It's Madness I Tell You... More Artisan Bread in 5

Light Wheat Boule, Olive Oil Loaf with Parmesan Cheese, Deli Rye with Caraway & Poppy Seeds
Due to last month's shock-and-awe gas bill, I wanted to try making better use of the oven and baked these three loaves at the same time. Sadly, the two of us weren't able to consume them quick enough, but boy did we give it our best shot. One thing about the ABin5 method is, it's about having your bread on a daily basis. The loaves will not really keep for more than two days after baking. Old bread can be refreshed by placing it in a dampened paper bag and set in a hot oven for a few minutes. But it's probably better to bake only what you need for 2 days' time, freeze the loaves right away, or give some away. Still, it's pretty cool to be able to bake all these different breads at once, don't you think? My new strategy for energy saving is to bake something, anything, before putting the bread in, essentially using the preheat for baking. I've been doing frozen pizza (400°F deg) and brownies (325°F deg) a lot lately. Gods help me.


The oven with a 14" x 26" kiln shelf replacing one standard rack
I love my Bluestar oven. Do you see how nicely it accommodated this latest breadbaking insanity? Rather than having molded-in rack tracks, it has rack guides that just screw into the sides. I was able to buy a kiln shelf from a local pottery supply store that fits into its cavernous cavity just right. It bakes like a mutha, too. Just doesn't have self-clean, a minor drawback.


The fridge with 3 different dough batches going
I just noticed last night that I've gone through a 25 lb. bag of flour lickety split. Hmm, my symmetrical soul thinks one more Cambro container of dough is needed here...

The CatGenie's in the closet

A while back I wrote about how we'd converted a closet into a cat bathroom. Did I forget to mention that the closet was the only substantial storage area in the house, other than the attic? Yes, we (all right, who am I kidding, it's just me) must truly be insane to put cats before storage. In addition to the CatGenie, I ended up caving in to the oldest cat, Cleo (reflected in the mirror). Either she's not keen on using the CatGenie, or doesn't like to share, or decides she needs to go just when the CatGenie starts a cycle. For any of these reasons, she will then proceed to use the bed as her toilet. Thus the Return of the Old Litter Box.

The closet also provides access to the attic for our wild girl Frida, who loves to play up there (we call it "Attica"). I designed the "ladder", and Jim built it with some leftover 3/4" MDF. The 9.5" x 16" shelves were attached by nail gun and wood glue, staggered and set at about 30 deg. angles, to a back panel of MDF. I later de-angled the lowest shelf and Frida seems to like that better as she can pause before for heading up (also, as you can see, the old litter box fits better underneath it). The shelves are topped with a cheap, rubber-backed coir doormat that was sliced up. It took Frida about 30 seconds to figure out the new way to get up into the attic. The coir provides good traction as she leaps up the shelves and through the cutout in the ceiling, and she loves to stretch and scratch it.

The unit only cost about $10, which was for the doormat, and perhaps 2 hours to cut the pieces and assemble it. The sheet of MDF had been purchased for another project, a flip-down notebook computer holder/bookcase that's now installed in front of the treadmill. It's been very rewarding to make these small custom projects. Not only does it give me an opportunity to design something, usually as simply as possible, but the price can't be beat!

Learn a new language this year

This is from a thread on LOLspeak:
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so... who actually chooses to talk like this?
Aug 18 2008, 2:07 PM EDT
1) 12 year old adolescent girls?
2) 40+ something or other women who are destined to become the crazy cat lady down the street?
3) Patients from mental Institutions who are granted internet access for taking their meds?
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If you guessed I was number 2, you'd be right! But if you're like me, who wasn't good in any language but English, you can resolve to learn a new language this year. May I humbly suggest LOLspeak, Klingon, or even the ancient language Nadsat (from A Clockwork Orange)? Look here, there are handy online translators to help you: English>LOLspeak, English<>Klingon, English>Nadsat. So don't just sit there being all down with your monolingual self -- get out there and learn, especially if you're unemployed. I mean, you never know where this great new skill can take you. Perhaps a job at the new intergalactic penal colony with the ultracool employee milk bar (which naturally attracts cats)?

And speaking of languages... A word to direct marketers: HELLO! It's not the 50s or 60s even. Please, do not assume because my first name is Spanish and my last name is Japanese, that I know either language. It's a waste of paper, printing and postage.