Sourdough

Instead of working on scrapbooks like I had planned... I enjoyed a quick, last minute vacation this weekend.


Then I came home and made some fresh Sourdough bread.



I don't think I could ever buy it from the store anymore... so tasty!

Acid Free

I'm a sucker for old family photos. I pretty much take an album with each visit to my parents' house, mostly because I want to transfer the photos to acid free albums, but also because I love getting lost in them. It's not even the photos that I'm in either, it's the photos of my parents as kids my age. Fashion in the 60's and 70's is my particular favorite, but it's just so cool to see my parents as young, hip, well-dressed youngsters. This weekend, I'm going to dedicate my time to finding the perfect photo album to transfer old photos to.



I have this wall in my living room, and I've been thinking about expanding it to the kitchen.. but I'm still not sure.

Feeling Festive

I've been getting really into the holidays this year. I have 2 Christmas trees already and I can't honestly say that I won't buy another one.



Today I stumbled into Target to purchase my Tord Boontje garland..



I've been super busy today. Yesterday, I sold all 20 of the record boxes I had, and tomorrow I have an appointment at the Gallery Revisted , in Silverlake, where I'll be selling more. Thankfully, there are lots of thrift stores with good records all around town, so I stocked up and have started making more boxes.

For the Record

Today I am taking my record boxes to Reform School. I'm a little sad that I'll never get to see them again. It's always hard to part with my arts and crafts, but then again, it's hard to pay rent too, so it works out.

Here are a few of my favorites:







more on my flickr.

No-Knead Bread

I had to try it, the reviews were too good and plenty. The recipe was super easy, the bread was good. Crunchy outside, soft inside, everything you'd want from a bread. Next time, I think I'm going to experiment with Sourdough starter.


My dough.


Fresh from the oven.


The inside.

No-Knead Bread
Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at New York Times

Yields one 1 1/2 pound loaf

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

My first Thanksgiving

I think I'm mostly rebelling against my family for never letting me cook. They were sure I would burn things (which I did usually), but this year I decided to make my own pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Though it may look kinda funny, the turkey was actually really tasty!



My first Turkey
INGREDIENTS
1 (13.25 pound) whole turkey
6 tablespoons butter, divided
3.5 cups warm water
2.5 tablespoons chicken bouillon
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons dried minced onion, and the remainder of the onion whole
2 tablespoons seasoning salt
2 tablespoons flour

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Rinse and wash turkey. Discard the giblets, or add to pan if they are anyone's favorites.
Place turkey in a Dutch oven or roasting pan. Separate the skin over the breast to make little pockets. Put 3 tablespoons of the butter on both sides between the skin and breast meat. This makes for very juicy breast meat.
In a medium bowl, combine the water with the bouillon. Sprinkle in the parsley and minced onion. Pour over the top of the turkey and place remainder of the onion inside turkey. Sprinkle seasoning salt over the turkey.
Sprinkle the inside of a turkey bag with the flour and make sure it coats the bag.
Place turkey in bag and into the pan.
Pour broth into bag and seal. Make sure to make slits in the bag as directed on box.
Bake in the preheated oven 3 1/2 to 4 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). For the last 45 minutes or so, remove the foil so the turkey will brown nicely.

I went for all the fixin's I could...



Turkey, Candied yams, Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Cranberry Sauce, Corn Bread, Green Bean Cassrole, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and stuffing. The pie was served A La Mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Good times were had by all!

You spin me right round

4 hours, 1 sliced finger and a diet coke later, I managed to get a good start on my record boxes.



I have 14 almost ready to go and an order for 12 of them with a deadline of Nov. 18. I went into the month of November knowing I need to be an anal organized freak.

-First, we have Christmas... every year I wait until the last second and end up giving dumb gifts. My goal is to get 80% of my shopping done by Thanksgiving.. and so far, I've done about 40%, an acheivment I'm proud of.
-I'm doing a Craft fair in December, Bazaar Bizarre
-Showing a piece in a group photography show at One Leaf Gallery
-And on top of it all, I'm trying to meet the deadlines to consignment orders all around town

I feel good about all the work I've been getting done. I've placed myeslf in a whirlwind of activity and it feels nice. I've been feeling very festive latley. This weekend, I'm going to concintrate on Thanksgiving recipes and phase 1 of Christmas decorations.