My Whatever Place

There are probably a lot more interesting threads around here, but felt like having a place to post a bit of this and a bit of that about myself / the things I'm interested in without spamming somebody else's thread.

 

First Post: Bread

The one good thing about the Big C is that I've started to teach myself to do a couple of things from scratch - one of them: breadmaking. I've learned by now that most of the recipes you'll find in cookbooks and magazines are literally foolproof but when it comes to taste the results aren't always that great. The reason for that is because most book and magazine recipes tell you to use so much yeast that, in theory, you should be able to get lead shavings to rise within an hour or two. Unfortunately, that's exactly what your bread will taste like, too: yeasty. I've been told to add vinegar to the mix to counter the taste, but why add something to get rid of something that could have been avoided in the first place?

The secret to delicious and uniquely tasting bread is simple: good ingredients and lots of time. When I first came across a recipe that only needed a couple of crumbs of yeast I wrote to the author and asked him if there may have been a spelling mistake in the instructions he posted. He was nice enough not to be offended by my question and explained that a small amount of yeast and a long resting time will get the same thing done than the opposite.

So I gave it a try. The first couple of loaves tasted alright but didn't much resemble anything you'll find in the shops But I've gotten better (and invested in a cast-iron pot) and this is what today's loaf of bread turned out to be. It's a rye bread with all kinds of seeds in it and I already had the first two slices for breakfast and they were just the way I hoped for them to turn out.

Anybody interested in the recipe?

Oh well, here it is anyway:

70g flour
35-45ml water

Mix together in pot and heat up (keep stirring) until it has the consistency of pudding. Put in a lidded container and allow to cool down.

1/4 cube of fresh yeast OR 1/2 packet of dry yeast
1TSP sugar
~20ml warm water

Mix together and ignore for half an hour (until yeast starts bubbling).

~700g rye flour
50g soft butter OR margarine
15g salt (or to taste)
45g malt
1TSP honey
100g yoghurt OR kefir
30-50g linseed / sunflower seeds / chia seeds (altogether 90 / 150g)
~ 340ml water

Mix everything together and knead well for 10-15 minutes. If too runny add one spoon of flour at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. If the opposite's the case, carefully add more water.

Cover with a piece of cloth and put in a cool environment. For the next 3-4 days knead once a day. After the 3rd or 4th day your dough should start to rise - that's your baking day.

Preheat oven and cast-iron pot to 270°. Take out pot and grease bottom and sides. Throw in some sunflower seeds and then add dough. Sprinkle some flower of top, put the lid back on and bake for 15 minutes. After that lower temperature to 200° and bake for a further 45 minutes. If you like your crust a little more crispy, bake with the lid off for the last 10-15 minutes.

 

@Leila, palatable perfection.

Looks lovely.

 

Oh my, I love baking bread. One of my favourites is Irish soda bread, no yeast, a 200 year old recipe that still holds true today. And second would be Sourdough, only problem with sourdough is it has to be used often, which means more baking of things than you can eat.

 

A friend of mine used to make Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's Day and / or Thanksgiving and it always was divine. It's going on the list of recipes-to-give-a-try!

Sourdough bread is a favourite of mine as well

I have two starters in my fridge which I feed a spoon of rye / white flour and 2-3 spoons of water a week to keep the active. This way I only have to reactivate my starter(s) with a bigger amount of flour and water a day or two before a baking / dough-making day.

 

Anybody else interested in or reading IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY at the moment?

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/archivos_pdf/worlds-collision.pdf

I'm not very far in yet but have been surprised to read that the idea of our solar system being part of a binary system has been around since 1938 (especially with astrophysicists only recently acknowledging binary systems to be the norm rather than the exception). I knew that the theory of a second dark star and a tenth planet was used in the late 1980ies in order to explain the paths / gravitational affects of the two Pioneer probes, but in 1938 and without today's computer programs and tech - WOW!

 

I've only made it to page 80 so far but I'm so hooked like you wouldn't believe it. If you've got a bit of time on your hands and aren't put off by a text that doesn't read like Harry Potter give Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision" a try. Maybe read up or consult youtube on the details (order, impact,...) of pole reversions first and be prepared to be amazed.

 

This is for @Bambam0:

Funny MASTERCARD Commercial...

Not sure about the distraction factor but it always made me laugh

 

Gratulerer med dagen, @Lurius, og alt det beste for det nye livets år!

I hope Google managed to get the translation right

 

Since I'm not sure whether I'll be able to check in tomorrow --- wishing you all a Happy Christmas, enjoy the cookies and mead regardless of whether you're actually celebrating the holiday or not!

 

A friend of mine shared this with me and because I think that it's absolutely genius I just had to share it here

 

Prado Museum did something like that "emptying" paintings of their characters and concentrating on space.

It's hard to paint space. There are very few artists that can make interesting an empty room.

 

That's true. Maybe the fact that most of us all live in cluttered "boxes" and have never really learned to treasure open space also plays a role in it. Like we've been trained to not see a room / space by itself but only for what it can be filled with.

That's a cool idea and I would love to have a look at the paintings of this exhibition. I tried to look it up but I don't seem to have the right key words for my internet search. If you remember the name the exhibition or could point me in the right direction, I'd love to check it out

 

Last week, two close friends of mine had to undergo major surgery because of sudden cardiac arrest. One seems to be on the way to recovery, the other, on the other hand... It is so upsetting to have your friends call and beg you to visit them but have to tell them no, because of Covid regulations no visitors are allowed inside the hospital...

On the plus side, the part of my roof that the storm took off has been fixed again.

 

Anybody in need of a good laugh?

PSYCH Season 2 American Duos Audition

 

God, I'm such pushover! After 15 years of sharing my place with up to eight noisy budgies, I was going to have a budgie break once I'd have to say goodbye to my remaining little ladies (Nellie: 10 and M: 15 years of age). But now that this time is getting closer and the older one of my little girls is starting to get more tired and prefers sleeping over playing with her friend...

Well, I felt so sorry for her, that we now have a brand new roommate: Ozzy. He's a senior budgie, too, and still on probation to see if / how well everybody gets along---it's looking promising so far.

The blue one (who hasn't figured out yet, that the door is always open) is Ozzy, the white on M and the yellow one Nellie

 

lol @Leila.

Do these guys not make something of a racket?

 

They do, indeed, that's why they have a room and I have a garden chair in front of the house

But joking aside, when my tinnitus turned reactive I was thinking of giving them away because even the softest chirp was making my head explode (and I really spent a lot of time in front of the house (not that the busy street I live next to was much of an improvement) or with my ear protectors on). By now, I can tolerate most of their chirps, also the little noisemakers are getting older and (fortunately) don't have the energy to trill and squawk 24/7 anymore.

 

Today I was given the ingredients to make mochi from scratch. I've already looked up recipes and now I'm looking forward to turning my kitchen into the mess of a lifetime

 

Careful now @Leila.

 

Mochi Update:

Here’s the result of my first attempt at making mochis. On the plus side, I’ve almost got the shape and consistency right. On everything else: My friend insists my mochis taste like soapy---and, as much as it pains me, I must consent. Also, I’m unsure whether my fingers and kitchenware will ever be free of the colour purple again.

But since I’ve got tons of glutenous rise flour and different colour food dye left, there will be plenty more options to turn my kitchen into an even bigger disaster zone

Anybody here willing to share a recipe that’s tasty and has been tried, please don’t hesitate to share it with me or point me in the right direction

 

I finally finished my "beetle man" book aka Wallace by Anselm Oeser. I liked the slow storytelling and the description of the characters and the landscape, especially in the backflashes. The way he worked his historical facts into his story was also nicely done.

As far as the story as a whole is concerned I've definitely had better. I'm not a great fan of Oeser's direct speech because it sounds terribly wooden. I also didn't like the indication that as soon as you open yourself up to a possible love interest you have found your purpose in life.

It was an interesting read, though, because, if anything, Oeser's got a beautiful way with words.

 

@Christiaan, a belated gefeliciteerd!

OMG, did I really write backflashes??? As an old German saying correctly says: Nach müd' kommt blöd!

 

Had a brief flirtation with Umberto Eco's "Die Insel des vorigen Tages" / "The Island of the Day Before" but can't really get into it and switched to Norman Ohler's "Die Gleichung des Lebens", which I like better so far.

I guess, I'll give Eco another try at some other time, after all, it took me about 15 times to get past the frist 80 pages of of "The Lord of the Rings" (reading about them silly Hobbits eating every other line kind of put me to sleep whenever I tried ).

 

R.I.P. little girl, 2007 - April 30, 2022

 

Sorry for the loss of your forever friend. Them little buddies are family.

 

Thank you very much for your kind words

I know that 15 years is ancient for a little budgie, not that it makes it any easier...

 

I had a talking budgie for many years. They are so smart and loving! Hugs!

Here you can see him hypnotised by his favourite food:



And here with the love of his life

 

Thank you very much for sharing your pictures with me, @aura, they really cheered me up

 

Needed a bit of a break...