A Most Excellent Loaf

I have been on a bread making binge lately. Buns, regular white bread, self-ground whole wheat bread and most recently, this no-knead bread recipe. It is SUPER easy to make. I made four changes to the recipe though: 1. I use 1.5 cups of water; 2. I don't use a towel under the bread, but piece of wax paper with a tiny bit of Pam sprayed on it and then cover the Pam with some flour (I was having trouble with dough sticking to the towel); 3. I don't bake it for an additional 15-30 minutes with the lid off, but about 10 and 4. I put the pan on a heavy cookie sheet to help moderate the bottom temperature. Also, the bread is better if you let it rise more toward 18 hours rather than 12. I cooked mine in a Le Creuset 3.5 quart risotto pan (looks like a wider, shallower dutch oven) and it worked perfectly.

I am known for many things and cooking isn't one of them. But I do think the loaf above does look yummy.

Did They Forget They Could Fly?

Thanks C for the link!

Kelly Clarkson Concert

I took B, Astronerd and Astronerd's friend to a Kelly Clarkson concert. The line to get in was I would estimate a half-mile long. I thought I would be hard pressed to recognize any of her songs when in fact, I was familiar with many of them. It started raining at the beginning of her performance and I took these pictures of the rainbows behind the stage.

Unwanted Laundry Aide

I hate folding laundry and always appreciate any help I can get in folding clothes. But when the above critter showed up in my clean laundry yesterday, I felt more comfortable folding clothes without its help. Besides, its limbs are too short to help me fold sheets.

I have no idea what type of bug this is, but it is cool looking with its rough, sandy colored flat shell. I just don't like it in my clothes basket. It did have the sense to hang around in the clean clothes rather than the dirty ones.

I took its picture to a meeting I attended, hoping someone could ID the bug. One person said it looks like what he calls a type of June bug. Another said he had no idea what it is, but he bet they don't travel alone (yikes!). So its picture is being sent to an entomologist for identification.

Sittin' Susan

See the bird in the picture? That is Susan, a nesting robin that has taken up residence in one of our trees. Astronerd first noticed Susan and thus named her. I understand a baby shower is in the works.

We have two apple trees and each is beloved to FHA. Every spring he carefully prunes the branches and faithfully sprays the trees through the summer. In the fall, we always get lots of yummy red and golden delicious apples and FHA starts cranking out the apple crisp. I am getting hungry just typing this.

Susan presents a problem. The problem is Susan is sitting in the middle of our golden delicious tree, much to FHA's dismay. If you look carefully, she has almost incorporated an apple into her nest. Eviction was out of the question, according to Astronerd. FHA agreed to let Susan stay through this clutch of babies. He is carefully spraying (far away from Susan-it is a wide tree) so we will get some worm-free apples.

Astronerd is excited to see the baby birds, but I am pretty sure she isn't any more excited than FHA. Different reasons, of course.

Watching Out For The Wolf (and this Little Red)

Today I am heading out for the Bonneville Cycling Club's Little Red Riding Hood ride. Me and 2599 other women will be pedaling through Cache Valley tomorrow. Should be lots of fun and I hope it doesn't hail on we riders like it did last year. While I am glad I always wear a helmet while riding, I was really glad to be wearing one when it hailed. Nothing like the "tat tat tat" of the hailstones on one's head.

The picture above is the Little Red Riding Hood that usually shows up for the event. I wonder if she has shaved her beard this year.

Heber Valley Ride

My friend, E, invited me to ride the bike course she will be taking when she competes in the Battle At Midway triathlon on the 13th. I have always wanted to ride around Heber Valley and E is good company, so I took her up on it. We decided to start at Soldier Hollow, site of some of the 2002 Winter Olympic events. As we drove up the hill to the lodge, E said how nice it will be "warm up" going downhill. All I could think about is how I was going to have to go back up the hill on the return trip. Remember, what goes down, must go up.

We rode for 20 miles and had a fun time. We accidentally ended up in downtown Heber-but don't blame our navigational skills, but blame the missing street sign. My favorite part was the hilliest part of the ride. Not because it was hilly, but it took us to the base of the mountains. I saw some feeding deer and lots of birds. I also like riding through the country, looking at the feeding horses, cows and sheep. Drivers were courteous, traffic was light and dogs were leashed. That makes for a very good ride.

By the way, I did suffer going back up to Soldier Hollow, but not nearly as badly as I thought I would.