing for about 35 years or so. Amongst the stash was a dollhouse:




I am told this was my dollhouse -- I remember playing with it, but I don't remember knowing it was mine which I find strange. I'm sure the lack of ownership feeling was due to the fact that the dollhouse was in the attic a lot of the time. It wasn't in my room, as I recall...I remember having to climb into the attic to get to it. I also think it's odd that the bathroom was so prominently featured with a raiseable toilet seat. As you can see, the man of the house is perched on his throne in the picture. Unfortunately, time was not kind to some of the furnishings and a number of the chairs are missing legs.

I also came home with a box of my old Barbie's -- complete with tons of outfits from the 70's -- expect to see some of those fashions in a future post.

Run, Run Rudolf!!!

What are the chances that I'd find not one but two of these cuties over the past few months?!?!?



A little research over the internet reveals that these are from about 1950. I got the one on the left for $5 at a yard sale and the one on the right for $12 in an antique mall. According to some of the write ups on ebay, they are hard to find.

I especially like the black one!



And, of course, since one things just leads to another, once I got the first pot, I started liking little cartoonish deer-things and I found these original watercolors at a yard sale for a couple of dollars:

I love blue animals, don't you?


I think this is true prancing.











Yes, I am starting to have too much "stuff". On the other hand, someone's got to help the economy!!!

Put de Lime in de Coconut

I have been craving young coconut so I ordered some from the grocery store by my office and picked them up at lunchtime today:




Makes me want to sing, "Put de lime in de coconut"...










I had to order them twice before they came in, but it's worth it because this store sells them for 33% less than anywhere around me. I can't even order them over the internet for their price. And, now I find out that the grocery store is closing!!!! My primo source for these little beauties will be gone, gone, gone very soon. Ugh! And, it makes me sad to see another store close. So, that was kind of a downer on Monday, no less.

Back into the Groove

It's Saturday and I am finally feeling a little peaceful. It's been a wild week. After being away for 10 days, I had a lot of digging out to do: a mountain of wash that took all week to get squared away, day job very hectic and busy, a half a day (again) at the dentist's, a whole night of dealing with my finances -- how is a girl supposed to pursue her hobbies and blog about it with all this junk going on?

This morning I got up early and did a few things in the kitchen and even took pics because I knew I had left my blog unattended all week.

So, first up -- a lovely bowl of Cafe Gratitude's "I am Great" Granola with blueberries and homemade almond milk (cutting back on cow's milk). Yummo.













Now, to display my regular photography skills with a pic of Sarah Kramer's Raunchy Red Lentil Soup that I wanted to try all week and finally got around to at 6:00 AM today...it will be a yummy lunch with some homemade guacamole and corn chips!










I love being in my kitchen -- I missed my own cooking as I always do and am glad I found a few minutes to put some things together!

Time for a shower and to start the weekend.

2010 Knitting Goes Out with Style

What a picture, huh???



I hope you love that my suitcase was the background. No, I'm not making a resolution to be a better blog photographer this year!!!

Yes, this was the last of the 2010 completed knitted projects. Finished them on or about 12/30/10. I'm deep into finishing my first sock of 2011 with the goal of 12 pairs this year. As you know, I fell a little short this year, but that's ok. Ten pairs is still ten pairs.

In a few days, I have bags and bags of fleece coming and promise that the pictures will live up to my usual standards!

And, I'm thinking about making a knitted coat. Yes, I've gone crazy. This ambition accompanies a few other ambitions I have for the year which include mastering sourdough bread, candy-making and a circus tent. All would be easily accomplishable if I didn't work.

Let the games begin...