Calico Jack Presents: Baking Bread

Yar, Yar, Yar! Grab yer self some grog and lets bake some bread. The grog is for you, of course. The bread is to share with your fellow shipmates. Today, we's be baking Honey-Whole Wheat Bread. This is good for sandwiches and costs way less than say buying a loaf of bread at the market. Plus, you know what's going into your bread and that's just good sailing practices.

You will need:

2 packages regular active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) of salt
2 1/2 cups very warm water (120 - 130 degrees F)
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 3/4 - 3 3/4 cups bread flour

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water; set aside.



In a large bowl, mix honey, butter, salt and very warm water; cool 5 minutes.


To the cooled honey mixture, beat in 3 cups of whole wheat flour with an electric mixer on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, until moistened. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl frequently (again).



Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and dissolved yeast.



Stir in 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups of the bread flour, until dough pulls cleanly away from side of the bowl.




Monkey Peeler, Mr. Toucan, and Jamie Hayes Devil Doll! YOU have been messing with my progress here - making a mess, as usual! Careful! You may have to walk the plank!
Yar! Yar! Yar!



Place dough on floured work surface. Knead in remaining 1/2 to 1 cup of bread flour; continue kneading 5 to 10 minutes until dough is smooth and springy. Put your shoulders into it!


Grease a large bowl with shortening or cooking spray; place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.



See! It doubled in size! At this point, go ahead and grease your loaf pans. 8X4 or 9X5 inch should work.



Then, you punch the dough, right in the kisser! Go ahead! Punch all the way down. Because....



You are going to rip the dough ball in half.



On a lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough with rolling pin into an 18X8 in rectangle. (Eyeball ye loaf pan and gauge the length of the pan)



Starting with one 8 inch side, roll up dough tightly, pressing with thumbs to seal after each turn. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Fold ends under loaf; place seam side down in greased loaf pan. Repeat with other ball of dough.



Cover with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in warm place 30 to 45 minutes or until doubled in size.



Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Uncover dough; bake 30 minutes.



Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F; bake 10 to 15 minutes longer or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Mr. Toucan - you can stop the tapping. We know they are finished!



Immediately remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.



Yar! Yar! YUM!

Princess Unicorns

It's important to have your magic wand close at hand. You never know when you are going to need to wave that wand! That's why I keep mine close at hand on the desk in the pencil caddy. Easy access - it's a good thing!

During Mardi Gras this year, we hung out with our neighbors on the neutral ground to watch most of the parades. We have a prime location - only like 3 blocks to walk down to the parades. Anyway, our neighbor's child (let's call her Jane) had to use the facilities and so my brother and I offered to walk her back to our apartment and let her use the little ballerina's room.

She got to meet the cats and realized quickly that Oliver is the grumpy cat and Alice is the sweet one. She also discovered my magic wand.

So, Jane, upon finding the magic wand starting waving it around C's head. Then she announced, "YOU ARE NOW A PRINCE!" C, realizing that he was now royalty, said, "Is that so? Ok, I'm a prince!" Then she waved the magic wand around my head and announced, "You are a PRINCESS UNICORN! Now you and the prince get married!"

C and I looked at each other and giggled. Then C informed Jane that we couldn't get married because we were brother and sister. She pondered that for a moment and realized that it probably isn't a good idea marrying your own brother. She has a brother of her own and I'm sure the idea of being married to him made her pause.

After that, we went back to the neutral ground and played ballet. And more Princess Unicorn.

I just know I am happy to have her magic wand. It turned me into a Princess Unicorn, after all.

xoxo

The Great Seed Watch Continues...

We are just growing up a storm! I added my collection of pansies to the tree garden and one of our neighbors rolled by on his bicycle and asked if I had spring fever. I said yes.

The cucumbers have been replanted in a bigger pot. They are doing awesome!

I believe we have handled the little mold issue. Thanks for the suggestion, Mrs. B! Plus, the mint and parsley are starting to poke their heads up. Come on, sleepy heads!

We decided to go ahead and plant the tomatoes in a bigger pot, as well. They have some fertilizer and I think will grow well like the cucumbers in their new home. Grow! Grow! You can do it!

The pots look happy in the sunshine! We are growing more herb seeds in the "bare" looking pots. I am loving the Louisiana sunshine and humidity...at least right now I am. Check back with me in August.

And voila! Here's the seed garden, as evidence of the pictures taken on 3/26. I will post pictures of our trellis project soon.

And the watch continues...

xoxo

MURDER at 1600 Fishylvania Avenue!!!!!

Two members of the fishy soul group, The CheeWees have gone missing! There was an explosion that occurred in the tank earlier in the week, sending the newly added aluminum plant to the top of the tank. After that, Bernice Cherry Barb, and an unidentified member of the CheeWees have gone missing.


Now immediately, the fish board thought CaTZiLLa had somehow ambushed the tank and caused the explosion and caught the two members of the CheeWees. She was questioned and Kevin vouched that he had coaxed CaTZiLLa into a slumber during the time of the explosion.

The Captain was interviewed and reported that he was hanging out at the top of the tank chasing a member of the Bolshoi. The Bolshoi member vouched for him.

General Vlad was interviewed and claimed he had been sleeping under his rock during the explosion. No other member of the village could vouch for his whereabouts.

And the mystery continues. . .

The fish board is planning repairs, but tonight, as a special memorial to the two lost Chee Wee members, the Bolshoi are performing the "Dying Swan" from Swan Lake.

Poor fishes.

Hopefully, this will make the members of fish village more aware of the predators that surround them on a daily basis.

Especially:

Yep. She's always there...when she's awake. Staring. Waiting. Plotting. . .

Views Around the House

We have been busy bees around the house today. We both woke up waaay early today and started the day's projects. Fixing our trellis boxes so we can eventually plant our veggies, ran to the store, changed out some water for FishTV, played with the plants, and some spring cleaning.

So, here are some vignettes of what makes me happy in my kitchen.

I live with a scotch drinker. Enough said.

Elephant tea pot that makes me tea and pours it out his nose.

Bananas and the fabulous monkey banana holder.


The trees are green! I like the transit windows in our apartment.

I am in love with FiestaWare. I love it. I have a rainbow of colors and I love them. They make me so happy! And when company comes over, they get to choose their own color! Notice the bowls at the top of this post...

Here's the Jamie Hayes gang hanging out on the mantle. I was playing with my Gimp software to see what I could do for colors and saturation...not sure what happened but Kev seemed to like it.

If you notice on the edge of the mantle, there is writing. Someone wrote with pencil - I think it's a phone number and address. I'll inspect further and get back to you.

Ok, I know. Not a very interesting post, but I thought you would like to see how well I dusted!

Happy Friday!!!

xoxo

Perception Redirection

We live in a class society. All of us. The big cheese spenders are up at the top of society and the rest of us take our places accordingly. There is also the aspect of race in that class system. Yep. I said it. Race.

I was watching the news this morning with the mister (I'm so glad to have him home with me for the next couple of days!), and saw a story on a North Carolina school board putting an end to diversity based busing. This particular school board is interesting because rather than bus the lower socioeconomic students to the higher rated schools, they bus the students from the higher rated schools to the lower socioeconomic schools.

I grew up in West Texas. The school district where I attended employs diversity based busing, sending the lower income students to the higher rated schools. I was lucky enough that my parents built their home in a good school district, but that also provided for some drawbacks as far as my real world view is concerned. Amarillo is not the most diverse when it comes to race. Currently, Amarillo is 64% White, 22% Hispanic, 11% other, and 6% African American. This demonstrates how I grew up surrounded by other white students, a few Hispanic students, and maybe 4 African American students. My world was not filled with all the colors of the race rainbow.

Moving to New Orleans has changed my perception dramatically about what is a culturally diverse society. I moved from a city that is 6% African American, 64% white, and 22% Hispanic, to a city that is 67% African American, 28% white, and 3% Hispanic.

I am OFFICIALLY ONE OF THE MINORITIES!!!!!! Yay! I kind of like this. Kev is EVEN more a minority here - being that he is part Hispanic.

This may sound offensive, but while I cherish the education and upbringing I received from my parents, I wish I could have grown up in a city that showed me that the world is not just white with some brown thrown in to appear socially acceptable. (I say showed me because I believe my parents raised me to be an open minded individual. Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

My point is this: It sounds like a step backward for this school board to change their diversity based busing system policy. The original point of their policy was to have all the schools in the district be equal, and perform equally well.

I think it would have been nice to have attended school with some kids who were from the "wrong side of the tracks", you know, like in 16 Candles? Perhaps if the rich kids had to actually play with the poor kids, they could start finding a mutual understanding and stop focusing on the color of one's skin.

This topic is interesting to me. A protester was even arrested. It's getting all heated and stuff. People are rioting. Down with the MAN! Ooops...got a little carried away there.

Why can't everything be equal? Why can't we all sit down and have a little pow wow and a coke and stop bickering so much, and why, when we have a black President, are we still dealing with this?

I don't know the challenges of having to raise a child and definitely don't have to think about educating one. I would have a hard time doing that here - the public schools aren't very good and private schools cost big cheese. So, we have cats.

But, I do know the importance of a person's education. It's time for parents to start parenting again and holding their children accountable for their education. On the same note, parents should CARE about their child's education. Instill in your kids a love of learning...I promise it will pay off for them.

Not As Good As You Think I Am: Babushka Edition

Long before we moved here, long before I even met Kevin, I came to NOLA during spring break with one of my besties, Jules. I had been to the city to visit my brother and sister (in law) a few times before, but this was a trip dedicated purely to the debauchery of being a college student, hanging out in the French Quarter, and drinking one too many daiquiris.


I learned to love Eggs Benedict on this trip. I also remember eating pop tarts with cake frosting. Oh, the joys of dancing 12 hours a day and eating junk food like it was our job....


Jules wearing a lovely hat...the South suits her.

Prior to this trip, Jules and I were graced with the presence of Galina Panova as our new dance instructor at our University. (Here is Galina dancing with Rudolf Nureyev...yeah, she is bananas!!) Anyway, Galina is Russian. From Russia and has this fabulous accent and attitude about life, and is truly a character. Enamored of our new teacher, Jules and I spoke with Russian accents pretty much all the time. Jules actually speaks Russian - me, I am a big, fat faker.

So, anyway, we end up going down to New Orleans for spring break. We spent many a night trolling the Quarter and continued drinking daiquiris like it was our job.

Then, Babushka showed up.

Ok, so I promise. We weren't hitting the hard liquor (at least not out of the mini bar).

Once Babushka showed up, well, things got a little nutty. We decided, "Hey, we are on spring break and can be anyone we want to be...these folks are strangers to us, so tonight WE ARE RUSSIAN BALLERINAS!!!!!" Katia and Dasha...out for a night of fun in New Orleans. Did I mention we were from Russia?

So, out come the accents. I start asking Jules for some things I can say in Russian that would be convincing. Except, the only words I could really remember were Babushka, Dah, and Nyet.

We ended up meeting these two guys from Purdue...at least I think it was Purdue. So we gave each other a little wink and Katia and Dasha were on.

Basically, we spent about four hours with these guys, running around the Quarter and doing things like eat beignets at Cafe Du Monde...all the while, keeping up the charade of being from Russia. "Dah - oh, how do you say...." Basically, I was just rambling. Jules, she did much better.

At some point in the evening, Jules agreed to walk her companion back to his hotel. We were to meet up back at our hotel later. (Probably a dumb move now that I look back at it, but we were young and trusting.)

I ended up taking a walk down to the river with my companion. The whole time, keeping up this charade of life and how difficult it was in Russia and how much better we have it in America and how we love going to an American university, Dah, Dah, Dah, Moscow, Nyet.

So, we are walking down by the river, and he kept on going on, and on, and on about how nice I was. "Oooh, you are so nice...blah blah blah", said my companion. "Nice, blah, blah, blah." He was trying to be charming. I was becoming bored of the charade. "Such a nice, nice, blah, nice." There was my out! "I'm not as nice as you think I am....." said in my liltiest, Russian accent.

Companion: Oh, but you are!

Katia (me): Oh, no, not really...

Companion: Oh, seriously, I haven't blah blah blah, nice, blah blah.

Katia (me): Oh, but I REALLY am not as nice as you think I am.

Companion: What could be so bad about you?

*POOF! Turn back into Kelly*

Kelly: BECAUSE I'm NOT FROM RUSSIA (spoken in my true, I'm from West Texas accent)

*Poof!*

The mystique of Katia - gone!

The look on his face was priceless! I thought it was hilarious.

He did not.

He ended up walking away from me, back to his hotel. Deservedly. I think I would have been angry if someone had punked me that hard! But, still. Hilarious.

I believe this was the trip that I declared to Jules and the world that I would live in New Orleans one day. I am now proud to say I made it! And if needed, Dasha and Katia are available for parties.

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo