OMG. this was so good. there are no words that adequately describe how tasty this is/was.
i have a saying: “m can destroy a kitchen in 2 moves: she walks into the kitchen – check. she opens the fridge – checkmate.” tonight was no exception. but the messiest meals are also the tastiest so i’m not complainin’.
uh huh, now this is what i’m talking about. the coolest color tool ever and i’ve been looking for quite a while.
“did you put on shimmer?”
“no, i put on that burt’s bees chalky stuff that protects you from the sun.”
“oh…your lips are pink.”
“i pressed hard.”
much giggling ensued.
after our most excellent ciabatta @ melisse, i thought i’d try making it. SG says 85% hydration ratio for ciabatta. i also researched what daniel leader had to say about ciabatta in local breads. biga = 2g yeast, 65g water, 100g flour. my biga was (35/66/66) – close enough. for the dough, the biga is 167g, 425g water, 10g yeast, 500g flour, 10g salt. these proportions equaled my own calculations for an 85% hydration so i’m on the right track. leaders’ basic instructions read as follows: 9-17 hrs to mix and ferment the biga; 15 minutes to knead, 3-4 hrs to ferment; 30-40 mins to proof; 25-35 minutes to bake. i didn’t really bake it according to leader’s instructions; i kept my own method to reduce the number of variables. the bread came out spongy and sour and nothing like ciabatta. it wasn’t bad, but definitely not typical “bread.” back to the drawing board… will make it leader’s way next time and see what happens.
actually, i should check jgold’s list before i go and say it’s our #16…
ok, yup, it’s there. we had our choice of the 4-course tasting menu, the 10-course anniversary menu or the 13-course chef’s choice menu. no fork for us – we opted for middle of the road and we weren’t disappointed. except for a bit too much salt, it was a highly enjoyable evening. let me break it down for you:
Have you noticed how people now use facebook as a verb just like people use google as a verb?
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yesterday, my neighbor (a company which shall go unnamed), pulled all the plants (to be honest: weeds) along the front of its property. sadly, they pulled the one very robust plant that was growing very appropriately in front and along one of the stuccoed pillars in its parking lot. it was a perfect picture, bright green against dark slate blue stucco, a delicate branching against a solid mass, and growing out of a solid mass. i looked at this plant every day and promised myself that i’d take a picture of it (that’s what i do: take pictures of plants that overcome manmade and/or concrete obstacles). but the plant/weed (pleed?) is now gone. perhaps it left a seed behind (a pleed seed)…
and there’s always the plant growing in the alley underneath a water/sewer (?) drain. should catch it while i still can.
should go to gym, but am sucked into reading old journals. i have been writing down my thoughts since i was 13. at 13, i was far from brilliant. except for those rare moments when my internal censor and adolescence stepped aside and i said what i really felt. brilliant. am reading an old book journal, and discovered i was reading rilke back in november 2002. long before i learned that jessica stein read his quote in a personal ad. too bad i can’t read his stuff in his native german. it’s brilliant.
update: i rented kjs from netflix in september 2002 so my theory is wrong. kjs is indeed my catalyst for diving into rilke. (too bad. that makes the story less interesting.)
biked instead. windy. sunny. glad i went. 2 mi to ocean > 2 mi to 26th > 2 mi back to ocean > home. total 8.58 mi. 40 mins spent moving and 44 mins outside. average speed 12.9 mph. average HR 159. max HR 181.
what i’m listening to *right* now: 1963