Snake skin

Last weekend I went to the retirement party of my BF's father. I was clear that we were to dress up and look our best, so I did something I hadn't done in more than a year... I got dressed up, put on makeup AND curled my hair! I was so uncomfortable, it was nearly unbearable. I felt like I was someone else; as if I were wearing an Edgar suit, and I wanted nothing more than to go home, get back in to my regular clothes, wash my face and scrub the mousse out of my hair. It's been 5 days and even with multiple scrubbings, I can still smell the hairspray. I've become quite sensitive to scents in the last 4 years and regular personal products and perfumes are my constant nemesis. I felt like a snake ready to shed it's skin and just needed a good sharp rock to scrub off the bad layers. Instead, I had a nice big glass of wine to take the edge off and tried to enjoy myself for the next 4 hours.

What I made last night...

Inspired by Farmgirl Fare's recent focaccia blog, I decided to take on the challenge and make Stephens Quick Rosemary Focaccia yesterday. Since I needed 4 Tablespoons of rosemary, I went to my small rosemary bush in the backyard but managed to only get about 3 Tablespoons, else I risked raping it of every last leaf. No worries, the rosemary is optional so I'll just lessen it a little bit.

The instructions were easy to follow but I did learn a few key things. I learned I should have 1/2'd the recipe as 3 people really don't need 2 whole focaccias. I also learned that my old garage-sale-find food processor could probably use some updating as it is small and had a hard time mixing all of the ingredients - but it did it's job in the end and I'm thankful. I also learned that you can't use a metal cookie sheet as a peel as the dough sticks to it, even with cornmeal. Or perhaps that lesson should have been to use more cornmeal? I'm not sure, I'll have to experiment more. I had read that if you are baking bread on a cold day you can let the dough rise in your oven with the light on and I did - it worked perfectly in my electric oven. While the oven and the baking stone were coming to temperature I needed warmth for the dough to rise a 2nd time. I put it on a cookie sheet in the microwave on top of a bowl of hot water. That did the trick for that quick 20 minutes 2nd rise.

Since my oven and baking stone are small, I had to cook each focaccia separately. Focaccia #1 : I forgot to eggwash and salt at the end. It had a great rosemary taste because rosemary was both inside the dough and on top during the final cooking, but it lacked shine and the crust was really hard in areas that were too thin. It almost seemed overcooked though I had it in the oven for the exact time called for. Focaccia #2 : I omitted the rosemary on top (remember I was short 1 Tbsp) but eggwashed and salted during the last two minutes and didn't keep it in as long. The crust is still solid but pliable, even today - not over-crunchy-hard like #1 was within an hour of it coming out of the oven. I think another error I made was making the rounds more like 10 inches instead of closer to the 8-9. I'm used to thin focaccias and thought this should be that way also. Next time, forget what I know ahead of time and just follow the recipe.

Today I'm enjoying focaccia #2 with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. No, I don't have any pictures because we had company, and how silly would I look taking a picture of focaccia before we devoured it? I just hope my rosemary grows back quickly so I can try this recipe again soon!

my thought for the day - do it without ipods, headphones, etc

walking alone is more spiritually healing

It's January 7th

and who here hates Mondays, raise your hand?

The 'storm' came through Friday and it was wonderful!! Lots of rain, a good amount of wind, just enough to blow down a few trees and create some little mudslides. With people at work still in Holiday mode, most were still on vacation so I took the opportunity to camp in an empty office with a window, so I could watch the action outside. When I got to work that morning, I got out of my car and was instantly pelted by fat raindrops. Being a life-long puddle stomper, I turned my face to the wind and enjoyed the rain on my skin. The storms caused lots of snowfall in the Sierra's and kept the roads damp over the entire weekend. Much needed and way overdue precipitation. I'm hoping for some more to roll in later this week. The dark clouds keep waving past but there is some blue skies and sun; no water falls from the sky today.

With the down trees comes loss of electricity. Today my coworker complained that because we live in California, modern technology should include no power outages. How dare PG&E not keep the pipes dry that house the electical lines and not have tree-proof power lines so that he is not inconvenienced. However, he went to his brothers house who had electricity, and is still alive, suffered no personal nor financial damage to his self nor his property and yet claims that the power outage for 36 hours was "a nightmare!" I suspect he has not a clue what a nightmare actually is. What he was, was simply minor inconvenience. I advised he be more prepared next time, with wood to burn for warmth and cooking, perhaps use some of the money he squeezes from each penny to put solar in his home and keep his batteries charged so he wouldn't have to experience this 'nightmare' again.

Daily quote

"To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves."

This isn't a one time daily quote. It's on all of my outgoing work email.

Movie Recommendation

If ever a movie could, and did, inspire me to become more self-sufficient, it's this movie: Snow Walker. The editorial review claims:

"Charles Martin Smith's romantic adventure film The Snow Walker concerns a brave risk-taking pilot (Barry Pepper) and an Inuit woman in frail health who is his passenger. When the pair experience a plane crash, each is forced to learn from and help the other in order to survive the variety of obstacles the harsh landscape throws in their path."


I didn't find it romantic so don't let that scare you off - this isn't a girlie movie. The basic story line is white man crashes airplane somewhere around Alaska, Inuit woman and white man travel across the frozen lands to find their way home. This Inuit woman was amazing to me, how she was able to survive from the land around her, makes clothes from local animals, and heal the white man. Very inspirational to me.

I need a lover that won't drive me crazy....

As I ponder what I want and where I wanted to go in my life, I consider how to get there. For two years or more, I have harbored a deep dark craving to leave the city - leaving California altogether. Though my heart holds me back, every other fiber of my being screams to go. I wonder why I spend so much time reading about doing what I want to do instead of DOING what I want to do. Just as many of us play video games of rock climbing instead of going out and actually rock climbing. Ok, the video analogy may be a little off - it's much safer to race a car and crash it on the screen than it would be real life, and much less expensive. But my point is still there: with our time on earth so short, why do humans settle for less than what's best? Why do we settle for less than is real, clean, true?

Happy Birthday Booger!!

My SunWhore, Tailless, LapLoving Booger had his 12th Birthday yesterday. This blog entry is dedicated to him. Happy Birthday Old Man!

On another note, the weatherman said a storm is coming through tomorrow and will bring with it torrential rains. Let's see how this goes. I've lost more faith in our weatherman over the last few months. Last week was supposed to be the "wettest week of the season" and yet it barely rained two days, for a couple of hours at night only.