Pas de Valse

For some reason I seem to have spent most of this summer knitting in wool; no doubt I'll be glad when November comes around. This is "Pas de Valse," a pattern from Twist Collective, the hottest online knitting magazine in town. A good bit of it was accomplished during jury duty.

Mosaic Knitting

This is a knitting technique invented by Barbara Walker, who invented a lot of what we know as modern knitting. Why have I always resisted trying it? For no good reason, that's for sure, because it is easy and beautiful. Glad I finally got on board.

Roasted Summer Vegetables

I opened the bag from our CSA and simply chopped up and roasted everything in it: eggplant, okra, onions, red peppers, and orange cherry tomatoes. We had it with big hunks of blueberry cornbread.

Grilled Salmon

with quinoa and green beans.

Second Verse

more or less same as the first: the remainder of the field peas from last night, with fresh tomatoes and black rice added. With sauteed okra.

Field peas

with bacon, onions, and cherry tomatoes. Also okra and blueberry cornbread.

Tomato Pie

with okra, and fresh figs for dessert. All from the farmer's market.

Grilled Salmon

with roasted new potatoes and sauteed peppers and broccoli.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

with fresh tomato sauce (pink, red, and yellow tomatoes, garlic, and basil [if I'd actually remembered to add it, which I didn't]) and sliced up red and yellow peppers.

Omelette

with cheddar cheese and leeks; with roasted new potatoes and shiitakes.

Hash

of black rice, leftover corn, and leftover ribs, diced up. With a tomato, cucumber, red onion salad.

Now We're Getting Somewhere

Round two of the Kamut Levain. I did everything exactly the same, except for one thing: during the bulk fermentation stage (when one lets the dough rise for about four hours) I did two "letter fold turns." This involves dumping the dough out, stretching it into a rectangle, folding it in thirds, and returning it to the rising container. My internet research assured me that this would lead to better oven spring, and the internet was right. The oven spring was nice, and the crust color better, and I swear the bread tastes better too. So: letter fold turns. Not a dispensable step.

Kamut Levain

This is the Kamut Levain from Local Breads. It is extremely delicious; my spouse declared it my best yet and the best bread he's ever had. He's a man who is generous with his praise, but still; I'm pleased. The only thing is that it had pathetic oven spring, and I don't know why. Over-proofing? Flour without pep? I know the levain itself is nice and active, so I guess I'll just keep playing. I've reached the beginner's plateau where I've stopped being delighted when the bread works at all and have started to worry about how to make it work *right.* Good thing wrong bread tastes so good.

Leftover Chicken

(thanks mom!) with corn on the cob and broccoli.

Chicken and Tomato Sauce

Made by my mom; with mushrooms. basil, and cheese. Very good. We had it with black rice and green beans. For dessert a failed blueberry-peach pie: crust too dark (and soggy on the bottom), filling un-gelled. Of course even a failed pie is delicious, and I stuffed myself with this one.

Toasty Feet

Roasty feet right now, but good for the winter. The top photo shows the back of the heel, which I though came out especially pretty.

Whole Wheat Chia Seed Sourdough

This bread shows both how much I don't yet know about making bread, and how totally forgiving and rewarding a learning process bread making is. I followed (I use the word loosely) this recipe. I was interested because I'd had a bag of chia seed in my fridge for about six months; I bought it and then never figured out how to use it. It turns out that chia seed can absorb incredible amounts of water, and turns into a gel; added to bread dough, this results in a lot of moisture and nice flavor. Because I was winging things I ended up with a lot more water in my dough than I meant to have, and I clearly have no idea how to shape or slash a wet dough. Hence the blobular batards I ended up with. But so what? They taste wonderful.

Field Peas

with cherry tomatoes and red onions, over black rice. With sauteed okra.

Pesto Burgers

with quinoa and a giant sliced tomato. I used dark and light quinoa mixed together, but in the end I think I prefer light by itself.

Whole Wheat Mash Bread II

My first sub-par loaf of bread! Two things changed: I used a new brand of flour, and I only used half the starter I was supposed to. The problem is undoubtedly the second of those things, and basically what happens when one bakes on too little sleep. Bakes half-baked, so to speak. Never mind; even sub-par bread is still pretty good. We had it last night with grilled hake and a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions.