When Knitting Was a Manly Art

11/29/06 – Max 2.3C/36.1F — Min -3.4C/25.9F — 0″ new precipitation

Popularity: 20% [?]

Buttermilk Bread – 2lb loaf

1 1/2 – 1 5/8 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Honey
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs butter/margarine
4 cup unbleached bread flour (I substituted 1 cup whole wheat for 1 of the white)
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Start with smaller amount of liquid. If dough appears too dry add additional liquid, 1 Tbs at a time.
I mixed in my old Kitchenaid stand mixer with dough hook. Mix/knead until dough is silky and smooth.
Form into ball and place in an oiled bowl in a warm place for first rising. Rise until dough has doubled (45 minutes to 1 hour).
When doubled, dump out and punch down/knead a couple minutes to remove bubbles and then form into loaf and place in standard bread pan.
Second rise: I wait until loaf has domed above the edge of pan, another 45min-1hour. Preheat oven to 350F and when up to temperature, place loaf on shelf in the bottom 1/3 of oven. Bake 40-45 minutes until crust is nicely brown and you get a good hollow thump then you knock on bottom of loaf. I usually turn the pan front to back about the half way point to ensure even browning/baking.
Turn out on wire rack and cool *at least* 1 hour before slicing — I know it smells good, but you’ll just end making a mess of the loaf if you try to slice it too soon.

Crockpot recipes: Please… If anyone has favorite recipes they’d like to share, I’d love to have them. After *years* of cooking this is my crock pot and I’m learning from cookbooks and it’s trial and error. While I haven’t had any disasters yet, I have done a few that I won’t try again.

Cooking: I’ve discovered cooking blogs. Do you know there’s nearly as many cooking blogs as there are knitting blogs? Well, that’s not really likely, but there’s a lot and some interesting stuff too.

Knitting: Not much. In kind of a slump again, but I’ll dig myself out of it and be on my way again soon.

Weather: Another winter wonderland — at least if you don’t have to drive in it.

Popularity: 53% [?]

11/28/06 – Max 2.6C/36.7F — Min -0.4C/31.3F — 4″ snow on ground

Popularity: 20% [?]

11/27/06 – Max 8.3C/46.9F — Min 1.1C/34.0F — 2″ snow on ground

Popularity: 20% [?]

One of the side benefits(?) of no longer being part of a couple is that I have more free time to do fun things.

I enjoy cooking and with the nursery and my job and keeping up a relationship, there hasn’t been a lot of extra time to cook. Now I’ve got time to try things out again.

I recently picked up my first crock pot and I’m learning to put together recipes for it and today I baked my first loaf of bread in about 5 years. I made up a buttermilk-honey loaf this morning. Not completely happy with the results — dough was a little too dry and the final product a bit dense, but tasty — but the loaf turned out pretty good and I’ve got a number of recipes and experiments I want to try out.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Maybe…

Popularity: 38% [?]

11/25/06 – Max 8.3C/46.9F — Min 2.6C/36.7F — 4mm/0.16″ precipitation

Popularity: 21% [?]

Not surprisingly, I’m feeling a bit blue over this holiday. First time in many years Eileen and I haven’t had Thanksgiving together. I spent the day with my folks, which was nice, but still…

Work continues on the two scarves, though a bit slower. Haven’t touched either today and only about an hours worth yesterday. Still I guess it’s progress.

Capelet received at KnitPicks. Unfortunately, the capelet came out smaller than they expected. It turned out to *not* be my fault and the pattern has been corrected and everyone is satisfied with the results. And I’ve been invited to do it again when I’m ready. Probably after the Christmas holidays.

Working tonight and a Saturday day shift for the first time in months. Evening manager is off on a 4 day holiday and I’m covering her Saturday shift. Sunday off — third day off this week — which will mean a short paycheck.

Popularity: 27% [?]

11/24/06 – Max 7.4C/45.3F — Min 5.0C/41.0F — 37mm/1.46″ precipitation

Popularity: 20% [?]

11/23/06 – Max 7.4C/45.3F — Min 5.0C/41.0F — 24mm/0.94″ precipitation

Popularity: 19% [?]