Saturday, October 30, 2021

...10.30...Dinner and a Movie...

...it's Pizza Night...
...we had seen Vito's video outlining how to make perfect pizza in a home oven...so...yesterday...we made the poolish...he uses the word a lot...and it's basically a sponge...and we put that into the fridge for 24 hours...a little less actually because we wanted to have the pizza for dinner...and it still has to rise again...
...the Man made the delicious sauce...
...we got our 24 hours old poolish out of the fridge...
...mixed in the flour and salt...
...let it rest...
...divided it into 9 oz. balls...and covered it tightly with plastic...there was a little bit left over...
...let those rise a bit...a couple of hours...
...and then...since we don't have a peel (yet...haha)...I used the back of a pizza pan generously coated with semolina flour to press and pull the pizza dough into shape...trying not to press out any of the air bubbles...from center out...leaving a rim...
...added some sauce...
...grated some Violife vegan parmesan...
...a light covering...
...added some vegan mozzarella...and then slid the pizza off onto the only stonewear that I have...an old Pampered Chef sheet pan...
...while it was cooking...I took that little leftover ball of dough...and made a little olive covered flatbread with it...
...we had cranked the oven up to the max...550° F (288° C)...so it cooked pretty quickly...
...and then the little flatbread was done as well...
...it was so delicious...absolutely perfect...crispy...chewy pizza...
...so I made another one...and we put it in the fridge for later...
...it also came out perfectly...

...and the move was just a couple more episodes of Yellowstone...just watching the Dutton family continue their downward spiral into baseness...

...what have you been watching lately?...

~Have a lovely weekend!

Friday, October 29, 2021

...10.29...Friday Favorites...

...some big boxes were left on the porch...and they contained...
...new luggage ordered for the big trip to Japan which was to have taken place later this year...but which sadly won't take place this year at all...the Man cashed in our tickets...they were transferable...but we're kind of afraid to transfer them to a future date when we have no certainty that we'll be allowed to travel at any particular future date...so we'll just bank that refund and wait until Japan allows Americans to visit again...hopefully sometime next spring...

...I do love the new luggage...and we definitely needed some...we only had two carry-on bags...and we had given our one big suitcase to the kiddos to pack a bunch of stuff in when they moved to Japan...

...you can probably guess which one is mine haha...

...it's actually exactly like the Man's...it just has a super neat cover...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

...10.28...What I Ate in a Day...as a Vegan...

...I'm afraid it's not a very interesting day of vegan eats...I had my favorite Everything bagel with Violife cream cheese for breakfast...
...morning snack was a Tom & Luke Snack Ball with some nuts and raisins...that was yummy...and kindof like eating candy...
...for lunch I made a big (Seinfeld) salad...with homemade vegan ranch dressing...
...and I had a vegan pimiento cheese sammie and some V-8 juice with that...
...for afternoon snack...I seeded some muscadine grapes...and had those with tea...
...and I also seeded a bowl of grapes for the Man...
...and then dinner was also nothing special...pinto beans (which you may think are plain...but that's because you've never had the Man's delicious pinto beans)...with greens and home-fried potatoes...there was also cornbread...but it didn't make it into the photo for some reason...

...what did you eat yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

...10.27...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...so...half of the front is complete...and the 'curl' of the stockinette stitch is kind-of annoying...and also please ignore the colour variation shone in the photos...the type of light apparently has a huge affect on this yarn...this is what I would call the 'true'r colour...it's a nice bright aqua... ...I had left about an inch of space on the open side of the front to add a placket of some type...
...so of course I looked to Ravelry for some options...and I found this nice neat front cardigan placket...however now I can't find that particular project...
...so...I just did a slip stitch crochet border...which did make the front lie nice and flat...
...and then I went back and did a buttonhole stitch around the openings I'd left for the buttons...

...but now...I'm kindof not loving it so much...

...for one thing (ha)...I can't tell hardly any difference in the placket slip stitch and the stockinette stitch of the front...

...but it's just a few rows to undo...except now I have to unpick the buttonholes too...arghhh...

...there seems to be a lot of reworking with this sweater...but that's what I get without a pattern and just sort of winging it as I go...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

...10.26...Tuesdays with Julia...

we made a delicious custard based icing...VEGAN CRÈME AU BEURRE, À L'ANGLAISE
...and iced some little single serving cakes with it...it was easy and delicious...nice and creamy and buttery...

...and all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, October 25, 2021

...10.25...Over the Weekend...

...I did a quick InstaCart shop in the morning...those are still the hard drives that Sissie copied her film collection to in the background...
...the weather has been gorgeous...with highs in the 70s (about 23° C)...so pretty perfect for bike riding...
...but I've been looking for some fall colour...and there's not a lot...at least not yet...
...and with the shorter days...I've been trying to rearrange my schedule to ride earlier...I'd been riding pretty late in the day as it was just a little bit cooler then...
...one of the things we didn't get this week was sandwich bread...so I did a quick search of the interwebs...and found a recipe for the "best soft sandwich bread"...but I'm not posting a link...because it really wasn't...haha...
...it looked promising in the bowl...a nice stretchy soft dough...
...and it rose up pretty beautifully too...
...so I punched it down...
...and oiled my pullman pan...
...and plopped the dough in for the second rising...
...and it looked pretty perfect when I took it out of the pan to cool...
...so after it had cooled...I got out my trusty bread slicing guide...and propped the end of the long loaf on a cup...haha
...it just helps you make neat and even slices...
...but I could just tell as I was slicing it that this is no sandwich bread...it's still a nice chewy bread that's good though...so we'll definitely use it up...just probably not for sammies...
...I had put a pound of great northern beans on to soak first thing in the morning...so while the bread was baking they were ready for the Instant Pot...
...and I used my muffing tins to freeze them in little half cup portions...or 'hockey pucks' as the Man likes to call them...haha...
...and finally with no first frost date in sight...I thought I'd give you a little update on my 'garden'...which was really just a a couple of butternut squash seeds that I scratched into the ground outside the back door...it still has plenty of blooms and looks pretty healthy...
...in addition to the nicely shaped large squash you've already seen is this oddly shaped medium sized one...so I'm likely to get only 2 squash from my two seeds...haha...still it cost me nothing at all...and I'm happy to have two squash...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!