Of Gardens And Geese

Wow. I'm definitely going back to a post a day. This is just too long to be absent. That said, I haven't made much bread (we've been pretty busy) and what I have made hasn't turned out that well; but I'll get into that tomorrow, I think.

We're "packing up and closing down" the garden; I've been going over there occasionally and spading and turning over a quarter at a time. So far I've got half-way:

The garden, half dug.

You can see that the strawberry and the one pepper plant are still thriving. I left them up, especially since the pepper plant still has blossoms.

Blossoms on the bell pepper. This is before I took off the weed-block fabric.

About half the other plots in the community garden are already dug over and prepared for the winter. But a few people are still growing flowers.

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I only think these are marigolds.

In other goings-on, I've been reminded that we are on a migration path for Canada geese. I love the sound and the sight of the geese passing overhead—often scores of them. This is a small selection of what I saw yesterday, from outside work:

Canada geese headed south (well, actually south-southwest, but close enough).

Enjoy your fall; it's ending soon enough. Godspeed, and remember, All sorrows are less with bread.

Comments

The Consistency Of Coarse Meal

I decided to make biscuits this afternoon, and as I was following the recipe, I saw that I needed to mix flour, salt, and baking powder, then cut in shortening (butter is better than mar but marge is what we had). The recipe said to cut the shortening in "to the consistency of coarse meal." Now what the heck is that supposed to mean? I mean, I know what (for example) corn meal looks like; but does the casual baker? How are they supposed to know? It means this. Not that you'd go far wrong with these biscuits, anyway. I mean, it's the Pillsbury cookbook. The only problem I had is that, at some time in the past, I put a note in to myself to use 3 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder instead of the recipe's 2. Well, I'm marking that back down. These are edible, but definitely taste of baking powder. Oh well, live and relearn, I guess. The finished product. Yum! Godspeed, and remember, All things are better with bread .

Buttermilk Biscuits - Yum!

This morning I finally got to make the buttermilk biscuits I've been hoping for the last two days. As I guessed, they took only a while to make (the recipe was ready by the time the oven was done preheating) and they were done in 17 minutes (the recipe said 15 - 20, I split the difference). I think I must have done something weird with it though, maybe with the butter; the biscuits looked and tasted good, but I thought maybe they were a little chewy. Herself agreed with me, too. She had them with butter; I had them plain. Biscuits aren't supposed to be chewy, are they? Maybe a problem with cutting in the butter. You could tell I haven't made biscuits for quite a while. So there it is, I've now made the Buttermilk Loaf and the Buttermilk Biscuits - both good but with each their own problems. I'll try them again, later. God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread . Edit: Added a picture.

More Random Thoughts

I don't usually make bread during the week (I could , but we'd rapidly run out of space to store the bread!). But last night I did, just plain white bread for sandwiches today. I have to watch myself carefully. I'm not taking the time I need to shape the bread; it doesn't look as nice and even as it should. But it's got a lovely crust, a bit sweetish, and should make a great sandwich. Herself (who has informed me that she would like to be referred to forthwith as Nancie) made a great sandwich on this for lunch. She is the Sandwich Queen :-) Buffalo chicken, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and a wee little bit of pepper. I can't wait for lunch! I was going to post something about the awful state of my bread ingredient cupboard, but this has cheered me up enough that I don't feel like griping about it :-) God speed, and remember: All sorrows are less with bread .

Bread Makes The Meal

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