Because it was a rainy day, and I'm becoming my mother

Yesterday morning I went for a run.

It's been rainy the past few days, and on my way out of our apartment complex I spotted the brightest double rainbow I've ever seen (what does it mean?!).

 At one point it looked as though the end of the rainbow was at the Cheese House, down the street.  Which would make perfect sense, seeing as their sandwiches make me drool golden saliva.

I came home and knew today was the day.  As rain started noisily pouring down and creating puddles in the uneven concrete divots on our balcony I says to myself, "Self, it's time to get over your fear of active dry yeast."  And I made my very first loaf of homemade wheat bread.

I don't make bread, ever.  I'm honestly consistently afraid that I'll really mess it up and wind up with a dense brick of a loaf that will turn to glue in my insides, and it will all have been a waste of time.  Yeast seems like such a weird and fickle thing.  I looked through www.allrecipes.com to find a highly rated recipe and found this one. I halved it as follows (I didn't want to commit to 2-3 loaves without making sure 1 loaf came out right):

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (or ⅙ cup) honey
2-1/2 cups bread flour
1.5 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (or ⅙ cup) honey
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour (plus an additional 1-2 cups as needed)
1 tablespoon butter, melted

 1. In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 2TB and 2tsp honey. Add 2.5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly.
2. Mix in 1 ½ tablespoons melted butter, 2 TB and 2 tsp honey, and salt. Stir in 1 cup whole wheat flour.
 3. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch (about 5-8 minutes). This may take an additional 1 to 2 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.
4. Punch down, and form 1 loaf. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pan by one inch.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes; do not over-bake. Lightly brush the tops of loaf with 1 tablespoon melted butter when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely.

 There's nothing like the smell or taste of freshly baked bread. I'm hooked. Oh, yeah, you can forget about it, Orowheat. We're through.

Doing this made me think of my Mom. I can feel myself becoming more and more like her. Maybe it's more like I'm beginning to think her way is the ONLY way to do something. I'm sure it's her genetics that require me to be watching something British (and having to do with women worrying about which gentleman will accept their meager dowry and provide them with a snazzy lifestyle in their Victorian England context) whenever I sew anything. And I'm pretty sure that she's the reason I went to TOWN on some coupons that got mailed to our apartment for some other previous tenant, and that I now have my very own "coupon wallet" (aka the J. Crew coin purse Becca got me for my birthday in 2007). And it's also because of her that I can't really be comfortable on the couch without a blanket draped over me. But there's really no woman I rather share neuroses with.

Merriness and Pads of the Thai variety

Behold: Merriness.

I like to imagine that the nativity people are to scale with the tree. That way it's like they’re at Fashion Island where the tallest Christmas tree in the country at 115 feet resides (take that, 90 foot Rockefeller Center tree). I'm all for blending (more like clashing) old and new world Christmas traditions.





Special shout out to Meg and Owen for the righteous Nativity set!



Old earrings and bracelets-- some of which are too small dangly/flashy/heavy/high school for me but that, for some reason, I couldn't bear to give away (thank you, Mom's genetics).



Harry learned to fold these way back in the day, like every single 12 year old Mormon boy seems to do. They serve two functions: fancy tree stars, and you can throw them boomerang style at people.

Grand total: $9 and something cents.

Thank you, ghetto drug store next to my office, for carrying all these little things at a price that fits in President Jackson's/my budget.

Speaking of Pad Thai, which we weren't, we made it for dinner last night.


Note: We now never want Pad Thai unless we've made it ourselves with this recipe. You MUST try the recipe and you will know why for yourself. It is as follows:

Pad Thai

2 TB tamarind paste or substitute
¾ cup boiling water
3 TB fish sauce
1 TB rice vinegar
3 TB sugar
¾ tsp cayenne pepper
4 TB peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
8 ounces dried rice stick noodles, about ¼ inch wide
2 large eggs
1/8 tsp salt
12 ounces medium shrimp or diced chicken
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 medium shallot, minced
2 TB dried shrimp, chopped fine (optional)
2 TB Thai salted preserved radish, chopped (optional)
6 TB chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
3 cups (6 ounces) bean sprouts
5 medium scallions, green parts only, chopped fine on sharp diagonal
¼ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves (optional)
Lime wedges for serving

1) Rehydrate tamarind paste in boiling water (soak 2 TB of it in ¾ cup boiling water for about 10 minutes, then push it through a mesh strainer to remove pulp and seeds). Stir fish sauce, rive vinegar, sugar, cayenne, and 2 TB oil into the tamarind liquid; set aside.

2) Cover the rice sticks with hot tap water in a large bowl; soak until softened, pliable, and limp but not fully tender, about 20 minutes. Drain noodles and set aside. Beat eggs and 1/8 tsp. salt in a small bowl; set aside.

3) Heat 1 TB oil in a 12-inch skillet over high heat until just beginning to smoke. Add chicken or shrimp and sprinkle with a little salt; cook, tossing occasionally until cooked. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

4) Off the heat, add the remaining 1 TB oil to the skillet and swirl to coat. Add garlic and shallot, set skillet over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until light golden brown, about 1 ½ minutes. Add beaten eggs to skillet and cook, scrambled, about 20 seconds. Add rice noodles, dried shrimp, and salted radish (if using) to the eggs; toss with 2 wooden spoons to combine.

5) Pour fish sauce mixture over the noodles and increase heat to high. Toss until noodles are evenly coated. Scatter ¼ cup peanuts, bean sprouts, all but ¼ scallions, and cooked shrimp or chicken over the noodles. Cook, tossing constantly, until noodles are tender, about 2 ½ minutes (if not yet tender, add 2 TB water to the skillet and cook until tender).

6) Transfer noodles to serving plate and sprinkle with remaining scallions, peanuts, and the cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

And with that,

He's a-comin'

So, Harry is coming tomorrow. I'm getting an impacted wisdom tooth out (tiny preview: a doctor will be drilling into my jaw bone and taking out, little pieces at a time, a large and unweildly wisdom tooth-- and I will NOT be asleep for all of this). So, naturally, he's coming to take care of me. Which really means he'll cuddle up with me and my enormous, swollen jaw and watch Hitchcock movies with me for 3 WHOLE DAYS while I load up on pain killers and eat nothing but smoothies, pudding, and cottage cheese.


Because a) I'm so excited to see him for the first time in two weeks I am actually bouncing in my chair (and squealing), b) he's so sweet to drive all the way down to be my human pillow and c) he will maintain the ability to masticate solid foods, I have stocked up on two things that are near and dear to his heart:

Whole Milk-- dubbed by me "melted ice cream."

and

Note the "mini." When they're mini, you can combine them WITH the milk in the same bowl, and it becomes something like a celestial serving of cereal.

AND.
I'm going to try this rhubarb bread pudding recipe. The very name of this recipe elicited the same response from both Harry and my Dad-- wide eyes, a dropped jaw, and a lot of rapid nodding.

In case you're curious, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

8 slices bread without crusts, toasted and
cubed
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups diced rhubarb
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Place bread cubes into a buttered 2 quart casserole dish. Combine the milk and butter in a saucepan, and heat just to the boiling point. Pour over the bread cubes, and let stand for 15 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir in rhubarb. Pour over the soaked bread, and stir gently until evenly blended. Sprinkle walnuts over the top.

3. Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until nicely browned on the top. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

And thus ends this large and unweildy post. And it, like large and unweildy wisdom teeth, must come to an end.