First snow
Something on my lens ???
Huh.
“It’s snow!”
“If you want your chair back, you need to start a fire for me.”
“I can wait…”
First snow.
Auggie wins.
Golden Light
The larch still have enough needles to glow with golden light, even on a gray day.
But, many needles have fallen and are on the ground…
…lining our walk paths, sticking to our feet and magically letting loose of our feet once our feet get indoors. Kind of a mess, but I refuse to worry about it too much and choose to enjoy their color and light.
And speaking of color and light…
The Fuschia! A few blooms still and the greenery is beautiful. It is November 1 in Northwest Montana for heaven’s sake. We have not had a hard freeze at my house and I can’t see dumping them on the burn pile while they look so healthy. It has been a record breaking run for front porch flowers!
Inside.
We are to the point where it is dark when I have breakfast and dark when I have supper. I spoke awhile back about new kitchen light fixtures being on my list to change. They are some way down the list of things to do.
It is not that their appearance bothers me so much as it is that in order to get light to the counters, the overhead lights must be very bright. For early morning they are brighter than I’d like for making my coffee. And for supper, they are brighter than is cozy to enjoy my evening meal. But I need more than the chairside lamp to see my food when eating at the island. I did add stick-on under counter lights when I first bought this house and those are fine for soft light and for counter chores that don’t require reading small print or measuring precisely.
Last week, I thought to look for a small battery powered lamp for the island – just enough light to eat by. I found some, but the first I found were all white and modern looking. And then I found these candles.
Battery powered candles with a remote. Hee.
I kind of love them!
The flames dim and brighten so that it looks like candles burning.
They provide a warm light on dark, dreary days and enough light to eat by.
I am now having candlelight breakfasts and suppers!
Tonight, it was breakfast for supper: sourdough waffles with walnuts and maple syrup and bacon.
By battery powered candlelight.
Fire and rain
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end… James Taylor
Finally, rain! Real rain as in not just mist or rain that lasts 2 minutes.
It was dark and off and on rainy on Thursday.
Friday, it rained all day.
It didn’t pour, it was a nice gentle, soaking rain. I felt like things were damp enough that I could have a fire in the woodstove.
So I did.
First fire of this Fall-Winter season.
And as it was Friday and we had our Friday work session early, i.e. my time was flexible for the rest of the day … I had my lunch in front of the fire.
Not everyone was as thrilled as me about the rain.
Especially Auggie.
Oh, dear … seriously sad face.
But on the bright side, there was a warm fire to curl up in front of…
… or to be silly in front of.
And then today… more rain.
“Maybe if I don’t look, it will go away”.
I was grateful for an excuse to avoid yard work.
I baked – perfect occupation for a dark and rainy day!
Sourdough crackers – this recipe uses starter that is unfed and to be discarded. One of the things I find difficult about the maintenance of the sourdough starter is the “throw away half and feed more” part of it – particularly the “throw away half” part. I saw this recipe and not only does it use a good amount of discard starter, but it makes great crackers – YEA!
Usually Thanksgiving creeps up on me and then it is only 4 weeks until Christmas and I feel like the holidays are over before I have had time to anticipate, prepare and enjoy. But, this year, I am ready. It feels holiday-like already.
I wanted something molasses-gingery.
The biscotti jar has been empty for a good while.
Gingerbread Currant Biscotti. They are pretty good. They are especially good dunked in hot, spiced apple cider.
Fire and rain.
Sourdough v1.0
First Sourdough loaf ala starter and bread recipe from Emma Christensen of The Kitchn.
I haven’t given much thought to sourdough, even as my artisanal bread baking self-education has progressed. (Progression outlined at the end of this post) But, on the tail of the The Kitchn Cure that was responsible for spurring me to install kitchen cabinet hardware, there was The Kitchn Baking School. I did not do the lessons, but I did follow the posts, the linked instructions and the comments. Last week was bread and end of the week was sourdough. I still wasn’t thinking I wanted to fool with starter, etc. but a blurb somewhere about the process bringing out flavor… I decided to give it a try.
The starter is made by combining flour and water and letting it sit at room temperature. Normal yeast and bacteria in the air combines with the bit of yeast that is naturally in flour (and the air) and the mix begins fermenting. The basic starter recipe is a daily feeding with the starter being ready for use by day 5. As the week progressed, I did further reading from other sources and found bakers vary on length of time and how much starter to discard daily – yes, you discard some and then feed on. One of my favorite sources: Della Fattoria Bread by Kathleen Weber, suggests 10 days and goes on to say that really 3-4 weeks is best to develop full flavor.
I started this first loaf at day 5 per the recipe instruction and how the starter looked and smelled and because patience is NOT one of my virtues.
Right out of the oven!
I did not carefully read the slashing instruction – for sourdough, you are to slash almost horizontally to give the finished loaf the characteristic “ledge”. I slashed the way I normally slash so my loaf looks like a normal boule. It doesn’t affect taste, but next time I will remember.
Inside, things look good…
…very good!
A nice crunchy crust, a soft crumb with good air holes and texture. The slices make good toast AND they are soft enough to make a great sandwich as well.
This morning: sourdough toast with lox, onion, capers, goat cheese and a scrambled egg. Friday started deliciously!