Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
I'm in a Snit
This has been a beautiful spring...minus the much needed showers. We have droughts and wildfires.
The courtyard birds seem happy enough with the weather and probably the fact that there has been no sign of our resident hawk this year. Only one pair of squirrels are make the rounds this year. We usually have several pairs of them.
Last Autumn my next door neighbor and I watched and laughed ourselves silly as the local squirrels banded together to harass a few crows. One squirrel would get in front of the crows and chatter and flick it's tail while the others positioned themselves behind the invaders. Then just as the crows started to ignore the squirrelly in front of them the ones in the rear would rush forward chattering and flicking many tails. This caused the crows to flap their wings and jump up and resettle a couple or three yards away. Well, that wasn't good enough for the locals so the squirrels repeated the same maneuvers over and over until they had moved the crows the entire length of the courtyard or about a city block. There was nowhere left to retreat so the crows finally left.
I'm not happy with the results of my PC Motherboard replacement. I've been looking at some barebones kits and may go that way later this year.
At least I'll know that if I plunk down $160.00 + 9% tax, just for the motherboard, I'll be getting the brand I want! Before I got my first computer I knew that I wanted to know how to build them.
POO and I made a run on the grocery store this evening. They have new buggies and they are a dream to push. I just needed to grab
a few necessities so we didn't have to stand around long. Got some of the new postage stamps with the bell on them.
I'm getting back into the work of makeing my own bread. Normally I use my
food processor to make yeast breads but this is an easy one bowl-one-spoon-no-knead
bread.
Everyday Yeast Bread (Down Home)
**3 C Anybody's brand of dry Buscuit Mix.
**1/2 C Bread flour, if you have it.
** 2 or 3 T Quick rise Yeast...Note: I use the Yeast more for flavor than anything, it is a change from baking powder biscuits and cornbread.
** 1 C Dry milk powder.
**1 C or so of very warm water.
**Personal decision time: You can add any of a wide variety of flavor enhancers at this point. Raisins with fresh Lemon, Orange or Grapefruit Zest and/or Cinnamon, Vanilla make an ok Sweet Bread. Add some nuts if you like.
I use Dill and Caraway seeds with ground Dried Onion to make an herb flavored bread.
So, set the Heating Pad to LOW and toss everything but the water in the bowl and stir to mix.
Add the water and use the spoon to mix until all of the water is absorbed.
Put the dough in the pan.
Put some tap water in the bowl and stick your hand in it to wet it.
Use your wet fist to pound the dough out to fit the pan and smooth the
top.
Place the Pan on the Heating Pad and cover with the Cardboard Box.
Set your Timer for 30 minutes. You don't want the dough to rise to the top. Try for about 1/2 " from the top.
I heat my oven to 400 degrees and bake the bread at 375 for about 30 to 35 minutes.
I use the "Bounce Test" to see if it is done... that is, I hold the pan by the sides and bounce it up and down. If the bread is done it will turn loose from the bottom of the
pan and bounce up when I "Bounce"it.
Then I turn it out on a Rack to cool. It needs to be on a Rack to keep
the crust crisp.
Use your Bread Knife to slice this.
Did I mention I'm really down about the PC Motherboard replacement?
The courtyard birds seem happy enough with the weather and probably the fact that there has been no sign of our resident hawk this year. Only one pair of squirrels are make the rounds this year. We usually have several pairs of them.
Last Autumn my next door neighbor and I watched and laughed ourselves silly as the local squirrels banded together to harass a few crows. One squirrel would get in front of the crows and chatter and flick it's tail while the others positioned themselves behind the invaders. Then just as the crows started to ignore the squirrelly in front of them the ones in the rear would rush forward chattering and flicking many tails. This caused the crows to flap their wings and jump up and resettle a couple or three yards away. Well, that wasn't good enough for the locals so the squirrels repeated the same maneuvers over and over until they had moved the crows the entire length of the courtyard or about a city block. There was nowhere left to retreat so the crows finally left.
I'm not happy with the results of my PC Motherboard replacement. I've been looking at some barebones kits and may go that way later this year.
At least I'll know that if I plunk down $160.00 + 9% tax, just for the motherboard, I'll be getting the brand I want! Before I got my first computer I knew that I wanted to know how to build them.
POO and I made a run on the grocery store this evening. They have new buggies and they are a dream to push. I just needed to grab
a few necessities so we didn't have to stand around long. Got some of the new postage stamps with the bell on them.
I'm getting back into the work of makeing my own bread. Normally I use my
food processor to make yeast breads but this is an easy one bowl-one-spoon-no-knead
bread.
Everyday Yeast Bread (Down Home)
**3 C Anybody's brand of dry Buscuit Mix.
**1/2 C Bread flour, if you have it.
** 2 or 3 T Quick rise Yeast...Note: I use the Yeast more for flavor than anything, it is a change from baking powder biscuits and cornbread.
** 1 C Dry milk powder.
**1 C or so of very warm water.
**Personal decision time: You can add any of a wide variety of flavor enhancers at this point. Raisins with fresh Lemon, Orange or Grapefruit Zest and/or Cinnamon, Vanilla make an ok Sweet Bread. Add some nuts if you like.
I use Dill and Caraway seeds with ground Dried Onion to make an herb flavored bread.
So, set the Heating Pad to LOW and toss everything but the water in the bowl and stir to mix.
Add the water and use the spoon to mix until all of the water is absorbed.
Put the dough in the pan.
Put some tap water in the bowl and stick your hand in it to wet it.
Use your wet fist to pound the dough out to fit the pan and smooth the
top.
Place the Pan on the Heating Pad and cover with the Cardboard Box.
Set your Timer for 30 minutes. You don't want the dough to rise to the top. Try for about 1/2 " from the top.
I heat my oven to 400 degrees and bake the bread at 375 for about 30 to 35 minutes.
I use the "Bounce Test" to see if it is done... that is, I hold the pan by the sides and bounce it up and down. If the bread is done it will turn loose from the bottom of the
pan and bounce up when I "Bounce"it.
Then I turn it out on a Rack to cool. It needs to be on a Rack to keep
the crust crisp.
Use your Bread Knife to slice this.
Did I mention I'm really down about the PC Motherboard replacement?
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