(no subject)

We did end up getting around a foot of snow, and I've just been out shovelling in front. In theory, as a tenant I shouldn't have to shovel at all, but I almost always do at least some. This is partly to maintain my image with the landlords as Best Tenant Evar (in the hopes that whenever I move out they'll be more forgiving of the trashed burner pans on the stove, and the old cat-barf stains on the wood floors); it's also because the OCDness about shoveling that I attribute to Fraser in one of my stories (edge to edge! down to the pavement!) is actually a trait of my own, and my landlords are dreadfully sloppy shovellers, so I'd rather do it myself.

(And oh joy, I just noticed it's snowing again now -- we apparently could pick up several more inches today. Le sigh. Whatthehell, though, snow this time of year won't last too long.)

I've had the huge pleasure this weekend of beta'ing the new vid heresluck refers to here, and am *hugging myself in glee,* anticipating how much pleasure this is going to bring to all the RayK/CKR fangirls out there. I think it might be posted this evening, so -- keep an eye out. (*g*)

Snow falling, bread baking, latte to sip, vid to watch -- yup, life's good. Just a shame that tomorrow is Monday ...

I made this!

This is the second loaf I've done using the no-knead recipe that's been making the rounds, and my god, it's a beauty. (*admires vastly*) My comments from my experience thus far:

--DO NOT skimp on the flour/cornmeal/whatever used on the bottom of the baking pan (my first loaf totally stuck to the bottom, which was very sad).

--I think the flavor is better if you use slightly more salt--say, around 2 tsp.

--Though the advice for this recipe is to use no more than 50% whole wheat flour, I used 100% the "white" whole wheat variety sold by King Arthur Flour, which in my experience is a great bread flour, and it worked just fine. You do, however, want to push the second half of the baking (with the lid off) from 15 to 25-30 minutes, or the crumb will be just slightly damp. I think it also benefits from a slightly longer initial rise (I gave it 24 hours).

--There is no real need to go out and drop $100+ on an enamelled cast iron pan to make this; I use an old Pyrex casserole. It just needs to be something that will withstand 450 degree heat and has a lid.

It's up!!

*Screw* the effin' Oscars, heresluck's RayK vid is now up!

Go, download, watch, and give her the big love!!