The fourth of ten children, I guess that makes me fourth in line.
There are many stories to tell, lots of pictures to show, and much love to be shared.
It had been stressful at work so I decided it was time to start another puzzle.
Whenever we are working on puzzles, I try to log off early so that I can get some pieces connected.
We started the puzzle after dinner on the 25th. That was a Saturday.
We managed to complete the edges and the phone booth before 11PM. That left us with a whole lot of grey pieces.
We worked on Big Ben, the other buildings and structures on Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, all that was left were several shades of grey.
RD did most of the clouds. MyGirl came a close second in terms of connecting pieces.
My contribution was mainly "ooh's" and "aah's" as the puzzle continued to take shape. Apparently the "work on a puzzle to log off early" trick did not work this time.
Unlike our other puzzles that would get disassembled or packed away, I wanted to frame Big Ben. We took down the other puzzle and set up yet another clock on the wall.
Last year, as I walked around the block, the nearby day care was handing out cookies to people passing by. I was hoping that there would be cookies this year as well. However with the lockdown situation here in Sydney, I should not have been surprised when there were no cookies begin handed out this year.
All I encountered during my walk were these words of encouragement.
I think it was our neighbour was the one that was trying to brighten up people's day because I noticed their driveway looking like this on my way home today.
My friend GeeZee gave me some sourdough starter in 2018. I was making decent batches of bread and managed to keep the starter alive for almost two years until I accidentally knocked over the container in the fridge. The whole batch spilled and by the time I discovered what happened, the starter had solidified. I was told I could have still revived the starter but by then I had already thrown the starter bits in the bin. Besides, I don't think I would have wanted to bake bread with fridge germs. Fortunately, when I mentioned my starter's demise to GeeZee last year before the lockdown, she offered to give me a fresh batch.
I wanted to try a new sourdough bread recipe I had chanced upon on YouTube. I had written out the recipe on a notebook last weekend and I asked MyGirl to mix up the initial batch of dough while I was getting some grocery on Saturday. When I got back, she said that the dough seemed a bit dry so she had added some water to the recipe. I told her not to worry and that I was sure it would turn out fine.
The next part of the breadmaking process was mostly waiting for the dough to double in size. (In other words, MyGirl had done most of the hard work.) I found the dough easy to handle. When I got to the baking part of the bread on Sunday, I was happy to see that the oven spring was pretty good.
The bread was pretty good although we could definitely tell that there was salt in the recipe. In fact, I had specifically bought non-iodized salt which The Ultimate Food Geek shared as one of the tips in his sourdough bread video. The texture and the smell of the newly baked loaf reminded me of the sourdough bread that Father used to bring home when we were younger.
I had compared the usual recipe I used with this new one. The basic ingredient amounts were not significantly different so perhaps the secret of a great sourdough loaf is the use of non-iodized salt.
Sunday 29 Aug 2021.
Thursday 02 Sep 2021
Ingredients:
4 oz (113 g) starter
12 oz (340 g) filtered water; not warm
1 lb 4 oz (567 g) flour; if using 8 oz whole wheat flour, add 10oz water
3/4 oz (21 g) salt; not iodized
Combine starter and water in a big bowl
Add flour and salt and mix until all moist
Cover and let rise until double in size (12 - 24 hours)
Turn out dough on lightly floured surface (do not punch down)
Shape the loaf by using lightly floured hands and tucking the edges of the loaf underneath the loaf to get a smooth surface.
Generously flour the surface of the dough.
Cover and let rise until double in size (2 - 4 hours).
a) If using loaf pan, form into loaf and let dough rise in oiled loaf pan.
Then bake 40 minutes in preheated 500F oven.
b) If using dutch oven, let dough rise in separate bowl covered with heavily floured cloth.
Place dutch oven inside oven then preheat oven to 500F.
Carefully place dough inside the dutch oven then score top.
Reduce oven temperature to 425F. Cover dutch oven and bake for 30 minutes.
The mother of three wonderful angels. The other half of God's chosen one for me. The child of two extraordinary people. The sister of my closest allies. The friend to many in this journey we call life.
