Wireless Dilemma

I brought Carolyn's laptop home with me today because I wanted to try out her Verizon Wireless modem at my house to see what kind of connection speed it gets here. I have had so much trouble with my connection through the local electric co-op. I have had to check email via my iphone most days out of the last few weeks and it was almost impossible to get connected or stay connected long enough to handle paperless bill paying.

As luck would have it, I get the most bars (almost the maximum) when I'm sitting in my recliner upstairs. Good news and bad news. When I'm watching television and want to mess around on the internet or type posts, the recliner isn't a bad place to be. My feet are up and I can type in comfort...except for getting used to the laptop keyboard. It's getting a little better, although I just had to back up to correct the extra letters I put in "getting." I suppose I should get with it and at least get a laptop for this type of thing. I don't like the "mouse" touch pad thingy...but I guess that, too, would get more comfortable with more practice. Plus, I could take a laptop with me (if I wanted to) when I'm away from home for more than a few days.

For real bookwork though, I need to be at the desk in my "office", near the files and printer and all that officey paraphernalia. Let's pause here while I try to figure out how to spell that word without having to get up out of the recliner. I know I didn't spell it right, and I didn't even really try because I knew the program would underline it in red and suggest the correct spelling. Well, I just did spell check and apparently that's the way you spell it...who knew? Paraphernalia was the word I was talking about, by the way. It still looks weird to me.

Anyhooo, I need a decent connection at my desk, too and I guess I could accept two bars. It's still bound to be faster than my current wireless. I'm testing the upload speed at the moment by uploading a video I shot while I was in California last week. We were taking a tour of a golf course. It's about 20 MB and would take quite a while to upload and process using my current wireless connection. I've got the timer going and expect the upload to complete in a much shorter time. ***music from Final Jeopardy answer period playing in my head.*** According to the screen here....it's done! In 7 minutes and 34 seconds. Ooooh...Verizon...here I come!!!

You can watch the video if you want...but, other than Andy, Chris, Judy, David & I...I suspect it won't leave you wanting more.

Predictions, Anyone?

I went to the CDC end of year program with the Garners this evening.  The children who "graduated" from kindergarten marched out and lined up in their blue cap and gown ensembles.  After prayers, pledges and songs, they were called out one by one to receive their "diplomas".  I couldn't help but look at them and picture captions above each of them stating what they would accomplish as adults.  Captions as in "Animal House" and the Nerd movies.  Such as: "Became the first in-house gynecologist at the Playboy Mansion".  Or, "Retired from the U.S. Senate and fulfilled his life-long dream of becoming a clown".  Or, "Married his high school sweetheart and moved to South America to raise llamas."

Seriously, I did look at them and wish I could see into the future for them...all those little smiling, happy people.  I hope they have good lives.

Zane was the reason we were there.  The preschoolers' program featured a number of jungle-themed songs.  They were very cute, the songs and the kids.  At dinner after the program Wendy asked Zane if he saw her in the audience.  He said that he hadn't.  But, he said he saw "Cookie and Daddy."  We could tell he was excited to see us in the audience, although it surely couldn't have been a surprise since we all, including Zane, of course, arrived in the same car.

No-Knead Bread...one more time

I was about to leave the kitchen mid-morning when I decided to take a second run at the Speedy No-Knead Bread.  You may remember that I attempted it a week or so ago and it did not turn out satisfactorily.  I thought that I might have used less water than the recipe called for and in addition, that I should have baked it longer.

So, I was very careful with my measurements today...staying focused on the task at hand and not letting my mind go wandering off on it's own.  And yet...it still was a stiffer mix than I had remembered from a year or so ago.  In fact, it appeared to me that I would be able to knead it.  So I did...for about five minutes.  I decided that if the dough wasn't liquid enough to let the gluten molecules align themselves easily, I would help it along with the kneading.  Then I washed, dried and oiled the bowl I had mixed it in and put the dough back in it, turning it once so that it was oiled all over.  I covered it with plastic wrap and then a dishtowel and placed it in the playroom (henceforth maybe I'll call it the "rising room" when I use it for bread making purposes). 

After two hours I checked it and it had risen proudly and was ready for the next step.  I won't go into all that.  I did it the same as the last attempt and it's in that post if anyone is interested.  Half an hour later, I dumped it into the preheated crock pot (the inner removable crock of the electric crock pot), covered it and let it bake in the 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Then I uncovered it and let it bake 15 more minutes, checked it and decided it could go another 10 minutes.  So, in all it baked 40 minutes.

I removed it to a rack and let it cool much longer than I usually do.  I must admit that I haven't set the bar too high in that regard...I usually cut into it after only 5 minutes or so.  This time I left it alone for 30 or 40 minutes.  Talk about self-control!  It was so much better than the last attempt, but that wasn't difficult since the last result was pretty disappointing.

As I was kneading and preparing the dough to rise I considered whether it might be worthwhile to just make bread the way I used to.  But, this way is much quicker to mix and has fewer steps.  I had set it to rise at 11:30 and was eating a slice by about 3 or 3:30.  I'm thinking it would be worth trying to bake it in a regular bread pan...maybe.  What to do, what to do...

What do you think, Cousin J?

Mobile posting....and also Jax

I'm trying mobile blogging. My friend, Carole, boldly went where I had hesitated to go. Mainly because I don't really enjoy typing on the phone. Maybe I just need to practice a bit more with my thumbs. In any case, I can't let her advance too far beyond me.  It hasn't worked perfectly for me yet.  The first attempt resulted in just the picture arriving here.  The second attempt had the text, but no picture.  I have it set to be a draft, though, so I can spell-check and fix it here before it gets published.  That extra step kind of defeats the purpose of being able to post on the go.  I'll work on it.  Or maybe Carole will give me some pointers.

I'm also attaching a pic of Jax. Everyone else was outside so I went to his room to see if he was up from his nap. He was just waking up and after a few minutes of just lying there he suddenly acted like he was going to make a break for it. He's not quite tall enough yet...but he gave it a shot!  He looks scarily (I was expecting spell-check to give me grief about "scarily".  Evidently it is a word.)  close to achieving an escape, doesn't he?  His mom was about two when she made it over the side and broke her collar bone.

Corn-less Cornbread

Well, I did it again!  I forgot to put the cornmeal in the cornbread. 

There I was, being as efficient as all get out...measuring, sifting, mixing...I had the mix ready to put in the oven by the time it was preheated.

When I opened the oven, however, I immediately noticed that it was suspiciously low...not nearly up to the top of the pan as it was supposed to be.  As I put it on the trivet I replayed the ingredients and then realized that I had neglected to add the cornmeal.  Again.

 It's been a year or so since the first time I did that.  Straight out of the oven it's not that bad, actually.  Sort of a sweet doughy bread.  Put a little butter and it can be pretty tasty.  But, I had intended the cornbread to go with our meal that included pinto beans and sausage.  I tried it with the beans and bllphh!

I am going to have to remember to at least get the cornmeal out of the pantry the next time I make the recipe.  Maybe that way I won't forget to add it.  Geez!

Uh-oh...I'm Making Bread!

I have tried to resist doing this. Cousin J (Mommy Hungry blog in the side bar) made a commitment to make all the bread, of all types, that her family needs for 40 days. I've been reading her blog, drooling as I look at the photos, imagining the yummy aroma and taste of homemade bread straight out of the oven.

I used to make homemade bread fairly often. But, back then I could get away with eating it without porking up too much. Not any more. The problem now is that if it's here, I will eat it. With butter, of course. I think the last time I made the bread I started today (which is sooooo easy--but, apparently not foolproof, as you will see), I did share it with Dee.

Cousin J made this bread (the original, long version) and posted about it recently. I got the original recipe in 2006 from an article in the Houston Chronicle. It was in a story by New York Times writer Mark Bittman about Jim Lahey's "No Knead Bread". It takes just a few minutes to mix up and only has 1/4 teaspoon of yeast and much more water than is usual in proportion to recipes that have to be kneaded. Kneading, in traditional recipes, is done to (excuse me if I don't get this exactly right) align the gluten molecules.

The no-knead method's mix is extremely wet (about 42% liquid).  This allows the gluten molecules to move freely in the mix and align themselves. But, the trade-off is that the no-knead process takes much longer...14-20 hours to rise as opposed to kneading, which takes just a few minutes and your bread is usually in the oven in a few hours.

The writer, Mark Bittman, then did some experimenting of his own and came up with a speedy method. He sped it up by adding more yeast. I think that was the only difference. Nope, I just checked. The original recipe had 1/4 tsp. less salt and 1/8 cup more water. Both recipes say to place the bowl in a warm room...70 degrees... to rest. Warm? I would need sweat pants and a hoodie at 70 degrees!

Anyway, the speedy version is the one I started today. The mix seemed a little stiffer than I remembered from the last time I made it. Later, as I was adding water to the rice cooker  (just cooking rice, nothing to do with the bread recipe), I had a sinking feeling that I had used 1 1/4 cups of water instead of the 1 1/2 cups that the bread recipe specifies. That would explain the stiffness. I'm not sure what will happen. I'll let you know. But, at least it didn't take a long time to make. I can tell you that it's been in the "warm" room for an hour now and I haven't detected much of a change. I put the bowl in the play room...substitute "dry sauna" in the summer and "fridge" in the winter. It's not particularly warm out there right now...but, it's warmer than 70 degrees. And it (the room) smells like the pillbugs that are in there.  

I would have dumped it and restarted but I had used the only package of RapidRise yeast I had.

Update:  I had to let it rise about 6 hours instead of 4.  It didn't rise like it should have.  So I probably didn't have the right amount of liquid.  I could have let it bake a little longer.  It baked a total of 30 minutes.  It was okay...but, not nearly as good as what I had made previously.  Next time I'll try to do it right.

Rats! I don't have the recipe saved to the computer...I have to type it in!

Speedy No-Knead Bread

Time: About 1 hour, plus 4 1/2 hours' resting

*3 cups bread flour

*1 (1/4-ounce) packet instant yeast

*1 1/2 teaspoons salt

*Oil as needed

*Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. (I sprayed my plastic wrap with Pam.) Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

*Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.

*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 dough and put it into pot, seam side up. 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.

Two tips and a recipe

I tried a new recipe on Monday...Baked Pasta e Fagioli.  It called for frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry.  This is what I always do when I need to squeeze thawed spinach:

I use a potato ricer, pictured below, in case you're not familiar with this implement. I place a coffee filter in the bottom, put the spinach in and then cover it with a second filter.  Then squeeze the handle down.  You're finished in mere seconds.  And I don't think you will ever get the spinach any drier.  The coffee filters keep the spinach from squeezing into the holes which could then take all the fun out of clean-up.

I put the recipe below. It was easy to half the recipe.  Except I forgot to half the liquid.  I thought it seemed a bit runny, but didn't realize what I had done until it was in the oven.  I also forgot that I was supposed to reserve some of the pasta cooking water, but I just used more of the chicken broth.  Luckily, since it had pasta in it, I was able to just cook it about 15 minutes longer and the extra liquid was absorbed.

I called Carolyn to see if she wanted to come over and try it.  So, she brought Jax and minced it up for him.  He really liked it.  Just laughed and was excited all through the meal.  Carolyn and I weren't that impressed with it...although it was okay. 

This next tip isn't for everyone...but, it can make things go a lot smoother if you need deviled eggs in a hurry.  I found this product several years ago: Hard-cooked peeled eggs.  They are perfectly cooked...no greenish tinge around the yolk.  And they are perfectly peeled...no gouges and cracked.  When I first bought them, you could buy either the pouch with 6 eggs or 9 eggs.  I have only seen the 6 egg pouch lately.  Do check the expiration date.  Once opened, the eggs must be used within 7 days.  Yes, it costs more to buy them than if you were boiling them yourself.  But the extra cost might be worth it since they are perfectly cooked and peeled.  What a time-saver!

Baked Pasta e Fagioli

8 ounces (about 2 cups) mini penne or elbow pasta

28 ounces whole tomatoes in puree  (I used petite diced tomatoes and then smooshed them even more)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cans (15 oz. each) navy or other small white beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth  (I used regular chicken broth...no salt anywhere else in the recipe, for crying out loud!)

freshly ground black pepper

10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and; squeezed dry

1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Heat large covered pot of water to boiling over high heat. Add pasta and cook 2 minutes less than label directs. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot.

Meanwhile, drain tomatoes, reserving puree. Coarsely chop tomatoes.

In 4-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion and celery and cook 9 to 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 1 minute.

Stir in tomatoes with their puree, beans, broth and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; heat to boiling over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium; stir in spinach.

Add bean mixture, reserved pasta cooking water and 1/4 cup Romano to pasta in pot and toss until well mixed. Transfer pasta mixture to 3-quart glass or ceramic baking dish.

Sprinkle with remaining Romano. Bake 15 minutes or until center is hot and top is golden.