February 2016
Sunday 2016.2.28
Trump Fever
If you follow the news, you've seen what I've seen: A fever, in more ways than one, gripping our nation. For some, it is a fever of sickness — a dread among conservatives that Donald Trump can't be stopped on his way to the nomination as the Republican candidate for the office of the President. For others it's a popularity fever as his fans line up to show their support for their favorite political celebrity. For still others it's a fever of anger as voters rage against a government that, despite how badly it might make them appear to the dissatisfied electorate, digs its heels in deeper as it continues to stonewall, obstruct, and otherwise oppose the President of the United States.
For me, it's a circus.
I haven't done so much reading since the Bush/Cheney regime, during which I read the following books: Angler, Broken Government, Fiasco, It's Even Worse Than it Looks, The Italian Letter, The Price of Politics, State of Denial, State of War, What Happened, and Your Government Failed You. Since then, I read Confidence Men, Conservatives Without Conscience, Dirty Wars, House of Cards, Panderer to Power, Pay Any Price, The Price of Politics, Showdown, and War, plus many more about other subjects, and several fiction titles too. The books about government help me to feel informed, that I am not limited to the sound bytes broadcast on TV. Meanwhile, I daily read articles from Huffington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico, The Washington Post, and occasionally I'll look at The Daily Beast and Slate. For TV news I watch France 24 (Paris), DW Journal (Berlin), BBC World News Washington, Nightly Business Report, BBC World News London, and if I don't feel saturated, I'll catch the last half of the PBS New Hour. Enough?
Like many Americans, I am concerned about our future. We must look like a nation of fools to the rest of the world. It's no wonder that Vladimir Putin is gaining strength. It doesn't surprise me that China is claiming more and more of the South China Sea. Soon we will no longer be the wealthiest country in the world. How long will we hold onto our position as the most militarily powerful nation? I'm not a pessimist by nature, but I can imagine the future history books about the rise and fall the USA. Donald Trump — as he would have it — will figure prominently.
In the meantime, I enjoy the news. A group of us gathers every other Saturday to discuss the latest reports. Last Saturday the discussion was dominated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and what that might mean for the future of the Supreme Court. The Senate, with Mitch McConnell (R–Ky) at their head, claims it won't even review an Obama nominee to replace Scalia. We know what that means. They're hoping, against all the odds, that they can put a Republican president in the White House, and then another conservative judge in the Court, holding onto a right-wing majority.
In this daily tumult of politics, November if still a long way away. If you believe the pundits, Hillary Clinton will be the next President, the Republicans will lose their control of the Senate, and Scalia will be replaced my a liberal justice. Until then, the Republicans hold tightly to Pandora's box (or jar), keeping the lid firmly in place, because it holds the spirit Elpis — "hope". One in a million is better odds and none in a million. Where there is hope there is life, and the Republican party needs all the hope it can find.
Sausages
You might remember my mentioning a tart tamper last Sunday. I ordered one from Amazon. I had plans to modify it a little so that I could use it as a meat pusher with my new meat grinder / sausage stuffer attachment for my Kitchenaid stand mixer. It arrived, and this I worked on it as planned, sanding down the tamping end just enough to work with my meat grinder. Then I gave it several coats of polyurethane. It's dry, but the coating needs to harden for a few days before I use it.
I could have left it uncoated and seasoned it well with mineral oil, like I do my cutting boards and wooden utensils. However, I wanted something that would look good in a video. I hope to make my first homemade sausages this week.
South Carolina
No surprise there. When I write my next blog we'll probably know who will be the candidates going into November, unless the Republican party elite can find a miracle.
Wednesday 2016.2.24
Senior Moment
I drove down into the city on Monday. I don't do a lot of driving, but I don't lack experience. I have a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder with only 65,000 miles on it, and I bought the car new; so all those miles are mine. So what happened on Monday?
Well, it's a long story and I have plenty of time. A friend of mine might ask me to do a demonstration of the I Ching. Some people think it's an oracle. It's not. And I put about as much faith in it as I do the man in the moon. Actually, the moon is more reliable. But I do know how the I Ching works. Rather than an oracle, it's more a book of wisdom, like the Bible. However, you wouldn't ask the Bible a question and then toss coins to find a book, chapter, and verse number to get an answer. "What should I do about my neighbor's annoying teenager?" Zechariah 14:15. "And this is how the scourge of the horse, the mule, the camel, and the male ass, and every sort of domestic animal that happens to be in those camps, will prove to be, like a scourge." Okay. Right. But I said teenager. Not his ass.
So, if I'm going to show up with my I Ching and give a demonstration, I can't very well pull two quarters and two pennies out of my pocket.
I use the four-coin method rather than three coins because tossing the four coins results in the identical probability of outcomes as the yarrow stalk method. I don't have 50 yarrow stalks. I don't even have one. I do have a bag of wood barbecue skewers, but someone might complain they're not authentic.
I knew where I might find Chinese coins down in the city. Bead stores sell them because they are often used in jewelry. I parked my car, noting the sign that pointed to the stairs leading down to Canon Perdido Street. Great, my car is in the garage on Canon Perdido Street. And I began walking around the city.
One bead shop didn't have the coins. The other shop did, but they were all the same size. They were only $1 each; so I bought four. I thought I could grind down two to make them smaller, if I needed to. Then I went to the Antiques Mall. They have everything, and most of it is junk, but you get lucky sometimes. They had old Chinese coins that were, again, only $1 each. I picked through them and found two different sizes, two of each. Perfect.
Then I walked back to my car — or where I thought I had parked it. The garage on Canon Perdido. Yes. So why isn't it the same garage? I walked around again and again, looking though every garage. None of them looked like the garage I parked in. I remembered it distinctly. There is a little room of parking spaces to one side and it is nearly impossible to find an empty space in there. But I did. It must be my lucky day. So I knew I would remember parking in that little room. But it wasn't there, not in any of the garages I checked.
A few months ago I dreamed I was looking for my car (a Ford Capris in the dream — I never owned a Ford Capris, but I still think they are some of the prettiest cars ever made). As I looked through each parking lot, and didn't find it, I hoped it would be in the next lot. It never was.
Meanwhile, two hours had passed. I was feeling exhausted. I was getting desperate. I even stumbled a couple times because my legs were so tired. Then I saw one of those little buggy carts the city police drive around in as they look for cars parked longer than the free 75 minutes, and write tickets. I flagged him down and told him my problem. After describing the parking garage and telling him I saw the sign pointing to Canon Perdido, he said there are two garages on that street and the one I parked in was on the west side of State Street. I would have sworn — I would have bet money — that I had parked on the east side.
Nonetheless, those parking police know the city garages better than anyone. Although I felt sure I hadn't parked on the west side, I found the garage, the stairs, and the little room to the side. There was my car. It never felt so good to arrive home.
Thinking about it afterward, I had to have known, initially, that I had parked on the west side because when I got out of my car I knew how to navigate on foot to the stores I wanted to check. But, somehow, that memory slipped away, or at least part of it. The only memory that stuck was Canon Perdido.
So that's my senior moment. At my age (nearly 65) I can expect more of them. I should carry a pad and pencil to make clear notes where I park when I drive down into the city again — that is, until I find myself in Las Vegas because I forgot where I was going.
As for the coins, I'm not sure they are authentic Chinese coins from the period — they're brass, not bronze — but they look really old. It took about an hour with polish and a rag to get a shine on them again. They don't sparkle like new, but the markings are now clear enough to distinguish one side from the other. And after rehearsing with them a little, I'm confident they'll look good in a demonstration, if I'm called upon to give one.
Sunday 2016.2.21
White Trash Cooking?
A friend called me yesterday. She was looking through some old cookbooks, searching for a recipe, and she came across Baked Bologna Jubilee in an old Family Circle Magazine cookbook. As she described it to me — a loaf of bologna cut in half the long way, cross-hatched with a knife and studded with whole cloves, then baked with chopped fresh fruit and juices — we enjoyed a good laugh. You can find almost anything on the Internet; so I searched for a picture and recipe. Not that I wanted it. I was curious. Sure enough, I found one and the author, rightly so, was listed as "anonymous." I would be too.
The cookbook was copyrighted in the early 1990's, but my friend thought the recipe might have originally come out of the 1970's.
Will I make it for a video? No blanking way! When I cook for a video, I either give the food to my neighbors or freeze it for serving to my friends later. Who would I give Baked Bologna Jubilee to? I don't know any dogs.
Now, to be honest, I did grow up with bologna. If you're not familiar with it, it's like a huge hot dog. The meat is ground very fine, seasoned, and packed in a tube. I was a boomer baby. My father served in the U.S. Army during World War II, came home after the war, and like many soldiers, he married and started a family. Canned foods were very popular in our home, as was margarine and some "convenience" meats like bologna. Thankfully, Mom never bought Spam.
One of my childhood memories is of our family driving home after visiting my grandparents in Massachusetts. It was evening, getting dark, and I remember my father saying he felt like making some fried bologna sandwiches when we got home. I remember those. Slices of bologna fried in a skillet, then put between two slices of white bread. Yum. Gourmet. I remember enjoying that sandwich. But in adult life I never felt any inclination to revisit that fond memory. I won't be making those for a video either.
On a similar note, I still plan to do homemade sausages. The one delay is that I don't like the cheap plastic meat pusher that came with my grinder attachment. It seems odd that a beautifully made all stainless steel meat grinder of that excellent quality would ship with the cheapest pusher I've ever seen. I think it will look bad in the video; so I ordered something called a "tart tamper." It's made of wood.
The problem will be that the pusher end will be a little too wide for my grinder. However, I can sand that down to make it fit. I bought one of these many years ago and sanded down the tamper end to make a pestle for my mortar. I even stained and varnished the handle.
I used it when making pesto, until it caused my carpal tunnel syndrome to flare up. You need to crush the basil, not chop it, to release the flavorful juice into the pesto. Now I put the basil leaves in a sturdy plastic bag and crush them with something called a WhackerSpoon. See my recipe for making four kinds of pesto and watch the video.
The pestle would actually work, sort of, with the meat grinder. However, the pushing end is too narrow. I want one that would fit better.
Wednesday 2016.2.17
Nightmare
Not mine. The Republican party's. Atonin Scalia's unexpected death on Saturday handed the Republican party a horrific nightmare. If they approve a liberal appointee nominated by Obama, their base will hate them, costing some of them their Senate seat in the November elections. If they reject Obama's nominee, or even if they delay, delay, delay, they risk angering the electorate even more, possibly losing their Senate majority in 2017.
Most of the intelligent party elite agree — though few admit it — that there will be a Democratic president in the White House next year. Many argue otherwise, hoping against the odds, that they are right. But seriously, how many realistically expect to see any of the Republican candidates win the presidential election in November?
So, that said, the best the GOP can do between now and then is minimize the damage, keep their base pacified, and hope to hold a majority in the Senate. Even without all the controversy of Scalia's replacement, that majority was at risk. However, let's be honest. Scalia handed the Democrats a fist full of new campaign points they might use to win the election.
Where do I stand? I like to tell people here that I enjoy watching the lion tamer in the circus, but I don't want to go into the cage. I stay out of it. For me, politics is a spectator sport. There are those who like to participate. Without them, there wouldn't be much action on the field. I prefer to stand clear of the fray and watch events unfold from the sidelines. Irresponsible? No, not really. The responsible course is to protect your own sanity first. Without that sanity, you can't do much good anywhere.
I'll take flack for my attitude. I've taken it before. "Stick to what you know — cooking." I respect a different point of view, but I refuse to let it change my mind without some verifiable evidence. I've changed my mind before. Usually, however, it happens as I read many of the news articles and Op-Ed pages available from the news outlets on the internet and TV. I read the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Yorker, Politico, the Daily Beast, L.A. Times, Huffington Post, Slate, among others. I obviously don't read every article; I wouldn't have time to cook. I watch France 24, DW Journal, and two BBC World News programs on TV. I get my facts. So, I know more than just cooking.
The Republican party elite might be thinking that low odds are better than no odds. When I was in college, I liked statistics. I needed one course for graduation. I completed three — two lower-division and one upper-division. Stats is a way of understanding and making sense of data. If the GOP does nothing about the empty seat on the Supreme Court, there remains a probability, albeit a very small one, of winning the White House in November. It might take something like Satan rising up out of the bowels of the earth and declaring Hillary Clinton as his chosen one to be the anti-Christ, and maybe the party elite has something like that planned, but in the current political climate — especially after the latest Republican candidate debate — the odds are in favor of the Democrats. That's stats for you. I also follow two statistical analysis web sites, PredictWise.com and FiveThirtyEight.com.
Reality Check
This really is February, Dennis. Keep saying it to yourself. You need convincing. The temperature outside yesterday climbed to over 90°F.
The Grind, Take 2
The meat grinder / sausage stuffer attachment for my Kitchenaid stand mixer arrived yesterday. It's beautiful. Shiny stainless steel. This is how attachments sould be made for the Kitchenaid, not with white plastic.
Next, sausages. I will probably attempt them for the first time next week. They aren't easy to make, I'll admit. Grind the meat and season it, then refrigerate overnight. Meanwhile, soak and rinse the casings. Stuff the sausages and refrigerate them overnight. Finally, on the third day, they can be cooked and enjoyed. I'm excited.
Less Dusting
I am impressed with strokes of genius, especially when the flash of brilliance is one of my own. This week I changed my computer's dust filters again. They are doing an excellent job keeping dust out of my computers.
When I built my former computers eight years ago I tried to fabricate a filter system that would keep out the dust. I failed. The filter materia I used, cut from an air conditioning filter, did not allow enough air flow to keep things cool. I abandoned the idea and instead cleaned out my computers periodically.
This time, the thought of using Swiffer brand dusting cloths as filters came to mind. Why not? They capture dust and when I tested them they restricted air flow very little. They work perfectly. It has only been a few months, but when I shine a flashlight inside my computers, I see almost no dust inside. The odd speck of dust is going to find its way into my computers anyway, if determined enough. However, compared to what my computers would look like without filters — especially considering that this is the third set of filters — they are doing their job admirably.
Sunday 2016.2.14
Happy Valentines Day
Make this week's feature recipe for your honey. It isn't difficult, but the look is magnificent, like you've been cooking all day. The recipe is Chicken Breasts Saltimbocca.
YouTube Trouble
This morning I tried several times to upload the video for the recipe mentioned above. YouTube reported all kinds of problems. I searched YouTube help videos, forums, and the Internet in general. Nothing. I gave up. And then…I thought about FireFox, the browser I use. I opened Microsoft Edge, the browser that ships with Windows 10, and tried again. No problems.
Where Did Our El Niño Go?
Southern Californians were bracing themselves for heavy rains, floods, and mudslides — up until about a week ago. Warm sunny weather broke temperature records throughout the Southland this past week. Temperatures where I live climbed well into the mid to upper 80s. So what happened to the Godzilla El Niño we were all expecting?
The weather folks are saying it has something to do with temperatures in the Western Pacific, which didn't develop the way they usually do when there is a strong El Niño event accompanied by heavy rains. The result was very few weather patterns pushing warm tropical moisture into Southern California. Although the Eastern Pacific ocean at the equator still shows warmer than normal surface waters, without the Western temperatures we can pretty well write off this El Niño as a drought buster.
Now what? The last time we suffered through an extreme drought the local voters approved a plan to build a desalination plant at a cost of several million dollars. It was built and was ready to come on line when "miracle rains" drenched the area and filled our reservoir. The county tried to sell the plant equipment. Odd that they never asked the voters about that. When no buyer came forward, the equipment was mothballed. To bring the plant back on line would again require millions of dollars. I say let's do it, and keep it on line this time.
Climate change is a fact of life, no matter what the Conservatives think about it. I know they don't like to be confused with science, but our reservoir at below 15% capacity and that is not science. It's fact. Climate change is here to stay, at least for a long time. It might be the reason why this El Niño — and perhaps most future El Niño events — will be rainfall duds. We can't live without water. So, yes, water from the ocean will be a lot more expensive. But which is better? Expensive water or no water?
I did my part. I tore out all my lawn and replaced it with sandstone and drought-tolerant Dymondia ground cover. It looks beautiful, requires no mowing, and uses very little of our precious water. I have a water-saving device on my shower and my sink faucets. I even have a bypass valve on my reverse osmosis water filtration system so that I can capture the waste water and toss it on the plants. My water bill this past month was only $19.14. So I don't want to be restricted to flushing my toilet only once or twice per day (I've seen this imposed in past drought crises here in California) or told to shower every other day.
Under Pressure
I got to play with my pressure cooker again on Friday. I've been experimenting with protein sources and I've had a jar of mixed dry beans in the cupboard for a long time, maybe too long. I decided it was time to cook those and portion them for my Minute Meals. The advantage of a pressure cooker is that you don't need to soak the beans for several hours and they cook quickly, 20 to 30 minutes, rather than the usual two hours.
I did something different this time. Rather than putting the beans and water in the pot, I cooked them in a vessel within the pot — in a stainless steel bowl on a rack to hold it above the bottom. I put water in the bowl, enough to more than cover the beans, and water in the bottom of the cooker. Then I brought the pot to full pressure and cooked the beans for 30 minutes. I let the pressure normalize naturally, which took about 20 minutes.
The results were good. The beans were tender and the flavor was good. I portioned them into 3 ounce packets and then put them up for freezing (after they had cooled quite a while). The next time I do beans I want to do one kind of bean, like great Northerns, rather than a mix. I want to experiment with the flavor to see which variety of beans I like best.
The Grind
I finally ordered a meat grinder/sausage stuffer attachment for my Kitchenaid. I'd show you a picture, but the photo on Amazon is awful.
It took me a while to decide because the ones I saw were either plastic (the model sold by Kitchenaid) or they were made in China. I don't want my food to come into contact with something that might be made with dubious chemical methods. The one I ultimately chose is all stainless steel and made here in the USA. It was expensive, but you get what you pay for. Buy cheap, buy twice. I also ordered some hog casings.
My first attempt will be Italian sausages. I love those. I have a recipe that looks like it might be good. And, of course, I'll video my attempt.
And, Finally, the Weather
It hardly seems fair to talk about the temperatures here in SoCal this week when last night's temperatures in the Northeast were dangerously cold. Where I grew up in Mystic, Connecticut the nighttime temperature was predicted to dip down to –4°F. Minus four! At 10:00 this morning here it was already 87° outside. I'm just sayin'.
Wednesday 2016.2.10
What Happened to Winter?
This week is the reason why I moved from New England to Southern California in 1975. Although it happens only once or twice each winter, this week has been absolutely summer. Yesterday was the warmest, with temperatures nearly 90°F and humidity down in the teens. Today is expected to be warm again and, indeed, at 10:30 this morning it was already 84°F outside my home. In some areas of SoCal records were broken. Of course, this does nothing to help our drought situation, which has remained almost unchanged. The reservoir is still below 15% capacity and our rainfall-to-date so far continues to remain below normal. I do love the warm sunny weather though. It won't last. By the weekend we should be back to normal.
More About My New Computers
I'm still discovering things I like about these new computers. I've been reading a book about Windows 10 and the author recommends not powering down the computer at the end of the day. Instead, put it in "sleep" mode. He suggests leaving programs open. They'll all still be open the next time you wake the computer.
I use a lot of applications and if I left them all open on my old computers, even though they had the maximum RAM (4 gigs), they would slow down the performance. These new computers have 16 times the memory. It seems like nothing slows them down. And Sunday was no exception.
I had previously encoded several videos incorrectly. To fix them would have taken hours on my old computers. Even with several applications open and running, the time it took to encode those videos averaged about 12 minutes per video.
More About My Old Computers
I kept one of my old computers. It still runs XP and it is painfully slow. However, it works and there are occasions when I need to use it again.
I like to put all my videos onto DVDs. The body of my work, more than 200 videos, are in a library of 46 DVDs. I print a nice jacket for each, with the name of the videos. Most DVDs have six shows on them with a menu system. They work like a normal DVD and they can be useful when a visitor is in my home and wants to know how I prepare something. Showing them is better than trying to explain. And if they want to borrow a disk, that's okay too.
On Sunday I wanted to compile my more recent videos to DVDs using a program that I've had for many years. It doesn't work in Windows 10. Each time I try to use it I have to enter the registration code again. Then it tells me to close the progran and start it again to use the fully unlocked version. When I do that, it again asks for the registration code, even though the code is an authentic one. The clue to the problem is the little dialog box that asks for the code. It says something like "XP Validation." So I used my old computer to build the DVDs.
I eventually found a fix — a newer version that requires no validation code.
Cooking
I've been waiting for the weather to cool again. There is a recipe I want to try from a restaurant trade journal. If you're not familiar with those, trade journals are magazines that only go to business. You don't see them on the magazine rack at the grocery store.
The recipe is for White Bolognese Pasta. There are two reasons I want to try it. It uses chicken livers, which I like (see my recipe for Dirty Rice). And it uses pappardelle pasta, which are large flat noodles, second in size to lasagna. I love making my own pasta in a video, and pappardelle is my favorite.
And, Finally, New Hampshire
Yesterday's primary results didn't surprise me. Clinton knew she was in Sanders' territory. His state, Vermont, is next door. Everyone expected him to do well. That she came in third behind Trump in total number of votes is distressing to some. South Carolina will be more revealing. She does better with minorities. As for Trump, that was a little surprising. Had Rubio shined in the debate Saturday evening, he might have done well, like Cruz did in Iowa. His dismal performance in Saturday's debate, however, tanked him, and he admitted it. He needs to memorize more 25-second speeches.
It is difficult to explain what is going on in America right now. Is it a voter revolt? It feels that way. After eight years under the Bush/Cheney regime, everyone had high hopes for Obama when they elected him in 2008 and again in 2012. He accomplished a lot, but he and the Democrats fell short of expectations. The GOP — the Grand Obstructionist Party — hasn't performed well either. The voters want something different — very different. Autumn just might be the Donald and Bernie show.
Sunday 2016.2.7
About That Bread…
On Wednesday I blogged about my plans to make a loaf of Jewish Rye Bread, per a request from a fan of the web site. Everything went according to plan.
The sour pickle juice did not spoil the flavor at all. Combined with the flavor of the caraway seeds, the two made the bread taste delicious. I was invited to dinner that evening; so I brought the loaf with me to get the opinions of the others at the table. They said they liked it, but the real test was to see how much bread remained on the table at the end of the meal. They ate all the bread. Okay. I'm satisfied.
Although the original recipe said to bake the loaf in a 9x5-inch bread pan, the recipe seemed more appropriate for a round or oval loaf on a baking sheet. I chose oval and I'm glad I made this choice. The finished loaf, as I hope you can appreciate from the photo on the recipe page, was beautiful to look at. Good homemade artisan bread is a delight.
Do I Lack Patience?
Yes, sometimes. A question came in. How many cups is the 2 pounds of flour I used in a bread recipe? How do I explain this? It depends on how you use your measuring cup. If you sift flour into a cup and then scrape off the excess with a knife, 7 cups will be about 2 pounds of flour. If you spoon flour into a cup, 2 pounds would be slightly less than 6½ cups. If you plunge a measuring cup into a flour container and scoop out flour, slightly more than 5¾ cups would be 2 pounds.
Julia Child demonstrated this effectively in one of her French Chef TV shows. But even she struggled with how to measure flour for bread early in her TV career. In the episode titled "French Bread" she scoops cups of flour from a container, scraping off the excess with a knife, and says, "Three and a half cups is about 1 pound." When I first saw the episode I thought, "This should be interesting." 3½ cups scooped is more than 19 ounces, not 16.
Sure enough, as she tried to combine the flour, water, salt, and yeast, you can see that the ingredients are not going to come together to form a moist dough. She says, "You'll be surprised this is an amazingly soft dough." Uh-oh. She evidently realizes the problem. She doesn't combine all the ingredients. She pulls out the dough that has formed, leaving a lot of flour in the bowl, which she hides in the sink. She even removes more of the flour from her kneading table. Then she pulls out a ball of dough she made earlier. She finally admits about the first attempt, "I must have done the measurements too fast. It's a little too stiff for proper French bread."
Some consider it a sacrilege to say anything negative about Julia Child. However, she was as lovingly human as the rest of us and I love watching her shows. I have many of them on DVD and I've seen them all several times. The beauty of these TV shows, which she did live, was that she could recognize a problem, correct it immediately, and remain unruffled by it. She was a true professional.
And speaking of Julia Child, when she kneaded dough in her videos she often did it on a piece of stone. It was cooler and that somehow helped the process. If you look at the picture above, you'll see the cutting board on a piece of granite. That is the second one I purchased at a Resale store close to where I live. They recycle building materials. One experiment I'd like to do some day is to leave the stone outside overnight, let it really cool down, and then use it when making bread or pastry dough.
My many attempts at making bread down through the years failed miserably. The loaves were as dense and hard as a New York bagel. I didn't understand until I saw Julia Child demonstrate how to measure flour by weight. That was my ah-hah moment.
Getting back to that question about the flour — I didn't answer. A few biting remarks went through my mind, such as, "If you need to ask, you shouldn't be making bread." However, we are all beginners at some point in our life. But I left the question unanswered because I couldn't formulate an answer that seemed simple enough for a beginner to understand. As Julia Child said in that "French Bread" episode, "Don't try experiments until you get used to making bread."
A good recipe will help, but experience matters. When I made the bread pictured above, I stopped after about 8 minutes of kneading in the machine and examined the dough. I now know what the dough should look like in the bowl. It should stick in the bottom but pull away from the sides of the bowl as the dough hook kneads it. Sometimes I need to add a little more flour (which I did this time) and sometimes more water. There are several variables that affect the preparation of the dough — the kind of flour, warmth and humidity in the kitchen, any moisture that might already be in the flour, etc. Therefore, it can be difficult to be accurate when giving instructions.
I'm not as strict as one of my baking textbooks. In that book the directions say to weigh not only the flour, but weigh the water too. The recipes list the important ingredients by weight. This is because professional bakers often need to multiply a recipe for a commercial kitchen. A recipe for 2 loaves of bread might be enlarged to make 30 loaves. Pounds multiply easier than cups.
Wednesday 2016.2.3
First, the Weather
Sunday's anticipated storm moved through the area too quickly to do our drought situation any good. According to the online rainfall summary, almost all reporting stations recorded less than half an inch. Where I live, 1/3 inch was reported. As for the reservoir, the capacity remains unchanged (14.8%). There was a small improvement in stored water during January. However, if January's increase were to remain constant indefinitely, it would take 42 years to fill the lake.
February and March are supposed to be the months of heaviest rain during an El Niño event. We are all hoping. This week, the weather is pleasant — sunny and warm. The mood around here is that this El Niño, like the last one, will fizzle, at least for Southern California. Then what? Deeper cuts in water use? If the situation doesn't improve by the end of April, I can imagine a lot of golf courses turning brown during the summer.
Now, the Caucuses
Monday was an entertaining and interesting evening for watching television. I watched the Iowa results on MSNBC. If you did also, you no doubt caught that amusing moment of cinéma vérité when a vet claimed, live, on TV, that the Veterans Administration was "f**cked up." It isn't often you hear the f-word on TV during prime time. MSNBC, naturally, apologized profusely.
The results didn't surprise me. Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has been saying for months that Ted Cruz would be the Republican candidate, even back when it seemed highly unlikely. There is no question of Donald Trump being a showman. He's an entertaining celebrity. People like him. I do. But when it comes time to push that button in the voting booth, I think people can't help imagining what it would be like having him as President of the United States — and then they push the other button.
According to this morning's Washington Post, Trump's gracious mood in his concession speech on Monday evening has changed. The Post is reporting he now claims Cruz stole the vote illegally and Trump wants a new caucus in Iowa. That's what I mean about people taking a moment to reflect on the future of the presidency before they push that button in the voting booth.
As for the Hillary/Bernie thing, that was a bit of a surprise. A lot of people like Sanders and, unlike Trump, he has experience in Washington. He might be too bombastic, too revolutionary, even too old to be President, but the voters don't feel any great affection for Clinton either. If ever there was a year for voting for the least of the evils, this year seems like one.
I can't say anyone gives me any hope. My biggest concern is that the candidates, on both sides of the divide, remain on a war footing, claiming they'll "defeat" the other side. I believe that is one reason why people in this nation are frustrated and angry with their government. Rather than legislating, they fight and obstruct. We want to see them do their job, not play war.
Plastic
A study published this week by UCLA found that the safe alternative to BPA (bisphenol A) in plastics might not be any safer after all. BPA was used to strengthen plastic and its use was discontinued in the manufacture of many plastic products, especially those used for food, after it was found to be potentially harmful to humans. Now they use BPS (bisphenol S). However, it is suspect as well.
Supposedly it leeches from the plastic into foods, especially when heating in the plastic. I've heard complaints about my Minute Meals using plastic for food storage and heating. The complaints always amaze me. You'd think those people would be bright enough to transfer the frozen foods to a glass dish before heating them in the microwave. Evidently, not everyone.
And Now a Little Baking
A request came in — Jewish Rye Bread. I started researching recipes. There is one I like the most, and it has me wondering. It uses a small amount of "sour pickle juice." If you look it up on the Internet you'll find some interesting information. Some athletes drink it to reduce muscle cramps. It has something to do with the electrolytes in the juice.
Several web sites recommend not pouring the juice down the drain before recycling the jar. They say the juice has many uses for adding a little flavor to foods, such as in potato salad. I'll keep those ideas in mind. When I see a recipe that uses water, which contributes nothing to the taste, I often wonder what I might substitute to add more flavor.
As for the recipe, one thing I really like about it is the inclusion of the internal temperature of the bread when baked. It should reach a temperature of about 190°F (90°C). I rarely find a recipe that uses temperature.
As for the pickle juice, I can't imagine what that might do for the flavor. There's only one way to find out. I did all the shopping yesterday. The plan is to make the bread today. It should be an interesting video.